How do young people get young people interested in casino?

Walk into a casino today and chances are it won t look that much different than it did in the 1942 movie Casablanca when Humphrey Bogart made his way through the gambling tables in the smoke-filled room.

Sure, the slot machines are bigger, louder and flashier than they were back then. The central fact remains that the casino floor of today is not all that different from the casino floor of yesteryear.

What is the casino floor of the future?

And it still has no definitive answers.

The topic was discussed at the Atlantic City Gaming Congress, a major gambling conference in East Coast Gaming Congress, Monday.

How do I get young people interested in what casinos have to offer?

It's tough to get that kid out of his parents' basement, and casino games aren't going to do it, said Joe Lupo, president of Atlantic City's Hard Rock casino, referring to young adults.

The industry has tried several tactics to attract younger gamblers, with varying rates of success. Six years ago, Atlantic City debuted so-called skill-based games for its casinos.

They were games in which a player's ability to perform a certain task was taken into consideration in determining whether he or she would win or lose a game — a departure from the strict random games of chance that have been the backbone of the gambling industry since its inception.

But they never really caught on and most were quietly removed in less than a year.

Casino executives and gambling equipment manufacturers at Monday's conference agreed younger customers want varied experiences, much more than the monotony of pushing a button and waiting to see whether they've won or lost.

The younger generation likes to do things, said Rick Meitzler, CEO of Novomatic Americas. They like to play on their phones. Ten to 15 years from now, you'll see that 25-year-old become a 40-year-old and part of our target audience. Jacqueline Grace, senior vice president of Atlantic City's Tropicana casino, said her company is constantly studying younger gamblers.

She asked. What is the thing that gets them going? They like games of skill, not games of chance. They like to eat. Most casinos have embraced electronic table games, not only as a way to save on labor costs, but also to offer a low-stress introduction to games, particularly card games, that novice gamblers might find intimidating.

Panelists agreed that sports betting and particularly esports, or competitive video gaming, offer an opportunity to connect with younger potential customers.

Atlantic City and particularly Las Vegas have begun to embrace esports as a way to fill their casinos and hotels with young customers interested in playing online games against each other first and foremost. But when they're done, they order food and drinks and engage in nongambling activities that the casino resorts offer.

We think esports is the next big thing, said Robert Heller, president and CEO of Spectrum Gaming Capital. Every casino company I've talked to is interested. Ari Fox, co-CEO of Gameacon, an esports tournament company, said the key is reaching younger customers where they are.

Younger people don't go on Facebook, they don't play on Instagram, he said. The key to earning them as customers is earning their trust. He said gambling companies need to tell these customers, This is not where your parents go.