Once or twice a year, Bernice Brooks and her husband fly 3,800 kilometres from Boston to Las Vegas for one of their little gambling getaways, making like homing pigeons to their favourite casino.
They can't always afford to stay at Caesars Palace, where a basic double room runs $500 per night at peak season. So the Brooks often book a more affordable hotel nearby and walk to the casino to gamble on a tightly-controlled budget.
"We've been coming here for at least 10 years," Brooks, a 62-year-old city clerk for a municipality in the Boston area, said as she played a 25-cent slot during her most recent visit. Why the fierce loyalty? "It's so clean, and the people are so nice. It's been the same people looking after us every time we come here. They remember us."
Caesars, the best-known brand in the business and now the world's largest gaming company by revenue, worships repeat customers. It's the regulars who have helped make it a household name.
This week, in Windsor of all places, starts the first test of the power of the Caesars brand outside the United States. Can its legions of fans be convinced that the famous Caesars experience has been replicated in a struggling automotive town in Canada? And more importantly, will they come to visit and buy tickets to its concerts and shows?
That's the $479-million bet laid down by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. On Thursday the OLG and Caesars, its operating partner at the former Casino Windsor, formally relaunch what was once the world's most profitable casino as Caesars Windsor.
The province has put up $439 million to build a new luxury hotel tower, concert hall and convention centre. It has anted up an additional $40 million to buy into Caesars much-envied Total Rewards customer loyalty program.
For the complete story, please see Chris Vander Doelen, Caesars gambles on Windsor, The Windsor Star, June 16, 2008.
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