Matt from 37 Signals makes 14 observations about casinos from a design point of view. Most of the points are valid and it’s a good read but there are a few glaring errors that those who visit terrestrial casinos will spot out and dismiss.

I’ve mentioned before that my wife and I enjoy visiting many different casinos. We also sign up for their player cards and have become mini-collectors of the cards. When we visit Reno or Vegas we much prefer to be in a vehicle where we can literally get in, make the walk, play a few games, and then leave. We sort of treat them like sightseeing locations and often go from place to place. It’s not uncommon for us to stop in for less than an hour, play a couple machines or hit the craps table and then leave. If we are winning we’ll tend to stay longer, but if we win big and it requires IRS reporting, we usually leave right away. There is something odd about winning big and sticking around. You will give the money back to them and they know that, so one way to be a smarter gambler is to leave when you get far ahead. This guarantees you won’t gamble the winnings back. It’s harder when you don’t have transportation outside, that’s why they want to fly you into these places so you are stuck.

I will post a few pictures one of these days showing the many different player cards we have. We’ve probably visited hundreds of casinos in a half-dozen states (Washington, Idaho, Montana, California, Nevada, Arizona) over the last ten years. We’ve also checked out the casino on board a Carnival cruise and Montana is loaded with quasi-casinos which are basically keno and video poker machines in bars. We get offers from casinos — free rooms, free stuff, exclusive tournaments — almost every mail day. Today, several offers alone came in. We could probably blog about these creative offers each day (might make good content for our casino-oriented blog, actually). Casinos are some of the most determined marketers out there.

The vast majority of these free offers go unused in our case, but every once in awhile we get an irresistible offer like free rooms, airfare, dinner, gifts and free cash and we’ll usually jump for those. Also, it’s nice to get rooms comped during trade shows like CES. We’ve had our airfare paid a few times, but that’s harder to get those offers when you aren’t high rollers. We’re more likely to visit 200 casinos and spread the money around than one gambler would spend at his/her favorite casino.

Now for the mistakes in the post starting with the sound of coins being used as an intentional baiting trick. This might have been true at one time, but not for the last few years.

coins hit metal

Most coin slots at casinos in Nevada and indian casinos elsewhere have been replaced by EZ-ticket (paper) systems. Coin-operated machines still exist, but are in much smaller number than even five years ago. It’s more difficult these days finding coin-operated machines than EZ-Ticket machines. I miss the sound of the coins dropping, but the coin bins are dirty and smokers too often use them as ashtrays. It’s like fishing for valuables in an outhouse toilet. Fortunately, some of the machines allow putting a cup underneath the slot so the coins will fill up the cups, but those are rare too.

Yet there’s only one place to get paid out in bills: the cashier window. And to get there, you’ve got to pass all those other places that want to take your money.

Wrong. There are an increasing number of ATM-like machines that you can cash in on or break down larger bills without ever visiting the often understaffed casino cage. My wife and I love these machines. They are conveniently located, often near the free serve yourself non-alcoholic beverage stations.

About the only time you need the casino staff these days is for cashing out jackpots or problems with the machine. We were playing at a casino recently and this elderly woman was covering her ears because the slot machine was turned up way too loud. She told us that she asked for them to turn up the volume when she first started playing, but they overdid it.

Free booze is delivered to gamblers without them having to get up.

There are a number of indian casinos who don’t offer alcohol either because of liquor laws or because they are understaffed. They offer free soda and coffee and you need to get up to get that more often than not.

Future casinos will be even more (online) flexible
Last year I bought stock in IGT which makes many of the more popular slot machines. IGT has been making moves in portable gambling that has been legalized in Nevada with their experiment at the Venetian. I’m looking forward to seeing how the casinos do with these new PDA-like devices that are going to extend the gambling experience beyond the machines on the floor. The casino owners and operators are hoping this will help combat the online gambling, but these portable devices are still prohibited from being used in rooms.

There are definitely moves in the last 10 years though for terrestrial casinos trying to do more things which bring in the internet into the experience like following real time Keno game results on the official casino website. If the US Government would loosen their ties on gambling via the internet, we’d see some very creative terrestrial-online casino mashups. Alas, it doesn’t look like that will happen any time soon, but I’m fairly convinced that this will happen during the next 10-20 years. I think what will help this along is more true web interactive television.

Anti-gambling preachers should look to parents to protect kids, not legislation
Those opposed to gambling and who too often prey upon fears of slot machines next to schools should realize that parents have more to do with influencing kids than any machine with bells, whistles and lights. I’m not in favor of slots being put next to schools but I don’t like the government telling the bar owner in town that he can only sell (state sponsored) lotto tickets, (state sponsored) scratch cards and pull tabs while indian casinos can create their own mini-Vegas. Let’s get this legalized and taxed so every public school can have a computer for each student.

Parents have to teach their kids about responsible entertainment, just as they teach their children about other things which when utilyzed in excess can hurt them. Nothing in excess that I can think of — food, drink, work, play, maybe even sex — is good for you. Life is full of excess and temptation and it’s important to teach children in this world self-control. Those with addictions and abuse problems can’t fix these problems by blaming business owners. We all should be informed enough to realize that casinos are businesses explicitly there to keep us smiling while they siphon the cash from our pockets. The same could be said of sporting events pitching $4 hot dogs.

We’ve already planned to take our oldest son (16 currently) to a casino on his 18th birthday (legal in some states) if he wants, and he said he does. If this happens, we will hopefully teach him how to only spend discretionary income and that casinos are there to take your money, not make you money. That it’s fun to win, but you will probably lose. The odds are against us. I realize there are professional gamblers, but how many happy pro gamblers do you know, really? They are happy like big jackpot winners, I’m thinking. On a high when they are winning and bumming out when they are on loss runs, but then does anybody check back with these folks in a couple years when the loss streaks are longer? Where did the winnings go? I wouldn’t want to try to be a professional gambler. For one, I’d suck at it, because most times we do lose, not win, but at least I’m not under some false and dangerous illusion that I can actually beat the house. I remember reading a stat that most huge jackpot winners are back to their regular (or worse) income within six months.

I’m also reminded of this guy sitting next to me at a casino who hit a straight flush. It was a nice hit and paid out like $19,000. When he was whisked away to be paid the jackpot at the cage, the dealer told us he lived in his car and the money would be dumped back in the casino. He was a “regular.”

I hope my wife and I are good enough teachers with our children to prevent them from ever being those kind of regulars anywhere. I think it was a bit sad that the casino employee was doing business with somebody like this, but then he was the one making the really bad choices. Had I known the guy in any capacity beyond sitting next to him at a one time encounter I’d be saying: dude, get a job, get a place to live, don’t be at the casino hoping for some magic cash windfall.

Priorities.

Back to our kids whom I think we wouldn’t be able to educate as well without having these personal, direct experiences. Not saying that Straight Flush Guy Living In His Car was the ultimate teaching tools, but it ranks up there with those splattered on the highway flicks they show you in driver’s ed.

And yes this transfers to other experiences.

We’ll make the same offer on our son’s 21st birthday to go to a bar and let him indulge if wants. I think it’s cool if your kids want to be there with you on these ’special’ birthdays. There will only be one time in their lives that they turn 16, 18 and 21 and what parent wouldn’t want to be there (if wanted by the child)? Neither of my parents wanted to be with me on those two birthdays. I’m not resentful for it, but I think it would have been neat if either had asked. Were either of your parents there celebrating your 21st birthday (or 18th if that was the legal age for gambling or drinking in your state)?

As for driving, we have two teens that are driving age and neither drive yet. We’ve told them on driving that there’s no point in doing that if you don’t have a job and first comes a job. I’ll drive our kids to and from work until I know they will stick with and keep the job. That’s the tradeoff for getting a car. I’ve seen way too many inexperienced kids driving and getting themselves injured or killed. Part of our job as a parent is keeping our kids alive during their learning years. Buying kids some fast car and turning them loose with their friends is the ultimate accident recipe.

I’m tired of some jello-kneed parents blaming businesses for their children’s problems. Let’s remember who is lifting the drink glasses or feeding bills into machines. Self-control, discipline and the ability to exercise the most powerful word in the dictionary — no — belong to the person making the decisions. No casino or barkeep in the world can make me do anything I don’t want to do. I’m saddened for those kids with parents unable to separate entertainment from excess and teach them accordingly. I should point out that neither of my parents, one of which has been deceased for 10 years, were able to teach me these things directly, but indirectly they were excellent teachers.

Strong parenting is needed more than ever in this country and it starts with a steady, reliable family structure. Not a broken upon broken upon broken home with parents who are completely disconnected with what their children are into and doing.

Back to the future … of casino design
While casinos might have been the model of designs for systematically draining our wallets, a lot of that activity has been changed with an emphasis on the activities around gambling, as Matt correctly point out in his post. Rising hotel room prices, Wi-Fi being offered at non-ridiculous rates (I remember a hotel casino that charged $20/hour to use the internet). It’s not all better, but it’s getting there. The Peppermill in Reno currently going through a $300 million expansion is going to offer HDTV monitors with internet for those in the sportsbook. Blogging from the sportsbook coming to a casino near you in the next 5-10 years.

Keep in mind these are the same sportsbooks where cell phones aren’t allowed. The internet has changed the casino industry and I think in better ways. Everything changes over time. One exciting model of design that will be interesting to watch unfold will be the terrestrial-online casino mashup. Even more so for people like my wife and I which visit these places recreationally and see the changes over the years.

Did this post make you go hmm?

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