Change Your Game with Predictive Analytics
March 18, 2012 by Stics·
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Predictive analytics continues to get a lot of attention not only in the corporate world but in the sports industry as well. With the release of the movie Moneyball, more people have become aware of how predictive analytics can be a game changer not only in business but even in sports.
Billy Beane and Paul DePodesta were able to transform the business of professional baseball through predictive analytics. Sabermetrics is the specialized analytics used to analyze baseball records and make determinations about player performance. Sabermetrics is now used by some of the most popular baseball teams in the country including the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
Hit a Home Run Faster
Predictive analytics can help your casino gaming business hit a home run faster than you could ever imagine. Here are a few lessons from the movie that you can also apply to help improve your business performance:
- Gain Competitive Edge – Don’t you want to know who your best customers are? Their behaviors? Average daily worth or profitability, reinvestment rates, probability of responding to an offer? With predictive analytics, you can find answers to some of the toughest questions in the casino gaming industry.
- Confident Decision Making – Oftentimes, data diverge from our expectations that we become doubtful of our decisions and more afraid to take risk. However, predictive analytics can back you up with for making the most bizarre decisions for your business.
- Better-Informed Decisions – Decision-makers used to rely on intuition and were exposed to biases most of the time. With predictive analytics, no more shot-in-the-dark decisions. Data-driven decisions can bring you better predictions and more efficient results.
- Your Data is Your Asset – Gathering data is just as important as interpreting it. Through predictive analytics, you are able to unlock the potential of your old data and make better-informed decisions that eventually lead to your organization’s success.
- Focus on the Right Data – Everyday your organization gathers a huge amount of data, but make sure you give emphasis on things that matters most to your business. Your data is your asset but it’s also an investment, don’t waste your efforts on meaningless data.
- Invest Wisely – It’s obvious that acquiring a new customer is much more expensive than keeping one. Whether you own a small By investing on analytic tools, you won’t have to change your marketing team just to generate new ideas. Predictive analytics can provide you evaluations traditional marketers do not see.
- Choose the right expert – Look for the right person or team for the job. Analysts are everywhere but choosing the ones who are specialized and knowledgeable in your industry would be of better than hiring a team of analysts from a different field of expertise.
Stics helps organizations leverage information by transforming data into insight – not complexity. With Stics, as your predictive analytics partner, you achieve business goals faster, focus on your core business, and gain a fast 10X ROI.
Call us if you would like to learn more. We are here to help.
Casino Gaming Database Marketing Strategies
August 19, 2011 by Stics·
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No Change in Database Marketing Strategies
Another fact we learned from our casino marketing survey was that most casino properties stuck with their existing db marketing strategies, even with the downturn. Basically, we found that:
- Despite the status of the business, almost 40% (39.1%) of properties are not changing their db marketing strategies.
- About a fourth of the industry is simply adjusting their marketing budget. More properties are increasing spending (17.4%) than decreasing (8.7%) marketing spending as a response to the situation.
- Another quarter (26.1%) are mailing different individuals with the same budget.
- Another 8% of properties are dealing with industry situation by buying new machines.
Strategies for db Marketing
The survey revealed that the gaming industry moved toward more tiering.
- 27% used Three-tiered database
- 42% mail 4- 12 tiers
- 12% mail at least 25 tiers
- 19% did not use or not known
Opportunity to improve mailing sophistication
Stics believes there is a lot of opportunity to database market more effectively. Based on the survey results, campaign effectiveness can be improved by:
- Trying new things (because 40% were mailing same)
- More complexity (because 69% were mailing fewer than 12 tiers)
- More Sophistication (only 23% using predictive analytics)
At a high level we know that loyal customers do come back, they just don’t spend as much. The problem is knowing which customer are likely to have more money to spend and how to bring back less frequent customers. Stics can help with that. Stics can unlock the power of your current database to maximize profitability and marketing effectiveness. For more information, call us today. We are here to help.
Casino Gaming Pain Points
July 1, 2011 by Stics·
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Reduced Revenues from Same Number of Players the No. 1 Pain Point
Casino businesses have diverse pain points, so we narrowed them down to find out which is the biggest source of pain last year. According to our survey, these were the pain points of businesses last year:
- Increase spend of players already coming (28%)
- Get new customers to make up for the deficit in current play (24%)
- Get players to play more since spending less (20%)
- Add other form of spending to mix (12%)—stays, events, food, etc.
- 4% changing reinvestment
With 57% of our respondents in their positions for less than 2 years, companies seem to be making investments in marketing talents to improve results. However, it appears that getting the same number of players to spend more is the top source of pain by their marketing people.
Stics, as your predictive analytics partner, can help you find your pain points and determine effective marketing solutions that can achieve 10x ROI fast.
If you would like to learn more, call us today. We are here to help.
Casino Gaming Business Performance
June 10, 2011 by Stics·
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More Up’s than Downs for Casino Gaming
We wanted to know how much the overall business performance in the casino gaming industry has changed in the previous year and our survey reveals that there actually has been more “up’s” than “down’s” as compared to the previous year.
More companies have improved in their performance than those who experienced decline; even so, most businesses yielded flat in their performance. This is vis-à-vis last year; so bottom hit for some.
- Things are better in places than expected (30.8% of businesses are up)
- More are up than down (30.8 up and 23.1 down)
- No improvement for bulk (61.6%) though (38.5% flat plus 23.1% down)
Stics offers predictive analytics to help you derive insights from your current data, make better informed decisions, and ultimately, improve your business performance. Call us if you would like to learn more. We are here to help.
Casinos & Hospitality Industry Stays Focused on Revenue
May 27, 2011 by Stics·
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Revenue the Primary Measure of Casino Success
When we asked what are the key metrics used to measure marketing ROI, we found that revenue remained to be the main driver of business assessment in the industry. We also noted:
- About one third of participants use profit
- Most (65.4%) examine gross revenue
- Less than half (46.2%) examine EBITDA suggesting profitability maybe difficult to monitor
- And 34% of the time some additional other variable was also considered
If you are looking to increase revenue and profit at your property, contact Stics. We have solutions that generate millions of dollars each month. Call us if you would like to learn more. We are here to help.
Casino Gaming Executive Turnover
May 13, 2011 by Stics·
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Casino Marketing Turnover in Executive Level Positions is High
One of the first things our survey revealed was that turnover is very high at the top levels of casino marketing. This is something we already knew from direct experience, but it is worth mentioning as frequent leadership turnover can create continuity and focus problems. Reflecting the seniority of their positions and gaming focus, we found:
- 53.8% of our respondents have been in the industry for more than 10 years.
But we also found that a full:
- 23% have been in their organization (company) for less than a year.
- 38% of them have been in their position (job title) for less than a year.
Considerably, 57% of the respondents were in their positions for no less than 2 years. This leads us to the impression that most companies are making investments in marketing talent to improve results. But it is also apparent that finding and keeping good marketing people is not all simple.
Companies today are looking to keep profitable talents in order to achieve their business goals and to supplement their human marketing resources with better tools and insight.
Call us if you would like to learn more. We are here to help.
Casino Gaming Industry Survey
April 29, 2011 by Stics·
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Casino Marketing Research
Over the past year, Stics has conducted a series of market research surveys to better understand the current challenges facing the U.S. casino gaming industry. There is a lot of research on the U.S. gaming industry, but most of it was done prior to the great recession and did not provide answers that took into consideration the current economic environment.
Stics conducted the survey to better understand our markets’ needs and develop new and innovative solutions to significantly improve the success rates of casino database marketing campaigns. We surveyed U.S. based casino executives (from CEO through director level) across the nation in the functional areas of marketing, finance and IT.
Over the next three blog posts we will explore some of the more interesting results and share our perspective on them with you.
These findings include:
- Turnover
- Measurements of Success
- Change in Business Performance
- Biggest Source of Pain
- Marketing Strategies
- Marketing Investments
We know that the casino gaming industry is set to move forward in a positive direction. But we also know that by understanding your customers at the deepest level and leveraging innovative new technology services your business can get on the fast track to revenue generation success.
Stics, has solutions that generate millions of dollars for our clients each month. Call us if you would like to learn more. We are here to help.
Optimism Seen at NIGA Indian Gaming Conference
April 15, 2011 by Stics·
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Indian Gaming Moving in a Positive Direction
There was a lot to be excited about during the NIGA conference last week in Phoenix! From Lynn Valbuena, vice chairwoman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, receiving the Chairman’s leadership award to Danny Glover and Adam Beach opening the trade show floor for business on Tuesday. The buzz at the show was optimistic that the gaming industry may finally be shifting back in a positive direction.
Consider Predictive Analytics to Launch New Growth
Now is a great time for Indian gaming properties to gain a new competitive advantage from Stics℠ Predictive Analytics. Predictive analytics can help you significantly increase revenue and build stronger relationships with your most valuable customers.
Predictive analytics is a form of statistical science that Stics uses to predict a customer’s worth and behavior. It is a cutting edge technology that blends marketing with science to deliver an ROI that exceeds its investment rate by ten times, in less than 90 days, with no software or hardware to purchase.
Make Stics Your Casino Marketing Advantage
Stics works with leading casinos in Indian Country, on the Las Vegas Strip, and regionally throughout the US. We give our clients a significant completive advantage that helps them drive revenue from their existing customer databases.
Contact Stics if you are interested in the most affordable and effective predictive analytics solution for the casino gaming industry. We would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Report Marks Indian Gaming Revenue Decline
March 25, 2011 by Stics·
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Indian Gaming Still the Recessionary Winner
Indian gaming began its widespread popularity in the States during the late 1980’s and its growth rapidly escalated. Despite the trend, even Indian gaming could not completely escape the impact of the recession, reporting an overall revenue decline of 1% in 2009, as reported in Casino City Press.
Casino City’s latest Indian Gaming Industry Report reveals national Indian gaming revenue declined 1% to $26.4 billion, from $26.7 billion the previous year. This marks it the first year of decline in Indian gaming history. According to the report, the overall slowdown was due to the economy and other factors including, public policies restricting the supply of gaming.
The performance of Indian gaming varied widely across states, California and Oklahoma were the top two states accounting for 38% of the total national Indian gaming revenue.
The overall decline in Indian gaming was much less serious than the commercial casino of the nationwide gaming industry.
Why Did the Indian Gaming Community Do So Well in the Economic Downturn?
Stics believes there are two major factors that contributed to the relative resilience of Indian Casinos over the past few years― and they both relate to location.
High Percentage of Local Gamers
If a property has a higher percentage of local gamers, its resilience in an economic downturn will be greater. Generally speaking:
- In a recession, people travel less.
- If gambling is a preferred form of entertainment, the destination gamble will reduce expenses by gambling closer to home.
- The percentage of gross gaming revenue from local gamers is higher for Native American properties than destination cities.
Less Competition
Native American properties often, but not uniformly, enjoy less competition. This is due to:
- Unique or remote locations
- A scarcity of nearby gaming alternatives
This encourages customer visit stability, as gamblers come back to nearby casinos more consistently over time. Because of this local access, gambling can become a recurring part of the local entertainment budget.
Should Gambling Be Legal In Texas?
March 8, 2011 by Stics·
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Public Supports Gambling
Should gambling be legal in Texas? That was one of many interesting question in a recent independent poll of voters from the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune. The survey shows gambling has a fair amount of support in the public: The support for gaming is on the rise in Texas with 56 percent saying they would allow full casino gambling compared to 8 percent who want to ban gambling all together.
Details about the push for expanded Texas gambling can be found on the Texas Gaming Association website and is being fueled by the States budget shortfall expected to exceeding $15 Billion.
The casino owners say their plan could produce $1 billion, mostly through the fees that operators would pay for the licenses to operate casinos.
Everybody Wants a Piece of the Casino Gaming Pie
Today dozens of casinos in the neighboring states of Tennessee and Louisiana benefit from a large population of destination gamblers who live in the Dallas metropolitan area. Oklahoma is also gaming on gaming to fill its state coffers with 70 Oklahoma casinos with plans to expand gaming within the State.
Legalizing gaming in Texas would have a significant negative effect on existing regional gaming properties. For that reason we find it difficult to support this push. What are your thoughts? Do we have enough casinos near Texas?
