Should New Jersey Sports Books Emulate Nevada?
By Vic Salerno, Special to CDC Gaming Reports
December 16, 2017
New Jersey and other jurisdictions will likely face the decision of what type of sports books to offer their customers in their respective sports betting venues. Las Vegas has many examples of opulent sports books that can be found at properties operated by Wynn Resorts, Station Casinos, and the Westgate, just to name a few. However, the cost and maintenance of supporting the physical sports book locations often negatively impacts profits and does not necessarily increase customer spend.
New Jersey, with its dense local population and astounding feeder market, is primarily a day-trip market. Rather than incurring the cost to build out “Las Vegas style sports books,” New Jersey casinos, along with casinos in other jurisdictions, should invest in kiosk technology that operates 24 hours per day and allows the customers to walk in, make a sports wager, and then head to work or home.
Kiosks can be positioned throughout the casino floor to meet a fluctuating customer demand for special sporting event needs. For example, kiosks can be placed near the poker room because there is a strong crossover between sports bettors and poker players. Kiosks can be banked together to provide convenience to customers attending on-site boxing and MMA events. They can also be repositioned to be close to viewing parties for March Madness or the NFL’s “Big Game.”
Likewise, live ticket writers at a sports betting counter can be scheduled to meet customer demand throughout the week, especially on the weekend when customer volume is at its peak. Finally, the casinos must embrace mobile applications for sports wagers just like they currently do with their successful online wagering programs. The false belief that customers will not come to the casino if he/she is permitted to wager through a phone’s mobile sports betting app has been soundly disproven in Nevada.
A mobile sports betting app will provide for greater reach to your customers, particularly with mobile sign-up and account funding. It will provide better penetration into all areas of New Jersey and will increase a casino’s database besides facilitating added customer wagering activity (because of the incredible convenience of mobile sports wagering). Nevada still requires in-person account sign-ups in a casino which is inconvenient and archaic. It is like requiring a person to visit a Whole Foods store to sign up for Amazon Prime. By providing an easy online account sign-up and funding solution, New Jersey casinos will generate many new customers and have opportunities to send mobile offers to their new sports betting customers to encourage them to make an in-person visit to the casinos.
New Jersey casinos should consider utilizing the property’s existing facilities (lounges, restaurants and showrooms) to provide televised sports viewing for their customers. The casinos need to create a sports book environment that does not intimidate its potential new sports bettors. They need to offer knowledgeable ticket writers who are capable and willing to volunteer information and teach people the nuances of the betting lines, and parlay and teaser wagering. A “How to Bet” customer service window should be established. Efforts for customer development needs to be new and unprecedented. New Jersey casinos should consider programs to market to and educate women in the parlance of sports betting.
In Nevada, wagers made via a mobile sports betting app now accounts for nearly 40 percent of wagers and is growing faster than all industry insiders’ wildest expectations. I wouldn’t be surprised if mobile account wagering generates 80 percent of the volume in New Jersey. Mobile sports wagering apps provide for age verification, geo-location, wagering/transaction history, accountability and tracking for the casino, the customers and the State. If permitted, New Jersey casinos will want to invest in creating the best online sports betting platform used for both desktop and mobile wagering because new technology is the key to the growth of retail gaming in general and sports betting, specifically.
With the capital expense savings which I’m advocating, I strongly suggest that New Jersey casinos put their dollars to work by providing great payout odds, player club points, mobile deposit bonuses, and special offers only available to their mobile sports betting customers.
We, as a society, are motivated by convenience. We have made Amazon.com one of the largest online retailers in the world—buying books, music, movies, groceries, and even paper products. We buy movie tickets online from Fandango and sporting event tickets on Stub Hub or Flash Seats. The mobile experience keeps getting better and better.
We need to provide sports bettors the best of both worlds. Seasoned customers want an awesome mobile sports wagering app to make their bets. However, the inexperienced sports bettors, who are in the casino, want us to have courteous, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic ticket writers ready to answer any questions, resolve any issues, provide any requested comp, or just be the bettor’s best friend for the afternoon.
The game plan for New Jersey casinos that I have outlined is simple:
Invest in your staff and not in a large scale “Las Vegas-style sports book.”
Make a commitment to customer education. We speak a different language, with a lot of slang terms. Provide your new potential customers with an intimidation-free area to learn how to wager.
Reward your mobile customers with a variety of offers, bonuses and player rewards.
Leverage your existing casino facilities to create great sports viewing venues.
Finally, market to women; women take to the mobile app because it is anonymous, stress-free, and permits them to place wagers from an environment where they feel most comfortable.
New Jersey’s big opportunity is to learn from Nevada and make their legal sports betting operations much better.
By Vic Salerno, Special to CDC Gaming Reports
December 16, 2017
New Jersey and other jurisdictions will likely face the decision of what type of sports books to offer their customers in their respective sports betting venues. Las Vegas has many examples of opulent sports books that can be found at properties operated by Wynn Resorts, Station Casinos, and the Westgate, just to name a few. However, the cost and maintenance of supporting the physical sports book locations often negatively impacts profits and does not necessarily increase customer spend.
New Jersey, with its dense local population and astounding feeder market, is primarily a day-trip market. Rather than incurring the cost to build out “Las Vegas style sports books,” New Jersey casinos, along with casinos in other jurisdictions, should invest in kiosk technology that operates 24 hours per day and allows the customers to walk in, make a sports wager, and then head to work or home.
Kiosks can be positioned throughout the casino floor to meet a fluctuating customer demand for special sporting event needs. For example, kiosks can be placed near the poker room because there is a strong crossover between sports bettors and poker players. Kiosks can be banked together to provide convenience to customers attending on-site boxing and MMA events. They can also be repositioned to be close to viewing parties for March Madness or the NFL’s “Big Game.”
Likewise, live ticket writers at a sports betting counter can be scheduled to meet customer demand throughout the week, especially on the weekend when customer volume is at its peak. Finally, the casinos must embrace mobile applications for sports wagers just like they currently do with their successful online wagering programs. The false belief that customers will not come to the casino if he/she is permitted to wager through a phone’s mobile sports betting app has been soundly disproven in Nevada.
A mobile sports betting app will provide for greater reach to your customers, particularly with mobile sign-up and account funding. It will provide better penetration into all areas of New Jersey and will increase a casino’s database besides facilitating added customer wagering activity (because of the incredible convenience of mobile sports wagering). Nevada still requires in-person account sign-ups in a casino which is inconvenient and archaic. It is like requiring a person to visit a Whole Foods store to sign up for Amazon Prime. By providing an easy online account sign-up and funding solution, New Jersey casinos will generate many new customers and have opportunities to send mobile offers to their new sports betting customers to encourage them to make an in-person visit to the casinos.
New Jersey casinos should consider utilizing the property’s existing facilities (lounges, restaurants and showrooms) to provide televised sports viewing for their customers. The casinos need to create a sports book environment that does not intimidate its potential new sports bettors. They need to offer knowledgeable ticket writers who are capable and willing to volunteer information and teach people the nuances of the betting lines, and parlay and teaser wagering. A “How to Bet” customer service window should be established. Efforts for customer development needs to be new and unprecedented. New Jersey casinos should consider programs to market to and educate women in the parlance of sports betting.
In Nevada, wagers made via a mobile sports betting app now accounts for nearly 40 percent of wagers and is growing faster than all industry insiders’ wildest expectations. I wouldn’t be surprised if mobile account wagering generates 80 percent of the volume in New Jersey. Mobile sports wagering apps provide for age verification, geo-location, wagering/transaction history, accountability and tracking for the casino, the customers and the State. If permitted, New Jersey casinos will want to invest in creating the best online sports betting platform used for both desktop and mobile wagering because new technology is the key to the growth of retail gaming in general and sports betting, specifically.
With the capital expense savings which I’m advocating, I strongly suggest that New Jersey casinos put their dollars to work by providing great payout odds, player club points, mobile deposit bonuses, and special offers only available to their mobile sports betting customers.
We, as a society, are motivated by convenience. We have made Amazon.com one of the largest online retailers in the world—buying books, music, movies, groceries, and even paper products. We buy movie tickets online from Fandango and sporting event tickets on Stub Hub or Flash Seats. The mobile experience keeps getting better and better.
We need to provide sports bettors the best of both worlds. Seasoned customers want an awesome mobile sports wagering app to make their bets. However, the inexperienced sports bettors, who are in the casino, want us to have courteous, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic ticket writers ready to answer any questions, resolve any issues, provide any requested comp, or just be the bettor’s best friend for the afternoon.
The game plan for New Jersey casinos that I have outlined is simple:
Invest in your staff and not in a large scale “Las Vegas-style sports book.”
Make a commitment to customer education. We speak a different language, with a lot of slang terms. Provide your new potential customers with an intimidation-free area to learn how to wager.
Reward your mobile customers with a variety of offers, bonuses and player rewards.
Leverage your existing casino facilities to create great sports viewing venues.
Finally, market to women; women take to the mobile app because it is anonymous, stress-free, and permits them to place wagers from an environment where they feel most comfortable.
New Jersey’s big opportunity is to learn from Nevada and make their legal sports betting operations much better.
