Inside Asian Gaming

FEBRUARY 2018 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 19 COVER STORY MC: What do you think of themed properties? PS: I love them, I think they’re fantastic. I don’t think themed properties should be themed as Disney would do it, though. For example, Resorts World Las Vegas will be the first themed property on the Strip in 18 years. We believe in the themed property as a basis of where to head with the design. There is a modern interpretation of just about everything and that is what makes people feel really good about themselves. Take, for example, the motorcycle that I ride when I’m in America. It’s an Indian motorcycle. Why do I ride that? Well it’s modern, it’s got all the fancy gadgets – cruise control, anti-lock brakes and things like that – yet it’s a classic style. The Sky Casino in Galaxy is one of the most successful casino spaces we’ve ever done and that is an interpretation of classical spaces. It doesn’t look and feel classical, it looks and feels as though it’s on its own. It looks like an architect from the 16th or 18th century could have designed it, but he would have designed it today. That is how we approach every themed project. feeling that they look good and feeling of diversity in their product that it can do many things. Then we put a little bit of a local spin on it to make sure we accommodate not only the locals but also the different demographic groups – the millennials, baby boomers, Gen Y and so on. We try to do this in every job and we have our customers assist us because most of the time we don’t live there. MC: What about millennials and casinos? PS: We’re a little bit concerned about that, which is why we have made a new slot machine company, Competitive Interactive. Most of our customers have been asking us to predict the future. It takes us about five years to do one of these buildings, and what is in the future? We have designed many experimental casinos on paper right now for what the future might hold. My children don’t play slot machines, most of their friends don’t play slot machines – the typical slot machine customer is typically going the way of the racebook customer. They’re getting older and not as much a part of the gaming scene. We have developed a slot machine called “Running Rich” which is a driving-based, skill-based slot machine. Now, once we develop the slot machine that will get the younger millennial gambler to possibly experience casinos, then the casino design will change. We are looking at more indoor/outdoor designs of casinos – maybe there are more pools and recreational facilities directly outside the casino that interact well with it – and we are looking at casinos being more suited to color changing studies, digital projections within the casino. There are some VR [virtual reality] studies going on right now and we believe in the near future we will be doing things within the casino that will be organized in a VR way. In terms of what the millennials actually want, it’s all over the board. We do not believe that architects coming up with the “hip” thing for that particular moment is good for these buildings. The hip thing is in one week and out the next. We can’t do what clothing brands do and design things for one season. These casinos are designed for 50 years. Of course, they get renovated every seven years but it takes that kind of futuristic thinking and I hope we’ll be a part of it. MC: What structures are comparable to casinos? Are shopping malls like casinos? PS: Shopping malls are definitely not like casinos and the casinos that are shopping malls are not successful. There are very, very few buildings like them because an integrated resort is a series of buildings. It’s a hotel, convention center, a theatre – an assembly building of sorts. If I said, “What are these buildings like?” – they’re like giant transit centers, like train stations that have hotels on top of them or the Orlando airport without airplanes. That’s what these buildings are like. They have more people per square foot in them, they make more money than any other building, they are transient in nature – people come and go – and you must be 100% entertained, but you must be entertained how you want to be entertained. No one will force entertainment upon you. So, if I had to compare it to one building, it would be a train station in London or Grand Central. "If you read some of the books about casino design from 10 or 15 years ago, they are all about creating confusing layouts with dark colors, dark lighting and things of this nature. I wish I had known in 2004 that we could have a brighter, more brilliant casino and in fact have it be more successful." MC: How do culture and location impact IR design? PS: Locations and cultures are interesting issues. We’ve designed casinos all over the world now and wherever it might be, we always respond to the various market conditions of the customers – always with a look of Las Vegas behind it. Las Vegas is the most successful entertainment destination in the world and if you ask anyone in the world what they want to create in their first design meetings, it’s not necessarily to do something that the locals are totally familiar with, but it’s something that gives them that feeling of Las Vegas, that feeling of entertainment, feeling of excitement, feeling of empowerment,