With all of the news about casinos changing the traditional slots format to attract younger customers, it’s clear that slot machines are set for a major evolution. But will this evolution include completely phasing out slots in favor of video games?
Forbes writer Kevin Anderton recently examined this issue, and he thinks that the answer is ‘yes.’
Anderton points out how slot-machine revenue has declined in American casinos lately because the core customer is 50 years or older. This is a problem when considering that most people who visit Las Vegas are under the age of 50.
Here’s more from the Forbes column:
“Today’s young adults are used to a more sophisticated level of video entertainment. Pushing a button and just waiting to find out if you won or not is not enough entertainment for a lot of millennials. The number of visitors to Las Vegas that spend time gambling has dropped more than 15% in the past few years and millennials are gambling way less than other generations.”
A month ago, we reported that GameCo. is currently developing a gambling arcade game called Danger Arena. This machine will see players bet between $0.50 and $20.00 to blast as many bad guys as they can before the time limit runs out.
This is only the first attempt by the casino industry to use video games as a serious gambling draw. So if anything does happen, then these Video Game Gambling Machines (VGMs) won’t become the norm for years.
But I have to admit that betting on your video-game skills sounds like a really fun concept.
Aside from Danger Arena, a first-person game that’s similar to Call of Duty, other proposed genres will include: racing, fighting, sports, puzzle games, hidden object, match 3, and MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena).
Again, I doubt that if a revolution does take place where slots become obsolete, it won’t be happening in the immediate future. But the following infograph that Anderton presents does make you think:
