An Assessment of eCommerce in the Gaming Industry Team 9 Hayes, Dietrich, Bordelon, Bombardieri

Why eGambling? Now that we’ve been trained on how to trade crude oil, make money, invest it, buy several homes, fill them with shipped toys, and bought a few airline tickets to get away from the rat race – we wanted to provide an overview of how you can blow all your hard earned cash (or credit)! We hit the jackpot in this endeavor!

Methodology Desired variety in type of services offered –Information –Services (reservations) –Gaming for fun –Gaming for money

Methodology (cont.) Desired variety in physical structure and market focus –Bricks and mortar holding company of various properties –Bricks and mortar business - single casino –On-line casino focused at US market –On-line casino focused at international market

Methodology (cont.) Selection process –Searched the web and sampled different sites for criteria satisfaction –Selected 4 businesses

Park Place Entertainment –Leading gaming and resort company in the world –Holding company for Caesars, Bally’s, Paris and Flamingo casinos as well as certain Hilton and Grand Casino properties –Website provides information, services and gaming for fun

Grand Casino Avoyelles (GCA) –stand-alone Native American operated casino in rural Louisiana –Website offers information for on-property activities and opportunity to join the Grand Advantage Players Club for cash and complimentaries

VegasUSA Online Casino –On-line casino offering games in English –Based offshore in Antigua –Website offers full line of games for fun and money (via credit card) with membership –Offers payment of winnings within 3 days via courier service

Roman Casino –On-line casino offering games in 9 languages (only English and Spanish active) –Based offshore in Cyprus –Website offers full line of games for fun and money (via credit card) with membership

Comparison of Website Business Models Park Place - information and reservation services with gaming for fun (marketing) GCA - information and incentive to sign-up for Players Club (marketing) VegasUSA2 - on-line gaming for money and fun, offers rapid payouts Roman Casino - multi-lingual on-line gaming for money and fun

Comparison of Website Target Markets Park Place - adults over 35 with disposable income interested in existing casinos GCA - adults age living w/in 250 miles VegasUSA2 - English speaking on-line gamers Roman Casino - multi-lingual on-line gamers

Comparison of Website Distinctive Competencies Park Place - access to reservation database (5% of all reservations made in 2000 were made via website) GCA - none VegasUSA2 - on-line customer service Roman Casino - none

Comparison of Website Competitive Advantage Park Place - scale GCA - none VegasUSA2 - offer payouts within 3 days Roman Casino - multi-lingual gaming

Technological Innovation/ Security Park Place – credit card security GCA - none VegasUSA2 - Shockwave! graphics, no downloads to game, “highest level of security” available Roman Casino - no downloads, encryption using Secure Sockets Layer security

Comparison of Website Legal / Risk Issues Park Place - none GCA - none VegasUSA2 and Roman Casino – age – proposed “Internet Gambling Prohibition Act” – fraud – compulsive gaming

Industry Standards For on-line gaming there are accreditation and reviewing authorities –Internet Gaming Commission –ReviewedCasinos.com –aSureBet.com –Online Gambling Directory

Statistics

Conclusions On-line casinos have limited barriers to entry and opportunities to differentiate - marketing is extremely difficult Pending legislation will dictate long-term viability for US markets Park Place (reservations and gaming for fun) and VegasUSA2 (quick payouts and customer service) are in best position to maximize Internet positions

Conclusions (cont.) On-line casinos will always have customer appeal for those limited to access or not inclined to visit bricks and mortar facilities Finding and maximizing the “difference that makes a difference” is critical to maintaining and growing the business Reliability and trust in the eyes of the customer are “live or die” issues

Summary A wide variety of gaming web sites exist serving purposes ranging from providing information to marketing to cashier Before people are willing to “bet the house” they must have confidence that their chances of “winning (and receiving) two houses” are reasonable.