Whether your casino is a small local gambling joint or a sprawling Las Vegas megaplex, your casino has an important job to do. That job is to make your audience feel good. The casino experience is built on a mix of emotional and rational decisions, from gaming to food and drink. Casinos use a variety of marketing strategies to elicit the desired feelings and keep their customers coming back for more.
Many people think that the odds of winning a casino game are stacked against them, but the truth is casinos actually earn money by reducing their bets to less than two percent of all bets placed. Every casino game has a built-in mathematical advantage for the house. This slight edge makes it virtually impossible for a casino to lose money over time. This tiny percentage is what casinos use to build extravagant hotels, fountains, giant pyramids and towers, and replicas of famous landmarks.
As for those casino patrons who do place large bets, they are rewarded by the casinos with free “comps” (gifts) like shows, hotel rooms, dinners, reduced-fare transportation and airline tickets. These comps create a psychological addiction to gambling and can help people spend more than they intended to.
As with any business, it’s vital to understand your market, and demographics are a helpful tool in that regard. However, understanding why your audience is there is also crucial to success. This will help you shape your environment, messaging and marketing campaigns to best achieve your goals.