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Since time immemorial, businesses everywhere have spent innumerable hours trying to find ways to do more with less, especially in terms of maximizing return for a finite amount of square footage. For casino operators, the process of laying out an efficient and aesthetically pleasing gaming floor is one that has evolved alongside product design and advancements in technology, and there’s never one right answer. It’s sort of like playing golf or horseshoes—you’ll never achieve perfection; you just hope to do a little better over time, consistently.

Like most processes, the best floor layouts are the result of a combination of data and touch, a mingling of facts and feel. It’s a craft that takes years of experience and trial and error to properly understand. This is especially true in today’s industry, where tried-and-true concepts of supply and demand go hand-in-hand with New Age game designs and statistical models.

Casino amenities have certainly expanded and improved immensely over the years, but the gaming floor remains the heart of any property, the primary revenue driver. As such, the people tasked with arranging the floor have a crucial role to play in the success of a casino, even if their work is often nameless and behind the scenes. To some extent, this is true for suppliers as well, because if guests don’t like the way their games look or play, it doesn’t really matter where they’re located.

With that in mind, what does the ideal casino floor look like in 2022? It’s hard to say definitively, but two things are true above all: the strategies and outcomes are different than they were, say, in 1992, and they will undoubtedly change several more times come 2052.

A Gradual Evolution

In order to understand today’s practices, one must first revisit the ways of the past. After all, change usually doesn’t come quickly to the casino industry, and for many years it wasn’t necessary—markets weren’t nearly as saturated, and therefore there wasn’t much science to placing products. If operators had space, they filled it with machines and didn’t really think twice about it. Well-performing machines were the ones being played; what else could they be?

Pechanga Resort Casino has the largest casino floor on the West Coast, with 200,000 square feet of gaming space

Buddy Frank spent decades decoding the layout puzzle, overseeing slot operations for both commercial and tribal properties, including the Eldorado and Atlantis in Reno as well as California’s Viejas and Pechanga casinos. He now serves as a consultant through his BF Slot Strategies firm.

When he started in the industry, gaming floors “were just row after row after row, all straight rows” of machines, sometimes as many as “30, 40 machines along.” Even after tribal casinos started to pop up in the early-to-mid ’90s, this was still the case. However, once operators truly started to feel the pressure of competition, it became a race to keep players on-site, one that is still being fought today. The innovative operators, as Frank explains, started to incorporate sales principles from other industries.

“It was kind of a supply and demand thing,” says Frank. “The supply was very small, the demand was high. So the secret to success was the more slot machines, the better. And it worked well. As the markets matured everywhere—Nevada had matured first—people evolved in looking at basic principles of marketing that apply in anything else.

“I used to use models of grocery stores, where they’d put loss leaders in the back, so you’d have to walk through everything. The milk, eggs and bread are always in the back. That was one principle some people started to do. The other one, not everyone did this, but a few, modeled it after department stores—I would go into women’s fashion areas and they’d have all these little rounds and make you wander between these rounds to look at the dresses.”

Frank says that in a lot of cases, machine counts have been cut nearly in half from their peak numbers, which has presented both challenges and opportunities for operators to try new configurations that can produce similar or better returns. Fewer machines means more space, which leads to a more dynamic floor with more foot traffic. As operators started to experiment with this additional room, Frank notes, “they introduced a lot of confusion—and you ask, ‘why would you want to confuse your customer?’ Well, it’s also a sense of exploration.” It’s a delicate balance between curiosity and inconvenience, but the best performers can find ways to “confuse (guests) just enough to give them a sense of wonder.” The vast majority of today’s floors are a colorful embodiment of this concept, compared to the rigid, almost gloomy casinos of days past.

In addition to other properties, casinos have also found themselves in a position where they’re competing internally, in the sense that they now offer a full range of amenities that inevitably pull guests away from the gaming floor. Mark Birtha, president of Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Sacramento, has seen this evolution unfold over the past 30 years, both in Las Vegas and beyond.

“What you were seeing with the floor layouts was people started to

really think more as they started to see the revenue opportunity of all the non-gaming amenities, whether it was conventions or nightclubs or restaurants, entertainment—clearly most properties were still having those amenities sort of layered in around the floor, with the floor being the core of the building,” says Birtha. “You started to see people thinking more about the fact that whether it was hotel rooms or spas or restaurants, conventions, et cetera, there were clearly other ways to drive revenue in other customers to attract the marketplace.”

Birtha says that gradually, operators began to realize that floor layouts should work in tandem with outside amenities, and in order to do so, they had to move away from previous models, which favored “very dense floors” with “darker spaces and more compact areas.” Now that operators have evolved from the “mousetrap mentality” that was commonplace for many years, gaming floors “have opened up, in some cases become smaller, with circulation and visibility and openness and airiness,” allowing for a more comprehensive experience—after all, the name “integrated resort” is more literal than most may think.

Bright, Shiny and Big

Of course, floor designs are also somewhat dependent on the machines themselves, which have evolved to the point where they are almost unrecognizable from the games our grandparents played. The refrigerator-like, angular machines of old are now bulbous displays of visual technology, with high-definition monitors, touch features and cashless interfaces. Games are more complex and chock-full of bonuses and free spins and whatever else studios can come up with to differentiate themselves among floors where everyone stands out. Not only that, but new genres such as electronic table games (ETGs) and historical horse racing (HHR) have only expanded the number of possibilities for operators looking to diversify and streamline their layouts.

Of all game suppliers, perhaps none are more in tune with the design and layout processes than Interblock. As the market leaders for ETGs and related technology, the company makes some big games, the kind that require some brainstorming on behalf of property owners in order to fit them into the optimal space. Interblock Global CEO John Connelly says that over the years, his team has become elite at navigating layout and installation hiccups, which are crucial when it comes to scale of the company’s product setups, some of which are over 50 feet wide.

“We do our best to identify the optimal location in each casino, depending on the product, meaning not every product goes in the same location,” Connelly says. “Sometimes they go in different areas of casinos, but I believe we take more time identifying the optimal area on a casino floor to place our product than any other supplier in the world. And we do that with intent, meaning we have learned that an electronic table game player and where they prefer to spend their time versus a traditional table game player, a slot player, a bingo player, a keno player, poker player, is emphatically different. And for that reason, we spend more time upfront in the sales process than perhaps any other company we’re aware of.”

Interblock’s Stadium

The company’s Stadium setups are perhaps the most complex across the entire industry, which can be scaled up or down depending on how much room operators have to work with. According to Connelly, the success of the product line has allowed Interblock to “build an infrastructure that is dedicated to Stadium installations,” which is composed of “experts that know best practices, what to ask, how to help our customers prepare and organize themselves to do an installation.” In the past, this back-and-forth could take as long as four months, but that has been whittled down to under eight weeks for most cases.

Now that machines across the industry are becoming larger and flashier, all operators have had to adjust their practices, whether they be commercial, tribal or international. Birtha explains that as “technology has continued to advance,” the games “have become far more sophisticated and interactive and playful.” When he first came into the industry, nobody thought “there would ever be any focus on the box itself that the game sits on,” but now that today’s cabinets are defined by “curvature and comfort and ease of use,” it’s inspired property owners to place games further apart, to allow guests to enjoy this interactive experience more comfortably.

According to Frank, bigger, flashier machines may make for a better guest experience, but if operators aren’t careful, they can go too far and cause a sort of sensory overload, especially for those trying to navigate from one end of the floor to the other.

“Now these bigger machines are blocking sightlines and giving some attractions,” Frank says. “Remember I mentioned the milk and the eggs in the back of the store? Well, what if you put a giant, flashy Wheel of Fortune in an otherwise boring casino and put it in the back of the store? It attracts people like moss to a light. So those kinds of machines create visual distractions on the floor or visual attractions that attract people. The problem is now everyone does it. Now almost every machine is becoming like that, and it presents a whole new challenge to us on how to lay out our floor, because you have to be careful about sightlines that work.”

Mastering the Data

“Everything is driven by analytics, and that’s really where the industry has evolved to.” —Mark Birtha, President, Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Sacramento

Customer expectations and game design may have changed immensely over the years, but the technology and analytics on the back end have completely revolutionized the way operators go about arranging their floors. In today’s industry, it seems as though all roads lead back to data, and in many cases, the numbers win out in the end.

Machine and player performance are now the primary decision-makers when it comes to location and layout, and those who have rejected the technology have largely been left behind. The decisions that were once made by feel or instinct are now calculated—the positioning of each game has become chess on a grander, flashier scale, for the sake of peak efficiency and profit.

As Birtha says, “Everything is driven by analytics, and that’s really where the industry has evolved to.” Because of this, floors have become a lot more dynamic, as operators are “constantly moving games around, converting them, changing the banks, adding progressives, taking games off the floor, reusing space.” Due to the fact that companies now have the ability to track just about every transaction that takes place across the entire floor, well-performing machines are easier to identify, which “really allows us to reinvest into these customers cost-effectively, but also based on their preferences.”

Even suppliers like Interblock have jumped head-first into data collection, because it gives them a much better idea as to who is playing their games and why.

“We’ve begun doing much more analytics and data mining to try to understand who’s playing electronic table games around the world, and the various demographics,” says Connelly. “Fast-forward to today, we’ve learned infinitely more, and I use the word infinitely with intention, because the delta between where we were and where we are today is almost so great. It’s hard to explain. We continue to grow upon that on a daily and weekly basis.”

It’s become commonplace for operators to consult with heat maps and other data visualization models to see where and when traffic is highest for a particular machine or group of machines. However, slot directors have also learned that there’s a limit to what screens and numbers may tell you; at a certain point you also have to understand the human element of casinos, which takes time and experience. Sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference, details that data could never point out—what if, for example, the casino is in a cold climate, and nobody wants to sit at the machines closest to the door? Or perhaps you move your best machine right underneath a light fixture, and now no one can see the screen because of an awful glare.

As Frank points out, “In the old days it was totally shifted way too much to what you see and what you feel and not enough analytics. And today maybe a hair too much analytics.” The answer, then, lies somewhere in the middle, with equal parts art and science.

“You have to look at the analytics to understand machines like that because your gut feeling may say it isn’t productive. But when you look at the analytics it is. So those are critical to know. And I find an awful lot of colleagues who don’t use analytics make a lot of bad mistakes. Now, I’ll give you the other side of it—you can’t use analytics alone… You look at your analytics, it says a machine’s doing terrible, but you go down on the floor and look and you see that, my God, there’s a horrible glare coming off the screen from bad lighting. There’s a leak in the ceiling. The band always plays in it so loud they can’t hear.

“So it needs to be a nice healthy balance between good analytics and some old-fashioned shoe leather and talking to guests on the floor.”

Gaming industry architecture conveys mindset over money, emotion over finance. It’s a collage of beauty, vivid colors, visual splendor and the sizzle that sells the gaming steak.

Customers, welcome to your palace.

Some of world’s best companies build that portfolio for the casino industry. While they blend economic conditions and long-term forecasts into their planning, architects must also create the warmth patrons bask in.

Architects grasp the subliminal drive that shapes customer spending, and must hit that emotional sweet spot now more than ever. The online gaming market already encourages patrons to stay home. Brick-and-mortar properties must contain more than games. They must create reasons for people to come, park, walk, dine and socialize. The customer experience is crucial to loyalty retention.

All win probabilities may be created equal, but the tactile mixture of sense, from light to sound, touch and shapes, creates the emotional difference maker in the world’s gaming halls.

Casino projects reflect this thinking.

Membership Privileges

“An entertainment experience is all about emotion—basically about having fun and enjoying yourself in an extraordinary environment,” says Dike Bacon, principal at HBG Design. “For many casino patrons, the resort is their country club. It’s their escape. It’s what they do to have fun.

“I use the analogy of a golfer. Even in tough economic times, golfers will find the money to play golf because that’s what they like to do. Even in tough times, gamblers will find the money to gamble because that’s what they like to do.”

Gaming operators jockey to find an edge. They mirror the Field of Dreams concept from the famous movie: if you build it, they will come.

“Owners and operators are expanding with larger, more targeted and exceptional property developments and improvements,” Bacon indicates. “From small-scale renovations and incremental expansions to huge multi-faceted super-regional resort-level entertainment additions. There are also exciting expansions to existing jurisdictions like Illinois and New York and huge investments in new jurisdictions like Virginia.”

Bacon hails the industry’s resilience. It faces headwinds regarding economics, the pandemic and oversaturation, but finds a way to emerge stronger.

Architects grasp the subliminal drive that shapes customer spending, and must hit that emotional sweet spot now more than ever.

“The industry seems to always be battling Chicken Little headwinds in some form or fashion, but always seems to just push through better than ever,” Bacon says. “Owners are currently molding and reshaping their expansions and renovations to accommodate changing economic conditions, but many regional gaming properties continue to ride a wave of success. In many markets, expanded facilities are creating entertainment experiences that often rival or eclipse what’s offered in Las Vegas. At HBG Design, we are working with great clients; we are busy; and we are doing great things.”

As for the environment HBG will build into, Bacon left G2E with a bullish forecast. The 2022 version was one of the most well-attended in recent years.

“G2E is often a distinct barometer of the health and breadth of the gaming industry,” he says. “If this year’s show was any indication, business conditions in the industry are very strong. The overall buzz was exceptionally positive from virtually all sectors. Early reports show trade show attendance reaching or exceeding 25,000 people, which is approaching pre-Covid numbers.”

It’s been a banner year for HBG, according to Bacon. He broke down two examples:

• One of its largest projects is the $300 million Gun Lake Casino expansion for the Gun Lake Tribe in Wayland, Michigan. The project is located just south of Grand Rapids, which is only a few hours’ drive from Chicago and Detroit. Gun Lake owners have set their sights on creating the premier entertainment destination in the Midwest, Bacon says. It’s a true super-regional resort with an expansion program designed to drive traffic from those two major metropolitan areas. The new project will consist of a 252-room hotel tower, multiple support amenities, and a new climate-controlled atrium called the Aquadome.

“As amazing as its name, Gun Lake’s new six-story, 32,000-square-foot Aquadome is a never-before-seen expansive glass-roofed, climate-controlled mixed-use landscaped pool and event center atrium environment,” Bacon indicates. “It’s a resort pool by day and a performance complex by night. The design implementation will stand out in the northern Midwest U.S. region for its uniqueness of form and year-round experience. The Aquadome will have the ability to host 2,400-person events.”

The Aquadome’s dynamic sculpted glass roof structure is modeled by the sun’s daily path across the site, and reflects the dynamic sky in all four of Michigan’s vivid seasons. The multi-layered roof composition is designed for function and efficiency. The targeted high-performance glazing and the atrium’s space frame structure combine to create the distinguishing sloped oval shape that maximizes and filters natural light from solstice to solstice.

• Four Winds Casino Resorts has been in constant evolution across its New Buffalo, Michigan and South Bend, Indiana, properties for well over 10 years, including continuously re-imagining and renovating amenities.

In 2022, HBG Design completed the new large-scale Four Winds Casino resort expansion at the South Bend, Indiana property. The expansion will be offering approachable luxury within a new 23-story, 317-key, 83-suite hotel tower and a mix of vibrant amenities, to include a spa, convention area, meeting space, a ballroom, lounge, bar & grill, an outdoor roof-top swimming pool, and terraces with spectacular views. The design will maintain the consistent brand experience guests have come to expect from all Four Winds Casino properties. The new casino expansion at South Bend opened in mid-2022.

Even at smaller gaming facilities, business is strong, Bacon asserts.

The first-ever HBG-designed Rock & Brews Casino and Restaurant owned by Kaw Gaming opened for business in Braman, Oklahoma this year.

Co-branding with recognizable names from outside the casino industry to anchor key amenities is not a new concept, but is gaining more traction with tribally owned casinos as a means to broaden market appeal and greater name recognition from an expanding customer base, Bacon says.

The 71,000-square-foot gaming project features an expertly curated interactive rock-inspired entertainment experience that only Rock & Brews—and its co-founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of iconic rock band KISS—can provide. The Rock & Brews brand and venues are noted for their heavy integration of rock ‘n’ roll imagery and iconography.

Wow Is Now

The Aquadome at Gun Lake is a glass-roofed, climate-controlled indoor landscaped pool and event center atrium environment

“We help create emotions that encourage players to revisit a property by planning surprises,” says Luke Jumper, senior project manager for TBE Architects. “Our designers create ‘wow’ spaces throughout the property by paying attention to touchpoints, lighting, ambiance, and weaving elements of culture and heritage into the details. In many cases, this gives employees, owners and guests a feeling of familiar anticipation as they enter the property.

“It’s like re-reading your favorite book,” he adds. “You know the story, but each reading reveals something new. Locals casinos are especially unique because there are branding opportunities that no other company or organization is either capable or qualified to share.”

Jumper says TBE has witnessed changes over the years regarding the elements used to design “wow” spaces. The early casinos in Indian Country fashioned literal representations of basketry, nature scenes and tipis. Most modern designs have moved away from the literal representation into something more abstract.

“Consider, for instance, the new We-Ko-Pa Casino’s garden court atrium,” he says. “To the average casino or conference guest, this may simply feel like a beautiful space with some tribal references, but to members of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, this space tells the story of their people, emphasizing the importance of Montezuma’s Well, life-sustaining rain, and sacred symbols that have been tastefully abstracted.

“While manner and means in which a story is told has changed, the importance of telling a story has remained constant.”

Jumper says the post-Covid market has impressed upon people the importance of physical interaction. Society as a whole has made it clear that people want to experience “life” together, no matter how advanced technology has become.

“The gaming industry is no different,” he contends. “Players are looking for quality, fresh and new experiences in the casino. Dynamic approaches to design will bring people back throughout the week to locals casinos.

“TBE eliminates ‘dark spaces’ by designing multi-purpose rooms, such as restaurants that can be converted into a private venue, a Super Bowl party or a player’s event. The point of architecture, especially hospitality, is to provide the pallet from which the operators, chefs and staff can all work together, giving them as much flexibility to create a masterpiece of service for their guests.”

Clients are asking TBE to incorporate innovations that reflect recent changes in sports legislation and the attitude toward fitness and health.

The first-ever HBG-designed Rock & Brews Casino and Restaurant owned by Kaw Gaming opened for business in Braman, Oklahoma this year

“This could look like remote betting terminals in the fitness centers, so it becomes a mini sportsbook, or offering more healthy options in the restaurants,” he says. “There’s been huge success with local farm-to-fork, confirming the need for fresh alternatives. Our clients are asking, and the more alternatives we can offer the better. This gets back to the flexibility of the building. Are we dedicating the space to just a passing fad, or do we have the ability of a multi-use of space?”

A perfect example is The Stage at Quil Ceda Creek Casino, he says. The operator has internal divider options creating flexibility for this space to work as a floor bar, a lounge bar, sports bar, and ultimately an entertainment venue with overflow space that is shared with the restaurant.

Jumper considers 2022 a retooling year for TBE. It has done significant background work for major clients that include Jacobs Entertainment in Reno and Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana in Kinder. In some cases, it has been 20 years or more since areas within these properties have received a refresh, and they now require a much more extensive overhaul.

Jumper sees a couple of innovations that can become difference-makers. One comes from phones.

“We’ve seen tribes like Sycuan that has a very sophisticated app allowing one to be at their machine and hold a place in line at a food venue,” he says. “This technology is wrought with possibilities including the ability of betting at the blackjack table while tending to your family’s needs in another part of the venue. The idea of expanding gaming throughout the property, not just on the floor, is what’s going to revolutionize the business.”

Jumper says TBE has noticed some demographics changes. More women and players 25-50 years old mark the sports-betting landscape.

He adds a word of caution.

“The industry needs to resist the attempts by sportsbook companies to proliferate the gaming kiosks,” Jumper says. “We need to encourage people who have made the infrastructure investment to keep that gaming piece for themselves. Unfortunately, states get greedy and pass legislation that waters down the market. There is a charge to protect the market, the rights, and the investment that bricks-and-mortar facilities have.”

Something for Everyone

The Stage at Quil Ceda Creek Casino

SOSH Architects offers a varied perspective of the concept.

The overall gaming-design sector is a strong one, according to John DeRichie, AIA, principal at SOSH. “SOSH Architects has seen a boom in the casino gaming and hospitality industry in 2022,” he says.

“As gaming operators continue to look for new opportunities in other locales while staying focused on capital improvement projects within existing properties, we have been fortunate enough to guide and assist our clients in creating new visions for their brand and their patrons.”

Arley Sochocky, the company’s interior design studio manager, will second that emotion. She cites subtle, yet significant factors that blend into the big picture.

“With each new design project, we are tasked with creating more than just an aesthetically pleasing space,” Sochocky indicates. “We’re creating an experience that encompasses a sense of energy, excitement and movement. The experience itself evokes human emotions that are unique to an individual’s personal filter—connecting past experiences with the present environment through the senses.”

Sochocky believes that taking emotion into account is integral to the design process when creating an experiential space. The colors, patterns and lighting used can evoke different feelings. While one guest might prefer a calming energy at a low-key VIP lounge with low lighting, warm wood tones, and lush textures, another guest might prefer the high-energy excitement of the casino floor or nightclub with color-changing lighting, LED screens, and sleek metal surfaces.

That has been put into practice in the post-pandemic world, Sochocky asserts.

“We have noticed that the consumer is re-evaluating what’s important to them,” she says. “After having limited experiences outside the home, people are now longing for truly immersive experiences with a focus on self-care in relaxation, fun, and connection. This has been reflected in our recent projects. A few years ago, we were designing hospitality spaces with ample room for a smaller number of guests.

“Now we are including communal tables, cozy bars, and lounge areas to promote conversation and connection with friends and other guests.”

Michael Mangini, the director of interior design for SOSH, believes it’s best not to chase trends or predictions.

“Great design enhances and amplifies the human experience,” he says. “What we can say with conviction is that people want to feel connected and celebrate what it is to be human. With design, we author a narrative that helps ignite a spark of emotions.

“Technology is driving innovation, and how designers and architects embrace and reinterpret it in creative ways pushes forward design,” he adds. “We see this expressed in many aspects of design and architecture, from how we design to the innovative building materials used to the user/patron experience.”

Mangini notes that technological innovation occurs so rapidly that the lives of people from one generation to the next may be radically different. What is constant, however, is the passion of the human experience.

And so, the labor of love continues in this industry.

Architects serving the gaming industry view a project as more than a job. It is a creative outlet, a challenge to their exceptional skills. They want to provide something that is more than structurally sound. They want it to structurally sing.

In June 2021, Resorts World Las Vegas opened the first casino with cashless wagering available across the floor. Once a player creates a wagering account integral to the Genting Rewards loyalty club, patrons can use their smartcards to fund their gaming experience.

The Resorts World system, powered by Sightline Payments’ Play+ technology working in concert with the Konami Synkros casino management system, is seamless once it’s up and running. For the technologically challenged, though, the process of signing up is not without its hiccups. The casino has ambassadors wandering the floor offering to help players set up their accounts, which must be done through one of the Genting Rewards kiosks. Nevada requires physical ID for cashless gaming, so players must scan their driver’s license or passport at the kiosk.

Early on, this caused friction for some players. However, the end result is that players can simply fund their gaming on slots or tables. (At the tables, players simply tap their cards or phone on a tablet to get chips.) There are now several choices to implement cashless gaming, and the process depends largely on the technology being used.

Educating players on cashless technology has taken many forms, from kiosks to signage to ambassadors roaming the floor. Some are doing this more effectively than others.

Take IGT’s system, Resort Wallet with IGTPay. Resort Wallet is the digital wallet from which players draw funds; IGTPay is the company’s proprietary external funding gateway. The system is part of IGT’s Advantage casino management system. The cashless setup has processed over 2 billion transactions since it was brought to the U.S. (IGT has deployed it internationally for 15 years.)

The IGT system has been deployed by Station Casinos since July 2021, and went live at Oklahoma’s Indigo Sky in July 2022.

Jacob Lanning, IGT senior director of business development, payments, says the casinos are easing the customer transition to cashless in several ways.

“The most important thing that they can do is to put up signage in and around the places where a customer could use that technology to spend,” he says. “Using Station as an example, they placed little stickers next to the bill validator on every single slot machine that supports the cashless solution across all of their six major properties.

“They put signage at the points that they can enroll. They do overhead signage as well across the floors. They have digital billboards out on the front of their property. From a signage perspective, they try and communicate it through as many different touchpoints as possible.”

IGT Resort Wallet

Station, like Resorts World, is also using ambassadors. “These are people that are specifically trained in how the solution works, and the advantages and opportunities that players can have,” Lanning says. “They roam around the casino floors and talk to different players and tell them about the solution, and then walk them through the enrollment process, and get them onboarded. “That’s been the most successful way of them getting players into the ecosystem—through the ambassador programs.”

One of the fastest-growing cashless programs is the one deployed by Penn Entertainment, which at this writing has converted 11 of its 37 properties to the cashless technology, deployed via Acres Manufacturing’s Casino Cashless all-in-one solution. According to Richard Primus, senior vice president and chief information officer for Penn Entertainment, the deployment will continue at a brisk pace.

“I believe cashless will be live in 21 of our 37 properties by the beginning of 2024,” Primus says, “and they’ll be a roadmap for 2024 to continue extending the footprint.”

Penn has developed an extensive program for educating players and for marketing the technology to foster adoption of cashless. “We work very closely with our property, operations and marketing teams as well as our friends in corporate marketing,” Primus says. “We build awareness campaigns prior to launch, during launch and post-launch to try to get a lot of good momentum with our customer base.

“And the key is raising that awareness, because you want them to try it several times. Once you get them to use it several times, then the adoption rates and the stickiness are considerably higher.”

Todd George, executive vice president, operations for Penn Entertainment, adds that Penn has been successful in creating trial by requiring cashless enrollment to “unlock” certain games. “If you want get on (certain) lower-denomination games, it will require cashless technology to get on that game, or if you want to play on some specific banks of slots, you’ll have to do it through cashless,” George says. “Again, it involves creating trial opportunities and unlocking experiences, and it’s been really well received on the floor.”

As far as the physical impact on the look of the floor, Primus says it is “negligible,” other than the look of the card reader. “The card reader looks a little different, but it also accepts the regular player’s card,” he says. “So, we’re not prohibiting anybody from using traditional methods.”

Instead of ambassadors, Penn is using an innovative alteration to its casino floor to help the technologically challenged to get enrolled. “We’ve established loyalty centers,” Primus says. “Think of it almost like an Apple Genius Bar, where we’ve got dedicated space on our floor with people who are very conversant in the technology to invite players in to come and have a high-touch experience of initial setup and enrollment. Or if somebody’s walking by and they become interested, they can go in and talk to somebody about the technology and the capabilities, and employees will walk them through in a much more one-on-one experience.”

Ambassadors also visit lines at TITO redemption kiosks and ATMs to educate players. “Once we started putting ambassadors in those lines and showing players how easy it was, that led to adoption,” George says.

Of course, savvy players don’t have to go to a kiosk or a loyalty center to enroll. “It’s 100 percent driven through our loyalty app,” says George. “The only way you can access our cashless technology is through our MyChoice loyalty app that we released earlier in 2021.” He says players with the loyalty app can scan their driver’s license on their smartphone to satisfy the physical ID requirement.

Agnostic Solution

Many of Penn’s properties use the Acres cashless solution in concert with the Everi CashClub Wallet technology. Everi’s system, in fact, interfaces with the technology of several different cashless solutions providers.

For Everi, the system-agnostic solution is a function of the fact the company already provides cash access services at some 750 casinos. “We’re not starting from scratch,” says Victor Newsom, senior vice president, product management and payment solutions for Everi. “We didn’t really reinvent the wheel; we already have the wheel.

“We have infrastructure already present across those floors for credit card, cash and debit card, check cashing and other financial services. So rather than say, ‘Here’s something new,’ we say, ‘Here’s a new transaction pipe on your existing infrastructure that you spent millions deploying and training, and which your customers already know.’”

So far Everi has completely deployed is CashClub Wallet solution at 20 properties, with a target of 60-80 properties by the end of next year, according to Newsom. “I’m working actively across roughly 20 different states right now with the regulators, explaining banking versus cashless wagering versus cashless wagering accounts, helping operators understand strategy.”

He says a few of those jurisdictions—such as the Tribal Gaming Agency, which regulates California’s Sky River Casino—have provisionally agreed to change their regulations to allow fully remote registration.

Newsom says Everi approaches cashless functionality as part of the omnichannel gaming journey. “If you’re doing it the right way, you’ve actually taken all of your assets and created an omnichannel journey where the patron can choose to enter or exit any segment of the journey through whatever channel they want.

“And gaming has historically not supported that. Gaming has said, there’s this regulated system that sits over here. I’m not going to let anything get into it or out of it easily. And then people that come in try to take an e-commerce approach and just bolt it on as a brand new thing.”

He says Everi recommends a different strategy. “Let them go to the kiosk. Let them go to the cage. That’s not where you want to drive them, but that should be a choice. Let them interact on a mobile phone, let them interact with a website. Let them go to the retail location and spend the cash. Or let them go to the game.”

He says 90 percent of patrons so far have chosen to go directly to the end point, the game, for the cashless experience. “But what is interesting is that 10 percent do not,” Newsom says. “They will go to a kiosk and get a TITO ticket because they like gaming with something tangible. Maybe it’s superstition, maybe it’s habit, but it is fact.”

Making it Easy

For operators and solution providers, the end goal in implementing cashless is to make the experience as friction-free as possible.

“Marker Trax’s goal is to make access to cashless casino advances as convenient as possible to players,” says Anamarie Ellis, vice president of operations at Ellis Island Casino in Las Vegas and marketing executive for Marker Trax, the cashless marker system created by the casino. “With that, we utilize infrastructure that already exists on a casino floor—CMS and systems within the games, and mobile phones for players.”

That means cashless wagering using Marker Trax will be virtually invisible to the player, although in the end, it could change the design of casino floors.

“Our product would not take any more physical space on the floor outside of marketing,” Ellis says. “However, as the cashless movement evolves, foot traffic patterns may change (less moving around the floor to go to the cage, waiting in lines at an ATM), which could affect floor layout long term.”

“There are so many touchpoints throughout the casino to promote cashless,” notes Gina Lanphear, director of marketing for Flexia Payments. “However, the most effective opportunities to convert a customer to cashless wagering are the actual locations where the pain points exist in the casino environment—at the cashier, near ATMs and ticket kiosks, and at the slot machines. So, placing signage, digital media and helpful casino staff in these areas to show customers that a seamless, user-friendly cashless experience is as simple as scanning a QR code, registering online and downloading the Flexia Cashless App or the casino’s own in-app digital wallet is extremely effective.”

“While it may seem counterintuitive to try to bridge digital payments and the in-person casino floor, the growing popularization of cashless payments demands that casino operators account for novel payments options when setting up the casino floor,” adds Christopher Justice, president of Global Payments Gaming Solutions.

“With that said, casino operators must still think carefully about how they can blend the two effectively. Many patrons may be aware of cashless payment options but not fully understand how to use them. Casino operators can include educational resources that demonstrate to patrons how to use cashless payments at the casino and encourage them to do so.”

Global Payments increases cashless adoption through its VIP Preferred Concierge program, “a unique, in-person initiative designed to assist patrons in leveraging Global Payments’ industry-standard e-check network,” Justice says. “The VIP Preferred Concierge program has been successful not only in increasing cashless adoption but also in gaining valuable, firsthand feedback from VIP Preferred users.”

Cashless wagering, at least in U.S. casinos, is in its infancy, but as adoption grows, the industry will have a clearer picture of the best way to implement the solutions.

“As the adoption of cashless becomes universal, we’ll see longer game time, less lines and congestion at the cage and loyalty desks, and fewer (or no) ATMs and ticket kiosks,” says Flexia’s Lanphear. “Some of the changes will be invisible to the customer, such as behind-the-scenes reduction of space needed for bill counters, money handling and storage and security features. Combined, this will open space within the casino for new games, retail restaurants or even social areas.”

“The reality is that even getting cash today can be a challenge when you’re not in a casino,” notes Lanning at IGT. “It’s just not something most people carry around that much anymore. You have to make an active decision to get cash. And as the consumer uses less and less cash in their everyday lives and cash just becomes more difficult to get as we move to more of this digitized version of cash, I think players are just going to expect it, because it’s way more convenient than walking around with a pocket full of hundreds.”

“What we’re seeing now with cashless payments in gaming is very similar to the early days of TITO implementation,” comments Justice at Global Payments. “At first, only a few gaming institutions integrated TITO tickets, and its use was very experimental. It took some time for best practices to emerge before the early adopter phase evolved into mass adoption. Now, TITO tickets are commonplace in nearly every casino in America. We are experiencing the same phenomenon with cashless payments.”

The term “integrated resort” was coined to describe Singapore’s massive casino complexes, rival properties with gaming and non-gaming attractions on a mind-boggling scale.

Marina Bay Sands is known for its Skypark Observation Deck, Banyan Tree spa, sampan rides, ArtScience Museum with 21 galleries, 20-plus restaurants and the world’s largest infinity pool. Resorts World Sentosa, too, has a dizzying array of attractions: Universal Studios Singapore, Dolphin Island, the Adventure Cove Waterpark—even its own tall ship, the Royal Albatross. The amenities attract gamblers and non-gamblers, tourists and locals, the young and not-so-young, even families with children.

Against these standards, a casino alone may no longer seem enough—which presents a challenge for operators who want to offer a more complete experience, sometimes with limited space or a modest budget.

“Large-scale integrated resorts have raised the bar in terms of guest expectations, and people take those expectations with them wherever they go,” acknowledges Jeanne Muscolino, principal and business development manager for JCJ Architecture. But casinos in Kansas and Mississippi can’t grow up to be the megaresorts of Las Vegas, Malaysia and Singapore. Nor should they try.

“Every property is unique in its own right, in its own marketplace and in the type of guests it attracts,” Muscolino says. “Operators and owners have matured in terms of how they think about programming their space and their square footage, and are better at knowing their customer. In terms of design, that helps us really respond to the needs of the marketplace.”

The impact of new additions may be especially meaningful in smaller markets, says Doug Worth, executive chairman and principal designer of WorthGroup Architecture. “Normally, everybody’s trying to one-up each other on how spectacular their projects are. We specialize on the tribal side of gaming, and in the early days, they didn’t have all the money in the world. Everything was a value judgment on what it would contribute to the casino business,” which is still the engine of most gaming properties.

Gut-driven, trend-influenced decisions have given way to hard data, marketing insights and feasibility analyses. With those facts in mind, consider new additions that will extract more value from current patrons, and also lure new ones.

Eat Up

Wahlburger’s is a familiar brand with name value enhanced by a reality TV series.

The addition of new food and beverage options goes “a really long way” to keeping customers around, says Muscolino. “They’re not loss-leaders for properties anymore, but can be destinations on their own.”

The right three-meal service offering with a well-known brand can turn a pub or bar into an entertainment hub. Case in point: the Rock & Brews chain, established by KISS co-founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. With 20-plus restaurants across the U.S. and more to come, the brand blends a rock ‘n’ roll theme, American-style comfort food and craft beers. There’s even a Rock & Brews Casino in Braman, Oklahoma, operated by the Kaw Nation of Indians.

In 2021, JCJ designed a Rock & Brews for the Rolling Hills Casino in Corning, California, owned by the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians. The advantages are many, says Muscolino.

“Those guys offer a really brilliant product; it doesn’t take up a ton of space, and it draws a lot of traffic. So folks might go to a casino really to experience the restaurant, then do some gaming on the side.”

A new TAO Asian bistro at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut has drawn four- and five-star raves, like this one on TripAdvisor: “First, the design elements are on a Disney scale… When your table is ready, make the journey through this ‘water’ hallway into the expansive dining room. This is a wow—there is so much to look at!”

A restaurant alone doesn’t elevate a property to resort status, but it’s “not just a slot house anymore,” says Worth. “A popular trend in a lot of our tribal casinos is the Wahlburger’s franchise,” co-founded by actors Mark and Donnie Wahlburg.

“We’re doing three of them right now in different locations. It’s still a hamburger joint, but they’ve got a TV show and some recognition, and people come here for that. It’s an easy go-to addition to an existing facility that was never planned to be much more than a casino.”

And of course the Gordon Ramsay and Guy Fieri brands are familiar to casino-goers around the world.

Staying Power

With food and beverage in place, a hotel may be the logical next step. “Most of the properties we work on aren’t in an urban area, but are hard to get to—three- or four-hour trips, flying or driving,” says Worth.

That’s no one’s idea of a day trip, and potential customers could stay away altogether rather than undertake a round-trip long haul. Overnight accommodations don’t have to break the bank, but come in several forms, including RV parks and limited-service hotels, Worth adds. “You can accomplish a lot on a fairly small footprint and with a limited budget.”

“Even a smaller 100-key hotel can make a big difference,” agrees Muscolino. “Then you’re measuring length of stay by days as opposed to hours. It helps not only generate revenue on the gaming floor, but across amenities.”

Multitasking

If demands exists, set aside space for meetings and conventions—then use it for other purposes, such as live entertainment.

“Budget-wise, you don’t really have to do a whole lot” to monetize these areas, says Worth. “Some smaller operators do very well, bringing in entertainers who draw a regional crowd, then using the same space for special events, tournaments, and conferences and meetings. In some cases, it’s a differentiator that makes them stand out from the competition.”

Food-and-beverage areas can multitask too. “A full-service sports bar can double as your sportsbook and also have food service throughout the day,” observes Muscolino. “Then you can tack on entertainment. You’ll even see little areas within sportsbooks that are dedicated to broadcast media, who broadcast live on game day. It creates this really energized environment, with these semi-celebrities on-property. That’s really attractive to customers.”

The goal, as always, is to keep guests onsite and at play, she says. “How can you take an area and make sure that it’s monetizable throughout the day? Like the sportsbook that’s doing double duty, there might be a way to activate a kitchen so it’s providing grab-and-go breakfast and cafe service,” and drawing people at all hours—important in a 24/7 enterprise.

Derek Stevens brought an innovative version of the all-purpose sportsbook to the new Circa Resort & Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, which opened in October 2020. Stadium Swim is a 4,000-capacity sports bar and pool club with a big screen—make that a monster screen, at 40 feet by 143 feet—to broadcast the latest games. Guests can watch while lolling in one of six heated pools, then swim up to their favorite bar and share the experience with their friends at one of the club’s “Insta-ready selfie walls.”

Risky Business

It’s tricky to make a nightclub work outside an urban market, and even big-city resorts can miss the mark. Take the Palms in Las Vegas, which added an indoor-outdoor nightclub as part of the property’s $640 million overhaul, completed in 2019.

The aptly named KAOS opened and closed within seven months. At the time, Red Rock Resorts boss Frank Fertitta III blamed the high cost of business, in particular, paying headliner DJs like Marshmello. As a scathing post-mortem in the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted, “No responsible operator would be willing to pay a DJ $60 million over two years, or $600,000 per show, even if that individual wore a flashy, LED-equipped bucket on his head.”

After the club went dark, the Palms decided to take some time to reassess the programming, and used the space for pool operations, private meeting space and special events. In 2021, Red Rock and Station Casinos sold the Palms to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians of California, making it the first tribe to own and operate a resort in Las Vegas.

That misstep aside, resorts in Vegas and other markets have shown that a great watering hole can serve as a successful day club, nightclub, food venue, party spot and revenue stream. Harrah’s Pool in Atlantic City is one example. With two waterfalls, three hot tubs, eight cabanas and three fire pits, it offers night and day programming that’s really paid off for its parent, and earned it a place on USA Today’s list of the “10 Best Resort Pools in America.”

Replicate the cool pool experience on a smaller scale, without the giant price tag, and just like that, you’re attracting and serving a younger clientele. They just may become your next generation of casino regulars.

Inside/Out

The Covid-19 pandemic forced businesses to appreciate spaces they may have previously overlooked—right outside their doors.

Even in big cities with four-season climes, restaurants and resorts stayed afloat by moving service outdoors, onto sidewalks and into parks, under sailcloth tents and in heated domes. Fire pits and torches added a level of ambience that hasn’t gone out of style.

“You can take a bar cart out on a patio and voila, you’ve got something you can monetize,” says Muscolino. “It’s not so hard to take an underutilized patio area, dress up the landscaping, perhaps add some decorative lighting and turn it into a pre-function space. You can hold small events out there.”

The same principles apply inside the gaming hall, where daylight and windows are now not only permissible but welcome. Those vistas connect patrons to the great outdoors, and make any space feel lighter and brighter.

“If you’ve got the views; capitalize on them,” says Muscolino.

High ceilings add a feeling of spaciousness and are vital on the casino floor, where gaming machines are getting bigger and bigger. They also make hotel rooms look and feel bigger and more luxurious.

During the pandemic, as properties slowly resumed business, the need for social distancing motivated operators to identify underutilized spaces, such as conference rooms and event space, and turn them into profit centers. As John Hinton, director of Native American projects for Bergman Walls Associates, told Tribal Government Gaming magazine in 2021, “This has our clients thinking about how they can make spaces more flexible and scalable in the future.”

Bring the Family

If you’re thinking about a phased development to reach a wider market, movie theaters and arcades are proven family attractions.

A smaller pool, KidsQuest or similar amenity “can make a lot of sense if you’re trying to get families to stay on-property without giving up a lot of square footage,” according to Muscolino. There are KidsQuest locations at scores of casinos in Nevada, Louisiana, Washington state, California, Michigan and elsewhere. One big advantage: they offer drop-in child care, so Mom and Dad can enjoy adulting, on and off the gaming floor.

But first things first—know your current customers, know who you want your future customers to be, and with data and market assessments, determine the kinds of additions that will keep them coming.

Anatomy of an Upgrade

Bally’s Kansas City has undergone a complete transformation since its acquisition by Bally’s Corp. in 2020. The stationary riverboat, located on 24 waterfront acres, opened in 1996 as the Hilton Flamingo Casino, became the Isle of Capri in 2001, and was acquired by Eldorado Resorts in 2017 before being sold to Twin River Holdings, later Bally’s.

The new owners started by rezoning the site to “unlock the potential of the land.” The property has already added a baccarat lounge and a high-limit gaming area and improved the entryways, lighting and parking areas. It is also building a 38,000-square-foot land-based commercial building to house a Chickie’s & Pete’s Crabhouse and Sports Bar and Sugar Factory. A hotel is also in the master plan, along with a retail sector and possible amphitheater.

The $40 million renovation is a project of Whiting Turner Contracting.

Keeping It Fresh

Older resorts with all the bells and whistles need periodic upgrades to keep patrons interested.

Such was the case at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, which opened in 1968. The property opened without a hotel, but made up for it in short order, adding a 15-story tower in 1972, an adjoining tower and convention hall in 1975, an RV park and motor lodge, and more. Other amenities include a wedding chapel and retail district.

The latest addition is a Big Top Food Court that opened in October 2021, just in time for the multi-day Electric Daisy Carnival, which brings hundreds of thousands of partiers to Las Vegas each year.

Architectural firm Bergman Walls & Associates achieved an open floor plan by removing a section of a hotel tower shear wall. The upgrade turned parts of the existing buffet, baggage claim and retail spaces into a 16,000-square-foot food court offering multiple fast-casual options.

Two administrative offices and more back-of-house space were part of the build-out, for an addition that has brought more than 80 new jobs to the Strip casino, new options for hungry patrons, and increased opportunities for revenue.

Back in the day (1920 through the 1940s), pockets of semi-legal gambling existed in towns across the United States. Union City, New Jersey; Steubenville, Ohio; Covington, Kentucky; Biloxi, Mississippi; Cripple Creek, Colorado; Deadwood, South Dakota; and Tombstone, Arizona were just a handful of the dozens of towns that looked the other way when gambling took place within their borders. In most cases, local authorities got a cut of the profits, and the industry was very lucrative. Today, lots of these places again host fully legal gambling, which was historically part of their heritage.

That’s the case with Hot Springs, Arkansas. Recently, HBG Design completed a five-star hotel at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, home of one of the legal casinos recently approved by the state. It’s a beautiful hotel, with a full selection of non-gaming amenities, situated on the first turn of the famous racetrack, which dates back to Hot Springs’ gambling heyday.

The Mobster & the Mayor

Tourism was always a part of Hot Springs, from the days when Native Americans visited the valley to enjoy the town’s namesake hot springs. And prior to the Civil War, the baths that linked the hot springs were a popular destination for travelers across the U.S.

Today’s Arlington Hotel is faded and frayed.

A tourism slump following the Civil War brought the first vestiges of gambling to town, culminating in an 1899 gunfight between Hot Springs police and county sheriffs. Each side had backed a different gambling faction in town, and the shootout left three dead.

By the mid-1920s, a mobster named Owney Madden had moved from New York to Hot Springs, and controlled gambling through his Hotel Arkansas casino, supported by the town’s mayor, Leo P. McLaughlin. At the height of early gambling in Hot Springs, there were 10 major casinos and some smaller establishments in the city, along with the Oaklawn Racetrack. The track’s race meets drew the biggest volume of travel to the resort. Madden is credited with making Hot Springs the birthplace of the “wire,” which disseminated information among racetracks, thus allowing off-track betting.

Madden and McLaughlin fended off prosecution and legislative action for the next 20 years. Gambling continued to thrive in Hot Springs, until some GIs returning from World War II took on the McLaughlin political machine, and drove the activity from the city.

In the 1940s, Arkansas seriously considered legalizing gambling in Hot Springs, noting the rise of Reno and Las Vegas when gambling became legal in Nevada. But the move failed narrowly in the state Senate. One can only wonder what would have become of Hot Springs had the effort succeeded.

After a short revival of gambling during the administration of Governor Orval Faubus, the industry finally came to an end in 1967. That’s when new Governor Winthrop Rockefeller sent in a phalanx of state troopers to shut down the remaining casinos and clubs, and destroy all their gaming equipment. For the next 50 years, Arkansans could only legally wager at Oaklawn and Southland Greyhound Track outside Memphis. Then, in November 2018, Arkansas passed a constitutional amendment to permit casino gaming at Oaklawn, Southland, and two other locations in the state.

Central Revival

The elegant bathhouses exist today as part of the Hot Springs National Park.

Today, Oaklawn is a first-class casino and resort. But unfortunately, downtown Hot Springs is fraying around the edges. Bathhouse Row and the surrounding mountains are now part of the National Park system, but the stores, hotels and motels across the street on Central Avenue are hurting. The Vapors, the last casino built when gambling was still allowed, is now a sketchy nightclub. The formerly grand Arlington Hotel, summer home to mobsters like Al Capone in his day, is shabby and worn.

Imagine if you will that, instead of just Oaklawn, gambling was revived along Central Avenue, as in the mountain towns of Colorado and South Dakota. Those shuttered casinos could return to their former glory, and Hot Springs could become a true destination resort once again, with multiple tourist attractions. The city would truly be revived.

We can only dream.

For a fascinating read about Hot Springs in its glory days, check out The Vapors: A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America’s Forgotten Capital of Vice by David Hill.