I am heading to Las Vegas to speak at two conferences next week. I have been busy this week preparing the power point presentations and reviewing the materials. The conferences I am speaking at are Raving’s Host & Player Development Conference and BNP Media’s Casino Marketing Conference.
At the Host & Player Development Conference, the title of my talk is “We’re Not in the Gambling Business, We’re in the Mathematics Business: Understanding the True Value of a Player.” This talk is an introduction to gambling mathematics for hosts. I’ll cover mythology, luck, variance, house edge, the “long run” and t-Win. At this conference I am also going to be a luncheon speaker on the topic: “Fear and Loathing for Hosts — When VIP Players Really Aren’t VIPs.”
At the Casino Marketing Conference, the title of my talk is “Is Free Play Really Free?” My presentation will be a discussion of the mathematics of Free Play. The focus will be on evaluating net-cash-flow for a slot player who is given a certain amount of free play. I am also going to examine the growth of Free Play, the tax implications of Free Play, and survey current Free Play scams. If you’re curious about the real value of Free Play, here is an article I wrote for Raving’s Solutions magazine:
Here is a flyer for the conferences:
Casino_Marketing_Conference_2012
I hope to survey a number of casinos during my down time. I will keep my eyes wide open for AP opportunities, camera in hand. Until I return, there will be few updates to this blog.
What is the true value of a player. Benny Binion once said that his job wasn’t done until a players last personal check to the casino bounces. In other words, not till the player is broke. He wasn’t joking. Have the casinos really changed all that much since the time of Benny Binion? I wonder…
Today, modern marketing models are used in the face of stiff competition. Concepts like “incremental income” and “acquire, retain, recover” are discussed and refined. There is significant data base work to uncover potential areas of market growth. Players are tracked with tiering, rewards programs, club cards and points. Metrics include t-win, recency, frequency, and demographics. Game perks incluce free play, match play, loss rebates, dead chips and quick loss. There are rooms, shows, merchandise, food and other amenities. Books on casino marketing are used in specialized college courses. Nothing from Binion’s day applies any more than it applies to Sears, Ford or Krogers. The industry is fully mature and competition now drives a mostly rational marketplace