The Gaming Industry and How it’s doing During and Will Be Post Covid
By Kayla Smothers
Covid-19 has been an exhausting topic at this point. All businesses were affected and so were the people of the world. A topic that has not been exhausting though is how businesses, especially places like small businesses, casinos, etc. have pushed through and how they have adapted to this new world.
In a zoom interview, Bo Bernhard gave his insight on the casino and gaming culture, and how Covid-19 affected it in so many ways.
Bernhard is a very well-rounded and educated individual who knows the ins and outs of the casino world. He earned degrees from Harvard and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and has completed many endeavors with notable names such as NPR, the History Chanel, CNN, the New York times, just to name a few. He has also been involved with years of research into the casino business and has been funded millions for his research, so it is safe to say he knows a thing or two about the gaming and casino industry.
Bernhard, the Executive Director of the International Gaming Industry at UNLV, specializes in the casino and gaming industry in Las Vegas, the Reno and Tahoe area, and internationally. There are different ways to stimulate the economy of your towns and cities, and Bernhard, says that for example, Las Vegas, Nevada would benefit the most by a phrase he calls degrees of diversification. What he means by this is how businesses bring in their customer base and how they appeal to them.
Events like conventions held at convention centers are crucial for profit for many businesses because it gets their name out there to countless people, will show consumers and other business opportunities what they are about, and is a big profit center with big empty space to rent out. This is profitable for both the convention centers and the business renting out the space.
In regard to the future of gaming and what has become of it during, Bernhard says “Everyone is now a gamer, even your grandma who plays candy crush on her phone. During Covid one of the main industries that got a lot richer was the gaming industry, and game revenue went through the roof. What that means from a gaming psychology perspective is there’s a whole lot of new people wanting to play games”. This means that the gaming industry isn’t going to go anywhere, and if anything will keep continuing to grow and reach new people every day.
