2022 Outstanding. 2023 Outlook D

o you recall the signature expression of the TV detective, Kojak: “Who loves ya, baby?” To me, that phrase kinda feels how 2023 is being positioned by ‘the experts.’ There’s lots of doom and gloom out there. Media is full of … it (i.e. the doom and the gloom).

Human psychology focuses on negatives more than positives, so people are being programmed by media coverage to pull back on discretionary spend – and, of course, there are spend increases in core areas, notably energy and grocery. However, I expect our Fun Economy™ – as it has been trademarked by UNLV –to be mostly impervious to any 2023 downturn: Please watch our YouTube interview with UNLV’s Dr. Bo Bernhard where he discusses the Fun Economy.

https://youtu.be/vDcg_EckjpA

Naturally, some markets will feel a 2023 ‘recession’ more than others. But our industry is – or should be – in the fun-and-entertainment quadrant for patrons’ minds and wallet-spend planning. We’re still on the rebound from the pandemic, which created one of the worst mental health crises in modern times. 2023 isn’t going to be as easy or as great a year as 2022 was, but I certainly don’t expect it to be a bad year for our industry. That is especially true for those operators who are good at what they do and who know how to reward and please their patrons – food, entertainment, gaming … in that order. Then ancillary services/ products, such as retail, wellness, and of course hotel. All should be packaged within a value-for-money comparative narrative that allows patrons to leave your property with a smile on their face even when they’ve lost.

The Greatest Arena

As we’ve seen many times before, Las Vegas is setting the pace and showing the required leadership it lost for a while to other jurisdictions – namely, how to very successfully transition from gaming to non-gaming. For many years now, Las Vegas has been building new arenas, such as the HyperX Arena in Luxor and the city’s Allegiant Stadium. In fact, according to a recent industry statistic, Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium was the number-one arena in the U.S. https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1813053/

This outstanding statistic helps explain the 2022 advertising campaign from the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority: The Greatest Arena on Earth™. Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena also performed strongly. You now know what to do (and what to benchmark) to ensure 2023 has a better-than-average outlook for you.

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Editor EMEA