The 7 Failures of State Owned Casinos
There is an old joke from late Soviet Moscow. The first state-run red light house has opened. The chandeliers are Bohemian crystal. The champagne is imported from France. The furniture is from Maples of London. The cologne is the finest Parisian perfume. And the girls, comrade, are all Heroes of the Great Patriotic War. The […]
5 Ownership Models that Change Everything
Over the course of a thirty-year career in this industry I have worked for a large listed corporation with properties across three continents, a smaller regional operator running a handful of properties in markets that most of the industry had not yet noticed, and a family-owned single property where the owner’s opinion of a particular […]
The Reinvestment Trap
There is a particular kind of meeting that most senior casino people have sat through more times than they would like to admit. An offer is on the table for a player everyone in the room knows well enough. His host speaks warmly about him, as hosts do. His theoretical, if anyone ran it honestly […]
My Take on “The Business of Human Weakness”
I would never be one to comment on the election choices of another person when an election is actually in the offing; something I could only dream about for the poor, benighted country of my birth. So, I cannot really comment on Hungary going to the polls on the 12th of April, nor on the […]
A DAY IN A LIFE
Creating a compelling customer experience with an omnichannel strategy “I read the news today, oh boy…” and once again the industry is talking about omnichannel strategies for land-based and online casinos as a way to improve the player experience. The basic idea is straightforward enough. Players no longer think in channels the way operators do. […]
The Business of Human Weakness
Hungary votes on 12 April. I am Hungarian, which is one reason this subject does not feel abstract to me. If you have watched Orbán’s system long enough from the inside, one thing becomes very clear. It was not built mainly on policy detail, administrative brilliance or some magical understanding of the national soul. It […]