Las Vegas Casinos Close to Getting Video Game Gambling Machines

Posted on: March 5, 2017, 02:00h. 

Last updated on: March 3, 2017, 04:46h.

Casino.org Staff Writer Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming.

Is the future of gambling in machines called Danger Arena and Pharaoh’s Secret Temple? Las Vegas casinos are betting on it and they could soon be appearing at your favorite resort in Sin City.

Video Game Gambling Machine
Las Vegas could soon have video game gambling machines that are skill-based and feature titles such as “Nothing But Net” and “Danger Arena.” (Image: Noah K. Murray)

GameCo. Inc., the largest maker of the skill-based contraptions, has now received certification from Gaming Laboratories International, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The next step for entering Vegas casinos would be to get approval from Nevada Gaming Control Board regulators, with the possibility the machines could be appearing as soon as July.

The company is based in New York City, but the machines are assembled in Las Vegas. Blaine Graboyes, CEO of GameCo, said the goal is to have a presence in several markets and has applied for a permit for Connecticut as well.

Atlantic City Test Site

The Tropicana and three Caesars properties in Atlantic City have had them up and running since October, and the remaining three New Jersey Boardwalk resorts plan on installing them as well.

Getting people born in the early 1980s to late 1990s into a casino has been a conundrum for resort officials. Most of the activities millennials enjoy center around clubs, shopping, and pool parties, and trying to get them to dry off and bet is a challenge.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said in its annual report that the percentage of visitors there who gambled had declined to 71 percent in 2014, down from 87 percent in 2006. Of the three demographics, millenials made up the smallest percentage of players, compared to Baby Boomers (not surprisingly, the biggest wagerers), followed by Gen Xers.

“We’re targeting being there in the first half of 2017,” Graboyes said in a recent interview with Gaming Today. “Chairman Burnett [A.G. Burnett, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board] and his team in Nevada have been incredibly supportive of what we’re doing.”

Strategy Can Pay Off for Gamers

The games have two different approaches. Danger Arena is similar to Call of Duty, and is a first-person action game where players have a certain time period to eliminate robots to either break even or get odds on their money for more “killed.” There is a map that’s followed and it has approximately 10,000 maps for any session.

Pharaoh’s Secret Temple is aimed at a less hardcore gamer and more to the novice. It’s patterned after Candy Crush and is a matching-type scenario.

Another game set to make its debut this month, Nothing But Net, employs basketball shooting. There are also plans for two additional games based on the the Clint Eastwood 1960s cult classic Western Hang ’Em High and the popular History Channel dramatic television series Vikings.