New Casino Marketing Plan: Cannibalize Existing Businesses

"Hi!  And welcome to our instructional video on how to win on slot machines.  My name is Steve Bourie, and I'm the author of the American Casino Guide, which is the #1 best-selling book in the U.S. on the subject of casino gambling and travel."

Retiring Guy notes that 3 copies of the 2013 edition are available in LINKcat:  1 is checked out.  There are no holds.

Midwest casino market draws from more limited pool of gamblers. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/28/2013)

Excerpt:  "Many markets are seeing a point of saturation," [Michael] Paladino [a gaming analyst at Fitch Ratings] said. "New casinos ... are just cannibalizing the existing market."

The United States of Gambling.  (Pew Research, 6/14/2013)

A table ("Gambling Fever") shows the forms of gambling offered in each of the 50 states:  casinos (39), lottery (44), online gambling (3), and "pari-mutuel" wagering (42).

For states, gambling on casinos may be a bad bet. (Pew Research, 7/2/2013)

Excerpt:    Economists Douglas M. Walker and Peter T. Calcagno found that corruption convictions increased after casinos were legalized. But that’s not the whole story. According to their analysis, the corrupting influence of casino interests was at work a year or two before casinos were legalized, too.

The demographics of gambling.

Federal Reserver Bank of St. Louis.  Casino Gambling in America and Its Economic Impacts.  (August 2003)

Excerpt:  An estimated 53 million people in the United States participate in casino gambling. This is equal to 27 percent of the population aged 21 or older. The median age of casino gamblers is 46, compared with a median age of 45 for the U.S. population. However, gambling is most popular among adults aged 51 to 60,  (A group that is now in its 60s.)

Ten years later, not much has changed.  A post titled "The Modern Casino Gambler" at Online Casino Elite (9/13/2013) notes:  We may think of a young party crowd when we think of a casino gambling crowd. But the truth is the average gambler is more mature. 

Retiring Guy has participated in casino gambling just twice -- once in Las Vegas, once in South Lake Tahoe.  And this occurred 23 years ago.

One of my most vivid memories from this trip.  Our son Andy, nearly 3 at the time, offering this observation while we walked along The Strip.  "That McDonald's has sprinkles on it."