With the anticipation of Clubs re-opening, we face an interesting predicament. We have witnessed only days of notice be given to teachers and NSW holiday destinations about the reopening of their industries. Will this happen in the hospitality industry? Will we be given a weeks notice to prepare to open with no set guidelines of how we should prepare our Clubs and gaming rooms? As the days edge closer, it seems likely. 

I caught up with Chris Wright on ‘The Engagement Gurus’ podcast this week to hear what we can do to prepare now. Chris is busy working with venues to recreate gaming floor plans so that they’re prepared when given the green light. He has over 20 years’ experience in the industry and has his finger on the pulse on what the leading Clubs are up to in this space. I have recapped some of his thoughts, as well as my own so that you  can get started on your gaming room re-opening strategy.

Every venue’s strategy will differ depending on its size and location. We can assume that the restrictions will echo those  in place during the final week before shutdown. Those restrictions included 1.5m social distancing between patrons, 4m square per person and 100 person maximum in rooms.

I would suggest you use these measures as a base for your planning but to also be prepared for stricter guidelines which you will be able to add into your reopening strategy. There are two areas which you should consider when making your gaming room as successful as possible. Firstly and obviously you will need to follow government guidelines however you should also be creating a space for players that they perceive to be a comfortable, safe place to spend time. I have broken down everything we know so far and hope you find value in cross checking these recommendations with what you’re doing on your floor.

1. Government Guidelines

4m square per person per room

How many people can fit in your gaming room? You may have already completed this formula, but it will be the foundation to creating a plan for your room. Work out what the area is of your gaming room and how many people can fit in the room. E.g. 10 metres by 4 metres = 40 square metres so you will be allowed to have 10 in that room. You should use a floor plan of your venue to record the maximum number of people you’re allowed in each room if this rule continues to apply.

1.5m social distancing

I believe this guideline is a grey area. The difference between measuring 1.5m from the middle of the gaming machine to the next machine v.s. measuring 1.5m from the shoulder of a patron to the shoulder of the next patron could rule out the ability to turn off every second machine.

If you decide to interpret this rule by measuring from the middle of each EGM, and you have 800mm bases, you will be able to essentially turn off every second machine (800mm + 400mm from each side = 1600mm) and the maths will be simple. Other considerations are the machines behind players. Get out your gaming floor plan or visit your gaming room with a tape measure and do the maths. How many machines will you be able to have in play if you were to leave your gaming room in its current layout?

100 people in a room

For the bigger Clubs, this is an issue. If you have 200 machines inside your gaming room this will essentially wipe out 50% of your gaming floor. Again, do the calculations to determine how many machines you will be able to have in play if this rule continues to apply.

More maths…

Once you have crunched the numbers on the above three guidelines, you will know how many people can sit at your EGMs at any one time. Now you can work out how much that will affect your bottom line. The first thing that I would be looking at is the maximum occupancy at any one time. Is your maximum occupancy greater than the number of EGMs you will have active on the floor? If you answered YES, how much will that cost you over 6 months, 12 months or 18 months? Once you have worked out these numbers, you will be more prepared to make big decisions on spending money to remodel your gaming room.

I have heard of some Clubs that have crunched these numbers and moved half of their floor to a different area of the Club. Keep in mind they may have had to change the licensing restrictions by doing so. Another large Club that Chris works with has added a wall in their gaming room to create 2 x 100 person rooms. A more cost effective alternative is to consider purchasing infills to place in between the banks to extend the space between the machines. Or you may be one of the many Clubs that has spare bases in storage. Can you utilise these to keep a few more machines on the floor?

2. Player Comfort

After months of being told that we need to keep moving and not to congregate in groups in public, once we re-open, we will be asking our patrons to do exactly that. With much discussion of what the pandemic will do to player habits it will be imperative that we work hard to show that we are taking every precaution to keep our players safe.

Screening

There is a lot of discussion on whether installing screens in between each of the machines will be made mandatory (professionals predict probably not). We know that players like to see what else is happening on the floor and the screening may change the dynamic. Consider the amount of space a screen may take up, if players are sitting back to back and the screen comes out 600mm the player will then need to move their chair back twice as far to exit the area unless they are on a corner. If the person behind is doing the same, consider how much space this may occupy. Does the perception of screening for safety outweigh the limitations they may pose? I would consider strategically placing screens in areas that will work. 

Wipes and sanitiser

Providing patrons with wipes and sanitiser at each gaming machine will go a long way to empower the customer to clean their machines and in turn feel safe to play.

Staff visibility

Staffing will be an essential piece to the puzzle when venues reopen. Being proactive in cleaning machines and enforcing social distancing will create the perception on the floor that the Club is doing everything they can to create a safe space for players.

Cashless gaming

Whilst this may be a while away due to legislation limitations, perhaps this may be the push the government needs to start the discussion of moving gaming to a cashless solution

3. Re configuring your floor plan

Undoubtedly, a lot of Clubs will have a surplus of machines that will not fit into their calculations and are not sure what to do with them. Here are some considerations to weigh up. 

“You must not play next to another patron”

The Pros

By keeping all machines on the floor you are giving your patrons the choice of what machines they can choose to play. You’re also empowering your customers to make the decisions about where they sit rather than limiting their choices for them.

The Cons

Your staff are going to need to police the room to ensure people are following the rules. This strategy may make players uncomfortable knowing that someone could come and sit by them at anytime or be made to feel uncomfortable to move on because someone wants to play the available machine next to them. If you have a bank of three EGMs and someone chooses to sit in the middle they would be preventing play on the two outside EGMs.

Turn every second machine off

The Pros

The positives to this option is that there is a structure to the gaming room. There is not room for disagreements as to who plays what machine next to each other and if your venue was checked by police, you would be confident that social distancing was being observed with no room for error.

The Cons

Some of the negatives to this strategy is that you are halving the choice on the floor of machines. If a member likes a machine that is turned off you may have to rearrange the floor or risk losing them.

Other considerations

You could ensure that you only having enough chairs on the floor to accommodate the number of players allowed in the gaming room. This option would need to go hand in hand with one of the above options. If you decide to take machines off the floor and place in storage, what is the cost to store them (check with your service provider)?

4. Choosing the right machines for your reconfigured floor 

Once all the above options have been considered and if you are not lucky enough to have found a solution to keep all your EGM’s on the floor, product choice and placement becomes paramount. It will be important to consider what machines you will be keeping on the floor during this time. I don’t think there is going to be a 100% fool proof strategy. Consider the variety of machines, RTP % (if you keep all the machines that have a high RTP % you may be at risk of decreasing your hold significantly), ensure your top players favourite machines are online and in the area they prefer.

I think the most important takeaway from my chat with Chris on the podcast and discussion above, is that you need to do something NOW. There will not be a one size fits all approach. You should mix and match the ideas to suit your Club and be prepared to change what is working and what doesn’t work once you open.

By preparing now, you can book your service company, base manufacturer (if required) and order spare parts nice and early to make changes. It will be extremely difficult to make these bookings once an opening date is announced. Although we do not know what gaming will look like once we re-open I think it is essential to place ourselves in the best possible position for success. It is important that we all work within the guidelines outlined by the Government to ensure we do not put the industry at risk of being shut down again.

If you want to learn more, click here to listen with my chat with Chris Wright on The Engagement Gurus podcast.