The Las Vegas Linq has $250 Fan Cave rentals for the 2019 Super Bowl under the term “The Big Game”.
Caesars Entertainment is experimenting with the idea of a “Fan Cave”, designed to give sports bettors a taste of the “man cave” some sports fans build in their own homes. The Las Vegas Linq Hotel now has twelve Fan Caves available for rentals.
A Fan Cave at the Linq consistes of a 98-inch television and two supplementary TV screens about half that size, which provides roughly 200 inches of screen space for watching sports broadcasts or playing video games while watching the game on another screen.
The Fan Cave also has a remote control tablet which allows the renter to control all the screen in one interface. Of course, the Linq’s Fan Caves also have enough space for a room full of friends, for a social gaming experience.
Each Fan Cave is a private room, so the visitors receive a semi-private gaming experience free of the sportsbook’s public area. The Fan Cave is designed with four sets of televisions at the media station, so it presumably has four sets of customers in the space.
Those who rent the Fan Cave can bring a group of like-minded sports bettors or game enthusiasts to enjoy one’s gaming experience at the Linq.
Linq Spokesman on the Fan Cave
Chris Stuart, the Linq’s VP of Gaming & Interactive Entertainment for the Linq, described his company’s thinking in a recent Las Vegas Review Journal article. Stuart said, “This is not a traditional sports book where you sit in a big row. You own this space, so it’s much more social. You can hang out with your friends, pour your own beer, order your own food.”
Caesars Entertainment is not shy about its motivation behind the Fan Cave: the idea is to drawa larger number of millennial gamblers into the resort. Millennials now are the largest age demographic in the United States with 83 million members, a full 8 million more people than Gen X. They surpassed Baby Boomers in spending capacity in the year 2016.
The problem is, millennials are notoriously difficult for casino marketers, because they do not like many of the traditional casino games and they prefer a social gaming experience to a solitary trip to the casino.
Millennial Gambling Habits
Millennials’ collective antipathy towards slots row is a particular problem for casino operators, because slots have generated roughly 70% of all gaming revenues for US casinos in the past generation. In a 2016 report by Maryjane Briant of the Stockton University’s Institute of Gaming, Hospitality, & Tourism, only 44% of millennials gamblers polled play the slots.
75% of non-millennials who gamble play on slots row.
The same report showed that millennials spend only 8.5% of their entertainment budget on gambling. Non-millennials spend 23.5% of their budget.
2016 Stockton University Gambling Report
The Stockton University study came to two conclusions. One, millennials prefer a social gaming experience — they like a shared gambling trip with friends. Two, when they gamble, they want to bet on games of skill. Sports betting, poker, and skill-based gambling machines are their favorite casino games.
Gaming industry experts are split on the future of millennial gambling. Some think their habits will confirm to more older gamblers’ habits when the millennial generation gains in affluence. Others think their immersion in skill-based games and social gaming on their smartphones have ruined them from slot machines and other non-skill gaming for a lifetime. In short, having played skill-based video games in their youth and young adulthood, they find pushing a “Spin” button on a slot machine to be boring — no matter how good the graphics and pop culture references are.
Caesars Entertainment Man Caves
Caesars Entertainment is taking no chances. If millennials want a social gaming experience with a roomful of friends, they’ll give it to them at the Linq. For gamblers who might not have the space at home for a Man Cave, the sportsbook operator gives them a chance to rent such a room for an afternoon or an evening of gaming.
If a group of friends pool their cash, the gaming experience does not have to be that expensive.
If the idea works, the Linq might expend the Fan Cave experience. It currently has 44,000 square feet of sportsbook space that it could convert into private gaming suites.
Big Game Fan Cave Rentals
Renting a fan cave for the Super Bowl costs $250 per group. The “Big Game” Fan Cave rental comes with an open bar including premium spirits and an all you can eat premium buffet. It also qualifies parties for exclusive raffles and prizes, including licensed memorabilia and team jerseys.
Note: Most corporate references to the Super Bowl use the term “The Big Game”, because the NFL enforces its Super Bowl trademark ruthlessly. Tourists and locals wanting to rent a Fan Cave for the Super Bowl need to direct themselves to the Big Game package.
Attempts to Woo Millennial Gamblers
Other attempts to draw millennial visitors have failed for casino operators so far. The skill-based slot machines and gambling machines have failed to gain attention or popularity. The original set of skill-based slots had the illusion of being skill-based, but did not fool the first wave of players who tried them.
Game designers who tried real video games licensed older video game franchises Gen X players enjoyed as children, instead of the mobile phone games that millennials grew up playing. The idea of skill-based casino games might work if the game designers continue to tinker, but they so far have been a disappointment.
Electronic roulette, baccarat, and blackjack studios have had some success, but millennials have complained that the musical acts (DJs) are not interesting enough. Also, roulette and baccarat are games of chance, so they do not fall into the category of games millennials would enjoy.
