To be honest, I’ve never cared much for the game of bingo. Bingo games take a lot of time, the chances of winning are relatively small, and except in Mega Bingo games, the prize money (at least in the many casinos where I’ve witnessed bingo) is mostly small potatoes. Plus, the legions of predominantly blue-haired bingo-playing aficionados brandish a bingo dauber to mark the called numbers with a speed and ferociousness that I frankly find quite intimidating.
In my decades of casino consulting, I’ve seen numerous casinos offer bingo. Many are tribal casinos; where bingo was an important start in the tribe’s journey into the casino business and many tribal members grew up playing the game. Others tend to be small locals casinos in communities that have had bingo for years or run previously (and still today) by community or charitable organizations in fire halls, church halls, and the like. Probably one of the first examples of gambling being seen as OK and not naughty or sinful.
If I had to characterize casino bingo today it would be this: “Offer bingo as a low-stakes gambling offering for low value (but frequent) players and hope to make enough money on the slot machines from the bingo players before and after the scheduled bingo games and during breaks in the bingo program.” This hope and belief in potential slot revenue are why many casinos still offer bingo as a loss leader. Sort of like the old Las Vegas model for the casino buffet.
And then I discovered Super Bingo at the Plaza in downtown Las Vegas.
I’d been to the Plaza previously to report on their marvelous and powerful formula of providing more value to casino players, while most Las Vegas casinos were providing less. And I coincidentally was at the Plaza while it was conducting one of its monthly, three- day, $160,000 Super Bingo events. In my discussions with Plaza CEO Jonathan Jossel and GM Sue Ascanio, I discovered that the Plaza’s biggest gaming revenue days were typically during Super Bingo, on weekdays no less!
I had to investigate this phenomenon. So I did what most consultants wouldn’t do. I played Super Bingo. First, of course, I interviewed the Plaza’s Director of Bingo and Keno Operations, Weldon Russell III.
Weldon is a true bingo expert. He is a septuagenarian who is thinking way more about his next bingo innovation than retirement. He worked for tribal casinos in California, Arizona, and Texas. He ran all of the bingo operations for Station Casinos, turning losing bingo operations into profitable ones. And when he was recruited to run the bingo operations at the Plaza, Weldon faced what may have been the biggest challenge of his career.
The Plaza had been losing money on bingo for 11 years. The quarterly Super Bingo events seemed to do well, but that was it. So Weldon got to work with two mantras: “I make money on everything” and “I don’t try to buy the business.”
He remodeled the bingo room, which used to be the Plaza Buffet, adding six TVs so bingo players could watch popular sporting events. He invested $100,000 in “fixed-based stationaries,” hand-held electronic gadgets that allow bingo players to play numerous bingo cards at once, automatically, without having to daub all those paper cards. He grabbed a Plaza casino host to become a Bingo Ambassador and spearhead bingo marketing. He made the yearlong daily bingo games profitable, by running off the bingo advantage players who had the best of it. He changed the bingo offers to matchplay coupons for locals and free blue packs for tourists.
And once Weldon understood how valuable the Super Bingo events were for the casino floor (and with heavy nudging from CEO Jonathan Jossel), he scheduled them once a month instead of once a quarter. During those days, they usually now produce the highest headcounts on all of Fremont Street.
Weldon estimates his Super Bingo player base is made up of 35-40% locals; the rest are visitors who come specifically for the Super Bingo, most staying at the Plaza. Even then, many stay at other downtown casinos and do much of their gambling at the Plaza.
Weldon credits his bingo success to his staff, the best one he’s ever had in his career. I noticed it when I checked in for Super Bingo and told them I was a total bingo newbie, and they handled me with patience, encouragement, clear instructions, and tender loving care. I noticed it in the seamless execution of the numerous bingo games, from the Letter P, to the Large Crazy Kite, to the Champagne Glass, and all the way to the $20,000 and $30,000 Coverall Games (which puts the “Super” in Super Bingo). I felt it during the drink and lunch service (for 500-600 bingo players!) during Super Bingo and the bingo attendant who refused my $20 tip because “it wasn’t necessary.”
I learned there are other Super Bingo games in Las Vegas, at Station Casinos, Boyd Casinos, and the “big dog,” South Point Casino with its four $1 million bingo events every year. But the Plaza has the only Super Bingo downtown. With the biggest impact on business. And with the most learning on how to leverage the overlooked, much maligned, gambling relic called bingo to drive revenue at the casino: Make your daily bingo game profitable; have a schedule of impactful “Super Bingo” games periodically; do reasonable but effective bingo marketing; have great customer service; measure bingo’s overall impact fairly and thoroughly. And have a wise old bingo codger like Weldon Russell to run your operation.
No, I didn’t win any money at Plaza Super Bingo. And bingo is still way too slow for my gambling tastes. But I gained something much more valuable from my experience – an understanding that I may have been wrong about bingo and an appreciation of how it can help a casino’s business. Especially if you do it like the Plaza. You should go and check it out.
