Pending approval from Nevada gaming regulators, Caesars Entertainment and Gamblit Gaming have resolved to add 125 interactive games to Caesars properties this year in Nevada, including the Las Vegas Strip.
Those plans are preceded by the installation of several interactive gaming stations at Harrah’s Rincon in Southern California, and Caesars intends to install another 100 at properties in other states.
“Our agreement with Gamblit and the introduction of [its] skill-based gaming positions to our casinos are key milestones in our gaming innovation strategy and platform,” Caesars Entertainment President and CEO Mark Frissora said in a September news release announcing the partnership.
Some of the skill-based gaming platforms planned for Caesars this year utilize Las-Vegas-based Gamblit’s Model G gaming table, which enables up to four players to compete head-to-head in skill-based games.
The gaming table generally resembles a high-tech coffee table upon which up two to four players can compete playing Gamblit Poker.
The Gamblit Poker system will use a random number generator to determine outcomes, while allowing Caesars to get a cut of the action as if the poker table were a live poker gaming table. A fee version also is available.
The interactive poker likely won’t ever supplant live poker as the top earner on Caesars’ gaming floors, but it does appeal to millennials and non-traditional poker players. It also promotes the kind of social interaction
Another potential gaming platform on the Model G gaming platform is Gamblit’s ‘Cannonbeard’s Treasure’. The card game combines luck and skill for between two and four players, who grab the cards they need to achieve objectives and win a chest of gold.
The game includes naval warfare as well as luck and utilizes a random number generator. A fee version also is available.
The other gaming platform planned to debut on the floors of Caesars’ properties on the Las Vegas Strip and elsewhere is the Gamblit TriStation, which enables interactive, skill-based gaming for up to three players.
Gamblit has far more gaming titles for its TriStation gaming platform, and Caesars intends to debut the ‘Match 3volution’ and ‘Lucky Words’ games that utilize the TriStation platform.
Gamblit says the ‘Match 3volution’ game requires players to “evolve mega-adorbs critters” while trying to match three of the same creatures to win cash prizes. Powerups enable players to advance up the evolutionary chain and win more money.
The ‘LuckyWords’ game gives players 30 seconds to convert chain letters into words and win cash. Players can win up to five payouts by using their skills as wordsmiths.
Many other game titles exist, and one of the newest, ‘Jetpack Joyride’, is slated for release in casinos this year. ‘Jetpack Joyride’ requires players to break into a secret laboratory, put on a bullet-powered jetpack and fly around while avoiding lasers, electrical fields and missiles.
Another potentially popular gaming title that might wind up among the skill-based gaming options at Caesars is ‘Into The Dead’, which plays upon the current popularity of zombies in pop culture and already has more than 60 million downloads on mobile devices.
A key element of skill-based games is their availability to consumers in other formats, such as Android-powered phones, iPhones and mobile tablets. Tens of millions of downloads for each gaming title indicates its popularity and potential user base.
For the skill-based games to be successful, Gamblit CEO Eric Meyerhofer during a G2E exposition panel discussion on skill-based gaming in September said the key to success for skill-based gaming is to provide a hybrid experience that combines gaming skill with an element of chance.
Games that are purely skill-based would be too easy for a small number of highly skilled players to dominate. But, with an element of chance, even players who are less skilled at a particular game have a chance to win.
An element of chance also provides a more satisfying gaming experience for a larger number of players.
“It’s going to require putting together a player experience and give people something to get involved in, Meyerhofer said as part of a special panel addressing skill-based gaming.
“If you can engage them, you can monetize them,” he said.
That engagement includes holding promotional events to attract more new visitors to the gaming floor, he suggested.
Instead of cannibalizing existing gaming revenues by taking customers away from more traditional gaming, Caesars Senior Vice President Melissa Price during the same panel discussion said the idea is to attract entirely new gamblers to the casino floor.
The skill-based games primarily appeal to younger visitors and help Caesars to embrace the next generation of gamblers. To determine their success, Price said a new way of measuring economic impact will be required, rather than simply relying upon old metrics, such as time on device.
Examining increases in food and beverage sales, events participation and rooms booked among millennials likely would be a more effective way to determine the economic impact of skill-based gaming, Price said during the panel discussion.
With Las Vegas casinos looking to attract more millennials and get them engaged on the gaming floors, the gaming industry likely will keep a close eye on skill-based games when they eventually debut likely this year at Caesars’ Las Vegas Strip properties.
In addition to Caesars Palace, Caesars Entertainment owns and operates the Flamingo, Linq, Harrah’s, Bally’s, Planet Hollywood, Paris Las Vegas, Rio All-Suites, and The Cromwell in Las Vegas.
