Anthony F. Lucas

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Professor, Hospitality

Expertise: Casino marketing, Casino management, Business operations analysis, Slot operations

Biography

Anthony F. Lucas is a professor in UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality, where he has developed award-winning research on the business aspects of the global gaming industry.

Lucas has worked extensively on the development of statistical models to better understand the effects of various casino marketing and operations-related variables on hotel-casino performance measures. He also developed several performance-potential models to explain the variation in individual slot machine performance. He has previously worked in areas of financial and operations analysis for Harvey’s Resort Hotel Casino, Harrah’s, MGM Grand, and the Palace Station Hotel Casino.

Lucas has published numerous articles in professional journals, including Cornell Quarterly and the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research. He has received awards for his research in the area of casino management, including the 2002 Best Article Award from Cornell Quarterly, CHRIE’s Wiley Research Award, and UNLV’s Boyd Research Award. Lucas co-authored Introduction to Casino Management, Principles of Casino Marketing, and Casino Operations Management, which are three of the most widely adopted textbooks in the field.

Education

B.S., Accounting, Ball State University
M.B.A., University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Ph.D., Hotel Administration, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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Anthony F. Lucas In The News

VEGAS MYTHS RE-BUSTED: A Roulette Color Can Be ‘Due’

Casino.org

Five red roulette numbers hitting in a row doesn’t mean a black one is more likely on the sixth spin. Even if you recognize the truth of this statement, whenever that sixth spin lands on black, it can still be difficult to resist learning incorrectly from the experience.

Does reducing free play impact casino customer loyalty?

Reducing free play offers to gamblers has a minimal impact on the likelihood that they will return to a casino, according to a new academic study. However, completely removing free play incentives could prove problematic for casino operators, according to the same study.

Does reducing free play impact repeat casino business?

Reducing free play offers to gamblers has minimal impact on whether customers will return to a casino property, according to a new academic research study. Eliminating free-play incentives, however, might prove to be problematic for casino operators, the study found.

Are free-play offers a waste of money for casinos?

Free play campaigns—those casino incentives in which customers are given money to gamble on the house — have historically grown exponentially as a form of competition between gaming institutions. If one casino offers $10 in free play, but a consumer chooses another that offers $15, then the first casino will adapt to offer $20 and so on.