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Double or nothing: push and pull factors of casinos in Europe

DOI:10.1007/s10708-022-10749-7
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Nuno Carvalho
Nuno Carvalho
Nuno Carvalho
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Helena Rodrigues at ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
Helena Rodrigues
Ana Brochado at ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
Ana Brochado
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Abstract and Figures

Gambling tourism is a subject that has been gaining a lot of interest and notoriety over the last two decades. Push and pull factors have for long been the backbone of tourism studies and this research seeks to expound on this theory within the area of casinos. In this study, 1383 google reviews from five different countries in coastal Europe: Casino Vila Moura, Algarve (Portugal), Casino Barrière Le Croisette, Cannes (France), Casino de Monte-Carlo, (Monaco), Casino Malta, (Malta), and Regency Casino Thessaloniki, (Greece) were analyzed with the software Leximancer. The main objective of this study was to identify the concepts in the reviews and then pinpoint what push and pull factor these concepts belonged to and how important this was when choosing a casino destination in Europe. The results highlight the importance of the pull factor while choosing a destination and reveals that gamers seek mainly table games as they attract both players and other tourists who tend to gather around the tables to watch. Among the greatest push-factors is the excitement of winning money in slot machines. Findings also demonstrate that casinos located in Europe offer world-class gambling services that are both engaging and fun to engage in. This study adds to earlier research by employing the push and pull motivation framework within the area of casinos based on user-generated content.
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Vol.: (0123456789)
1 3
GeoJournal (2023) 88:2233–2246
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-022-10749-7
Double ornothing: push andpull factors ofcasinos
inEurope
NunoCarvalho· HelenaRodrigues ·
AnaBrochado
Accepted: 18 August 2022 / Published online: 1 September 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2022
highlight the importance of the pull factor while
choosing a destination and reveals that gamers seek
mainly table games as they attract both players and
other tourists who tend to gather around the tables to
watch. Among the greatest push-factors is the excite-
ment of winning money in slot machines. Findings
also demonstrate that casinos located in Europe offer
world-class gambling services that are both engag-
ing and fun to engage in. This study adds to earlier
research by employing the push and pull motivation
framework within the area of casinos based on user-
generated content.
Keywords Gambling Tourism· Casino· Push
factors· Pull factors· Europe
Introduction
Gambling is a prominent feature of human society,
and its evolution has given way to a new market-
place. Locations like Las Vegas and Macau nowadays
boast billion-dollar casino resorts that contribute to
annual revenues of several billion dollars (Statista,
2022). Gambling has evolved, and not only have the
games changed but so too has the casino business
model. For example, Las Vegas’ non-gaming rev-
enue today is higher than the gaming revenue (Sum-
mary, 2012). The business model’s focus has shifted
to different revenue streams such as hotels, dining,
and entertainment, prompting casino resorts to offer
Abstract Gambling tourism is a subject that has
been gaining a lot of interest and notoriety over
the last two decades. Push and pull factors have for
long been the backbone of tourism studies and this
research seeks to expound on this theory within the
area of casinos. In this study, 1383 google reviews
from five different countries in coastal Europe: Casino
Vila Moura, Algarve (Portugal), Casino Barrière Le
Croisette, Cannes (France), Casino de Monte-Carlo,
(Monaco), Casino Malta, (Malta), and Regency
Casino Thessaloniki, (Greece) were analyzed with
the software Leximancer. The main objective of this
study was to identify the concepts in the reviews and
then pinpoint what push and pull factor these con-
cepts belonged to and how important this was when
choosing a casino destination in Europe. The results
N.Carvalho
UCP - Católica Lisbon School ofBusiness andEconomics,
Palma de Cima, 1649-023Lisbon, Portugal
e-mail: nunohcarvalho@gmail.com
H.Rodrigues(*)· A.Brochado
Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL), Instituto Universitário
de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, Portugal
e-mail: hmcnc@iscte-iul.pt
A. Brochado
e-mail: ana.brochado@iscte-iul.pt
A.Brochado
DINÂMIA’CET – IUL, Centre forSocioeconomic
andTerritorial Studies, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
(ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, Portugal
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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