Atlantic City to Offer First-Person Video Game Betting

In an attempt to revive their falling gambling revenue, Atlantic City casinos will start offering betting on first-person video games next month.

Caesars, Bally’s, and Harrah’s – all owned by Caesars Entertainment – will roll out Danger Arena, a first-person shooter game from GameCo.

Danger Arena is similar to the hit video game Call of Duty, although, as GameCo founder Blaine Graboyes points out, it’s more “cartoonish” and not as violent.

According to North Jersey, the betting action will involve players sitting or standing as they shoot robots for 45 seconds. Players will bet anywhere from $0.50 to $20.00 to play, and it takes 7 hits to break even.

Graboyes says that players can win up to 25x their bet by hitting 10 or more robots.

The game developer added that he wants to debut the gambling/first-person shooter hybrid in Atlantic City for nostalgic purposes.

“I spent my summers going to the Boardwalk and the arcades,” says Graboyes, a native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

In 2006, Atlantic City reached a gambling revenue peak after hauling in over $5.2 billion. Since that time, their annual gambling revenue has fallen by over 50 percent.

The city’s casinos have been hit hard, with 5 of the 12 closing within the past two years.

As one of the efforts to turn things around in Atlantic City, state gaming regulators voted to allow skill-based gaming machines in 2014. Now, after GameGo gets their final approval from the state Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), this measure will finally come to fruition.

“The division has been actively encouraging the industry to submit innovative products, and we are glad to have the opportunity to review GameCo’s skill-based game through our New Jersey First program,” says David Rebuck, director of the DGE. “That program allows products that are submitted to our technical services lab before any other jurisdiction and that meet our high regulatory standards to get out onto the casino floor expeditiously.”

Graboyes says that Danger Arena has 10,000 video screen “maps,” with some featuring more difficulty than others. The screens will be presented in random order of difficulty, much like any other random casino game.

“We are a data-driven company, and we have looked at the distribution of skill across many of these games and found a lot of similarities,” explains Graboyes. “Less than 1 percent [of players] are ‘perfect,’ or highly skilled.”

Rather than offering big jackpots like slot machines, Danger Arena will only offer large multiple payouts and 10-20 free games. The max regular payout is $500 for hitting 10 or more robots on a $25 bet.

While the hope is that Danger Arena draws millennials, Graboyes also sees Danger Arena attracting the attention of older groups too.