Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
I get what he was trying to say -- that an upscale appearance to the casino makes everyone feel important for being there, but he obviously said it in a stupid way.
Also, casinos being built nowadays are built for two types of customer bases: high end luxury and large volume traffic gambling halls.
Considering where the income base is growing, only in the top 10-20% of earners, that is where casinos corporations are focusing on. City Center was initially planned as a "urban getaway" with parks and food carts with more of a urban chic style connected via tram. Instead, the MGM properties group just built a high end mall with Prada and Gucci stores with high end dining options.
The stigma before this was that in America, you couldn't really build these Monaco type of casinos for the worry you'd make middle and lower class people feel out of place. As a result, they wouldn't frequent a casino they'd assume they couldn't afford.
But instead, consumers DO want to be surrounded by luxury.....it makes them feel as if they are as part of the elite club as the actual people who are. Consumers want escapism from their shitty lives.
Massachusetts has the highest average wage in the country and top 3 in average income. Massachusetts spends more on lottery than any state in the US. That's why all of these casinos crops fawned to build here.
Wynn is an ass, but he is just saying what CEOs have been saying for years since the GFC behind closed doors: the growing casino consumer base is at the top, and not the bottom...so the focus on quality over quantity is where the growth is. Politically, that's not something most want to say though, b/c the last thing any rich business owner wants is to piss off now lower income earners who eventually make more as they get older that will be potential future customers.