Gamblers will enjoy new ways to bet, analyst predicts

In addition to tried-and-true slots and table games, gamblers will be able to test their luck at skill-based machines that allow them to influence the outcome, to gather in lounge-like sports books to track the action of their favorite teams or daily fantasy-sports stars and to bet on who will win a showdown in “Call of Duty” or other video game.

And in some states, bettors who can't get to a casino will be able to do it online.

“All of those are going to be components to the gaming floor,” says Daniel Holmes, manager and gaming practice leader for RubinBrown, an accounting and consulting firm with offices in Denver, Kansas City, Nashville and St. Louis.

“Will a slot machine still exist in some form or fashion? Yeah, I think so,” he tells Player's Advantage. “You're going to see a different mix on the floor. So it's not just your card games. You'll have games of skill that involve slot machines, or an e-sports area or a sports book where you watch sports or then you can go to the e-sports book that's just like a poker room.”

Holmes makes the predictions while discussing RubinBrown's seventh annual “Gaming Statistics” report, which analyzes statistical data from more than 1,000 gaming operations in 40 states.

In 2015, gamblers lost more than $71 billion at commercial and tribal casinos, state-sanctioned online gaming and what RubinBrown calls the “limited-stakes gaming” of slot machines or video lottery terminals at trucks stops, bars and restaurants. That's the highest total yet for the industry win, and the sixth straight year of growth, the report says.

“The cool thing about 2015 is that the industry saw same-store sales increase year over year,” Holmes says. “Growth was actually more organic, as opposed to new markets and regional expansion. Looking forward, we would expect much of same to continue.”

Lower fuel prices and an expanding job market also are reasons for optimism.

“All of that drives up discretionary spending and drives up the (gaming) industry,” he says.

Pennsylvania casinos just posted their third-best month on record, winning $289 million in March. Ohio casinos completed their best first quarter in the state's brief history of legal gambling. Nationwide, gambling revenue in 20 states with commercial casinos for January and February was up by 4.1 percent from 2015, according to the Center for Gaming Research at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Commercial casinos, such as those in Pennsylvania and Nevada, account for about 54 percent of the gambling industry's revenue, RubinBrown says; tribal casinos contribute 41 percent, with limited-stakes gaming providing 4 percent and the nascent online-gaming market kicking in less than a half-percent.

California, the most populous state, is considering joining Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey in legalizing online gaming. Holmes doubts that will happen soon because of the competing factions there. He says Pennsylvania might be quicker to approve it because it is near two states already offering it and has been “very aggressive and welcoming” to legalized gambling over the past decade.

Skill-based games are a “must” for the evolution of the industry, Holmes says. Unlike traditional slots, which by law pay off solely on luck, skill-based games offer the opportunity for a player to influence the outcome by, for example, doing well at an arcade-style game. Nevada and New Jersey have measures in place to allow skill-based games. A similar proposal is before the Pennsylvania Legislature.

“I look at skill-based games as no different from table games,” Holmes says, noting that a blackjack player who follows basic strategy can reduce the house edge to almost a break-even point. “The question becomes: How do you create technology, or the programming behind it, so it is fair and it still fits in the parameters of what we know as gaming?”

In many areas, casinos are reconfiguring themselves to be more than “your typical row of slots, row of tables and then a buffet at the back.”

“Gaming is going through a shift,” Holmes says. “It's exciting to see where the industry will take us.”

Top U.S. gambling cities

RubinBrown, an accounting and consulting firm, ranked the top U.S. metro areas for gambling revenue in 2015:

Las Vegas Strip: $6.35 billion

Atlantic City: $2.41 billion

Chicago: $1.97 billion

New York City: $1.39 billion

Detroit: $1.38 billion

Philadelphia: $1.19 billion

St. Louis: $1.01 billion