Atlantic City could become a national proving ground for an emerging breed of gambling that would transform the casino landscape in the United States.
New Jersey’s chief casino regulator said Tuesday he is eager to see skill-based gambling in Atlantic City casinos. Skill-based gaming was one of the "Big Ideas" The Press highlighted in a special report on reinventing Atlantic City Despite being immensely popular, games that gauge skills such as dexterity and knowledge-- everything from Halo to Words With Friends-- have been all but ignored by casinos in America, which have traditionally focused on slot machines and other games of chance.
But industry observers say that’s all changing. And as casinos look toward skill games to entice young people, Atlantic City could find itself at the center of a new gaming universe.
So, he said, it’s entirely possible that an Atlantic City casino could be the site of the nation’s first video-game parlor that takes wagers on blockbuster titles such as Madden, Angry Birds and Medal of Honor. They can all be “gamblified,” Yoder said.
“We have what we call a gamblification development kit. So a game developer could literally take Candy Crush if they wanted to and turn it into a gambling game.”
Hightower [Part 2, 0:56]: If [players] go into a casino and they win a bunch of money, they don’t have as pleasurable of an experience, because the casino is upset about them winning. In my opinion, this is completely wrong. It goes against the whole idea of gambling in a Las Vegas casino...you should be allowed to win. And, when you win, you should be allowed to be happy. Our game is designed with those tenets in mind. The casino does not experience any exposure. If you win and beat them out of $10 million in a year, it doesn’t matter to the casino, because the way that the game works, all of the EV is balanced between all of the different players and any exposure to [the casino] is made up by an extra EV to another player. The house gets exactly the house edge that they select, no more and no less in the math model.
HRR: So if a guy comes in, and he’s an expert pinball player, and he does really well, he leaves, and then I come in, am I at a disadvantage?
Hightower: If he just finished a game and he just made the high score on the game, then it will actually affect the EV on the subsequent game a miniscule amount. Every single game is recorded into the game history.
Hightower [Part 3, 8:14]: This is where we want to change things. It’s OK for the player to win. The casino should want the player to win. There’s just been kind of a contamination of the entire culture. It’s starting to be repaired…. The reason I’m saying this, there are people in the pits, there are people running the casinos that don’t understand, frankly, what they are doing. That culture needs to change. They don’t need to get mad when people win. They need to get happy. They’re there to provide a service and entertainment. The service is not to take everbodys’ money as quickly as possible. And that’s where the casino [industry] also has some learning to do in my opinion.
Important takeaway: The advantage player math model that Hightower is talking about protects casinos from losing over the long run. Yes, they might lose money to a good pinball player, but the math model ensures they make it back from other, less experienced, players. What casino wouldn't want that assurance?