Online Gaming and Tropicana Atlantic City: Q&A with Luisa Woods - Executive Director of Internet Marketing

 

 

I was able to meet with Luisa Woods,the director of online and internet marketing with Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City.  Luisa is primarily responsible for overseeing the entire online remote gaming. She provides strategy, planning and budget guidance. Luisa also mentors her team across various online marketing disciplines dedicated to acquisition and retention of digitally-connected customers.

Luisa was part of the Mobile and Tablet Summit in Atlantic City and participated in a panel at the G2E 2014.

Luisa  made time for a series of questions about the 1st year of online gaming in New Jersey. These 8 made the final cut.
 

1). What are the positives about the 1st year of online gaming in New Jersey?  

 

New Jersey has historically been a pioneer in the gaming industry. The state looked to maintain its leadership position by taking a step forward into i-gaming. The NJDGE had an enormous challenge to bootstrap a new industry vertical in a very short period of time, with a series of constraints that have not existed previously in other markets. The fact that we have demonstrated that a region can successfully operate online gaming within its physical borders is a big success.

 

An additional positive outcome is the growing evidence we’ve built to demonstrate that online gaming is not leading to cannibalization. This is most evident in the poker vertical, since online is a relatively larger piece of the market. In the aggregate, revenue from poker has grown with the launch of online poker. For example, monthly poker rake in Atlantic City for October of 2013 was about $2.9M versus about $4.3 million in October of 2014.

 

Another success we are seeing is the creation of both jobs and expertise in the i-gaming industry in the state. When other markets are ready to launch, they will be able to look to New Jersey for best practices in successfully implementing regionalized regulated gaming.

            

2). What were the challenges during the 1st year and where is the industry now in relation to those concerns?  

The biggest challenges the industry faced in our first year dealt with ensuring that only eligible patrons were permitted access to the system. Eligible patrons are individuals over 21, physically located in New Jersey, who are not on any restricted gaming lists and who are who they represent themselves to be. There have definitely been challenges with executing against all of these requirements that have slowed the rate of adoption and industry growth, and of course we err on the side of caution. It is critical that no one gains access to the system who should not be permitted to do so. But the industry as a whole continues to innovate and push forward. Our geolocation solutions are improving all the time, as well as our expertise in assisting patrons who do encounter problems to navigate third party systems to be able to successfully play.

 

3). Tropicana has shown consistent growth with the online numbers. What do you attribute that to?

Our growth should really be attributed to a lot of hard work by many talented people. It’s been a combination of effort and focus on the customer. Gamesys, our technology partner, have been a huge part of that success. Their product delivers what our patrons want.  In addition, the land-based marketing team here at Tropicana has worked side by side with the i-gaming team to offer a seamless customer experience. And that results from a leadership team that has always supported the vision of i-gaming as an extension of our commitment to deliver more to our patrons.

 

4). Do you see Poker, Slots or Casino games as the cornerstone of the online market? 

Poker needs liquidity to be successful, which makes it challenging in a market with limited population. But ultimately, customers have their preferences. I don't see any one area dominating the others. We as operators respond to the demand of our patrons. We bring them familiar games that they know from the property while introducing new games and experiences like our popular Community Jackpot feature that can be triggered by any spin on any game.  It pays out a jackpot to the person who won it, and a shared jackpot to all of the other patrons who have played for real money in the previous hour. We believe that market leadership comes from giving our customers what they want.   

5) How did the Mobile and Tablet Summit heighten the awareness about online gaming?

Every time professionals in the industry come together, they not only share knowledge, but bring attention to the industry. The fact that people like you attend, and share what you see and hear is a huge boost for us. The many facets of expertise, including legal, government, banking, security, marketing and software, all impact each other. We need to maintain an ongoing dialogue. This conference brought positive attention to our industry and is a win for the participants.

 

6). Has online gaming grown your customer base?

The 1st year of i-Gaming has definitely brought incremental growth for Tropicana Atlantic City. Of course, the majority of our revenues come from our land based resort. But many patrons who are choosing to play online are not existing TropAdvantage members, so they’re completely new patrons to us. That number is holding steady at around 60% of our online patrons. Of the remaining patrons in our system, about half are active players at the property, and the other half have not been to the property within the last year. These are people who are returning to the brand. 

 

7). What mobile device (if any) is the preferred medium of your clientele?

Without giving away any proprietary details, I can tell you that we’re seeing trends very similar to what is happening in the marketplace as a whole. More and more of our patrons are adopting mobile, both as a way to join our online casino, and a way to play. We do see a higher level of play on Apple devices over Android, which I would attribute to the fact that Apple has permitted us to put our app in their online store.

 

 

8). I am a customer that only plays in your brick and mortar casino property. I love to come down to dine at Cuba Libre twice a month. How would you convince me to play online?

First of all, we would take the opportunity of your visit to make you aware of our online product. When you come to the property, you would see signage everywhere. If you’re staying with us, it is even on the room key when you check in. Next, we focus on trying to create synergies between online and offline play. We leverage the resources of the property as rewards that patrons can earn or win. And to top it off, you'll earn TropAdvantage tier points that benefit you when you visit the property.

I'm convinced!

I want to thank Luisa for her time. She showed her excitement with her answers and stated she is extremely happy to be working for Tropicana. She cited the leadership of Tony Rodio and the power of Tropicana's brand as components for success.

 

 

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Top Five News and Views of 2015

 Happy New Year!!! Have a great 2015

If Chris Rock can do it, so can I.

 

 

These are my top five press releases of 2015 from the major players of their respective industries. Each of these are revelations of what to expect in gaming, media and entertainment.

 

In its December magazine, Forbes has profiled Amaya Gaming Group CEO David Baazov, detailing his bold 2014 acquisition of privately held poker operator Rational Group (owners of PokerStars and Full Tilt). The magazine labels the young CEO of Amaya Gaming Group, as the new ‘king of online gambling’ having pulled off an incredible industry coup. The igaming and sports betting industry will further await the highly anticipated launch of Amaya Gaming’s sports betting and casino product, as the firm looks to broaden its online gambling product inventory.

Comcast now offers an Internet Plus package with everything that constitutes "the basics" for $49.99 a month for 12 months. It also offers free access to Comcast's Xfinity TV Go app, which allows for streaming and viewing on a TV set, tablet or other mobile device.
AT&T's U-verse, the fastest growing TV provider in the country, is embracing the idea of moving to a universal watching experience.
It offers a TV Everywhere app, which allows customers to take AT&T content with them on mobile devices, tablets and computers.
"We kind of see it as complementary," said John Blinkiewicz, assistant vice president of U-verse TV marketing. "As we continue to grow customers, we see them using our TV everywhere as a complement to their TV service."
Boosting Internet speeds and expanding networks has become a huge focus for AT&T and Comcast, which could help both the cable providers and the non-traditional TV streaming services.
"As TV has grown up, so have the devices. We need to serve customers where they want, when they want," said Blinkiewicz.

Verizon Communications Inc. has approached AOL Inc. (AOL) about a potential acquisition or joint venture with the Internet company to expand its mobile-video offerings, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Verizon hasn’t made a formal proposal to AOL, and no agreement is imminent, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.
Merging AOL’s programmatic advertising technology -- the automated buying and selling of ads online -- with mobile video content can help Verizon catch up with AT&T Inc. (T) as wireless providers enhance their offerings. AT&T last year struck a $48.5 billion deal to acquire satellite TV provider DirecTV.
A joint venture would also focus on advertising technology, one of the people said. Verizon is seeking expertise in three areas: online content, mobile video and advertising, one person said. The company also has held talks with several of AOL’s peers about how to bolster those businesses.
The programmatic ads platform could be paired with a future online-video product, two people said.
With a takeover, Verizon would also gain AOL’s 2.3 million paying members and Internet brands including the Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Engadget. It’s unclear if Verizon is interested in those media properties, which draw more than 200 million unique visitors a month, the fourth-most in the U.S., behind Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Facebook Inc., according to November data from researcher ComScore Inc

Google is a powerhouse, but it's a powerhouse in transition.
In 2014, Google's search engine -- the largest in the world -- continued to dominate the market. In the US, the company has 67 percent of the search market on desktop computers. Globally, it's a $50 billion business in revenue annually.
Google has been making big investments in YouTube, its premier online video platform. The company has fought to keep its top creative talent on the service, especially as rivals like Facebook and startups like Victorious aim to crowd YouTube's turf.
There's good reason for that investment. YouTube gets more than a billion unique visitors every month and streams about three months' worth of video to viewers every minute. eMarketer predicted that video ad revenues from YouTube in the US would hit $1.13 billion by the end of 2014.

Summit in Philly

Forbes has chosen Philadelphia as the permanent home of its 30 Under 30 Summit - a gathering of young entrepreneurs that organizers hope will become the nation's most elite networking event for the next generation of business and political leaders.
The announcement Monday was timed to coincide with the release of the magazine's annual "Forbes 30 Under 30" list, a who's who tally of 600 entrepreneurs and leaders under age 30 that seeks to be as buzzy as its annual billionaires' list.
Forbes' 30 Under 30 Summit made a four-day debut here in October, and Forbes officials toyed with the idea of moving the fledgling confab to a different city each year. The decision to stay in Philadelphia was made after several months of negotiations between Mayor Nutter and top Forbes officials.


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