Casinos using Chinese New Year to draw Players

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With the Chinese New Year (a.k.a. Lunar New Year) beginning today, various casino destinations across the world are gearing up by offering special promotions aimed at Asian players. Some of these areas include Macau, Las Vegas, Singapore and Atlantic City, which are currently preparing their Lunar New Year-themed events. That being said, here is a closer look at this phenomenon, and how much business casinos expect to get during the Chinese New Year.

Starting the Year off Right

These days casinos across the world know how important it is to be prepared during the Lunar New Year. After all, the profits pulled in during China's most important holiday can make or break a casino's year. On one day during the 2011 Chinese New Year holiday, Macau broke a world-record for most gaming revenue generated in a single day at $185 million. When the 2010 Lunar New Year overlapped with the NFL Super Bowl, Las Vegas saw a 14% revenue increase during the 15-day holiday.

Target Audience

Atlantic City is one place that is hoping to emulate the huge successes of Macau and Las Vegas. And Caesars Atlantic City hopes to be a beneficiary of this success as they are busy putting up Chinese New Year billboards around the area. Marketing VP Steve Hann spoke about this by saying, "As is the case with the Chinese, the color white signifies death. As a visual example, we’d be very concerned not to put decor up that’s all white." He added, "We try to stick as close to what the traditional culture calls for. So, for Lunar New Year, it’s mostly reds and golds, very happy, warm, good-feeling colors."

Other casinos that are on the same page as Caesars are the Borgata and Tropicana Atlantic City. They are busy lining the Atlantic City Expressway and New York City's Chinatown with signs and advertisements for Chinese New Year-themed promotions.

Celebrating Traditions

In addition to their marketing and advertising efforts, casinos are also following in Chinese traditions to draw more players in. Myron Quon, who does various casino research in his job, talked about this by saying, "Oftentimes on these tour buses (provided by casinos), they’ll give people a voucher in a little red or plastic envelope with a Chinese character in gold. 'Hongbao,' literally 'red envelopes' containing money that relatives give one another during the holiday."

Players can also expect to find plenty of Asian-themed meals and cuisine, along with more gaming tables dedicated to Chinese favorites like baccarat, sic bo and Pai Gow poker. Of course, perhaps the biggest draw to casinos during the Lunar New Year is the ancient Chinese superstition that winning at the tables will set the tone of the rest of the year.