Anaylsis Of Gambling Industry

Introduction

"A service is the result of applying human or mechanical efforts to people or objects. Services are intangible products involving a deed, a performance or an effort which cannot be physically possessed" (s dibb, 1994). Within this report their will be a number of topics discussed including the marketing mix, the effects of gambling and the ongoing conflict between services and product. These topics will be referred to the specific service which is the gala casino in Edinburgh.

Methodology

In the UK there are many different gambling bodies, such as Gala, William Hill and Betfred. The gambling industry is one of the most successful services in the Britain.. Gala casinos are owned by the Gala Group who in 2005 merged with another European gambling business Coral Eurobet to create Europe's largest integrated betting group. At present, Gala employs over 17000 people and generates over Ð'Ј400 million per annum, serving over 2 million customers (Gala Group, 2005).

The casino that this report will focus on will be the Maybury Casino in Edinburgh, which is owned by Gala. Despite it being a large city, there are only two casinos in Edinburgh, the Maybury being the bigger and more successful, rather than the William Hill casino closer to the centre of town. The casino has a high quality restaurant which is used all year round. Unlike some casinos, the Maybury has all the major casino tables, such as craps, roulette, blackjack and various types of poker. It has also has two function rooms mainly used for poker tournaments or mah-jong tables.

Main body

Marketing mix

The marketing mix is key when developing any business whether it is a product based company or a service provider. The marketing mix is a very simple tool yet effect is basically a step to step guide on how to market the product(foxall, 1999). The following are the main marketing mix elements which refer to all business however in some cases a further 3 of physical evidence, people and process, all of these ingredients "mask a major role of the retailer which is to select and acquire goods in order to sell their product" (d Gilbert, 1999)

Place - For many different services the location of a business is a powerful marketing tool by itself( d Carson, 1991) . For example: the Waverley Hotel on Princes Street is on one of the busiest streets in the country and is therefore almost guaranteed to make a profit. Although this is not really the case for the Maybury Casino, it is still in a good position. It is situated in Corstorphine which is just out of the centre of Edinburgh. Despite this distance from the busy city centre, its location does allow for increased space. Most customers would want a casino closer to the centre of Edinburgh, but this would almost certainly mean that the venue would be smaller, with higher costs for the customer and the business. Having the business out of town allows for more space which in turn means the company can offer a better service to the customers. The other advantage of this location is that it is situated next to the main road into Edinburgh from Fife, going through Haymarket. This allows passers by to see the establishment. The benefit to having this out of town location is access: it is very simple to travel to the casino as Edinburgh has an award winning bus service with more than two buses running 24 hours a day that go past the casino.

Price is one of the most difficult aspects of the marketing mix to tackle. Companies can do many things with promotion and can offer great products, but when it comes down to it, the cost of this is all that the vast majority of customers are interested in(j lee, 2002) Price is tricky when it comes to gambling, as it is an entertainment industry solely based on money. All casinos are always going to cost money when it comes to betting on tables, so there is nothing any one particular company can do differently, as it is generally up to the customer how much they spend. However, there are other aspects that are important in this industry, the main one being the membership price. The Maybury Casino does not charge a membership fee Ð'- this is quite rare for most casinos. This is an enormous marketing tool in itself, as the amount of gamblers and money spent on gambling is increasing. Therefore, if it is free to play then this will entice gamblers even more, and at the end of the day free is free. Another aspect of price is the poker room. This room is used for weekly poker tournaments, which is something that a lot of casinos do. However the Gala Casino differs from others: poker is one of the fastest growing pastimes, which has encouraged Gala to offer poker tournaments every day of the week with different price levels. Having all these different price levels can encourage a larger range of customers, allowing those with less money to not miss out. One of the best reasons for the lower priced tournaments is the large amount of students this attracts. Students generally have less money than most members of the public, and as poker is becoming increasingly popular with younger people today, the casino is therefore an affordable place they can go with friends. The general misconception about casinos is that they are for older businessmen who enjoy an expensive lifestyle and are happy to have expensive food and drink prices, but this is not the case. The prices of the drinks in the casino are the same as most Edinburgh bars with similar ranges and well trained staff. The restaurant is of a high quality and not overpriced. Therefore, it cannot be said that the price of the establishment could be responsible for putting people off going to the Casino.

Promotion in general is harder for a service rather than a product. This is especially the case when referring to casinos. The only way in which casinos tend to promote themselves is in the actual casino itself. Casinos cannot advertise in the same way that normal products can, due to legislations so they rely heavily on word of mouth. In some ways, promotion is actually very important to a service, (especially this type of service) as they are relying on their own performance to act as their promotion.

Product - This is the most important part of the marketing mix for a service, as this is all they have. In regards to a service this element is basically the result of the previous three elements of the marketing mix without this one they all fail. In all aspects of retail, whether it is in a service or providing a product, it is this that matters to the customer. It does not matter how they promote it or at what price they sell it at - they will fail either

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