Casinos grapple with where to place skill-based games
By Nicole Raz, Las Vegas Review-Journal
When Blaine Graboyes approached what he estimates as “a dozen or more” casino operators in 2014 with his idea for skill-based video gaming machines, he pretty much heard the same responses.
“They said, ‘Oh, it will be 10 years before the games end up on the floor,’” said Graboyes. Or “’By the time you have the games on the floor, we’ll have these dedicated areas for’ — back then it was called millennial areas, but now it’s grown into integrated entertainment zones or adult arcades. I hear different terms, but I don’t think any of them are perfect yet in terms of branding the space.”
A risk to dropping a machine right in the middle of the floor is scaring away traditional gaming customers, said Steve Walther, senior director of marketing and product management for Konami Gaming Inc.
