Tribal casinos are facing the same challenges as their commercial counterparts. They have staffing and retention issues and are trying to lure back once-loyal patrons who have shied away from returning to brick-and-mortar casinos since the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Other issues are connected to technology and management that perplex tribal casino managers. But there are solutions, from inventive recruitment strategies to digital marketing to robot bussers.
Yes, robotic bussers.
At Rolling Hills Casino & Resort in Corning, California, two robots clear tables, deliver food, and even sing “Happy Birthday” at a restaurant on the property.
“It’s fun to see the guests with their phones taking video of the robots,” said Rolling Hills Executive Director of Marketing Jeffrey Jantz Tuesday during “Marketing Expert Roundtable: Strategies from Around the Country that Work” at Raving NEXT: Indian Gaming Analytics & Marketing Conference. … We implemented this right before the end of (2021) and it’s been a hit. Employees love it, it helps the waitstaff, and we can’t hire anybody anyway. It’s not replacing anybody, it’s just supplementing the staff.”
Robotic bussers were just one of the strategies discussed by the panel as a way to combat staff shortages. Moderator Tom Osiecki, Raving Partner for Advanced Operations and Marketing, noted that gaming operators are competing with all types of businesses for new employees.
“Some of the techniques I’ve seen people use are hero pay, which is essentially a bonus,” Osiecki said, “sign-on bonuses, reference bonuses, job fairs with offers on the spot. I’ve heard that the (staffing) challenge is dissipating, but I think it’s still at the forefront of everything that has been facing casinos.”
Grand Traverse Resorts & Casinos Director of Marketing David Shubinski said the operator raised the hourly wage for new employees by $4 and used a direct-mail campaign to “let households within driving distance” know that work was available, with benefits.
“Probably the biggest part of the staffing issue was raising the minimum wage,” Shubinski said. “It was considerably lower than $15 per hour, which was what the national companies were calling for at the time.”
To retain and recruit tipped employees at Rolling Hills – including bartenders, table-game dealers, and waitstaff – the operator guaranteed an annual salary of $50,000.
“We looked at all the employees in those categories and most of them were making $24, $25, per hour or more anyway,” Jantz said. “We felt that (the guarantee) would be impactful in bringing in new people, because we’re still short bartenders, we’re still short dealers.”
Jantz added that tipped-employee wages are adjusted quarterly, so they can reach the $50,000 guarantee.
Player-retention strategies were also discussed. Citing figures from the American Gaming Association that the average age of casino patrons has dropped from 50 years in 2019 to 43 in 2021 and that 25% of players are 29 or under, the panelists admitted that they need older patrons back at casinos.
Raving Partner Brian Brammer, who specializes in operations and performance optimization, said that player counts are down by as much as 30% at some casinos. “And a lot of that is the missing 55-plus demographic,” Brammer said.
Both Jantz and Shubinski agreed that the 30% figure meshes with their own player data.
Shubinski said Grand Traverse Resorts has sent out reactivation mailers to get those players back.
“Not all of those people have made the decision to return just yet,” Shubinski said. “A lot of them made that decision (to return) once they were double vaccinated, but a lot of holdouts are still out there that I think will go back to the casino eventually if we continue to not forget about them and market to them on occasion.”
