http://www.wsj.com/articles/atlanti...-at-offering-new-skill-based-games-1426468950
NY Region[h=1]Atlantic City Tries Its Luck Offering Skill-Based Games[/h][h=2]Gambling activities involving such things as basketball free-throws, Scrabble-like slot machines are being considered[/h] <!-- data-module-name="article.app/lib/module/articleHeadline" --><!-- articleBody16u --><meta content="http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NY-DM622_SKILL_J_20150315210852.jpg" itemprop="representativeOfPage contentUrl"><meta content="The Borgata Hotel Casino expects to host a free-throw competition later this month. About 400 people have signed up so far. " itemprop="caption description">
The Borgata Hotel Casino expects to host a free-throw competition later this month. About 400 people have signed up so far. Photo: Jason Andrew for The Wall Street Journal
ByJosh Dawsey
<time class="timestamp"> March 15, 2015 9:22 p.m. ET </time>
<!-- --> At the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, the blown-glass <!-- -->Dale Chihuly<!-- --> chandeliers will soon share space with basketball nets.
The casino later this month is expected to host a free-throw competition, part of a crop of skills-based games with a gambling component that are under consideration, from sports tournaments to Scrabble-like slot machines and tablet-based arcade fare. The city’s struggling gambling sector is looking at these games in an attempt to lure younger customers and fend off competition from other states.
“You see the younger generation walking past the casino floor and not really paying much attention,” said <!-- -->Eric Weiss,<!-- --> director of the technical services bureau for New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement. “They’re going to the nightclubs and the bars and restaurants, and they’re all using mobile devices.”
New Jersey in February became the first state to allow this category of skills-based gambling, and Borgata is proving a guinea pig of sorts in a new frontier of flashier, more interactive games. So far, about 400 people have signed up online to shoot free throws, paying $20 each. Borgata plans to confine the action to makeshift courts that it will build in a large room it has used for reality-show tapings and other events.
“We won’t have basketballs flying across the casino,” said <!-- -->Joe Lupo,<!-- --> a Borgata senior vice president.
It remains unclear whether the games change Atlantic City’s declining financial arc.
The city’s casinos brought in $5.2 billion in 2006 and now bring in less than $3 billion a year. Four casinos have closed since 2014.
Online gambling has struggled and delivered far fewer customers than state officials predicted. Gov. <!-- -->Chris Christie<!-- --> has installed emergency managers to consider Atlantic City’s fate, with some fearing that bankruptcy could be on the horizon.
Several casinos, including the Tropicana Casino & Resort, say they are weighing options for new skill-based games but haven’t committed. <!-- -->Joseph Weinert,<!-- --> a casino analyst at Spectrum Gaming, said struggling casinos might be leery of spending cash for new machines because they have little to spend. The machines can cost $15,000 or more.
“All these next-gen ideas, we’re still waiting to see how they’re integrated into casino gaming,” Mr. Weinert said. “I can’t see anyone increasing revenue projections just based on this approval.”
Gamblit, a Glendale, Calif.-based gambling-technology company, has met with several Atlantic City properties, said Chief Executive <!-- -->Eric Meyerhofer,<!-- --> and wants to debut its machines in Atlantic City within a year. State officials have promised expedited reviews.
Gamblit offers games like “Bears Behaving Badly,” where players break up honeycombs, and “Police Pooches,” where gamers try to destroy “zombie cats.” The company is designing games where players try to match dragon eggs and destroy the enemy’s boats, like Battleship. Some are played on large, flat tablet devices, while others are meant for a 40-inch screen. They are aimed at gamers in their 20s and 30s, Mr. Meyerhofer said.
Mr. Lupo, the Borgata official, said the casino might consider boardwalk ski-ball games or Xbox-style games along with other sports events.
Skill-based games have won some fans who feel that, unlike slot machines, they can exert some control over their fate. But the odds may be stacked against them.
<!-- --><meta content="http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NY-DM588_NYSKIL_P_20150315175223.jpg" itemprop="representativeOfPage contentUrl"><meta content="Ed Palubinskas, who lives in Louisiana, will be competing in the Borgata’s free-throw contest in Atlantic City." itemprop="caption description">
ENLARGE
Ed Palubinskas, who lives in Louisiana, will be competing in the Borgata’s free-throw contest in Atlantic City. Photo: Bryan Tarnowski for The Wall Street Journal
<!-- --> <!-- -->Ed Palubinskas,<!-- --> who calls himself the “Free Throw Master,” is flying to New Jersey from his Louisiana home to compete. The 64-year-old recently made 396 out of 400 at a gym, he said, adding that his shots rarely hit the rim or backboard.
A former player at Louisiana State University, he expects fierce competition from a small band of players. Anyone who goes into the casino and can’t make at least 98% of the shots doesn’t have much of a chance, he said.
“There are quite a few of us out there that can make 100 in a row,” he said. “You miss one shot, you’re done. I imagine they’ll sift out the amateurs pretty quickly.”
Borgata needs at least 500 entrants to break even at the basketball tournament, which offers a cash pool of at least $10,000. The contest is tied to March Madness, the NCAA national basketball championship.
Elsewhere, other properties are watching to see whether Borgata’s competition is popular—and profitable—and entertaining other gaming ideas as well.
“Maybe you have the world’s largest rock-paper-scissor tournament,” said <!-- -->Tom Pohlman,<!-- --> the general manager of the Golden Nugget. “Maybe you have bowling. I’ve got a marina on my property, so maybe I do a swimming competition. It just depends on what your customers want and what can make money.”
NY Region[h=1]Atlantic City Tries Its Luck Offering Skill-Based Games[/h][h=2]Gambling activities involving such things as basketball free-throws, Scrabble-like slot machines are being considered[/h] <!-- data-module-name="article.app/lib/module/articleHeadline" --><!-- articleBody16u --><meta content="http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NY-DM622_SKILL_J_20150315210852.jpg" itemprop="representativeOfPage contentUrl"><meta content="The Borgata Hotel Casino expects to host a free-throw competition later this month. About 400 people have signed up so far. " itemprop="caption description">
The Borgata Hotel Casino expects to host a free-throw competition later this month. About 400 people have signed up so far. Photo: Jason Andrew for The Wall Street Journal
ByJosh Dawsey
- Josh Dawsey
The Wall Street Journal
<time class="timestamp"> March 15, 2015 9:22 p.m. ET </time>
<!-- --> At the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, the blown-glass <!-- -->Dale Chihuly<!-- --> chandeliers will soon share space with basketball nets.
The casino later this month is expected to host a free-throw competition, part of a crop of skills-based games with a gambling component that are under consideration, from sports tournaments to Scrabble-like slot machines and tablet-based arcade fare. The city’s struggling gambling sector is looking at these games in an attempt to lure younger customers and fend off competition from other states.
“You see the younger generation walking past the casino floor and not really paying much attention,” said <!-- -->Eric Weiss,<!-- --> director of the technical services bureau for New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement. “They’re going to the nightclubs and the bars and restaurants, and they’re all using mobile devices.”
New Jersey in February became the first state to allow this category of skills-based gambling, and Borgata is proving a guinea pig of sorts in a new frontier of flashier, more interactive games. So far, about 400 people have signed up online to shoot free throws, paying $20 each. Borgata plans to confine the action to makeshift courts that it will build in a large room it has used for reality-show tapings and other events.
“We won’t have basketballs flying across the casino,” said <!-- -->Joe Lupo,<!-- --> a Borgata senior vice president.
It remains unclear whether the games change Atlantic City’s declining financial arc.
The city’s casinos brought in $5.2 billion in 2006 and now bring in less than $3 billion a year. Four casinos have closed since 2014.
Online gambling has struggled and delivered far fewer customers than state officials predicted. Gov. <!-- -->Chris Christie<!-- --> has installed emergency managers to consider Atlantic City’s fate, with some fearing that bankruptcy could be on the horizon.
Several casinos, including the Tropicana Casino & Resort, say they are weighing options for new skill-based games but haven’t committed. <!-- -->Joseph Weinert,<!-- --> a casino analyst at Spectrum Gaming, said struggling casinos might be leery of spending cash for new machines because they have little to spend. The machines can cost $15,000 or more.
“All these next-gen ideas, we’re still waiting to see how they’re integrated into casino gaming,” Mr. Weinert said. “I can’t see anyone increasing revenue projections just based on this approval.”
Gamblit, a Glendale, Calif.-based gambling-technology company, has met with several Atlantic City properties, said Chief Executive <!-- -->Eric Meyerhofer,<!-- --> and wants to debut its machines in Atlantic City within a year. State officials have promised expedited reviews.
Gamblit offers games like “Bears Behaving Badly,” where players break up honeycombs, and “Police Pooches,” where gamers try to destroy “zombie cats.” The company is designing games where players try to match dragon eggs and destroy the enemy’s boats, like Battleship. Some are played on large, flat tablet devices, while others are meant for a 40-inch screen. They are aimed at gamers in their 20s and 30s, Mr. Meyerhofer said.
Mr. Lupo, the Borgata official, said the casino might consider boardwalk ski-ball games or Xbox-style games along with other sports events.
Skill-based games have won some fans who feel that, unlike slot machines, they can exert some control over their fate. But the odds may be stacked against them.
<!-- --><meta content="http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NY-DM588_NYSKIL_P_20150315175223.jpg" itemprop="representativeOfPage contentUrl"><meta content="Ed Palubinskas, who lives in Louisiana, will be competing in the Borgata’s free-throw contest in Atlantic City." itemprop="caption description">
Ed Palubinskas, who lives in Louisiana, will be competing in the Borgata’s free-throw contest in Atlantic City. Photo: Bryan Tarnowski for The Wall Street Journal
<!-- --> <!-- -->Ed Palubinskas,<!-- --> who calls himself the “Free Throw Master,” is flying to New Jersey from his Louisiana home to compete. The 64-year-old recently made 396 out of 400 at a gym, he said, adding that his shots rarely hit the rim or backboard.
A former player at Louisiana State University, he expects fierce competition from a small band of players. Anyone who goes into the casino and can’t make at least 98% of the shots doesn’t have much of a chance, he said.
“There are quite a few of us out there that can make 100 in a row,” he said. “You miss one shot, you’re done. I imagine they’ll sift out the amateurs pretty quickly.”
Borgata needs at least 500 entrants to break even at the basketball tournament, which offers a cash pool of at least $10,000. The contest is tied to March Madness, the NCAA national basketball championship.
Elsewhere, other properties are watching to see whether Borgata’s competition is popular—and profitable—and entertaining other gaming ideas as well.
“Maybe you have the world’s largest rock-paper-scissor tournament,” said <!-- -->Tom Pohlman,<!-- --> the general manager of the Golden Nugget. “Maybe you have bowling. I’ve got a marina on my property, so maybe I do a swimming competition. It just depends on what your customers want and what can make money.”
