Incremental Trips

In Catalyst’s recent tribal casino player research project, we asked a simple question: “What would make you visit a tribal casino ONE additional time a month?”

At the overall level, free play was the clear leader. No surprise there. If the goal is to drive an incremental trip, free play remains one of the most powerful levers in the mix.

But when we broke the results down by age, we uncovered a much more nuanced story.

While free play wins in total, the age breakout shows that not all guests are motivated by the same type of value. Younger adults tend to respond more to novelty, momentum, and emotional triggers, while older players show a much stronger response to practical, experience-based value, especially complimentary meals.

That is where the strategic opportunity starts to open up.

Older players responded much more strongly to complimentary meals than the overall averages alone would suggest. That creates a more important conversation for operators. Free play may win the headline, but it should not automatically be the default answer for every audience.

Free play can absolutely move trips, but it can also introduce volatility into slot performance and create jackpot risk that makes the true cost less predictable. A meal offer, especially for older segments, may in some cases be a cleaner and more stable value exchange.

That becomes even more relevant depending on how your property accounts for food and beverage, soft costs, or advertised costs internally. In some cases, a complimentary meal may be worth a harder look, particularly for older players who already show a higher response to that kind of offer.

The bigger takeaway from the research is that the strongest overall trip driver is not always the smartest universal strategy. Free play may dominate in total, but age-based behavior shows that different guests respond to different forms of value. For older players, the sharper play may not always be more free play. Sometimes it may be dinner.

And let’s be honest, the F&B team probably is not going to turn down a few extra covers.