Introduction to Hospitality

1
Introduction to Hospitality
Virginia Stipp Lawrence, MHM

• The Gaming Entertainment Industry

2
Gaming Entertainment Defined

• We are just going to talk about one segment of
  the gaming industry, the casino industry.
• The Casino business is now known as GAMING
  ENTERTAINMENT.
• What other business are included in the gaming
  industry?
• 500 BILLION is wagered or bet on games or races
  every YEAR!!!
• In 1976, there were only 2 gaming jurisdictions
  in the US. How many do you think that there are
  now?

3

• Gaming entertainment refers to the gaming
  business all of its aspects.
• What are these aspects?
• What is next in importance to customers after the
  gaming floor?
• Gaming revenues in Las Vegas have been declining
  for the last 20 years.
• 32 of US households gamble in casinos.
• 90 of US adults say that casino entertainment is
  acceptable for themselves or others.
• Casino players tend to have higher levels of
  income education are more likely to hold
  white collar jobs.
• Gaming entertainment operators are becoming more
  retail driven.
• The average visitor stays in Las Vegas 3.7
  nights, budgets 580 for gambling, spends 58 a
  night for lodging, 111 for food drink, 63 on
  shopping, 27 on shows 7 on sightseeing.
• The average bet on table games is 12.

4
What is Gaming Entertainment?

• Gaming entertainment
• Casino floor (gambling)
• High-quality food and beverage
• Hotel rooms
• Live performances
• Theme park, theme rides and museums
• Land-based and riverboats
• Gambling
• Playing a game of risk for chance of making money

5
History of Gaming Entertainment

• Las Vegas is second only to who as the favorite
  vacation destination in the US?
• From the early 1940s to 1976, Vegas had a
  monopoly on the casino business.
• Back then, a slot machine or a blackjack table
  was enough to attract guests to the operation.
• Legalization control of gambling is a matter
  for state governments.
• In November of 1976, New Jersey voters passed a
  referendum to allow gambling in their state.
• 13 years later, Iowa legalized riverboat gambling.

6
The Size Scope

• As of 2000, there were four large casino
  operators Park Place Entertainment, MGM Grand,
  Harrahs Entertainment Mandalay Resort Group.
• Gaming entertainment pays more than 2 billion
  per year for gaming privilege taxes.
• Casino gaming relies more heavily than most
  industries on domestic labor domestic
  suppliers.
• Casino gaming has created more than 700,000 jobs
  with wages of approximately 21 Billion.

7
Key Players

• Mandalay Resorts
• Casinos primarily in Vegas including the Luxor,
  Mandalay Bay and Excalibur
• Harrahs Entertainment
• Operates casinos in major gaming markets
  including Reno, Lake Tahoe, Vegas, etc. Also
  riverboats.
• Operates 700,000 square feet of gaming floors,
  6,500 hotel rooms 50 restaurants.
• Hilton
• With its 3 Billion purchase of Bally
  Entertainment, it is the nations largest
  gambling business.
• Circus Circus
• Owns 9 casinos in Nevada including the Excalibur
  the Luxor.
• MGM Grand/ Mirage
• Operates the worlds largest casino/hotel, MGM.
  Mirage, Treasure Island, the Golden Nugget the
  Monte Carlo. (MGM was just sold 2002)
• Bellagio and Steve Wynn

8
(No Transcript)
9
New Players

• Boyd Gaming
• 10 gaming and hotel facilities in 4 states
• Grand Casinos
• Develops, constructs and manages land-based and
  dockside casinos
• New York, New York Casino
• Sands Venetian Resort

10
Positions in Gaming Entertainment

• Hotel Operations
• Much like those in the full-service hotel
  industry.
• Rooms guest services departments offer the most
  opportunities for students.
• Dept heads have a large number of supervisors
  more responsibilities.
• F B Operations
• Some of the best foodservice operations are found
  in gaming entertainment operations.
• Many career opportunities in restaurant
  management culinary arts.
• Most gaming entertainment properties house
  numerous F B outlets.

11
Casino Operations

• Casino Operations
• There are 5 functional areas including
• Gaming Operations Staff
• Casino Service Staff
• Marketing Staff
• HR Staff
• Finance Administration Staff
• Retail Operations
• Store Design Layout, Merchandising, Sales
  Control.
• Entertainment Operations
• Some productions shows cost 30 - 40 Million to
  produce require large production staff.
• Stage Theater Staff, Lighting Box Office
  Management Talent Management Booking.

12
Casino Terms

• Handle total amount bet or wagered
• Win net amount retained by the casino
  estimated at 48 billion/yr.
• Pit grouping of tables under one
  supervisor/manager
• Markers form used to extend credit to a guest
• Player a guest or client
• Cage Cashier cage where the chips and cash are
  stored
• Fill/Credit Slips Slips used to bring table
  banks to par

13
Casino Gambling

• Slot machines and games of chance
• Slot machines American invention
• Must pay off at 84
• High volume machine may pay 98
• Play maximum number of coins for greatest payoff
• Very addictive
• Where legal will be found everywhere
• Most profitable for casino
• Casino take relatively high
• Not much labor needed
• No dealers needed
• Change makers, maintenance

14
Games of Chance

• Blackjack
• Most popular table game
• Player with skill might have slight edge on house
• Poker
• Also involves skill, May play several different
  versions
• Baccarat
• High dollar game- Add up to nine
• Must bet on bank or player in advance
• Roulette
• Ball spinning around a wheel and landing on a
  number
• Craps or dice
• Fast, exciting, high stakes
• Hard to operate takes 4 people
• Keno
• Like bingo but pick numbers in advance

15
Regulation

• To deter cheating and improve image
• State gaming commissions
• Sets and enforces rules
• Quality how managed and maintained
• Public space follow zoning and fire laws
• Credit procedures varies
• Game rules must be published
• Lay out based on square footage
• How many and what kinds of games can be played
• Accounting procedures cash flow records
• How, when, who collects cash and counts
• Employees garments no pockets or openings
• Owners and employees must be licensed
• Owners very thorough check
• Employees personal history
•  

16
Casino Hotels

• A casino with at hotel attached-many want this!
• Most notable difference is organization and
  management
• In casino hotel, rooms is subordinate to gaming
• Casino manager will be equivalent to or above
  general manager
• Control system different because of the amount of
  cash
• Many checks and balances

17
Service operations

• Entertainment and food important part of gambling
• Casino hotels even more labor intensive (3 or 4 X
  higher)
• Elaborate entertainment
• Multiple dining facilities
• All night service

18
Casino Staff

• Croupiers or dealers conduct table games
• Fast and friendly
• Manual dexterity and math skills
• Screened for honesty and under electronic
  surveillance
• Average salary 30,000 plus tips
• Floor people
• Supervise dealers
• Enforce proper dealing procedures
• Resolve disputes
• Watch for cheaters
• Usually supervise 2-4 tables, Reports to pit boss
• Pit boss
• Manages larger group of tables
• Pays special attention to tables with high action
• Makes sure those placing large bets are happy
• Shift manager
• In charge of casino
• High pressure job work six to eight hours
• 1M hour in bets, 1M profit per day

19
How do you Work in a Casino?

• Employers are looking for people who have
  enthusiasm, those who can work well with people.
  This is the entertainment business, not a
  straight gambling business anymore. It's more
  like you're throwing a party for the people who
  are coming in. You've got to be good at
  entertaining.

20

• The jobs being a dealer themselves are simple
  to learn. You can be a professional dealer after
  a month or two, making close to 100 a day at
  some of the new places. You just give the
  customers a lot of service, try to be funny, or
  amusing, or keep it light.
• You start out at one of the break-in places off
  the Strip and work your way up to better-paying
  jobs as you gain experience. However, at some of
  the new casinos they are opening in other parts
  of the country, they train their own people at
  the company's training school.

21
Dealer School

• Most gaming schools offer flexible schedules,
  with day and evening classes. Admission
  requirements are also similar, with classes
  running from approximately four weeks for poker
  to about twelve weeks for craps.
• Depending on the length of the class and game
  procedures being taught costs vary from 500 for
  a short session on blackjack dealing to 2,000 or
  more for extensive craps training.
• All states mandate that enrollees must be at
  least 21 years old by the date they are scheduled
  to graduate from the dealer school. You must be
  21 or older to work in Nevada's casinos.

22

• Surveillance jobs are very low paying compared to
  other casino jobs. They only pay about 1012 an
  hour. It's a good job if you are going to school
  and want to study at night.

23

• One of the best jobs to have in the casino is
  that of host or in casino marketing. That's the
  person who handles giving out comps, the free
  passes and extra perks

24

• From dealer, the next step up is that of
  floorperson or floor manager. The interesting
  thing is if you take a job as a floorperson, even
  though it's a promotion, you usually are taking a
  cut in pay. Floor managers don't make as much as
  dealers because they are no longer getting tips.
  From floorperson the next step up is pit boss
  then shift boss then casino boss. It's usually a
  ten-year process to make it to casino boss, but
  definitely worth it if you want to make a career
  out of working in this industry.

25
Casino Customers

• Grind players
• Come on budget
• When money is gone, they leave
• Gaming a source of entertainment
• High end players (high rollers and whales)
• Chance to experience meaningful risk, big thrill
• May bet 25,000-500,000 at a time- Expect to
  suffer big losses at times
• Minimize losses by negotiating with casino where
  they play regularly
• Gifts, free guestrooms, free food
• May be worth 50 of what they lost
• May have personal representatives that negotiate
  terms in advance
• Casino division reimburses rooms and food
  division for any rooms or food and beverage that
  are given away
• Source of tension price casino charged,
  guestroom inventory
• Must save some for last minute arrivals
• Dont want to have empty rooms

26
Impact of Gaming

• Economic
• Tourism, Purpose of casinos
• Employment opportunities
• Increase state revenues
• Attract visitors
• May not necessarily benefit
• Atlantic City not improved
• Social
• Part of culture through the ages
• Often associated with dishonesty and immorality
• Concerns
• Environment
• Smoke
• Back rooms
• Women
• Drinking
• Do you want this in your community?
• Boils down to social vs economic

27
(No Transcript)
28
Technology of Gaming

• The boundaries of casino technology are most
  visible in three areas new gaming devices,
  visual surveillance systems, and customer data
  mining.
• technical innovation in surveillance, both visual
  and behavioral

29
Visual Surveillance

• . The first casino surveillance systems were
  completely non-electronic. Games managers merely
  observed players and dealers from catwalks over
  the action.
• With the development of closed circuit television
  and video recording technology, though,
  surveillance was able to become both a way to
  detect malfeasance and to preserve a record of it
  for future legal action.
• More recently, breakthoughs in digital imaging
  technology, including facial recognition systems,
  have pushed casino surveillance to the forefront.

30
Behavioral Surveillance

• Behavorial surveillance or data mining is another
  area where casinos have excelled.
• Harrah's groundbreaking Total Rewards program is
  still the model for other similar player cards
  programs
• It enables casino personnel to not only track
  what players are spending, but chart what they
  potentially could be dropping in the casino. This
  lets them create parameters for their marketing
  efforts and, hopefully, allows them to get more
  mileage out of complimentaries.

31
Trends in the Lodging Industry

• Gaming entertainment is depending less on casino
  revenue.
• Room inventory is rapidly increasing.
• Gaming entertainment will continue to be
  scrutinized by government public policy makers.
• Exceptional service quality will become an
  increasingly important competitive advantage for
  success.
• Gaming entertainment will continue to provide
  management opportunities.

32
(No Transcript)
33
Updates and What is coming up

• Homework-be sure to check the Assignments
• Next Week
• Dream Design Project
• Travel and Tourism
• Food and Beverage
• Hotels and Lodging
• Meeting and Event Planning