COVID19 peak is far from over. However, the casinos in the US are reopening but has the customer attitude has changed? A conclusion or even guess is possible only with data. Brett Abarbanel, Director of Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas International Gaming Institute has teamed up with KPMG to understand customer prioritization.
As per the study, there are many key takeaways. During the COVID19 pandemic, customers care about the three most important things.
Safety
The very first thing is safety. Almost two-thirds of the people who were surveyed spoke about safety as their primary concern. Whenever they go back to land-based games, they want health safety is taken care of. However, 30% of people spoke about their financial conditions as a concern and 20% spoke about the overall economy.
Visible Measures
The customers said that they want to see the measures are visible on the ground. The surveyed customers clearly indicated that a clean environment isn’t enough and they would like to see employees are working on the ground with PPE cleaning with their masks on and others. Among the surveyed customers, 79% hold the same view and said that they don’t believe in the press release that talks about their measures. So, clearly, customers are looking for visible measures rather than a long press release.
Spectrum of Activities
Almost 46% of people want to see activities in the board spectrum rather than in one concentrated area. They want to feel safe by observing that many measures are being taken at different levels.
Abarbanel observed that the casinos that are putting effort into customer safety are getting trustworthy brands. She observed that almost 88% of people would choose the casino that has displayed a good amount of customer safety and practices. Hence, the parameter of loyalty for the brands is changing.
Customers are also worried about the employees following the protocols. Customers would love to see others with PPE, masks, and other hygiene measures.
She also observed that the casinos are taking very strict measures in customer safety. She said that the casinos understand how costly it could be if they are asked to shut down again. Hence, the casinos are putting their best efforts to remain open.
But is online gambling a replacement for Nevada? Well, the survey does not reflect that. As per the survey, only 8% of people said that they would choose online as the replacement of the land-based casinos. However, about 44% of people considered online as a temporary replacement until they come back to the casinos.