Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | January 2014 40 TECH TALK easy access to a casino—and that once they experience the excitement of gaming online, they will be motivated to also visit casinos, thereby increasing overall gaming revenues for the industry. In an attempt to determine the true impact of online gaming on brick-and-mortar casinos, AlixPartners recently conducted a survey of almost 2,000 gaming consumers (the AlixPartners Gaming-Consumer Survey). We asked themabout their online gaming activities as well as their casino visitation patterns. The survey also attempted to determine what gamblers are looking for in online gaming, in terms of branding, desired activities and the security of their personal information. Here are some key takeaways from our survey: • Good news for brick-and-mortar casinos. Only 15% of active gamblers surveyed said they are likely to reduce casino visits if online gaming is legal. • Better news for brick-and-mortar casinos. We were able to divide survey respondents into six distinct segments: Casual Players, Casual Happy-Go-Lucky Players, Destination Tourists, Consistent Members, Indifferent Members, and Online Enthusiasts. Online Enthusiasts—determined by their frequency of online gaming activity and their future desire to engage in online gaming activity—have two interesting characteristics according to our survey: they had the highest daily gaming budget of all the segments and they were also some of the most frequent visitors to brick- and-mortar casinos. • Even better news for brick-and-mortar casinos. According to our survey, active gamblers are 57% more likely to wager online if the Internet sites are run by known casino brands. Additionally, 58% of all gamblers surveyed said they would be attracted to Internet gaming sites that let them earn loyalty points redeemable at casinos. • But not all the news is good for casinos. Our study also looked at the six different consumer segments and analyzed how well their expectations were being met by brick- and-mortar casinos during their visits. On average, Online Enthusiasts rated casinos as performing below expectations in the areas of “value” and “service.” We believe there are a lot of reasons to think that online gaming will ultimately benefit brick- is a form of currency or security subject to US Securities laws; FinCEN determine that certain (if not most) practices related to Bitcoin constitute activities requiring registration under the Bank Secrecy Act; the FEC determine Bitcoin is “something of value” (and leave the question out there as to whether Bitcoin is money); and New York State announce that a close look at Bitcoin is coming. What does all this mean for the Bitcoin gaming industry? As US regulators in various industries have taken notice of Bitcoin, it’s only a matter of time until gaming regulators do the same (if they haven’t already). Bitcoin Bitcoin gaming operators taking action in the US are at a crossroads—continue the risk of operating without regard for the trend in increased regulatory scrutiny or find ways to operate within the Internet gaming regulatory environment that exists today and is likely expanding tomorrow. As US regulators in various industries have taken notice of Bitcoin, it’s only a matter of time until gaming regulators do the same (if they haven’t already).