Casinos betting on video gaming
Arcade-style gambling suits younger player
LAS VEGAS — Bragging rights are usually the only reward at the end of a wellplayed video game. But what if high scores came with cash, too?
Nevada is on the cusp of what could be a casino revolution, drawing up plans for the introduction of arcade-style video games that would pay out winnings based on a gambler’s skill at, say, blasting aliens out of the sky, destroying enemy tanks or driving a virtual race car around a track.
The idea is aimed largely at attracting younger people who have been raised on Xbox, PlayStation and mobile game apps and don’t get much of a thrill out of sitting in front of slot machines, watching reels of lucky 7s and cherries.
“It’s certainly not your father’s one-armed bandit anymore,” said Marcus Prater, executive director of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers, which pushed for a Nevada law, passed unanimously this year, that directs regulators to craft rules for new kinds of skill-based games.
And what happens in Vegas is likely to influence Atlantic City, tribal casinos and other gambling spots around the country.
Video poker and blackjack, which have been around for decades across the U.S., involve at least some skill in putting together a winning hand from the cards you’re dealt. But Nevada’s 151,000 slot machines are, by law, purely games of chance, meaning everyone has the same chance of winning.
“The next wave of people aren’t going to stand there and play slots,” said Greg Giuffria, who with his son is developing a line of what look like console video games with joysticks and controllers but allow betting. “The industry has to change or disappear.”
The games and their payouts are still being developed because up to
now, game makers have been hesitant to jump in without knowing whether the machines would pass regulatory muster. Slot machine manufacturers are likely to team up with video game makers in creating the new attractions.
Eric Meyerhofer, CEO of Gamblit Gaming of Glendale, California, which is developing some of the possible new games, said he doesn’t expect slots to disappear. Instead, he said, he envisions game zones on the casino floor with a club-like feel, with perhaps a disc jockey and a bar nearby.
“It’s more of an arcade experience without it being for, you know, children,” he said.