Land based casinos back in business, but some clients stay online
Land based casinos are back in business, but many clients choosing to stay in cyberspace
After several false dawns, there is a sense of optimism up and down the country, that life really is returning to something close to normal. Sports events are welcoming capacity crowds, pubs are inviting regulars back to sit at the bar, even nightclubs are welcoming revellers back in force. And then there are the casinos.
In some respects, these had an even tougher time than other leisure outlets. After all, pub and club operators knew their customers were impatient to return as soon as their doors reopened. But gamblers were able to make use of online alternatives. Now, the traditional casinos are facing a battle to tempt them back.
Holding the aces
It’s a problem that is already familiar to many of the high street retailers, whose sales have been dramatically affected by the rise of eCommerce stores, especially in the clothing and home electronics sectors. Using a web-based supplier brings obvious advantages, whether you’re buying a pair of shoes or playing a game of blackjack. The first and most obvious is convenience. There’s no need to even get out of your armchair, much less spend time and money getting into town, parking and so on.
Then, of course, there’s the question of choice. Online retailers can stock a vast range of product lines that might be stored in different warehouses all over the world, while a shop only has so much space. This difference is even more marked for a casino. Every slot game needs to be installed in its own cabinet, and that uses up a certain amount of floor space. An online casino can as easily have 2,000 slots as 200, and there’s no limit on how many people can play each one simultaneously.
Online casinos also reap the benefits of lower overheads in terms of facilities maintenance, staff costs and so on, so they can offer generous promos, bonuses and giveaways. Add to that wider choice of payment methods and fast casino withdrawals for UK punters and you start to see why the traditional casinos are finding it hard to compete.
Wining back the footfalls
The biggest problem for the casinos is that last year’s events prompted people who might never otherwise have considered playing casino games online to give it a try. Inevitably, some have found all those advantages we mentioned a compelling reason to stay in cyberspace. However, land-based casinos do have one trump card.
Aside from a minority of serious and semi-professional gamblers, people don’t go to a casino with the objective of getting the best deal and maximising their chances of beating the house. They go because it is a fun night out, and they accept that it will cost some money, just as it would to go to the theatre or a nightclub.
When distancing restrictions and mask rules were still in place, a casino was not a particularly fun place to be, so it is perhaps no surprise that people stayed away. Now, it is vital that casinos make use of their unique advantage and focus on providing the best possible experience. So far, at least, that’s something that can’t be replicated through a smartphone app.
