The 2025 Casino Player Trends Report was recently released by marketing firm LT (LaneTerralever), and it revealed a variety of insights on the shifts in casino player expectations & operator priorities.
One of the biggest findings was that a growing number of casino visitors spend their time on activities other than gaming. In fact, 45% of players now spend more than a quarter of their time on non-gaming activities, which is up from 20% in 2024. Non-gaming offerings also influence repeat visits, with 67% of players saying non-gaming offerings have a significant impact on their decision for a return visit.
While millennials are leading the charge when it comes to prioritizing non-gaming activities (74%), Gen Z players aren’t far behind (70%) and neither is Gen X (68%).
So just what non-gaming activities are casino visitors interested in? The majority at 66% say they want increased investment in food & beverage offerings. The report says this trend has been increasing consistently over the last few years. In fact, food & beverage is the number three factor for most consumers when choosing a new casino to visit.
Restaurant and bars also ranked in the top spot for non-gaming priorities amongst 38% of visitors, followed by live entertainment (27%) and hotel stays (15%).
And when you separate casino visitors by affluent (household income above $175K) versus non-affluent, 68% of affluent players prioritize F&B, which is 8 points higher than non-affluent players. 30% of affluent guests also spend more than half their visit on non-gaming activities, compared to just 20% of non-affluent players.
So what are casinos doing about this shift in priorities? The report shows there is room for improvement.
For one, only 61% of operators currently prioritize food & beverage experiences in their casinos. And while 85% of operators say they plan to grow non-gaming revenue, more than half are allocating less than 10% of their marketing budget toward promoting non-gaming offerings.
To achieve future success, it seems casinos need to place bigger bets on non-gaming offerings.
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