Enhancing Guest Engagement and Driving Revenue at Choctaw Casinos and Resorts

Introduction

Choctaw Casinos and Resorts has a large, complex operation spread over multiple properties in Oklahoma. Owned and operated by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the company is an award-winning gaming operator and a staple within the tribal casino community. The tribe is dedicated to guest satisfaction and engagement at all of its 23 locations, leading the way with technology, best-in-class services, and top-flight entertainment. To ensure its gaming floors, conference centers, hotels, and other locations exceed guest expectations, the company has utilized digital signage from Poppulo for over 5 years, now managing 350+ signs across its portfolio, with applications focused on enhancing the guest experience at its 8 standalone casino and resort properties, as well as its 15 Casino Too locations inside Travel plazas located throughout Oklahoma.

The Challenge

Choctaw Casinos and Resorts needed to ensure it had a cohesive digital signage strategy that could effectively deliver a mix of dynamic and static content across multiple properties, while also enabling each site to operate hundreds of screens for a variety of use cases. Additionally, the company sought a way to maximize ROI from its existing digital signage investments, plus streamline wayfinding at its flagship property in Durant, a resort that boasts over 218,844 sq ft of gaming floor and 1,616 hotel rooms.

The Solution

To help with those challenges, Choctaw transitioned to the Poppulo Digital Signage Cloud in 2020. That migration from an on-premises hosting structure enabled Choctaw to streamline device and user management across its entire portfolio, positioning its properties to get more value out of its digital signs.

In an age where changes need to be made on the fly, a cloud solution is a must!” —Hayden, Choctaw Conference AV

In 2024, to further ensure its flagship property in Durant was best positioned to succeed, Choctaw brought in Thomas A. O'Sullivan as its new Director of Marketing, and his prior experience using Poppulo’s digital signage platform proved extremely beneficial. Before joining Choctaw, Thomas had over 10 years experience using Poppulo at a variety of properties, and was able to bring in a new strategy and implement new processes to improve the use of digital signage at Choctaw—and the impact of those signs on the guest experience and the bottom line. Thomas has been instrumental in not only driving the expansion of digital signage, but also the value Choctaw gets from its signage investment.

Digital Signage Use Cases at the Durant Location

“Currently we run Poppulo for all of our digital signs on-property. We have hundreds of landscape and portrait signs we use for promotional content. But we also have signs specifically designed for our food and beverage locations, our entertainment venue, and our convention space, as well as our wayfinding and gamefinding applications,” explains Thomas. The scope of digital signage at its Durant property, and the Casino Too’s associated with it, is massive, encompassing the following applications:

• General Promotional Content—150+
• Food and Beverage Screens—30+
• Entertainment Venue Signage—25
• Wayfinding and Gamefinding—8
• Hotel and Convention Center Screens—16
• Table-Game Signage—110
• Back-of-House Signage—6
• Outdoor Signage—2
• Casino Too Signs—2

The scale of what Choctaw uses digital signage for at its flagship property is impressive, but it’s the strategy behind the casino’s digital signage usage that is making a clear difference. While many of the property’s screens are designed to promote a variety of things happening on property, taking a deeper look into Choctaw’s strategy shows clear differentiation across three categories: intent-based content and scheduling, strategic alignment, and customization.

Digital Signage with Intent

One clear example of how Choctaw uses the same set of signs to create a different experience can be found with the screens outside and inside of its 3,000-seat venue built to host live performances and events. Since the venue first opened, the property promoted events on 120+screens outside the venue’s doors, as well as the two 8K, 24ftx12ft screens that flank the stage. Today, Thomas and his team still use the signs for that purpose, but once the event is over, the content on the screens changes to promote other aspects of the property, keeping guests on-property and engaging with the casino’s many food and beverage outlets and gaming opportunities. It all comes down to intent.

Prior to an event, the screens are used to create a sense of arrival and excitement. And after, we use our signs to keep people engaged with all the property has to offer.” —Thomas A. O'Sullivan, Director of Marketing

Aligning Digital Signage Strategy

Coordination between marketing, creative teams, and various other business units at the property are critical to the success of the resort. The Marketing team not only ensures that promotional content is always up-to-date and accurate, but regular bi-weekly meetings are now held to fine-tune strategies, address operational needs, and gather feedback from stakeholders. This allows the marketing team to respond swiftly to the resort’s needs, creating and deploying content to drive toward specific goals like ticket sales, food and beverage revenue numbers, and more, further positively impacting Choctaw’s bottom line.

In addition to better aligning digital signage with the casino’s goals, Thomas invested in the Communications Engagement Management (CEM) service from Poppulo, gaining a digital signage software expert to help implement and refine Choctaw’s strategy. Thomas stated, “Currently, we have a CEM for our Durant location, and through him, we’re continually improving our maps and wayfinding capabilities so guests can find their way to different games and revenue outlets more efficiently. But beyond the tactical stuff, the CEM service is also helping us onboard new folks and new properties by creating training that increases our time-to-value with new employees and locations.”

Customization is Key

Seeing an opportunity to drive additional revenue by securing event bookings, Thomas and his team implemented a strategy for digital screen takeovers during conventions and large events. By giving clients—and perhaps more importantly, showing event planners—how easy it is to create a fully-branded takeover experience, the casino is increasing revenue through event bookings. This ability to quickly create and deploy custom branding enables Choctaw to secure more high-impact events and deliver a better event experience at the same time.

The Results

Digital signage has become a cornerstone of Choctaw Nation’s strategy to improve guest engagement and operational functionality. Under Thomas O'Sullivan's leadership, Choctaw’s digital signage strategy enhances the guest experience and delivers significant operational returns. As the Choctaw Nation continues to innovate and expand its digital signage use cases, it is setting new benchmarks for the effective use of signage in the gaming industry. The results speak for themselves, with increased guest engagement, higher operational returns, and revenue improvements.

Increased Engagement and Revenue

The enhanced guest experience and strategic post-event signage led to increased dwell time and higher revenue. Thomas noted, "Due to the promotions on our screens after an event, we see an extended time on our gaming floor and increased revenue from our food and beverage operations because guests now stick around rather than making a mass exodus after a show." Additionally, adjustments to digital signage content have proven to result in tangible outcomes, such as a 25% daily increase in ticket sales for an underselling concert due to an increase of promotion on the casino’s screens. Thomas added, “We saw ticket sales stagnate at the beginning of December. We got through basically New Year's Eve knowing that we needed to keep the New Year's Eve messaging strong and then in January, increased rotation and time of play for those slides for that show. From that point we saw ticket sales increase 25% each day, which led us all the way up to a sellout event at the end of February.”

Strategic Alignment Ensures Goal Attainment

Increasing revenue from on-property outlets and services doesn’t happen by accident. Thomas realized, if aware of the property’s overall and departmental goals, digital signage could be deployed to meet revenue targets. In the same way Thomas learned about and implemented a strategy to drive ticket sales for an undersold event, his team learns about and helps drive traffic through promotion on specific screens to other departments and outlets that need a boost to hit their individual targets. These meetings serve as the place where goals are discussed and promotional plans agreed upon. Thomas and his team have helped increase ticket sales, drive traffic to outlets in need of additional revenue, and more—all in the pursuit of the casino’s revenue goals.

Customization and Improved Wayfinding

Thomas implemented a strategy that gives the casino the ability to customize digital signage for conventions and large events, attracting high-end corporate events and enhancing the overall reputation of Choctaw Nation properties. Large event clients are able to customize digital signage in the convention space, adding value to their events and creating a cohesive, branded experience for attendees. This helps keep high-margin event business coming back, as they are able to create a more immersive event experience. Thomas emphasizes, “For our corporate events, digital signage is often a deciding factor. Clients love the idea of taking over these giant screens and creating an amazing welcome moment for their team. It's a real wow factor that elevates their event." Given the increase in event bookings, effective wayfinding plays a significant role in helping guests find and navigate to games, on-property restaurants, and more. The implementation of new wayfinders significantly improved guest navigation and satisfaction, allowing guests to easily find their desired destinations, reducing the time spent wandering the property.

Our wayfinders have proved to be a critical tool. The adoption rate here is substantially higher than what I've seen elsewhere. There's not a time of day where I'm out there and someone's not actively using them to navigate our property.” —Thomas A. O'Sullivan, Director of Marketing

Choctaw Casinos and Resorts use of digital signage demonstrates the transformative power of the technology and highlights how strategy can play a role in the overall success of a digital signage network. Choctaw Casino and Resort's implementation of digital signage has revolutionized their guest experience, from creating impactful first impressions to driving revenue across various venues. The Casino’s strategic use of digital displays for wayfinding, event promotion, and targeted marketing has resulted in measurable revenue improvements, and but also serves as a benchmark for how to use the technology effectively to enhance engagement, streamline operations, and ultimately boost the bottom line in the competitive casino and hospitality industry.