Casinos,casino size,and crime: A panel data analysis of Michigan counties

Growth in legal gaming in the United States over the past quarter century or so is well-documented. One important factor fueling this growth was the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, which permitted Native American tribes to establish, under agreements or “compacts” with the states in which they are located, casinos offering what is known as Class III gaming: slot machines, blackjack, roulette, and other games. Since the passage of the Act, there have been 21 Native American casinos established in Michigan. Also, three non-Native American casinos opened in Detroit in 1999 and 2000. This growth in the number of casinos has sparked a wide-ranging debate over the social and economic impacts of casino development.The purpose of this research is to focus on the crime issue in the broader casino debate. We investigate the impact of these Michigan casinos on the rates of burglary, robbery, larceny and motor vehicle theft (property crimes) in casino host counties as well as in nearby counties. We employ a panel data set with annual observations on all 83 Michigan counties for the period 1994–2010. The dataset includes crime rates taken from the FBI crime data series, variables for the presence of a casino in a county or in a nearby county, the scale of a casino's operations as measured by revenues, and a variety of control variables suggested by the broader literature investigating the factors that determine crime rates generally.Our results suggest that in most cases the property crime rates studied are not affected by the presence or size of a casino in a county or in a nearby county. The largest such impact, which is negative, is for motor vehicle theft. The size of a casino does have a small positive effect on the motor vehicle theft rate.     

Casinos and campus crime

This work examines the hypothesized positive relationship between casinos and local crime rates. Analysis of reported crime data for 173 residential colleges and universities in four Midwestern states suggests that robberies and motor vehicle thefts, but not burglaries, are significantly higher in number for campuses located within 10 miles of a casino.     

Do socially responsible activities help hotels and casinos achieve their financial goals?

While the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained much attention and is currently practiced by many companies, it has yet to be empirically examined in the context of hotels and casinos, especially in regard to the potential effects of CSR on firm value and performance. As the findings on the relationship between CSR and financial performance have been inconclusive and this relationship has been found to differ among industries, this study examines the relationship between CSR and firm value and profitability for hotels and casinos. Results of the Durbin–Wu–Hausman (DWH) test and a subsequent two-stage least square (2SLS) method show that hotel companies’ CSR has a simultaneous and positive relationship with financial performance. For casino companies, however, results show that CSR has no simultaneous or particular effect on financial performance. Findings suggest that hotel companies can confidently and strategically increase CSR investment to enhance both short-term (profitability) and long-term performance (firm value). Casino companies need to carefully examine the effects of CSR on financial performance, when making CSR-related decisions.     

Motivation of internationalization and a moderating role of environmental conditions in the hospitality industry

As internationalization has been widely implemented throughout the tourism industry, it is important to understand what motivates a firm to internationalize its business. Thus, this study examines the motivation for internationalization based on the neoinstitutional theory. This study employs a hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to test the proposed hypotheses, using the annual firm-level data of the tourism industry, and finds that tourism firms including casinos, hotels, and restaurants are demotivated to diversify their international expansion into different countries as their competitors increase the scope of countries in which they operate. However, if a firm perceives its competitors as speeding up the process of internationalization, that firm will also increase the pace of internationalization. In addition, this relationship between competitors and focal firms' internationalization varies according to environmental conditions (i.e., dynamism, complexity, and munificence). The findings of the study contribute to the internationalization and tourism literature.     

Does the look matter? The impact of casino servicescape on gaming customer satisfaction,intention to revisit,and desire to stay

Despite huge investment made by casinos on their physical structures, little has been know if physical environment actually affects psychological responses of gaming customers. This paper explores how dimensions of servicescape influence customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions in the casino environment. Using Bitner's model of physical surroundings, we hypothesized how ambience, navigation, seating comfort, interior decor, and cleanliness affected cognitive and affective satisfaction of gaming customers. We further proposed that gaming customer satisfaction would affect their desire to stay and intention to revisit. Data from 513 gaming customers of Macau offered support to most of our hypotheses. Implications for research and managerial practices were also discussed.     

An examination of factors that discourage slot play in Macau casinos

This research investigates the factors that discourage slot play by Chinese gamblers in Macau, the main source of customers for the region's casinos. The results of focus group discussions indicate that the servicescape (or service environment, including floor layout, cleanliness, lighting, etc.) of the slot areas has little impact on whether Chinese gamblers play slot machines. Customer survey findings reveal that gambling motivation, betting preferences, the culture of Chinese gamblers, game characteristics (especially the size of the jackpot), and service provision are more important factors. Several managerial implications are extracted from a study of players’ responses to possible improvements to slot machines.     

Linking transaction-specific satisfaction and customer loyalty – The case of casino resorts

This study investigates the relationship between customer satisfaction, delight, place attachment, and loyalty in a casino context. Customer satisfaction in this study refers to customers’ transactional experience with shopping, food and beverage, and gaming within a casino resort. The study examines how each transactional, satisfying, experience affects customer delight and place attachment, which subsequently influences customer loyalty. Customer delight and place attachment are modelled as mediators between satisfaction and loyalty. The results show that each transaction-specific satisfaction is significantly related to customer delight and place attachment with the exception that a positive experience with casino gaming is not related to place attachment. Whilst place attachment has a significant influence on customer loyalty, customer delight has little effect on the loyalty indicators. The study provides a fresh perspective on the customer satisfaction-loyalty relationship. The implications of these findings are highlighted for researchers and practitioners.     

Embracing or fighting the urge: A multilevel investigation on casino service,branding and impulsive gambling

Academics and practitioners are increasingly interested in how branding and service may affect consumer behaviors. In view of intensifying competition in the casino industry, understanding these relationships would help casino operators achieve competitive advantage. The current study draws on the relevant marketing literature, and examines the antecedents, moderators and consequences of consumer buying behaviors, with a focus on impulsive buying in the casino settings. The proposed antecedents are casino service environment and employee service. Customer brand attachment and loyalty behaviors are modeled as consequences, and casino brand equity as a cross-level moderator. A quantitative method was employed for the purpose of this study. The survey was undertaken at 22 major casinos in Macau through a multilevel design. Results show that the casino service environment indeed induces impulsive gambling. Whilst employee service has little influence on impulsive gambling, the effect is enhanced by casino brand equity. Employee service is particularly salient for casinos with low brand equity. Impulsive gambling does have significant influence on loyalty outcomes through the mediating effect of brand attachment. Brand equity also demonstrates cross-level linear and nonlinear effects on the chain relationship, with the linear effect significantly larger. Implications for practitioners and the literature are provided to conclude the paper.     

Policies on smoking in the casino workplace and their impact on smoking behavior among employees: Case study of casino workers in Macao

Exposure to second hand smoke (SHS) is a major health concern. This study sought to examine the smoking behaviors of casino workers in Macao, and explore how workplace smoking policies might affect that behavior. A majority of casino workers who smoked believed that exposure to SHS at work makes it harder to quit smoking, while over a quarter minded people smoking near them at work because of that reason. Over half of the workers believed that they would try to quit smoking if no-one was allowed to smoke in their workplace. The findings demonstrate how smoke-free casinos could lead to a healthier workforce, not just due to reduced exposure to dangerous chemicals in SHS, but also from the potential reduction in smoking among workers. The hospitality industry, and policy makers in government, should ensure that casinos, and their workforce, are not excluded from smoke-free legislation.