Saturday, April 10, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.
Mintel International, a data analysis company on consumer behavior and media, reports that although successful movies such as “Ocean’s Eleven” and “The Hangover” glamorize Las Vegas and gambling, fewer people are going to casinos.
The study showed that 30 percent of adults visited a casino in the past year, down from 35 percent in 2001.
The reason, according to Mintel senior analyst Billy Hulkower, “Casinos may be losing audience to the increasingly compelling entertainment offerings in the home, such as HDTV, high-end video-game systems and the Internet, including Internet gambling.”
With some of the big players in home entertainment meeting in Las Vegas next week for the annual National Association of Broadcasters convention, we asked veteran casino watcher Anthony Curtis to weigh in on the Mintel study.
He publishes Anthony Curtis’ Las Vegas Advisor.
Is there anything to this report that home entertainment is keeping people away from casinos?
I don’t think the report tells the whole story. I think it’s a one-two punch. While home entertainment is good, and it’s a very inexpensive way to while away an evening, I think it may be more about the economy and people trying to save a little money.
But there is the cost of the entertainment system, right?
Yeah, you do have to amortize the cost of things. It’s like $30 to $50 a pop for some of the new video games. And you can go out in Las Vegas and have a good time and not pay a lot of money. I know a lot of people who will go out to bars because they want a video poker fix. They aren’t troubled gamblers, but they’re paying for something they like, and it’s just another form of entertainment.
Do you think the better content of the shows is having an effect? There are probably a lot of people who wouldn’t miss “American Idol.”
That’s a good question, and there probably is some kind of correlation between what’s on and how busy the casinos are. But the really popular shows could also cut into things like grocery shopping time. And I don’t know if that means the shows are any better. There were probably people who stayed home to watch “L.A. Law” and “Hill Street Blues.”
Doesn’t it also work the other way — events such as the Super Bowl and the Final Four attract people to the casinos, don’t they?
Sure, you could see that in some of the e-mails I got from people wanting to know which was the best sports book to see the Final Four games.
So where do you recommend, as the best book for watching sports?
For visitors, I tell them it’s all about proximity. If you’re staying at the Rio, go to the sports book at the Rio. That makes it a lot easier.
How about for locals?
I think Lagasse’s Stadium at the Palazzo is pretty cool, and you can make it a big event if you set yourself up with bottle service. I like the atmosphere at some of the “superbooks” at the Las Vegas Hilton, the Mirage and Bellagio. M Resort is doing some pretty progressive things in its sports book, and it is pushing hard.
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