Las Vegas Casinos Versus The Online Casinos Now And The Future

Article by Tim Johnson

Gambling is defined as “to take a chance on winning” so it would seem that the players and also the operators are tightly bound together when it comes to the gambling industry. It seems strange to think of the very big companies such as Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) and MGM (NYSE:MGM) as being gamblers themselves. That the outcome of those long hours sitting in the board room may very well conclude with a toss of a coin.I think it would be foolhardy to believe that is the case completely. As with any experienced risk taker the key is to turn the odds in your favor before you toss the coin and short of having a two headed coin all that can be done is to evaluate the current situation and predict the future, yes predict the future, glad we have that cleared up.

This is the fundamental key to being successful in business, yes you need to be able to accommodate the current market needs but that is only surviving. To be successful you have to be able to predict where your industry will be in 12 months, 5 years and 10 years.

Las Vegas has an obvious advantage straight away over other industries, in 10 years time we can all be sure that people will still want to gamble. If you make a certain household product you simply cannot be sure that it will still be needed in 10 years.

Before we predict the future lets have a recap as to where the industry is now. We have to take the industry as a whole and put together both the big Las Vegas casinos and the online casinos. This is not a popular way of looking at the gambling industry particularly in those Las Vegas boardrooms but we can only hope those boards are doing just the same for their own sake.

The world economy hit the skids in a big big way of that we can all agree but every single industry has been affected in a different way. The gambling industry has not escaped and while the number on the floor might well be down it is the expansion and development plans that were in effect before the crisis struck that have hurt the most.

The Citycenter development in Las Vegas is the largest private development currently underway in the United States and very nearly collapsed, happily it is back on track and scheduled for opening in stages soon but what happens when the doors open. Yes the novelty factor will draw the crowds but what about when the honeymoon ends?.

All the recent numbers to come out of both Las Vegas and Macau point to one thing, less gambling. The properties are surviving but this is based on vacation spending such as the shows, hotel rooms and restaurants being up. A closer look at the number shows that even Steve Wynn (NASDAQ:WYNN) who showed a small revenue increase suffered the same fate and had a drop in gaming revenue.

For the first time let us bring in the Online Casinos, yes gambling online in america is forbidden, but the first one of those boards that takes this stance and simply dismisses it will the first to fall. It simply cannot and must not be ignored as this offshore industry had estimated revenue of .9 billion during 2008 compared with .2 billion for the entire US legal gambling industry including casino, dog track and horse racing.

.9 billion now thats quite a figure, we have written many times about why this industry must be legalized and regulated so lets not go down that path again today, lets just treat it as it is and that is a big and fast growing challenge to the supremacy of Las Vegas.

Management in Las Vegas may well be standing on the casino floor right now asking themselves where have all our gamblers gone? The answer quite clearly is in that .9 billion.

There are many reasons why a gambler might choose to play online at the moment, less travel expense so more to spend on the actual gambling, fighting to keep a business afloat so less time to travel therefore making a laptop and instant connection very appealing.

There is also the extremely efficient way in which the online casinos have embraced the advances in technology and now provide gambling on just about every device you might own that connects to a network of some sort.

So where does that leave the Las Vegas Sands in 5 years? Will MGM still be a gambling giant in 10 years? For such staggeringly large companies the answer might seem harsh and it is intended to. If they do not grasp the concept of gambling online they will simply be left behind. Harrahs have appointed Mitch Garbor who was the previous CEO of Party Gaming to head up their European venture online but LVS and MGM seem to be ignoring it.

As an example there are many domain names associated with the big Las Vegas casinos that have been diligently registered by them and what do you see when you visit them? Nothing. This is a big issue as any successful website needs to have age on its side and those domain names are being wasted, it is just the same as burning notes.

Yes the big companies cannot and should not operate an online gambling site under the current climate but they could be saying something, anything, just so long as they are out there. Make no mistake the online casinos have a very clear strategy in place for when the legislation changes in the United States and they will be ready to go on day one.

Will Las Vegas? As if to kick a man when he is down there has also been much talk in the industry of relocating the online casino and poker operations to Las Vegas to make the most of the talent that is there.

Not only could the big Las Vegas casinos end up losing their business to online operators they could lose their best staff as well.

As we discuss this we always arrive at the conclusion that Las Vegas sands, MGM, Wynn and the others must know this and must have a plan in place ready to go at the press of a button, as I finish up I am left hoping this is the case more than anything else.

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The Online Casino Versus The Brick And Mortar Casino

If you want to go gaming these days, you have two types of casino to choose from. You could opt to go to a traditional brick and mortar casino, or you could decide to go to an online casino. Either option has an upside and a downside to it, and it is that which we will be exploring, as we try to contrast both types of casino.

One of the advantages associated with the online casino is its convenience. The online casino is not a physical place you get into your car and drive to. Rather, it is a virtual place –a website you log into, and start playing. Under this arrangement, you can play anywhere and anytime. To many of the people whose first contact with casinos has been online, it is quite hard to see how much of an advantage this is. But to those of us who got to experience the time when enjoying a casino game always had to mean travelling or at least walking some distance, and being restricted to certain times (the casino opening hours), this convenience advantage of the online casino is not something that can be gainsaid.

Another advantage associated with the online casino is the fact that it is not bound by geographical limitations. You can find yourself playing against someone who is thousands of miles away in real time, playing with real money, and standing the potential to earn real money.

Yet another advantage associated with the online casino, perhaps an offshoot of the convenience advantage, is the fact that one ‘doesn’t get seen coming from a physical casino’ which would be considered a source of embarrassment in some quarters. ‘Respectable’ people who would have wanted to partake of gaming, but who were wary of being seen coming from casinos – and being embarrassed as the news got into the tabloids – can play with the peace of mind online.

But there are a number of potential disadvantages to these online casinos, which can also be seen as being the advantages of traditional brick and mortar casinos.
Firstly, the online casino (where one plays in physical isolation, the only union being virtual) doesn’t offer the opportunity for real social bonding that the traditional casino used to offer. This is not to be taken lightly, keeping in mind that one of the reasons some people would frequent casinos was not in search of the money per se, but rather in search of the social companionship in an exciting setting.

There are also people who raise security concerns with regard to online casinos. They feel, for instance, that their credit card details could end up being skimmed as they load money into their playing accounts, or that their winnings could end up being swindled in case they chanced upon the jackpots. These fears are not altogether farfetched. To be sure, most online casinos are good institutions, run by people of high integrity. But there is no denying that there are a few wayward ones, and that seeking recourse in case something goes wrong in these online establishments would be harder than in the case of a brick and mortar casino.

Online Casinos Versus Playing Bingo

Bingo is a very popular past time, especially with the older generation. Although bingo can be fun at times, most of the time its pretty boring, and the chances of winning are pretty small. Bingo is a game of luck because you have no say over the outcome of the results. You are given a sheet’s of paper with already assigned numbers, and all you can do is hope for the best. That doesn’t sound very good does it? What is a better alternative to hoping you are going to win playing bingo? Betting on online casinos! Here are three reasons why online casinos are more superior than the game of bingo.

Reason One – More Control Over The Outcome

Bingo is a game of luck. If you are not assigned the winning numbers when you buy your bingo sheet/s, you will not win. Online poker, for example, is the complete opposite. Online poker relies on skill, and some luck. If you are good enough, you will win a lot of the time playing online poker (just ask my friend Ben who won 00 last night).

Reason Two – A Massive Welcome Bonus

I love the idea of getting a free five hundred dollar welcome bonus just for signing up with an online casino. How often does that happen when you show up to play bingo?

Reason Three – A Large Variety Of Entertaining Games

Bingo is a very repetitive, and sometimes, boring game. Want to have some fun? Most online casinos offer more games than you can poke a stick at! Roulette, slots, poker, and various other flashing games with entertaining sounds and colors.

If you are happy to play bingo, then I encourage you to keep playing it. However, if you are looking for a change, and looking to potentially win a lot more money, then I recommend giving online casinos a try. They are convenient, fun, fast, and very easy to use. Not only that, but you also have a lot more control over the outcome of your bets!