Digital Commons Network^™

Measuring The Impact Of Reduced Free-Play Offers On Casino Loyalty Behavior, Anthony F. Lucas, Katherine A. Spilde

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Performance data from a tribal casino operating in the Western United States indicated a general insensitivity to free-play (FP) offer reductions. This finding addresses considerable industry-wide concerns regarding the potential for negative customer reactions to conspicuous offer reductions. Further, FP campaigns are costly annual investments representing the lion’s share of casino marketing budgets in many jurisdictions. A within-subjects design featured the random assignment of 100 loyalty program members from a common offer tier to each of four groups, with the experimental groups receiving different yet substantial reductions in FP during the post-demotion period. The results demonstrated a lack of significant …

A Comparison Of Clustered And Isolated Casino Performance In Missouri, Douglas M. Walker, Todd M. Nesbit

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

This paper utilizes data on Missouri’s casino industry to examine how clustered casinos, such as those in Kansas City and St. Louis, perform compared to dispersed or isolated casinos, such as those in Boonville, Caruthersville, La Grange, and St. Joseph. Missouri limits the number of casino licenses allowed; however, it does not explicitly mandate casino locations. Missouri provides a unique natural experiment for comparing location model performance. Although there is no published research on which type of casino location model is more effective for generating industry revenues and associated taxes, state legislatures have nevertheless been following an isolated casino location …

Problem Gambling And Cognitive Distortions Among Macao Vip Hosts: A Brief Report, Tiange Xu, Brett Abarbanel, Mehmet Erdem, Bo J. Bernhard, Shane W. Kraus

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

This report investigates the understudied group of VIP Hosts in Macao casinos, who cater to high rollers and may be more vulnerable to problem gambling due to their exposure to heavy betting. To comprehensively profile their gambling behaviors and cognitions, we conducted an anonymous online survey using the Chinese Version of South Oaks Gambling Screen (C-SOGS) and the Gambling Fallacies Measure (GFM). Given the difficulty of accessing this population, we employed the snowball sampling technique to recruit eligible participants. Our analysis included data from 41 participants, and the findings revealed high levels of gambling-related cognitive distortions among VIP Hosts. In …

Understanding Involuntary Illegal Online Gamblers In The U.S.: Framing In Misleading Information By Online Casino Reviews, Sinyong Choi

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Although there are many illegal online gamblers in the United States who use offshore gambling sites while falsely believing that their activity is legitimate, few studies have focused on the role of online casino reviews (OCR) who facilitate this activity. These reviews, for a variety of reasons, may present misleading information designed to encourage U.S. players to use offshore gambling sites. Using framing theory and neutralization techniques, we conducted a content analysis of multiple OCR to examine how they present information and justifications regarding the use of offshore gambling sites in the U.S. The findings indicate that many OCR positively …

Knowing When To Fold'em: A Monte Carlo Exploration Of Card Shuffling And How Poker Players Can Gain An Advantage, David W. Merz, Peter B. Chi

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

This work demonstrates that the card shuffling procedure commonly performed in casino poker rooms is insufficient for randomizing a deck of cards. We explore this in the context of Texas Hold’em, which has established itself as the most popular form of poker worldwide over the past few decades. We show the degree to which the resulting distribution of the orderings of all 52 cards in the deck after shuffling is not uniform. Rather, any given card may be substantially more (or less) likely to show up as an important card in the subsequent hand. Additionally, we find that the shuffling …

How Much Of ‘Home Field Advantage’ Comes From The Fans? A Natural Experiment From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kevin Krieger, Justin L. Davis

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Home field advantage has been a commonly discussed and researched topic in sports. How much of this advantage is due to the home team’s supporters’ physical attendance at the game where they might encourage their team, intimidate the opponent, and influence game officials? We utilize the unique natural experiment of the COVID-19 pandemic and consider the case of American professional (NFL) and collegiate (NCAA) football to examine this question. We measure how typical spreads, relative to home teams, changed in the 2020 season compared to their historical levels, and we determine that roughly half of what football fans and analysts …

Estimating The Effect Of Poker Room Promotions On Player Traffic, Michael T. Paz, Mikhail M. Sher, B D. Mccullough, Shabnam Zarin

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

This paper examines the impact of poker room promotions on player traffic in casino-based poker rooms. Casinos regularly spend significant portions of their marketing budget on promotions, including free-play, item-based offers, complementary hotel rooms, and travel reimbursements (among others), in an effort to drive casino traffic. Poker room promotions, by contrast, are unique within the context of casino promotions because they are both player-funded and paid in cash. Despite these significant differences between poker room and other casino promotions, prior research has not provided empirical evidence on the effectiveness of poker room promotions. Using collected data on casino-based poker games …

Does Variable Wagering Affect The Ability Of Reel Slot Players To Detect Differences In Pars By Way Of Changes In Play Time?, Anthony F. Lucas, A.K. Singh

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

The aim of this study was to better understand the role of a slot machine’s house advantage (a.k.a. par) in the individual player’s gambling experience. On this issue, the results challenged the inveterate wisdom of the industry. A battery of simulations comparing outcomes produced on slot machines with different pars failed to produce significant differences in play time, i.e., spins per losing player. These simulations were the first to accommodate variable wagering behavior, as identified by player tracking data donated by a Nevada casino operator. The results inform operators and game makers alike as to the ability of gamblers to …

The House Edge And Play Time: Do Industry Heuristics Fairly Describe This Relationship?, Anthony F. Lucas, A.K. Singh

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Based on modified versions of licensed pay tables from reel slot machines, simulations of play failed to indicate a statistically significant difference in the spins per losing player (SPLP), despite a marked difference in the pars (i.e., 7.9% vs. 12.9%). To reflect a volume of play consistent with frequent gambling, the simulations included results from 1-4 visits per week, for the equivalent of one year. Additionally, this level of play was repeated for 100 “years,” within multiple scenarios of buy-in amounts and stoppage-of-play criteria. Still, most outcomes indicated a negligible decline in SPLP, in spite of the 63%-increase in the …

Increasing Investment In Stem Education For Females: Policy Considerations, Becky Harris, Andrea Dassopoulos, Daniel Sahl, Anna Starostina

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

During this difficult economic time, as policy makers decide how to use their limited resources to help prepare the rising generation for the demands of an ever-changing workforce, aligning K-12 educational priorities with higher education and economic development can help maximize public dollar investments in STEM education, particularly when females are given access to STEM and STEM-related education and programs. Smart public policy initiatives can help increase the representation of women in the technology, research and development, and innovation departments.

The purpose of this article is to provide policy recommendations that could help increase gender diversity and participation in STEM …

What Happens Here? Educating Las Vegas’S Guests During Covid-19, Marta Soligo

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

When, in 2003, the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority (LVCVA) launched the tag line “What happens here, stays here,” it reinforced the idea, already supported by the media, that in Sin City everything is allowed. Looking at the COVID-19 crisis, one might wonder how, after being seen for years as a place without restrictions, Las Vegas could convince its tourists to respect some rigid safety guidelines. This paper tries to answer that question starting from the framework of the host-guest relationship, which is widely used in anthropology and sociology of tourism. On the one hand, I state that short-time …

Covid-19 And Its Implications For Women In Gaming: Move Towards Regulation, Policies, And Culture Changes In The United States, Shekinah Hoffman, Itzel Alanis

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

COVID-19 exposes structural inequalities within American society which can no longer be ignored. Here, we highlight the structural inequalities women and women of color face that are glaringly apparent or exacerbated in the pandemic. Inequalities that play a role in the unemployment, insufficient workplace protection, and increased work-life demands of women and women of color in the gaming industry. Instead of returning to “normal” business post-pandemic, we urge gaming leaders to reflect on these inequities within their workplaces. We offer that guaranteed paid leave and permanent flexible work arrangements could improve the life of gaming women employees and their families.

Snackjack: A Toy Model Of Blackjack, Stewart N. Ethier, Jiyeon Lee

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Snackjack is a highly simplified version of blackjack that was proposed by Ethier (2010) and given its name by Epstein (2013). The eight-card deck comprises two aces, two deuces, and four treys, with aces having value either 1 or 4, and deuces and treys having values 2 and 3, respectively. The target total is 7 (vs. 21 in blackjack), and ace-trey is a natural. The dealer stands on 6 and 7, including soft totals, and otherwise hits. The player can stand, hit, double, or split, but split pairs receive only one card per paircard (like split aces in blackjack), and …

Sweden’S Casino Cosmopol Stayed Open During The Pandemic: What Can We Learn?, Kasra Ghaharian, Bo Bernhard

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated countless research questions for academics in every conceivable field. Chief among those are the biomedical questions, particularly those related to diagnosis, prevention and treatment (National Institutes of Health, 2020), as this public health crisis relentlessly spreads across the globe. Meanwhile, virtually every other research field finds itself exploring the intersections of those biomedical questions with more specific queries on a range of everyday impacts. Sweden’s approach to COVID-19 has captured the imaginations of critical thinkers worldwide. Sweden has resisted the tendency of governments to shut down society, instead electing for a more sustainable approach. Our …

Where Women Stand In Tribal Vs. Non-Tribal Gaming Leadership, Toni Repetti, Shekinah L. Hoffman

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Tribal casinos operate for the economic development and self-sufficiency of their members so additional profit generated directly benefits their communities. Gender diversity has been shown to increase firm performance across different types of business so if tribal casinos have gender diversity in management they may be able to increase their profits. This study evaluates casino management positions in 405 tribal and 567 non-tribal casinos in the United States. Results indicate that women in tribal gaming only make up 37.8% of all management positions and while they represent about half of managers, the percentage decreases as the position increases. When compared …

Teaching A University Course On The Mathematics Of Gambling, Stewart N. Ethier, Fred M. Hoppe

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Courses on the mathematics of gambling have been offered by a number of colleges and universities, and for a number of reasons. In the past 15 years, at least seven potential textbooks for such a course have been published. In this article we objectively compare these books for their probability content, their gambling content, and their mathematical level, to see which ones might be most suitable, depending on student interests and abilities. This is not a book review (e.g., none of the books is recommended over others) but rather an essay offering advice about which topics to include in a …

Pair-A-Dice Lost: Experiments In Dice Control, Robert H. Scott Iii, Donald R. Smith

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

This paper presents our findings from experiments designed to test whether we could use a custom-made dice throwing machine applying common dice control methods to produce dice rolls that differ from random. In earlier research we calculated the percentages of control a craps player needs to break even or beat the house (Smith and Scott, 2018). Using the most common practices of dice control in craps, we established how dice should be configured (i.e., set) and thrown to achieve certain outcomes such as not rolling a seven in the point cycle. We decided to run experiments to see if a …

Optimal Conditional Expectation At The Video Poker Game Jacks Or Better, Stewart N. Ethier, John J. Kim, Jiyeon Lee

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

There are 134,459 distinct initial hands at the video poker game Jacks or Better, taking suit exchangeability into account. A computer program can determine the optimal strategy (i.e., which cards to hold) for each such hand, but a complete list of these strategies would require a book-length manuscript. Instead, a hand-rank table, which fits on a single page and reproduces the optimal strategy perfectly, was found for Jacks or Better as early as the mid 1990s. Is there a systematic way to derive such a hand-rank table? We show that there is indeed, and it involves finding the exact optimal …

Book Review: The Strip. Las Vegas And The Architecture Of The American Dream., Marta Soligo

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Book Review: The Strip. Las Vegas and the Architecture of the American Dream

Glass Ceilings & Leaky Pipelines: Gender Disparity In The Casino Industry, Toni Repetti, Shekinah L. Hoffman

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

While women account for over half the hospitality workforce there is a gap in leadership positions. This study evaluates 10,950 management positions in 972 United States commercial and Native American casinos, as of December 2016. The results show women hold 35.5% of manager and above positions. Women lead in departments such as human resources, public relations, and sales and events, but lag in casino operations management. This demonstrates horizontal occupational segregation. The results also indicate women represent 46.7% of managers, but significantly less of executive leadership. Women held only 19.4% of owner, president, and chief positions. This suggests vertical occupational …

Golden Arm: A Probabilistic Study Of Dice Control In Craps, Donald R. Smith, Robert Scott Iii

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

This paper calculates how much control a craps shooter must possess on dice outcomes to eliminate the house advantage. A golden arm is someone who has dice control (or a rhythm roller or dice influencer). There are various strategies for dice control in craps. We discuss several possibilities of dice control that would result in several different mathematical models of control. We do not assert whether dice control is possible or not (there is a lack of published evidence). However, after studying casino-legal methods described by dice-control advocates, we can see only one realistic mathematical model that describes the resulting …

All In - And More! Gambling In The James Bond Films, Pauliina Raento

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Scholarly analysis of gambling in the James Bond films is rare, despite the multitude of topics in Bondology and the fictional agent’s global fame. The odd commentary in gambling scholarship criticizes the franchise from the perspective of harm prevention. This article counters both groups of scholars with a qualitative interpretation of Bond’s gambling habits and the role of gambling and risk taking in the film series. A basic toolkit of visual methodologies is applied to the 24 EON-produced Bond films released in 1962–2015. The examination shows the critical importance of gambling to character identity, power hierarchies and communication, atmosphere, and …

The Free-Play Tax Deduction Debate: How Academic Research Can Help, Anthony F. Lucas, Katherine Spilde

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Free-play is the primary play incentive for slot players in many jurisdictions, with some campaigns eclipsing $50 million in annual redemptions. The efficacy of these incentives remains questionable at best, creating some contentious tax policy issues. Operators want to deduct the face value of these offers from taxable gaming win, based in part on the assumption that they expand the tax base; however, many regulators and taxing authorities question this claim. Any failure to fully recover redeemed free-play creates a deduction that is partially funded by tax payers. Arguments on both sides of this complex tax policy issue are thoroughly …

Foreign Exchange Rate Effect On International Gaming Demand: An Examination From An Upscale Las Vegas Casino, Myongjee Yoo, Ashok K. Singh, Kasra Ghaharian

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Las Vegas has developed into one of the world’s top tourist destinations, and the international market has become a vital stream of the city’s revenue. The objective of this study was to understand the foreign exchange rate as a determinant for international gaming demand in the Las Vegas gaming industry. This study applied the econometric modeling method of panel data analysis to secondary data originated from a Las Vegas Strip casino property. This study attempted to validate the foreign exchange effect through empirical investigation. Results of this study showed that foreign exchange rate has an impact on international gaming demand.

Customer Retention: Reducing Online Casino Player Churn Through The Application Of Predictive Modeling, Eunju Suh, Matt Alhaery

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

With the potential expansion of legalized online gaming in the United States as well as in the global market, customer retention is critical to the continued growth and success of an online casino. While customer churn prediction can be an essential part of customer retention efforts, it has received very little attention in the gaming literature. Using historical online gaming data, this study examines whether player churn (attrition) can be predicted through an application of a decision tree data mining algorithm called Exhaustive CHAID (E-CHAID). The results of this empirical study suggest that the predictive model based on the E-CHAID …

Identifying Opportunities To Inform And Inspire: Tribal Casino Employee Perceptions Of Tribal Self Sufficiency And Philanthropy, Sandra Sun-Ah Ponting Dr, Jess Ponting, Katherine Spilde

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

While the business case for employee engagement and satisfaction is well documented in the service profit chain and the cost savings of employee retention are easily quantified, the means to achieving these related goals in the casino industry is not well known. The pathway to employee engagement and satisfaction is even less well known in the tribal government gaming industry. This paper finds that employees in casinos that are owned by tribal governments in the United States find particular pride in sharing the tribal government’s self-sufficiency, community engagement, and philanthropic activities with casino guests, who often wonder “where the money …

Comparing Loyalty Program Tiering Strategies: An Investigation From The Gaming Industry, Myongjee Yoo, Ashok K. Singh

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Loyalty programs are popular marketing strategies developed for the purpose of attracting, maintaining, and enhancing customer relationships. Due to the explosive worldwide growth of, and increased competition within, the casino industry has compelled contemporary casino marketers to rely more heavily on loyalty programs to increase guest allegiance and the frequency of repeat visits from their customers. Despite the widespread usage of loyalty programs across various gaming businesses in Las Vegas, its effectiveness has not quite been validated. The purpose of this study is to examine customers’ behavioral loyalty within the Las Vegas gaming industry and examine the effectiveness of a …

Conjoining The Concepts Of Visitor Attitude And Place Image To Better Understand Casino Patrons' Behavioral Intentions, Suosheng Wang

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

The importance of visitor attitude and place image in understanding individual’s visit behavioral intention has both been emphasized in tourism literature. However, the two concepts seem to have been amalgamated; their distinctive and interactive roles are rarely discussed. To fill this gap, this study investigated visitor attitude from two different aspects in the context of casino gaming – one’s generic attitude versus specific attitude. A conjoined conceptual model based on the theories of planned behavior and place image is developed and empirically tested in the context of casinos in Central Indiana. The results indicate that ‘generic attitude,’ ‘specific attitude’ and …

Doubling Down On Goffman: A Commentary On Dmitri Shalin’S ‘Erving Goffman, Fateful Action, And The Las Vegas Gambling Scene’, James Cosgrave

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Erving Goffman “was not a sociologist of any particular area” (Scheff 2006: 20). He was, in fact, a sociologist of many areas: the interaction order, stigma, “total institutions,” gender, “forms of talk,” public behaviour – and gambling certainly belongs to the list. He may be better known for these other topics, but his contributions to the sociological analysis of gambling are canonical. Thus, another sociological hat can be worn. A unique, inventive social scientist, Goffman could pull off the donning of many such hats. Bucking the standard presentation of social scientific research in journal articles, Goffman was the “master of …

The Evolution Of The Concept Of Social Action: Parsons And Goffman, Philip Manning

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Goffman’s analysis of gambling is very important for our overall understanding of his work. This is because Goffman’s sociology is driven by both theoretical and ethnographic impulses, and his gambling project is the third of his three major ethnographic investigations. Goffman’s study of gambling is a key component in his sociology because it (a) develops a conceptual approach to the study of the interaction order, (b) extends Parsons’ and Merton’s analysis of social action and social control, and (c) links the microeconomic analysis of the social world that he associated with Thomas Schelling that has become the mainstay of the …