Casinos to design with the
young in mind
October 6
According
to a new survey released
Tuesday, it looks like, for the
most part, that new casinos will
be designed with a younger,
hipper crowd in mind rather than
for older, more prosperous
customers. The survey of design
and construction professionals
released by the American Gaming
Association is completed once a
year.
According to the survey, c
ustomers
could also anticipate seeing
less themes and more updated
features like high-speed
Internet access and flat-screen
or plasma TVs in hotel rooms, as
well as other areas in casinos.
71% of the
people that completed the survey
said the casino industry is
noticing a permanent shift
toward the younger looking
designs that are marketed to the
25 to 39 year-old end of the
spectrum.
Designers say that the
concepts of these types of
designs
also appeal to older customers
who want to feel young or are
young at heart.
While good
design is paramount to a
casino's success, the cost of
these improvements looms in the
distance, creating certain
limitations on what can really
be improved. In the survey, 44%
stated cost is a bigger confine
on contractors and designers
than it ever has been before,
still another 44% stated that
they operate under the same cost
confines as they have before.
But only around 13% stated that
designers have more elbow room
to finance their ideas than
ever.
Figuring out
how much a casino will cost
often depends on innumerable
circumstances including whether
gaming will be legalized nearby
or whether an Indian tribe will
enter into the equation bringing
competition from its casino.
To design
a casino effectively, customers
must be attracted to the
property and feel comfortable,
at the same time it must be
financially efficient.
One thing for
certain, whether they design
with the young in mind or not, casinos
will continue to add amenities
that are not related to gambling
in order to build their status
as resort attractions and to
steal business from traditional
hotels that don't have the
benefit of profit cash cows like
casinos..
