It is always interesting to visit the casino giant of the past, the land-based casino.  As the economy continues to tank worldwide, the land-based casinos continue to struggle mightily to stay afloat.  People around the world have far less discretionary income to spend, and junkets to casino towns have literally evaporated.   These junkets have proven to be far too expensive and superfluous for most common folk.  The online casino industry has more than met the need of these players by delivering top-quality casino gaming without frivolous expenses being passed on to the players.

Additionally, the land-based casinos need to meet their expenses every month.  As casino volume dwindles by larger numbers each month, the casinos must make up the difference by reducing the payouts on their gaming machines.  This is quite obvious if you make a trip to a land-based casino.  I spent a recent weekend in one of the finer casinos and was shocked to discover that I did not observe anyone win an amount over $1200 on a slot machine.  As land-based casinos continue to tighten their machines, even the most faithful of all casino patrons will be hard-pressed to make frequent jaunts to these casinos just to lose money.

I also observed another phenomenon in the land-based casinos – their roulette presentation is changing.  The number of roulette tables is dwindling, while the number of roulette machines is growing rapidly.  I observed only 5 roulette tables, while players were actively engaged in roulette play on machines by the dozens. 

There is a transformational change taking place in the basic way that land-based casinos are presenting their roulette gaming.  The model employed for online roulette by online casinos, both free casino as well as play-for-pay sites, is being emulated by land-based casinos.  The online roulette model is popular because players can participate in online roulette gaming privately and at their own pace. 

Through free casino sites, you are able to practice and implement various roulette strategies without having to pay for the experience.  By the way, the roulette machines in the land-based casino were quite active, and players seemed to enjoy the ability to play at their own pace without distraction of other players hovering around them.

It appears that land-based casinos have developed a new strategy – if you can’t beat the online roulette model, then imitate it!