This morning, a strange letter landed upon my cyber-desk, signed by American Gaming Association Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Sara Rayme. However, it’s perfectly congruent with the aggressive tendencies of AGA President Geoff Freeman, so I look upon him as at least the spiritual author of this plea. In its structure and tone it is not unlike (albeit shorter) something you might get from the World Wildlife Fund or Americans for a Conservative Direction … although I never particularly regarded casinos as an endangered species, except for those with bad business practices.
The letter leverages the recent Get to Know Gaming study as a lobbying tool. “Join us in sharing this information by sending a letter to policymakers and enclosing an overview of the survey’s key findings and the positive national media coverage generated … Adapt this sample letter and include the following enclosures to begin to ask policymakers to think about the gaming industry with a renewed perspective … The survey results have generated national media coverage. Share these positive stories along with your letter … Boiled down into a two-sided one sheet are the survey’s key findings on the profile of the casino goers and voters’ attitudes towards gaming – just the right amount of information to inform policymakers.”
Inform them to what end? The timing is very strange. State legislatures have adjourned or are about to do so. Nor are we talking about any federal-level issues unless sports betting and Internet gambling are concerned. The relatively few states that haven’t legalized casino gambling aren’t pondering it at the moment and the ones that have are like coke fiends for the tax revenue Big Gaming generates. The industry certainly isn’t in peril anyplace. I’d ask what Freeman thinks he’s accomplishing with this Astroturf campaign but I suspect he’s not too clear on that himself. When Frank Fahrenkopf was AGA prexy, he was always subtle. Freeman’s current initiative is as low-key as a two-by-four upside the head.
* Aristocrat Leisure is looking to enlarge its American (and especially Native American) presence by purchasing Video Gaming Technologies, a deal valued at $1 billion. The two parties are tiptoeing toward a deal because “talks could fall apart at any moment, the [sources] cautioned.” Keeping in mind that International Game Technology is in play, this is the latest spasm in the compulsion to consolidate in the manufacturing sector.
* Elsewhere in the tech sphere, an Austin-based startup has built a better mousetrap (it believes) for capturing customer preferences and making them available to casinos, from cashiers to concierges.
