In a study of 3,128 HubSpot B2B customers in 2011, LinkedIn generated a visitor-to-lead conversion rate of 2.60%, on average. That’s four times higher than the average visitor-to-lead rate for Twitter (0.67%) and seven times higher than the average rate for Facebook (0.39%).

At Casino Life we have just reached 2,000 LinkedIn members… why not join us?

The April edition has actually been up on the website for a while but due to easter (yes, its a week later here in Ukraine) I forgot to add it here.

Its over at www.casinolifemagazine.com and features our speacial focus on Technology in Casinos with a neat foreword by Simon Thomas – CEO at the Hippodrome.

Through simultaneous translation, German and English-speaking experts talked about a wide range of subjects aimed at improving the casino slot floor – through effective marketing, performance assessment and matching player profile to game type. The programme also included product presentations and sneak technology previews from the leading slot manufacturers and over the three days delegates, speakers and sponsors enjoyed the chance to meet and discuss the challenges faced by the modern casino and the opportunities that are available though new technology.

Lucien Wijsman, the organizer of the events said, ”From the feedback we have received from delegates and sponsors the event has been a very unique event for Germany and the RP5 Casino in Hannover was a wonderful venue. Slot Managers will be starting back at their casinos next week revitalized and with fresh ideas to maximize the potential of their slot floor”

Casino Life will be the International Media Partner for the next Slot Summit to be held in Enghien-les-Bains, Francein September 2012. To register please visit www.slotsummit.com

Photographs of the event are available for free download at: http://www.box.com/s/b8e80093ada7f5035887

The European Casino Association

The ECA Slot Summits are fully supported by the European Casino Association as they address many of the issues facing its members in a practical and helpful way. At each Slot Summit, casino managers, slot managers and marketing staff are taken through the key elements of building a successful slot floor – from recognizing the types of players to choosing the right game volatility to maximize revenue and encourage return visits. The unique events also allow effective business networking between delegates, speakers and manufacturers in a relaxed setting through networking receptions.

The Hannover event was sponsored by leading international manufacturers: Ainsworth Game Technology, Alfa Street, Austrian Gaming Industries, Bally Technologies, Inspired Gaming, IGT, Gaming Support, Spielo International, Konami, and EGT.

With a spare couple of hours at the weekend I decided on a “news catch-up”, having been touring India for the past few weeks, and settled down to World BBC and “The Bottom Line” with a panel made up of Ian Livingston CEO of BT Group; Rupert Gavin CEO of Odeon and UCI Cinemas; and Rooney Anand, CEO of pub retailer Greene King. Hearing how they have each managed to address change, cope with recession and adapt to new technology was a refreshing change from the usual stories of doom and gloom coming from the banking sector.

Greene King and UCI have had to reinvent themselves as “out of home leisure providers”. BTs income from telephony – traditional landlines – is now only 10%; All UCI cinemas are now digital – amazing. Here in the UK at least those businesses have had a chance to develop relatively unhampered by legislation (save the cigarette ban – ouch!) and the whim of a few tabloid editors. Casinos in the UK however, have suffered at the hands of a Government that pandered to the likes of the Daily Mail and has been unable to come to grips with the dilemma of needing tax revenue from an industry that conjures up alternate views of patrons enjoying crystal chandeliers / crystal meth. Hats off then to Simon Thomas and the London Hippodrome staff for continuing to press ahead regardless – we popped in there recently and it is certainly shaping up to be a UK casino landmark development.

GBGC’s view that the UK industry can look forward to sunny uplands (see page24) is welcomed. We hope that the same can be said for the land-based bingo industry which has also suffered in recent years – being viewed by the government as an easy cash-cow. Finally, we have to echo Warwick Bartlett’s plea that the Government takes the chance
to encourage investment rather than stifles it – and that this leads to more stable industry and in turn increased tourism.

More trips are ahead – Peter White is off for some sunshine at Fer Interazar whist we both will be present at the Slot Summit in Hannover in a few weeks time. We hope to see some of you at either event.

Next thing you know Casino International will be launching an iPad application that is nothing of the sort but runs a batch file of PDFs… the online equivalent of a drawing animated cartoons on the corner of your school textbook.

Oh, they have.

It’s a shame that people are still buying in to all this.