Casinos Cater to Video Game Generation

Casino slot machines are merging with video games to appeal to a younger generation. (Bodog Beat Image)

The generational gap that you find in slot machine areas of many land-based casinos may be coming to an end in the near future. Casinos are now looking to cater to a younger generation of gamblers through the inclusion of slot machines complete with joysticks and video games.

Skill-based elements are being added to many of the slot machines in Vegas that will allow players to use hand-eye coordination in certain bonus rounds to try and up their winnings.

This change in direction at the casinos is the result of the younger crowd (with its lager disposable income) spending less time in the casinos and more time partying.

"Younger players come to town to party," said George Maloof Jr., president of the Las Vegas Palms Casino Resort.

"They drink, they go to nightclubs, they go to the after-hours clubs, they check out the pool for the scene there. Gambling in general is not high on their agenda."

Gary Rivalin of the "New York Times" wrote that, “Joysticks are just around the corner, slot makers say, and over the next several years, industry specialists expect casinos to start investing in network systems that allow for games that mix gambling with the head-to-head competition popular in online computer games like World of Warcraft and Halo.”

Skill slots are already proving popular in Vegas with popular titles like, Top Gun and Breakout.

"With all the growth going on, every casino has to bring in new players or we'll see a drop in everyone's market share," said Frank Legato, managing editor of Global Gaming Business, a trade journal.

"It's critical to keep bringing new players into casinos rather than recycle those who are already there."

Rob Bone, marketing director for WMS Gaming, one of the top slot manufacturers, shares a similar view: "We can't just make a slot thinking about the 55-year-old lady who comes to the casino a few times a month. We need to appeal to new buckets of players, or we'll die."