If you looked at Las Vegas 10 years ago, it would look different than it does today. Of course, there would still be entertainment, casinos, and a huge nightlife scene, but cities change over time. What happens when a pandemic and new companies enter the Las Vegas world? Well, there are effects and changes to come. URComped CEO, Craig Shacklett, interviews casino industry experts to dive deeper into Las Vegas' future. These interviews were conducted through URComped's newest B2B social platform, Casino Marketing University, which provides information from industry experts to casino management, marketing, and operations teams.
The Near Future
Casino Marketing Executive, John Clinton, states that as more and more vaccines are received, more people will be jumping on airplanes and traveling to go to Las Vegas. "I think Vegas is going to rebound extremely well," states Clinton. There is national pent-up demand that's been caused by players not having access to casinos within their area and not wanting to risk traveling during the pandemic. Some of the demand is also caused by people who have been able to come to Vegas but haven't been able to fully experience it the way they want to. Medium-sized shows are returning and headliners are just around the corner to perform again. The brand new Resorts World Las Vegas is about to open up which will drive business from people excited to see the new property.
A few years down the road
Oliver Lovat, Managing Director of Denstone REA Consultants, sees an increased diversification of Las Vegas casino owners coming over the next few years. There are two new casino resorts opening this year that could have a huge impact on this. One is Resorts World Las Vegas, which is opening this Summer 2021. The second is the opening of the Virgin Hotel with Mohegan Sun. If Mohegan Sun is a success, more tribes will be looking at moving to Las Vegas, because they have databases of customers already, and the Las Vegas market is easy to get into compared to others, in terms of regulations. Resorts World is an Asian company coming in and spending several billion dollars on a gaming project and if that is successful, expect to see attempts by other major Asian investors coming in to build casinos in Las Vegas. The reason that this diversification has not happened before has been the political pressure of Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn. Now that they are not involved anymore, that pressure is gone.