Changing face of casino service

The role of casino employees, who play a central tenet in ensuring guest satisfaction, has had to pivot due to Covid-19 from that of being the perfect host to enforcing strict health and safety guidelines.

While ultimately, this isn’t seen as a permanent change, in the short term it’s providing challenges for staff, who are also seeing a rise in emotional and angry behaviour from patrons, speakers participating in the Australasian Gaming Expo seminars said. 

According to historical performance, after periods of economic downturn there has been an increase in gambling behaviour. After the 2008 financial crisis for example, gambling expenditure in Australia rose 10.4 percent in 2008. However, these punters tend to need to win the jackpot and can become emotional and angry when they lose. 

According to a talk by Leigh Barrett, managing director of Leigh Barrett & Associates, this is a pattern already being noted in pubs and clubs in New South Wales, where there has been an increase in gambling spend, but also aggressive behaviour. 

“It’s essential for staff to have the skills to manage this. Assertive but polite and that management will back them up. Staff will need to be calm in these challenging times to keep the situation de-escalated,” he said.

“Some frustrated gamblers will want losses refunded. It’s really important that staff stay calm. It’s against the law to refund gambling losses and if the patron insists, the staff needs to repeat it’s out of their control and bring it to management.”

In addition, the role of casino staff has pivoted towards being responsible for the implementation of sometimes frustrating health and safety measures that need to be maintained due to the pandemic. 

Suppliers have noted more casino staff on the floor than before, but their role has changed from hosting the guest and providing food, drinks and other services. The focus at present is on managing the number of patrons in each area and managing social distancing between those patrons. They also need to step up good hygiene practices and prevent groups from congregating.

In Queensland, the rules stipulate limiting the amount of time a guest can spend on a gaming machine, or in a dining room, which is also something that needs to be enforced by casino employees. 

Barrett said there must be clear signage available around the property to ensure clients understand the rationale. “These are the rules that will allow the casino to stay open,” he said.

That said, frontline teams need to also avoid the temptation to fall into a “vortex of despair,” and remember that this is the entertainment industry, according to Executive Coach Michelle Pascoe.

“The frontline team needs to know how to acknowledge and welcome guests in, they then need to explain it’s an experience that you’ve never had before. We need to show them in and guide them on their way. Need to make them feel welcome, tell them what’s happening and then move them on inside.” 

As properties around the Asia Pacific region slowly reopen and grapple with the new reality, the industry is trying to identify which new elements are here to stay and which are likely to be dropped once the pandemic is over.

Leading suppliers during a panel discussion agreed that elements such as increased space for players on casinos floors has been welcomed by guests and will probably continue due to popular demand.

However, when it comes to service, the focus will eventually switch back to providing the best guest experience possible. 

“Service is the special sauce that keeps the clients coming back to the venue,” said John Van Waard, senior manager for systems sales APAC at IGT. 

Gaming suppliers too have been fast to respond to the new realities, rushing products to market that can help compliance with the new safety protocols. These types of products will help casino staff transition their focus back to guest service, they say.

“Long term, there won’t be a change to service philosophies. I have been impressed by systems companies, who have responded to bring in automation technologies to ease the way that these requirements can be managed,” said Adrian Halpenny, SVP Australia and New Zealand at Scientific Games.

For example, many of the major suppliers have introduced software that allows dynamic management of machines on the floor. At the beginning of the crisis, many venues manually turned off with every other machine to allow social distancing. However, they found that the half closed casino floor was highly offputting to clients. The new products automatically switch off the machines either side once a player cards in.

“We have been diving deep into data for personalisation in marketing and promotional purposes for some time, but we’re now looking at the figures more for health preferences and social distancing,” Van Waard adds.