Caesars has recently decided to end its first foray into skill-based casino games in New Jersey. The Casino giant has ordered all skill-based games to be pulled from the floor at its casinos in Atlantic City. Skill-based gambling, as it stands right now, uses slot machines that are combined with traditional video games, in an attempt to attract younger gamblers. Millennials have so far proven to be disinterested in gambling, and skill-based games were supposed to try and change that.
Caesars Experiments with Skill-Based Casino Games
Caesars announced last year that it would be adding skill-based casino games to its casinos in November 2016. The new games would be added to the floor of Harrah’s Resort, Caesars, and Bally’s in Atlantic City. The move was hailed by the industry and seen as a potential turning point in the future of casino games. The first game to be introduced was called Danger Arena and was a hybrid between a first-person shooter and a slot machine.
Short-Lived Experiment
Unfortunately, the experiment with skill-based casino games did not pay off for Caesars. All 21 games will be removed from the casino floor as soon as possible, as none of them have managed to generate enough profit to cover the vendor fees.
On the plus side, Caesars did say that they have not given up on skill-based casino games and will continue to try and find a way to make it work and attract millennial gamblers. A representative from Caesars has said that the whole undertaking was a big learning experience for the casino group and perhaps the skill-based games didn’t stand out enough. On casino floors with 1500+ slot machines, the new games may have just blended in.
It is vitally important for casinos to figure out how to attract millennials, as it is expected that the buying power of this group of people will exceed that of the ‘baby boomers’ by 2020. The struggle is that Millennials have been exposed to high-tech entertainment, such as video games, all their lives and casino games seem boring in comparison.
Revenue generated by slot machines has steadily been declining, from the all-time high in 2007 of $355 billion, to $291 billion in 2014.
