Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | September 2008 32 M ost people are now familiar with the Las Vegas concept of the integrated resort. It’s normally a place the size of several football pitches where gaming, shopping, conferences and shows are all available under one air conditioned roof. There is another kind of integrated gaming facility, says Joe Pisano. It’s a venue that is integrated with the local community, in terms of its location and its product. This kind of integrated venue doesn’t need to be big and brash. It needs to be finely tuned to the needs of its local market. This is the sort of venue Elixir is helping to develop in selected markets in Asia, including the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam.Community gamingwas pioneered in Asia by one of EGT’s shareholders, Melco. Its Mocha clubs in Macau – a stable of slot venues that manage individually to feel like community clubs – have been successful because they appeal directly to Macau residents as well as visitors. “We’re aiming at a community type location, like Mocha, like Station Casinos in Nevada, or the clubs in Australia,” explains Mr Pisano. “There you’re amember of your local club and you keepgoingback there.It’s reinforced by loyalty programmes with loyalty points etc.That’s what we’re targeting.” All gaming operators worship at the altar of customer loyalty and customer retention. Some Las Vegas venues now draw more than 50% of their revenues from customer loyalty schemes according to abstracts from the COLLOQUY loyalty marketing census published last year in the Journal of Consumer Marketing in the United States. The reality is though that for the big destination resorts with their heavy visitor traffic, discretionary non-gaming spending and occasional visitors such as conference attendees, customer retention may not be as critical to long-term success as it is for community-based properties. “Our business at Elixir is all about working withour partner venuesonmarketing,getting people in the door, and then retaining the customer base,”says Mr Pisano. “Every time a customer walks in the door, you have to look at the lifetime value of that customer. You don’t look at him in terms of: ‘He’s coming in to spend US$20 today’. If he comes in every day for the next 10 years, and spends US$20 every day, he’s now a 100,000-dollar customer.” In some markets such as the Philippines, going local makes strong commercial sense. “In Manila, there’s 15 million people. If I have slot club in downtown Manila, I’m looking at a customer base within a five-kilometer radius. For anyone to travel Solid roots Community-style gaming is the key to Elixir’s offer