Reno’s casinos aren’t exactly hopping on a Friday night. Atlantic City is presumably doing even worse. Could smartphones, Facebook, etc. be the worst enemies of the casino industry? If people used to come to casinos partly out of boredom, even in an ever-richer world it might be tough for casinos to grow. A bored person can download an app or check Facebook. Separately, Apple, Verizon, and Comcast do a pretty good job of mining out consumers’ entertainment dollars, which also leaves less for casinos to harvest.
Should investors short casino stocks the day that VR is perfected?
Online gambling has been around for a while, but it probably can’t beat the tactile feel of a machine or the feeling of knowing the bare laws of physics were determining the outcome rather than the standard C library random number generator.
I can’t speak for Reno but I was in Tahoe on the Nevada side and the casinos were stodgy, if not archaic.
We went to an outdoor concert at Harrah’s that apparently pulled in people from Sacramento but I’m guessing not a lot of gamblers. Seems independent of VR or Facebook specifically.
Disclosure: I own a home in Silicon Valley so am pro-AR/VR and especially pro-Facebook, for financial reasons.
I see several problems with casinos. First, they are everywhere now. So Reno is going to get “gamblers” who are almost too stupid to get out of bed. They have to be not only dumb enough to pay a casino for the right to watch dealers take their money methodically, but also dumb enough to drive past and fly over many casinos to get to Reno.
Casino gambling is one of those irrational human pursuits (ocean sailboat racing is another example) that profit from scarcity. Now that casinos are everywhere those genetically compelled to give their money away can drive to their nearest native american nation and donate as much as they wish. It kind of takes the shine off of the whole industry.
I would like to say that maybe people figured out basic statistics, but that can’t be right. More likely, since healthcare and housing costs now soak up all available income, people just can’t come up with as much cash to donate to the casino industry.
There are other factors that probably come into play, but I think those are some of the big ones.
I think the goal of the casino industry is to keep building out until they become “too big to fail”.
The casinos in Reno and Tahoe are like the car factories in Detroit. They were exclusive to their cites for decades in the 1960s but not any more. Now cars are made everywhere and gambling is available anywhere. Similarly the Reno and Tahoe casinos today are not vibrant or new or dynamic. The casino owners are just running their “money factories” to get their share of revenue. They are making new investments in other locations like China where casino gambling is still novel and exciting and does not have Indian gaming competition (yet).
There is nothing like a game of baccarat with a gun at your back and a SMERSH banker across from you that Facebook can match.
Many regional casinos are doing great. Tioga downs is busy with people from the Binghamton area, my in-laws go all the time.
Why take off your shoes going through airport security to go to Vegas when you can have a fun time and sleep in your own bed?