Maranees-an avid slot-tournament player-will respond best to a cash offer, while Tina Montgomery, a real-estate agent from nearby Oxford, Miss., is better motivated by a free hotel room. Spitting out 'behavior modification reports,' Harrah's computers suggest that Ms. Maranees, based on data tracking their previous behavior in casinos.

The model tells Harrah's marketers how to appeal to gamblers such as Ms. Richard Mirman, the company senior vice-president who refined the model, boasts that it is Harrah's 'secret recipe' – on a par with the famous unrevealed formula of Kentucky Fried Chicken. But this one scores gamblers on how profitable they can be to Harrah's. Loveman and a vast mathematical model much like the ones that economists use to predict the gross national product or that airlines use to fill seats with the highest paying fliers. And the company's earnings have more than doubled in the past year.Īt the center of Harrah's strategy is a former Harvard professor named Gary Harrah's stock price has risen quickly in recent weeks as investors have received news of the marketing results. Wall Street analysts are also beginning to see Harrah's-long a dowdy also-ran in the flashy casino business-as gaining an edge on its rivals. The results are impressive enough that other casino companies are copying some of Harrah's more discernible methods. Based on its findings, Harrah's has developed closely guarded marketing strategies tailored individually to the millions of low-rollers who make up its bread-and-butter business. Over the past two years, Harrah's has quietly conducted thousands of clinical-style trials to determine what gets people to gamble more. That is exactly what the Las Vegas-based company is banking on. Maranees, who admits that once in the casino door, she is bound to spend much more than what Harrah's has given her. The Memphis, Tenn., retiree, her blouse bedecked with sequined cards and dice, has just received invitations to two nearby slot tournaments, along with vouchers for $200, all courtesy of Harrah's Entertainment Inc. She doesn't know it, but Linda Maranees is the subject of a behavioral experiment that could change the odds of the gambling business. 'Secret Recipe' Lets Harrah's Target Its Low-Rollers At the Individual LevelĪ Free-Meal 'Intervention' By CHRISTINA BINKLEY, Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Harrah's The Wall Street Journal, Thursday, Lucky NumbersĬasino Chain Mines Data on Its Gamblers, And Strikes Pay Dirt

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