G2E | New integrated resorts diversify the entertainment experience

Steve Rittvo, Chairman of the Innovation Group, and Tom Wucherer, CEO of the YWS design, both invited speakers to last week’s G2E Asia Conference, consider multi-dimensional integrated resorts should be a common goal of the local gaming industry operators and the government. Both agree that this would foster a less gaming-driven economy.
In the opinion of Steve Rittvo, the world’s gaming industry is now shifting from “integrated resorts 3.0 to integrated resorts 3.1.” According to Rittvo, the gaming industry’s three previous transformations occurred after 1990, back when some of the first integrated resorts were built close to large-scale convention centers.
Rittvo regards the latest properties set up by the local gaming operators as part of a continued movement that distances itself from casino-centric developments, thus indicating that these properties should be thought of as “resorts with casinos” rather than “casinos with resorts.”
He believes that these resorts are positioned to serve the emerging Chinese middle class who represent the mass market; those who are seeking recreational and gaming entertainment as well as VIP Gamers. “We need to do extra to attract the mass market, they are looking for the ultimate total entertainment experience,” said Steve Rittvo, who noted that such resorts will offer tourist-attracting amenities such as water parks, duty free and discount shopping.
In response, Tom Wucherer, noted that “it would be a mistake to ignore consumer trends,” pointing out that the Asian gaming industry should diversify the entertainment experience it offers its customers, despite the fact that gambling continues to lead business revenues in the Asian market. Furthermore, Wucherer cited a senior executive at MGM international regarding the company’s business, in 2014, saying that across MGM’s Las Vegas properties, “guests between the ages of 21-34 spent [averagely] USD500 million and 99 percent of that was non-gaming spending.”
Wucherer concluded that the new resorts will consist of targeted micro-environments in which gambling is their anchor.  Staff reporter