Mark Frissora is the latest member of the Caesars Entertainment Corp. team, earning the position as the company’s CEO. After taking on the position, Frissora attended the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, speaking out on how he was shocked that the casino industry does very little to appeal to the younger gaming audience.
On Wednesday, Frissora stated that the time is now for the industry to focus on younger players. The CEO described himself as an outsider during the early public appearances when joining Caesars back in February. He only took on the CEO role this past July.
To test the waters so to speak with younger players, Caesars is trying out some new things on the Las Vegas Strip. The company wants to see how millennials react to new gaming options, trying to appeal to gamblers in the 18 to 35 age range.
Frissora did not give any info as to where the testing phase is taking place or give any other details. He called the project ‘top secret’ but did state that the test involves walls that can be moved to change the venue. Skill based games are being considered, such as an arcade style game so that players will feel more like they are enjoying a video game rather than slot game.
Another consideration by Caesars is to change the traditional way of playing slot games to adding more social gaming features. An example of this would be to create a leaderboard that would track players with the highest points. According to Frissora, the industry has the room to grow by simply appealing to millennials. The CEO does not feel that younger players would sit down and take part in traditional slot machine gaming. Or it would not be until they are older that they would do so.
Frissora has children of his own, ranging in age from the late 20s to early 30s and notes that they do not even shop in a store but do so online. The younger audience is mobile and Internet based, so Frissora feels the gambling industry needs to evolve in this manner.