Casino Enterprise Management

Walking this year’s G2E exhibit floor, you surely saw the rows of gleaming, towering new slot machines. But did you notice the sheer number of vendors offering i-gaming solutions? We sure did, and it’s not surprising, as Internet gaming continues to pervade our industry’s landscape. It did, however, get us thinking about the elephant-in-the-room question: As i-gaming continues to grow, what will happen to standard slot cabinet sales?We asked the vendors themselves if they’ve started to feel or see a difference. Those we spoke to weren’t anticipating a significant impact in the short term. While they believe Internet and mobile gaming will affect sales over the next five to 10 years, they believe their content is compelling enough to maintain cabinet sales while the i-gaming market defines itself. Furthermore, they believe casino executives understand and appreciate the delivery devices they provide and will continue to support their emerging product lines.

We humbly disagree. 

While we believe that casino operation executives do support and appreciate the various manufacturers’ efforts, we know their first priority is ensuring a profitable and sustainable operation. And these days, that’s hard to do. The cost of operating a casino continues to escalate unabated. The costs of goods and services, wages and health care continue to increase while the average customer spend continues to decline. Shrinking capital budgets and the ever-rising price of standard games and systems force operators to do more with less, and the value proposition i-gaming offers certainly beats the status quo. Plus, if it’s content that drives the vendors’ cabinet sales, do actual delivery devices truly matter? 

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