Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • June 20, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com Social gaming among CT casinos' latest battles By Matthew Broderick Special to the Hartford Business Journal A s the vice president of gaming and revenue enhance- ment for Foxwoods Casino, Eric Pearson faces the twin challenges of building brand loyalty and driv- ing new and repeat business. With growing competition from new casinos cropping up across state borders in New York and Massachusetts — not to mention Uncasville- based Mohegan Sun — that's no easy task. So Foxwoods is hedging its bets by bringing its gaming experience online with an enhanced FoxwoodONLINE social-casi- no platform that launched in April. "We created an opportunity to differenti- ate ourselves in the online play-for-fun space," Pearson said. "We customized the site to feature the sights, sounds and games at Foxwoods." So far, the gamble seems to be paying off. Pearson said the daily average usage — a key performance metric in the online gaming world — has already doubled Foxwoods' pre- vious online efforts, which initially launched in 2014 and has seen a significant increase in mobile users. "When we launched two years ago, between 10 to 12 percent of our users played on mobile devices," Pearson explained. "Now, it's nearly 50 percent." Online casino games have become big business — driven by the proliferation of mobile devices, a Millennial generation that demands online access and an expansion of the types of games available to users. "When we started our site [last year], it was mostly online poker games," said Aviram Alroy, vice president of interactive gaming at Mohegan Sun. "Now, we have more than 100 games including slot games and — in the near future — more table games." Alroy said nearly one-quarter of the top downloaded mobile games today are casino-type games. That's helping to build a small but growing revenue stream for major players like Mohegan Sun and Fox- woods through features like in-app purchases. But the real revenue driver is allowing online players to win points or credits that can be redeemed at the casino for food, shopping and overnight stays. To fast track those efforts — and encourage daily usage — both Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods' online social-gaming platforms offer a variety of bonus cred- its, daily spins and challenges that make it easier for users to amass points. "We offer new enrollees 10,000 virtual credits," said Foxwoods' Pearson. "And we have a variety of daily quests — like playing three different games or completing 100 spins — that can help generate bonus credits and unlock new games." While online gambling for money is only legal in three states — New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada — on an intrastate level, Bobby Soper, president of the Mohegan Sun Gaming Authority, sees his casino's online efforts as a way to better understand the market opportunity. "Online gambling is going to grow as more [states] adopt it," said Soper. "Strategi- cally, we want to build loyalty [to our online platform] in the early stages." Globally online gambling is forecast to be a $56 billion a year market by 2018, more than doubling since 2009, according to Statista, an online market research firm. And the United States is expected to take in nearly one-third of that global haul. That has some states look- ing more closely at the issue. In fact, in 2015, a handful of states — including California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania — introduced online gaming legislation. This past legislative session, Connecti- cut lawmakers considered a bill to legalize and regulate online daily fantasy sports, but the measure didn't pass. While both Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun have an eye on legalized online gambling — and what it might mean to their bottom lines — Pearson said Foxwoods remains dedicated to the play-for-fun space. "We see a real value in social gaming and it's very different than online gambling," he said. Pearson predicts that social gaming will continue to grow as more land-based casinos implement online plat- forms. "Less than half of casinos have any online pres- ence today," he said. "But as gaming becomes even more popular, that will change over the next three to five years." And though Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods hope their online endeavors find success, they still want to attract people to an actual casino floor. "Even the best virtual- gaming experience can't replicate the feeling of being in a casino," said Mohegan's Alroy. n Q&A Collins hopes summer, fall aid HSO's revival By Keith Griffin kgriffin@HartfordBusiness.com It's been a time of change for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in 2016. It settled a contentious contract dispute with its musicians in January and then entered into a new operating agreement with The Bushnell, which had been a point of conflict with the union due to concerns over the performance venue's oversight. The symphony also named Steve Collins its new executive director in March. Here's what Collins had to say in a recent interview. Q: The end of winter was a tumultuous time for the Hartford Sympho- ny. How are things looking now that the contract negotiations are behind you? A: Things are look- ing fantastic. It was really important to move forward into the spring season. The first week of April really marked some impor- tant changes. We announced our new relationship with The Bushnell, I was named executive director, and we had our annu- al gala. It was the most successful gala we had in years. It was a real testament and show of belief in the Hartford Symphony Orchestra moving forward. Since the spring, there has been great box-office success. Q: HSO also has a new, rene- gotiated four-year management services contract with The Bushnell that returns overall management responsibilities to the HSO administrative staff. Does that have any impact on what the audience will see in terms of performances? A: The changing relationship was all part of a plan. We first entered into an alliance with The Bushnell about two years ago. It was intended to be temporary. This change was always part of the plan, to redefine the manage- ment services to a lessor role and name an executive director. Nothing done in all of this is directly attributable to what the public sees. There will be changes to performances related to chang- es with the symphony, in terms of how I see the symphony evolving. We need to find ways to reach out to diversify our audience. Q: How has attendance been for performances? What steps are being taken to improve attendance going forward? What about Millennials? A: Virtually every orchestra in the country has the same chal- lenges in terms of improving atten- dance and diversity. Younger audi- ence members are an important group to understand their buying habits and what they're looking for in their entertainment experience. We will experiment with dif- ferent kinds of concerts aimed at folks not involved with the orches- tra now. Concerts will be designed to meet the uninitiated on their own terms. They will be presented in a much more casual and social format. It's key to com- municate what's unique and exciting about those concerts in a way we don't normally. There will be more reliance on social media. Q: The summer season is upon us and with it your Talcott Mountain Music Series. How important is the Simsbury venue to HSO? A: The Talcott Mountain Music Series with its five performances is an important concert series for us. The Simsbury Performing Arts Center is a unique combina- tion of small town charm, great venue and some important stars. Talcott Mountain is an opportu- nity to reach a different audience that is family friendly. Last year 26,000 attended it. It's important to stretch, too, in terms of musical genre. For exam- ple, this summer we have a concert featuring the music of Ray Charles and Motown. It's a different expe- rience for people. It's important to show orchestral music is more than 200 year old music. Our total audience is typically about 90,000 for the year includ- ing Talcott, which accounts for 20 to 25 percent of our total attendance. Q. How do you stay com- petitive against free sum- mer concerts? What's unique about our sum- mer concert offering is there is nothing like it in Connecticut. We offer a combination of breadth of musical genres and a spectacular fireworks program on July 1. There isn't much out there that has that impact of full orchestras with world-class artists. I think we occupy a unique slice of the sum- mer market place. n STEVE COLLINS Executive director, Hartford Symphony Orchestra Eric Pearson, vice president of gaming and revenue enhancement, Foxwoods Casino Bobby Soper, president, Mohegan Sun Gaming Authority Foxwoods' online social-gaming platform offers players a range of casino- style games including poker and slots. It's free to play and users can earn points that can be cashed in at the brick-and-mortar casino for food, shopping and overnight stays. Other casinos, including Mohegan Sun, are increasingly adopting online social-gaming platforms. FOCUS ENTERTAINMENT/GAMING I M A G E | C O N T R I B U T E D

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