Anaylsis of gambling industry Essay Example for Free

Anaylsis of gambling industry Essay 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 Europes largest integrated betting group. At present, Gala employs over 17000 people and generates over ? 400 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 ? 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 way if the product is not up to standard. The three extra elements only really refer to services due to the intangible element of human behaviour, where quality and its control is off paramount importance(d Gilbert,1999 ) People are also vital in services as they are your promotion they do all the work. Again the service as a whole can be great but if it is not applied properly by the staff then this becomes irrelevant. They employees are the face of the service so they must look and act in the way that is suitable for the service such as in the bank clean and in a shirt and tie. Process is very similar to some of the other elements as this is the procedures that are undertaken in providing the service. Other elements of process are the information that is available about the service, if customers are not aware of the details of the service they are unlikely to take part. Physical evidence is reasonably self explanatory, it is the physical elements the tangible elements of the service for example in a hotel the cleanliness of the curtains would be an example of physical evidence. Effects of gambling on society Gambling is one service (unlike most) where it can be taboo in mainstream society to advertise or promote itself. There are many laws and regulations on gambling such as (Hanson, 2005). For casinos to make a profit and to attract customers they have to rely on peoples need for gambling. Many people feel that gambling is immoral and praying on the weakness of others and their lack of discipline; because of this many people feel that gambling should be abolished completely. However despite those people who do not agree with gambling, there are plenty of individuals who support it. Many people feel that it is their own choice to spend their own money, and the few who lack the discipline to control their gambling should not stop others who can. With the relatively recent boom of internet gambling, especially poker, gambling is becoming more and more of a hot topic with governments and groups throughout the world. Casinos should take advantage of this surge of interest in gambling in order to make a profit and keep it available to customers; however, they should also remember to do so without angering people. Difficulty of services compared to products Citizens of the Western world are living in increasingly service-based economies. Services are no longer a minor or superficial part of economies, but go to the heart of value creation within the economy. (Palmer 2004) What Palmer is suggesting here is that services are no longer viewed in the traditional way as an unproductive aspect of the economy, but are now the base of many economies. In spite of this it is still incredibly difficult to succeed in a service. In general it is much easier to sell a tangible product people can see, touch or taste before purchasing (c gronroos, 1978). Service providers must rely on the quality of their own performance with many variables that can scupper a good experience. This however can all depend on the economy of the country, i. e. providing a service in a country such as Portugal where many other nations go to vacation and for many parts of the country being a service provider is simpler such as bars in a busy tourist area. This is not so much the case in the more powerful countries such as the UK, U. S. A and France. These countries are very much consumer driven and succeeding as a service provider can be difficult in many ways due to the attitude of society in the 21st century. There are, like previously mentioned, so many variables which can effect a service provider and with most customers being viewed as fickle if the service in anyway is not more than their level of tolerance they will try bring this service down. There will always be a conflict between services and products and each has their day in certain societies. Conclusion The service provider chosen has pros and cons from many different topics. The difficulties that a casino like this faces will never change and it is not an attack on the way in which they are providing this service it is always going to be on the service itself and societys view of it. The service encounter was however more full of positive notes rather than negative. In order to get past people views on gambling, they have decided to divert all their efforts on how they provide this service and in this, there are few flaws. integral to the selling activity in all markets( dibb, 2001) They have utilised ever point of the marketing mix well and definitely to their advantage, providing the best service possible to customers. Their use of location is especially impressive, normally out of town locations can prove to be a stumbling block for many services but the casino has utilised it to their advantage and turned being an in-town location into the less popular of the two. The conflict between services and products is always going to be around. However services are growing and growing with 73% of the employees working in the UK are working in the service sector (ILO, 1999). To conclude, if services are to be performed in such a manner as the Gala casino then the service industry will continue to rise.