True, lousy casinos have lousy retention and hence are never good to promote.
Not really the point of discussion here though.
Who says smaller places will fold first? That is often not the case in these situations at all. The smaller, trimmer outfit has a definite advantage, quicker reaction time and more flexibility. If I had to choose whether I wanted to be a smaller outfit or a larger one now, I would definitely pick smaller.
Mostly I see the industry in a bind until June or thereabouts, by which time I see new ways of processing being firmly in place. How they choose to bridge that time will greatly impact their future.
I can’t see their books and don’t know their individual problems. There is a lot of affiliate hostility now due to missing payments and I think it is largely misplaced. Obviously the programs can’t discuss what they are doing about payments, or the new processor will end up on a banking blacklist in no time. So they have to sit and take the fire.
It is a bad environment, and like with all situations in this world where creatures are deprived of the usual way of doing things along with a greater scarcity of food ($), there is a lot of agression, as well as other over reactions such as withdrawal (not answering posts) and self preservation (such as changing T&Cs).
IMO the ones that will come out ahead are the ones who keep their cool, continue to foster good relationships and work together to make things livable.
The real danger of times like this is that they may set precedent for future behavior, and carry over into less turbulent times. Ever tried to repeal a “temporary tax” ? Things have a way of establishing themselves, and we do have to protect our turf for that reason.
Breach of contract is not the solution. If we allow it, we make our beds for the future and all the work we have done for the last few years to stabilize our sector of the industry is down the drain.
Where do I place the real blame? With the DOJ of course, who is achieving exactly the chaos they wanted to achieve, having the industry infight and self destruct.
And, yes, with the casino owners, who had ample warning and didn’t get solutions in place in a timely fashion. I have no doubt they are working their butts off now to make things work again, but heck, this should have all been put in place long ago. I sure hope there are some lessons learned.