One of the big challenges for contemporary gaming operators is how best to balance their land-based and internet-based operations. Many operators have expressed worries that online casino customers would stop going to land-based casinos and that the whole cycle would amount to something like self-cannibalization. BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt, however, is not concerned about cannibalization at all.
Greenblatt addressed the issue of self-cannibalization during a recent interview with iGaming Business and flatly stated that the issue is generally overblown by operators. “The concerns around retail to digital cannibalisation, we believe, are totally overstated by the retail incumbents,” he said.
In Greenblatt’s view, online and land-based operations work hand-in-hand to create a better overall customer experience. He also observed that cannibalization hasn’t actually been an issue in states that have introduced iGaming to their gaming ecosystems. “If you look at the underlying trajectory of the retail facilities in states where igaming has been introduced, [across] the really long-term trends, it’s been pretty much business as usual. The point here is, I think the scaremongering around cannibalization is greater than the actual (threat),” he said.
Overall, Greenblatt believes that the sheer scale of the US gaming market means that there are plenty of opportunities for operators to develop robust online and land-based operations. “I will say in terms of the size of the pool, the depth of the US market is just staggering,” Greenblatt says. “The US just dwarfs everything else in a way that surprised me. You know, relative to London, I was like, ‘Whoa!’ I thought I knew what to expect, but that hasn’t been the case. It’s really orders of magnitude more significant.”