Things haven’t been easy for the global gambling industry. The UK Government recently abandoned the creation of the much-anticipated “super casinos” after a great deal of public debate. Then came the current global economic crisis – which is still to reveal its full impact. When Las Vegas, the world’s gambling Mecca, suffers a five percent fall in visitors and Macau follows suit, you can be sure the wider industry is facing hard times ahead.

The current economic situation comes on the back of a purple patch for the global gambling industry. Gambling’s popularity has reached new heights in recent years. Casinos in particular have become plentiful, appearing everywhere from hotels and sports stadiums to the high street. While such an abundance of choice of gambling outlets is great news for the consumer, it represents a clear problem for casinos. When money’s tight and the competition is on their doorstep, retaining customers is crucial if casinos are to stay ahead of their rivals.

It’s hard to remember a time when customer retention has been harder for casinos. Despite this, casinos have always shown great initiative in their customer retention strategies. “Complimentary” is a word the industry has taken to its heart, with free hotel rooms, drinks and entertainment provided to keep customers happy and playing. The more time and money a player spends in a casino, the more perks they’ll receive. As the internet has emerged, online casinos have taken on this mantle implementing popular and innovative strategies such as member competitions, special offers, loyalty bonuses as well as value-added services such as newsletters and other relevant content. Loyalty and VIP schemes have become a key differentiator or marketing tool, especially online, as users will often select a casino on the basis of the formal scheme or that month’s new player rewards.

While bricks and mortar casinos consider loyalty to be a number one priority, many have yet to embrace some of the newer, interactive means of retaining their valued customers, such as through the mobile platform. This represents a missed opportunity to expand revenue opportunities and increase market share. The trends are all positive, with over a billion mobile phones sold worldwide last year. The time spent using mobile phones has doubled in the last five years and increasingly people are using their phones for more than simply making calls.  Faster, more interactive phones that provide a more realistic and fun experience are being released all the time. The Apple iPhone, for example, has had a massive impact on the market. It delivers games on a large crisp screen with razor sharp graphics. It is innovations like this, with great developments in terms of quality of games and content, that is driving the global uptake in mobile gambling.

Such is the excitement surrounding the industry that Juniper Research is predicting that mobile gambling worldwide will be worth nearly £6.5 billion by 2010. This is a significant figure, especially when footfall for land-based casinos is in decline. With the overall entertainment industry going through rough times, now is the time for land-based casinos to start thinking outside of the box for innovative, low cost ways to increase visitor numbers and ultimately revenue.

Many casinos are realising that they need to diversify if they are to survive, and embrace the potential of interactive platforms. A mobile offering is a natural extension to their business, which when used strategically, delivers the opportunity to extend the reach of the brand and attract new customers, as well as retain existing ones. 

Casino loyalty is fickle. Customers are happy to move between land-based establishments, with casinos needing to do more to capture their long-term patronage. In contrast, customers are hugely loyal in the mobile space. They don’t shop around as much as they do when playing in person. This high degree of loyalty makes the mobile route an attractive prospect to land-based casinos looking at diversifying into the interactive space.
   
Land-based casinos can use a mobile offering to actually bring players back to their tables. Using Spin3’s unique OnCash system, land-based casinos can offer their players unique, graphics-rich casino style mobile games. Play-for-fun games are a great way to reach out to existing or potentially new customers with fun and risk-free games. From here, the casinos can use this tool to keep their players engaged even after their players leave the casino. Once a player reaches a certain benchmark, say 1,000 points on a blackjack game for example, the player can be enticed back with a prize such as on a complementary casino visit. While prizes could be much smaller, the important thing is that players will remain loyal to them. Alternatively, players can play-for-real, purchasing mobile casino credits in cash and claiming their mobile winnings in person; again growing the relationship between the casino and its players.
No matter what prizes are up for grabs, a mobile casino offering can play a central role in a customer loyalty programme. This not only strengthens the personal relationship customers have with the brand, it builds loyalty and patronage. Branded mobile casinos can provide players with a quick-fix between casino visits, while the branding means that the casino name is at the forefront of their minds, wherever they find themselves.

Keeping customers engaged with your brand will become increasingly hard as rising food and fuel prices continue to eat into peoples’ disposable income. Consequently, casinos need to make a greater effort to bring their services to their customers. Mobile gaming is perfect because it provides easy access to customers who are able to play without geographic or time restrictions. It’s a great way to reach out to new consumers in a very short time, with little risk and no requirement to invest in additional infrastructure. They are able to extend their brand beyond the geographical restriction of the physical casino and literally put their brand into the hands of their customers.

Retaining customers is an essential part of the long term success of any business, and investing in mobile technology is certainly one of the easiest and most cost-efficient ways to achieve this goal. The truth is that unless casinos innovate with new ways to engage with their consumers, they will stay home.

While electronic games today provide compelling, high quality game play that is as close to the real games as is possible through an interactive platform, the experience is totally different. No mobile phone will ever compete or attempt to compete with the flashy lights, razzamatazz and all-round excitement of a land-based casino. Far from casino competition, mobile gaming services represent a trump card for bricks and mortar casinos, at a time when trump cards are sorely needed.

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