Seminoles branch out into social gaming

February 28, 2018 12:22 PM
  • Nick Sortal, CDC Gaming Reports
February 28, 2018 12:22 PM
  • Nick Sortal, CDC Gaming Reports

A powerful guitar riff blasts out of my laptop shortly after I enter the Hard Rock Social Casino website. Then background chatter, like you’d hear at a bar, accompanies my experience as I check out the site’s slot options.

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“Safari Spirit,” with its display of elephants, giraffes and lions, invites me to press the SPIN button.

Next thing I know, a slot display – very much like what I’d see at any casino – is spinning above my keyboard. And I’m trying to pile up points.

So I now can launch slots on a computer in less than a minute. But answering the larger question could take years: To what extent will free slots, tables and other online gambling experiences entice people to visit their local casino more often?

The Seminole Tribe of Florida is among the latest to offer social gaming, and other tribes will be following soon. The idea is to use the public’s love for their electronic devices – laptops, iPhones and tablets – to whet an appetite for spending their money at casinos.

Social gaming is among the ways that casinos are looking to increase their business, along with legal sports gambling, e-Sports, and skill-based games. And people have pointed to some successes.

Data strongly supports the argument that related online gaming enhances live casino action. A white paper published by gambling consultant Spectrum Gaming quotes Richard Schwartz, president of Rush Street Interactive, who testified before the Pennsylvania House Gaming Oversight Committee last year. He said the Golden Nugget in New Jersey, the physical gaming partner for PlaySugarHouse.com, saw existing players who signed up for PlaySugarHouse.com increase their land-based spend by 15 percent. And players spent 33 percent more with the Golden Nugget in aggregate after they started playing at both online and brick-and-mortar properties. (Online play with money at stake is legal in New Jersey.)

“So ultimately, having multiple channels, online and offline, working together, will increase revenues generated from that brand and increase tax revenues for the Commonwealth,” he testified. “There are few other marketing programs in the industry that share the same capacity to generate both new players and grow the spend of existing players.”

In February, Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming, both owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, announced the launch of their online social games. Payment is not required to enjoy the basic games and only “virtual” credits are awarded as prizes.

Kresimir Spajic, senior vice president of online gaming for Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming, sounds a lot like Schwartz. “Continual customer engagement is important to casino operators who can maximize marketing opportunities as part of the social games,” Spajic said.

Players have the option of linking their social games play to their Hard Rock Wild Card rewards account or linking to the rewards programs of other Hard Rock properties. That can bring the good stuff: online social players who earn enough points can cash them in for merchandise, casino dining, and other gifts.

Bryan Bennett, senior vice president of AGS Interactive, also sees social gaming as an appetizer to the main course. AGS, which made its first inroads via Indian gaming, goes a step further, though, creating mobile games that mirror the titles they provide to casinos.

“Casino partners are starting to understand, ‘Hey, when my players leave my floor, they’re playing these social casinos. So why shouldn’t they play mine?’” Bennett says. “We know the real win for the casino is getting them back on property.”

Social gamers do connect to physical casinos, according to research from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming. Their study shows that 85 percent of social casino players visit a casino at least twice a year.

Bennett also agrees with the Seminoles’ marketing strategy of allowing customers to earn credits playing social games online and then redeeming those points upon return to the land-based property. AGS does differ, though, on the type of social games offered. AGS matches its titles on casino slot floors with their social games; the Seminoles contract with Ainsworth Game Technology doesn’t require such matching.

I freely admit that I’m a late adapter. I don’t play games on my phone, whether they be slots or Candy Crush. But social gaming, especially via the smartphone, is only going to grow. As a friend of mine joked about 10 years ago, “That Internet thing is here to stay.”