Gambling industry embraces retro, high-tech
By Ryan Pearson
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — The old is new in the gambling industry.
Associated Press
Slot machines feature the 1950s TV show "The Honeymooners," high-tech bingo is hot in Indian casinos, and creaky race tracks — long ignored by large resort companies — have become the next big investments for casino giants such as Harrah's Entertainment.
Mark Robinson, of Bally Gaming Systems, works on a slot machine at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. The latest trends in gambling include retro slot machines, race tracks and high-tech bingo in Indian casinos.
Meanwhile, U.S. casino executives are gingerly exploring cutting-edge technology, the latest of which was on display yesterday at an industry conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Even newly developed interactive slots have that throwback appeal — an "I Love Lucy" machine features clips from the show's run.
"Anytime you can get something that has some nostalgia tie to it, it has proven to be very effective to our business," said Frank Farhenkopf Jr., president of the American Gaming Association. He attributed that success to marketing efforts targeting older gamblers.
The retro focus comes as Nevada casinos continue to struggle a year after the terrorist attacks, while gambling companies ride their highly regulated industry to stock success.
While the Standard & Poor index dropped 22 percent this year, the four largest casino companies' stocks have increased in price 23 percent to 24 percent, said Goldman Sachs stock analyst John Kempf.
Merrill Lynch analyst David Anders attributed their success to scandal-wary investors' faith in casinos, which must report revenues monthly to state regulators.
Kempf added that the industry's capital investments, like new acquisitions of racetracks, have boosted casino stocks.
Slots are being integrated with race tracks as "racinos" in a "political synergy" that industry leaders say makes gambling more palatable to politicians.
A report this week from analysts Bear Stearns & Co. in New York found that racinos represented the industry's best bet to expand into New York, Kentucky, Nebraska, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
On Aug. 29, Harrah's announced a deal to buy Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., the next track in line to have a slot casino.
"Racinos are the decade of 2000 equivalent of what riverboats were in the early '90s," said Harrah's CEO Phil Satre.
"They're another form of providing casino entertainment in a different setting."
The bingo table is one setting long shunned by major companies but embraced by Native American tribes.
The game has shifted along with other casino technology to remain at the center of many tribal casinos, according to Dan Tucker, vice chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association.
"At our casino, we've got it set up so that people can sit and play bingo while they're watching TV and playing slots, all at the same time," said Tucker, whose Sycuan band of Kumeyaay tribe operates a casino outside San Diego.
The four-day international expo featured 616 exhibitors pitching surveillance cameras, neon tubing, locks and custom-made drink glasses as women in cocktail dresses and giant Pac Man characters greeted attendees.
