A study released Wednesday by LaneTerralever (LT) found that non-gaming options factor hugely into which brick-and-mortar casinos gamblers choose to frequent — especially among younger adults.

LT’s study included 1,533 gamblers between the ages of 21-75. Among Millennials, 83.9% said they took restaurants, bars, and live entertainment into account when deciding between casinos, a number that was slightly lower for Gen Z (80.5%) and more so for Gen X (76.1%) and Baby Boomers (65.3%).

Restaurants and bars were the top non-gaming activity mentioned for local casinos at 40.9%, followed by live entertainment at 23.2% and hotel amenities at 16%. And while, across all generations, 20% of patrons spent time doing something other than gambling at retail casinos, that figure soared to 68% among Millennials.

“Our study underscores the prevalence of the experience economy and how important it is for casino operators to continue to hone and expand their experiential and entertainment-focused offerings, particularly to attract the attention of younger generations and maintain long-term loyalty of all players,” Nick Dan-Bergman, LT’s vice president of marketing, said in a press release.

Fears of cannibalization unwarranted

Somewhat debunking the myth of the high roller, LT’s study found that affluent gamblers — identified as those coming from households that make more than $100,000 per year — spent 50% of their time on non-gaming activities during trips to destination casinos, which was higher than non-affluent players.

And while most of those surveyed said non-gaming experiences were key to building loyalty among players, the top factor in that category was free play and bonus offers, with 37% saying it had the greatest impact on whether they’d return.

To this end, the report’s authors warned, “Incentivizing guests through free offers alone is a ‘slippery slope.’ Casinos will simply continue to one-up each other, and repeat play can easily be perceived as loyalty when, in fact, loyalty is a much deeper relationship with a brand.”

“Intrinsic value is ultimately the perception that a feature has worth regardless of its price,” said Anthony Lucas, a UNLV hospitality professor who collaborated on the study. “Free play and discounts fall into the category of ‘extrinsic’ value and may not be sustainable in the casino world, especially as such strategies tend to foster loyalty to the offer rather than the casino itself.”

As for future trends, a major takeaway was that “online betting is here to stay,” with 58% of respondents saying they preferred gambling remotely to the face-to-face variety. 

“While forecasting doesn’t see sports betting profitability changing dramatically in the coming years, today and into the future, huge opportunities exist to take advantage of this betting behavior,” the report found, before punching a hole in cannibalization fears. “Remember, too, that online and in-person betting are not mutually exclusive. Incorporating engaging ways for non-traditional players to take advantage of on- premise incentives is to give players the best of both worlds.”

Somewhat paradoxically, the report found that “casino visitors have a love/hate relationship with technology” and “missed some of the intimacy of ‘old-fashioned’ gaming.”

“The human touch and high-quality service appear to be timeless,” concluded the report’s authors.

The ‘fill the SUV strategy’

Another area the report emphasized was the importance of casinos having amenities to satisfy a vast array of interests.

“High-end, full-service spas are more common than ever within casinos,” the report read. “Family-friendly activities like arcades, bowling, and even indoor amusement rides attract a range of ages and fulfill various needs.”

To put a finer point on it, Desert Diamond Casinos CEO Mike Bean was quoted in the report as saying, “We operate with what we call the ‘fill the SUV strategy,’ which means that we know that people travel in couples, couples of couples, groups of friends, and things like that. And one or two people suggest what they’re going to do and where they’re going to go to spend their entertainment dollars. And so what we want is when someone says, ‘Let’s go to Desert Diamond Casino,’ everybody says, ‘Yes, there’s something there for me.’

“We look to avoid the veto vote. So if you have just gaming and you have a couple of couples, and they say, ‘We’re going to the casino,’ and we have slots and tables and not much else, there’s probably going to be a couple of people in the group that say, ‘I don’t do that.’ So, you know, that keeps the whole group from going. Our strategy is to really have something for everybody.”

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