While in Los Angeles over the Christmas holidays, I was traveling down the legendary Sunset Strip, when it hit me between the eyes.
There in the heart of trendy West Hollywood, was a huge billboard for the Morongo Casino Resort and Spa with the headline, 'The hottest nightclub in LA isn’t even in LA.' The graphic featured a big bouncer standing between two cacti.
Knowing that this LA area billboard space was perhaps the priciest in the region, I realized at that point we were entering a new age of casino marketing in the Palm Springs Desert Resorts.
With this week’s official opening of the $200 million Fantasy Springs Casino Resort, including a 250-room hotel and lavish entertainment facilities, and the announcement last week by the Agua Caliente Casino of their dramatic expansion near Rancho Mirage, complete with a 14-story hotel and large retail complex, the battle for the Indian casino visitor is rapidly heating up.
Since the Agua Caliente tribe opened the first valley casino more than 10 years ago, the industry has traditionally promoted its attraction to local residents or visitors already vacationing in the region.
Called 'Convenience Gamers' in industry jargon, these individuals consisted of retirees and other local folk with most of the media budgets spent on TV, radio and newspapers in the Palm Springs Desert Resorts.
As the casinos grew increasingly sophisticated and brought in professional operators and marketers from other gaming destinations such as Mississippi and Las Vegas, more campaigns were under way that targeted bigger gamers.
Some of these high rollers were from outside the area and the Agua Caliente tribe had an edge since they were the only operators with their own hotel in which to host their players.
Nonetheless, locals and visitors continued to be the bread and butter of the casinos, but things began to change a few years ago.
Led by the Spa Resort, the casinos got together to sell the region with the expressed purpose of banding together to market the region as a gaming destination.
They accomplished several initiatives including the development of a Web site, which would be the only complete online listing of all the casino offerings and the content would be controlled by the casinos themselves.
They also discussed billboards that would be placed on the way to Las Vegas that would read, 'If you were in the Palm Springs Desert Resorts, you’d be playing by now.'
The casinos also produced the Palm Springs Gaming Guide, listing all the facilities and their amenities and it was distributed throughout the valley and to website inquiries.
It was all a part of an effort to take aim at the visitor who chooses destinations in which their primary activity is gaming, such as Laughlin or Vegas. Some of the ad dollars, which were primarily spent regionally, were slowly shifted to outlining markets, a change that also was being employed by the casinos in San Diego County.
The opening of the Morongo and Fantasy Springs casinos are adding a new mix to the gaming media, and it isn’t because they became the first skyscraper hotels in the region.
They appear to be following a surprising trend that began in Las Vegas and took hold in the last year. Recently Las Vegas hotels derived most of their income, not from gaming but from entertainment and room revenue.
Both properties are pushing to position themselves as hip nightspots and the hotels of choice for people who prefer casinos like the trendy Mandalay Bay or the Palms in Las Vegas, where being seen and hanging out is as important as the gaming component.
All the casinos -- including Trump 29, Augustine, the Agua Caliente Casino and the Spa Resort Casino -- are competing by offering some quality premium dining choices. Many of the casinos have dramatically increased their entertainment budgets bringing in big name acts. Fantasy Springs, in fact, will be making this a focus with their new facility.
There is no doubt the casinos want gaming revenue, but having younger people stay overnight, spend money at the bar, in restaurants and on show tickets is important as well. That’s why much of the new development is focusing on the overall entertainment experience beyond the blackjack tables.
Although they already spend millions to bring people in, expect even bigger casino marketing budgets in the future as they hope to reshape the visitor market in the Palm Springs Desert Resorts.
It’s not just about the grandma from Rancho Mirage at the tables anymore.