The Bellagio Resort & Casino has installed new electronic baccarat and electronic roulette games near their live dealer tables. The "electronic gaming tables" or ETGs were purchased from International Game Technology's Dynasty line of gaming cabinets.
The Bellagio, one of the prestigious Las Vegas Strip casinos owned by MGM Resorts, said in a statement the casino's new electronic table games footprint is an example of the momentum in a growing product segment of the company's business. Nick Khin, SVP of Sales for IGT's North America Gaming and Interactive division, said that customers throughout the world are starting to recognize the potential market for EGT gaming.
Sands Bethlehem EGTs
Bellagio's decision to install electronic gaming table follows a similar move by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation to install EGT's in their Philadelphia metropolitan area casino, the Sands Bethlehem.
The 150 EGTs installed in the Sands Bethlehem earlier this year represents the largest-ever investment in the gaming machine type in the United States.
In the case of the Sands Bethlehem, the casino's management said they wanted to appeal to members of the millennial generation. These players are not interested in traditional slot machines, but grew up playing electronic games. Thus, the outlay is meant to draw in an audience that was unlikely to gamble in the casino before.
Multiple Games at Once
The EGTs have an additional benefit. Unlike a standard roulette wheel or baccarat table, players can play multi-spin or multi-hand versions of the games. Instead of making one bet at a time, the bet can be increased, like increasing the paylines in a slot machine would increase the bet. Some players might adjust their bet levels to compensate, but others might not. The trend is for bigger wagers on the multi-hand games.
The number of EGTs at Bellagio is significantly smaller. The casino management appears to view the investment as an experiment to see if they are popular.
Appealing to a Younger Demographic
As the millennial generation becomes more of a factor in the consumer class, land-based casinos have undertaken a number of initiatives to tap into the market. Millennials have much different taste in gaming experiences than Baby Boomers, or even members of Generation X. While members of Gen X grew up with Atari 2600 consoles and, later, Nintendo, they did not grow up with online games, social gaming, and smartphone gaming apps.
One attempt being made by casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City is to install skill-based slot machines. These give players a chance to affect the house edge through their own wits, hand-to-eye coordination, and skills. Skill-based slots are more like the games millennials grew up playing. The millennial generation is famous in the casino industry for its ambivalence to traditional slot machines, which they see as boring. Without the real ability to affect the outcome of the game, millennials lose interest in the game. In many ways, they see traditional slots as a game for suckers.
Questions of Whether EGTs Will Work or Not
Of course, baccarat and roulette are games with no strategy component, either. Whether millennials embrace electronic baccarat and electronic roulette is still a matter up for debate. Las Vegas Sands thinks they will, and Bellagio also thinks they will.
The answer is forthcoming. In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania as on the Las Vegas Strip, casino operators are going to learn whether their game choices are popular with the gaming public.
