Free play has long been a staple of casino promotions. It’s not unusual to find patrons queued in long lines waiting to swipe loyalty cards at kiosks for the opportunity to add slot or table games credits to their accounts.

University of Las Vegas (UNLV) Hospitality Professor Anthony Lucas and Katherine A. Spilde, Ph.D. of San Diego State University have found that reducing free-play rewards had little impact on casino visitor numbers, or how much visitors spent gambling for real money. The authors explored their findings in the most recent edition of the UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal.

According to a new study from the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, free-play campaigns – or gambling money on the house – have become the dominant play incentive in the gaming industry, where the most money is spent to get players in the door and keep them coming back for more. However, the research suggests their effectiveness may be on the decline within certain groups of players.

A new study by a University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) researcher suggests that free-play gambling incentives may not be as effective as they used to be. According to researcher Anthony Lucas, the effectiveness of such promotions is gradually decreasing among certain players.

A recent study conducted by Anthony Lucas, a researcher at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), indicates that the effectiveness of casino free-play promotions may be decreasing among certain player groups.

Free-play campaigns – or gambling money on the house – have gotten big. They are the dominant play incentive in the gaming industry, where the most money is spent to get players in the door and keep them coming back for more. But new research suggests their effectiveness may be on the decline within certain groups of players.

Nevada and Las Vegas have made gaming their main economic activity and a tourist attraction that has seen evolutions, but not declines. All this, certainly, did not happen and does not continue by chance, but also thanks to adequate training of managers. He is convinced of it, as we read in the special training published on May issue of Gioco News magazine, Anthony F. Lucas, professor of Casino management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

One of the most enduring myths of the casino floor is that a slot machine is more likely to hit a jackpot when it hasn’t hit for a while because it’s “due.” Watch any busy bank of slots and you’re likely to see gamblers playing musical stools, attempting to get a feel for which machine is next to pay off big.