How Agua Caliente Casino Cathedral City bridges slot machines and video games
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The typical casino client may look for the best spot to play poker, bingo, or test their luck on the slot machines. Yet, recent Wednesday nights at Agua Caliente Casino Cathedral City welcomed a different kind of player: the videogame enthusiast.
The Cathedral City casino began hosting weekly “eSports After Dark” tournaments in partnership with the Coachella Valley-based esports company Conflux Gaming in late May at the casino’s sports bar.
Guests played several popular titles such as Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart and Street Fighter V on the bar’s enormous screens for chances to win prizes and advance to finals based on their performance during the eight-week tournament.
Jay Bednar, nightlife entertainment manager at the Agua Caliente properties, said esports tournaments first began in 2018 at Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage. Bednar said they used to be limited to six rounds and would end the same night.
After measuring which titles were the most popular, Bednar helped expand the tournaments in 2019 to a 32-person bracket-style tournament where one gamer plays another and the person who wins moves on to battle someone else. In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic shuttered many in-person activities, but that didn’t stop the players from moving online.
Last year, Bednar said the casino relaunched the event in person with DJs performances and averaged about 250 people a night. Luxor in Las Vegas also incorporated videogame tournaments and found success, which Bednar said opens up the doors to a different kind of guest.
“We used it initially to speak to a brand new demographic and feed the funnel, so to speak, for the future of Agua Caliente’s clientele,” said Bednar.
While esports events tend to attract a younger crowd, it also provokes curiosity from other guests at the casino. Bednar said that staff heard comments from older guests about how far videogames have come and personal stories about how their relatives play videogames for leisure or professionally.
“I’ve seen the whole family come in,” Bednar said. “The father and mother come in for dinner and play on the casino floor while their son plays videogames at the sports bar.”
While the pandemic continues to shift between surges and lulls, each player that shows up for the competition takes different levels of caution. Bednar said Agua Caliente provides sanitizing stations and most players bring customized remotes from home, while some prefer masks and others don’t. He also said guests are happy to compete and socialize in person after the limitations imposed by pandemic measures.
“I think they enjoy being back together,” Bednar said. “We’ve always looked at it as the next level of social gaming, and it seems like the crowd and community appreciates it.”
As for the future of esports, the casino plans to bring back another eight-week tournament in August and will be open to guests 18 and over. Bednar said that most tournament spots typically fill up, so registering at the casino’s website is the safest bet to guaranteeing a piece of the action. Guests could also register in person if any spots are available on a specific night.
“Our esports activity will continue to evolve,” Bednar said. “I know Agua Caliente as whole views it as a way to speak to a future clientele and get them comfortable coming to our properties.”
