Although I like to predict the future, I’ve never been very good at reading the tea leaves for the gaming industry. I totally missed the coming of slot tickets, wrongly thinking that players would prefer the sounds of cold hard coins clanking in the hopper. I missed the advent of the super megaresorts in Las Vegas. I never thought sports betting would be widely legalized in the United States. And who could have predicted widespread, legal, internet gambling and electronic table games?
So I’m cautious now when I try to predict the future for the domestic casino industry. But I still enjoy speculating about it. Maybe I’m due to call something right this time.
Peering into the future, this column focuses on what the U.S. casino experience might look like in the foreseeable future, based on current casino trends and the past experience of older casino jurisdictions like Europe, which can often be a precursor for what comes to the United States. I’ll also take some wild-ass guesses in the belief that I may see a few things that others may miss, hopefully making up for the things I miss that everyone else sees.
I foresee four scenarios (yes, there may be others) that will most likely evolve and dramatically shape the casino landscape over the next few years and, perhaps, 10 years at the most.
- Technology run amok dominates the future.
- The government and society push back on what rules and regulations should govern the operating of casinos.
- The squeeze on the gambling proposition (worse odds, higher minimums, tighter slot machines, etc.) and the search for new and additional profit centers (resort fees, paid parking, restaurant surcharges, etc.) continue well into the future, as casinos struggle to find ways to grow revenue, control costs, and enhance shareholder value.
- The casino-playing public says, “Enough is enough,” and demands that casinos stop the continuing trend of vacuuming their gambling budget at ever-faster rates and the industry will be forced to respond.
Scenario 1: Technology runs amok
No cash is now accepted by casinos. Money is transferred electronically between casino player accounts (bank, credit card, pre-funded casino accounts) and casino coffers. There are no tickets at slot machines and no chips at tables. In fact, dealers at tables are extinct, as are casino complaints about rising labor costs; all the table games are electronic.
Traditional ATM machines have disappeared, replaced by “Account Transfer Machines” that don’t dispense tickets or cash, merely facilitating transfers between a player’s financial instruments, to their gambling account, or to the casino as payment. Problem-gambling advocates have lost the fight against implementing these processes.
Hotel check-in and check-out are all done electronically through a guest’s smartphone, prior to arrival or departure. Front desk clerks have gone the way of dealers. The phone has a QR code that serves as the room key. Everything in the hotel room is activated or adjusted through a single electronic keypad. Robots clean the rooms daily.
In other areas, facial recognition serves as IDs for guests. Artificial intelligence customizes each slot player’s experience, from the themes, sights, and sounds to the gambling payback and volatility of the game itself. Lifelike AI characters serve as casino brand ambassadors.
Scenario 2: Government and society push back
The pushback on casinos from governments, regulators, and organized groups of consumers is extreme, precipitated by a string of gambling industry scandals — gut-wrenching stories of gambling suicides, high-profile sports-betting scandals, class-action consumer lawsuits regarding certain casino policies and procedures, and sensationalistic news stories. The feds, states, and regulatory bodies respond with a new wave of laws, restrictions, and requirements impacting casino operations.
Casino players are allowed to gamble for two hours before being required to take a mandatory four-hour break. Mandatory player loss limits per day are based on each player’s net worth and amount of disposable income. Casino advertising of all kinds is prohibited, as are casino bets deemed to have egregious hold percentages. High taxes on casino profits are used in part to fund problem-gambling resources for a casino’s customers identified by AI as needing them. Internet gambling is severely restricted with similar player-protection rules. Casinos are required to close a day for each instance where a self-excluded problem gambler or underage gambler is discovered playing there.
Scenario 3: The squeeze to the extreme
Casinos are well aware of all the aspects of their business where they can make more money. They build on the discoveries of the COVID era: how much they could charge and what services they could reduce before they received any significant customer pushback.
All blackjacks pay even money, roulette wheels have 5 green-zero frets, dressed up now as Minion characters for player appeal. Artificial intelligence manages a host of complex algorithms for each slot player that allow for individualized player hold percentages to maximize the win. Sportsbook operators ensure a 10% edge on every straight-up bet, 25% on every parlay bet.
On the non-casino side, resort fees now equal the room rate. Parking fees are triple what they were in 2026. Surcharges are collected for early check-in, prime restaurant seat selection, extra pillows, premium shampoos and conditioners, in-room coffee and water bottles, and rooms on certain floors. Check-in is 6 p.m. and check out 9 a.m. ATM fees are $20, no matter how much of a withdrawal is requested. Entrance fees return to the casino landscape, especially at peak times.
Scenario 4: Player pushback
Sometime in the near future, casinos respond to the accusations of “the gouge.” They listen to customers who just want a little more value for the “naughtiness” of blowing their discretionary bankrolls on casino games of chance. They finally realize that they were losing gambling customers to the better odds of internet gambling and, in some cases, just to bowling and the movies.
One class of successful casinos caters mainly to higher-end customers, the other mainly to the lower- and middle-tier customer with a value approach. The higher-end resorts aren’t cheap, but even they don’t squeeze their customers to the max at every possible cash register. They strategically restore some of the gambling value that they started to erode in the 2020s, especially for their top-tier players. They also attract the middle class to return with specials, off-season pricing, packaged offerings, creative tiered offers, earned carry-over spending credits, etc., even if only for special occasions or the occasional splurge. They make money at most, if not all, of their points of sale, but they strategically utilize the gambling cash registers to help maximize the profitability of the entire operation. Gambling once again is appreciated as a cash cow, not a gutted carcass.
The biggest change in the casino landscape is the phenomenal growth in the value casino. A subsidiary of Costco creates a huge network of casinos that offers the best value possible, especially to gamblers, understanding the driving forces (time in action) that drive gambling behavior. They have low limits as well as high. They have 3-2 blackjack, single-zero roulette, 10x odds on craps, and the loosest slot machines available. They don’t hand out points, free play, comps, gifts, bonuses, or anything else that layer costs on the core gambling product. In fact, the product is so good and filled with value that the value casinos charge membership fees and gleeful gamblers gladly pay it. Just like they gladly do at Costco. Oh, some of the value may come from some of the other casino elements of hotels, restaurants, retail, entertainment, etc., but only when it can enhance the existing value proposition.
So there you have my crystal-ball predictions for U.S. casinos sometime in the near future. Sure, some crystal balls are cloudy and none of my scenarios will probably ever unfold as I’ve described them. But I do believe that the future can be bright if we let our customers guide it and we don’t use the future to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
