This is an update to a post I first published in 2021. Back then, the casino marketers I talked to were mostly asking one question about slot influencer marketing: should we try this?
Five years later, that question has moved. The ones worth asking now are sharper. How do we do this well for the kind of property we actually are? How do we measure it in a way that holds up internally? How do we get started without a big budget?
The original post drew on work I did with Justin Shank of Shank Marketing and Courtney Carr, who (at the time) had recently been running social for Golden Nugget Las Vegas. She’s now a contributor for Brian Christopher’s FlipTheSwitch.com. This refresh brings their voices forward and adds two operators doing this work at regional properties right now: Tashina Williams, senior content marketing manager at Potawatomi Casino Hotel, and Kasey Strenke, social media and public relations coordinator at Three Rivers Casino Resort and a Casino Marketing Boot Camp alum.
It’s a bigger category than it was. And it’s a more honest fit for regional operators than the industry sometimes makes it out to be.
Let me explain why.
TL;DR:
Slot influencer marketing has moved from a novelty to a practical casino marketing tool, especially for regional properties. The best results come from choosing creators who fit your market, planning the visit across departments, clarifying disclosure and usage rights, and measuring both trackable results and the property-wide energy these activations create. Regional casinos do not need a national-name creator or a large budget to begin. They need a clear strategy, the right creator relationship, and an operational plan that treats the visit like a real guest experience.
Why Slot Influencer Marketing Matters for Regional Casinos
Most conversations about slot influencer marketing get the framing wrong from the start. They treat it as a destination-market strategy that regional properties have to scale down, as if a regional operator is doing a smaller, scrappier version of what Las Vegas is already doing well.
That’s not what’s happening.
National slot creators already have followers in your market. Your regulars are watching their videos. So the question isn’t whether this content reaches your audience. It already does. The question is whether your property shows up in that content in a way that supports what you’re building.
And regional operators have a real advantage here, not a consolation-prize one. The community context that makes a visit feel like an event. The loyal regulars are already creating their own content. The operational closeness that lets you actually execute a creator visit well, instead of drowning it in process.
Tashina Williams, who has run these activations at Potawatomi Casino Hotel, puts it plainly:
Many people view this line of work as ‘just social,’ but that generalization misses the reality of the modern guest journey. Social media is the heartbeat of a successful omnichannel marketing strategy. It serves as the bridge that converts digital interest into physical foot traffic.
That’s the right framing. Not social-as-side-project. Not influencer-as-novelty. Social is the connective tissue between online interest and the people walking through your doors.
Let me explain why.
Key Takeaways
Regional casinos already have an influencer opportunity.
Your guests and local slot fans are likely watching creator content, and some may already be filming at your property.
Creator fit matters more than creator size.
A smaller regional or micro creator with strong audience alignment can be more valuable than a national name with weaker local relevance.
Influencer marketing is now an operational program, not a one-off social post.
Contracts, disclosure, filming policies, usage rights, itineraries, staffing, security, and guest experience all matter.
Two different playbooks are needed.
A filmed creator visit and a creator-led event require different checklists, staffing levels, and internal coordination.
Measurement should include both numbers and atmosphere.
Track engagement, traffic, bookings, offer codes, and event sales, but also capture leadership buy-in, employee excitement, and property energy.
Why Slot Influencer Marketing Matters for Regional Casinos
Most conversations about slot influencer marketing get the framing wrong from the start. They treat it as a destination-market strategy that regional properties have to scale down, as if a regional operator is doing a smaller, scrappier version of what Las Vegas is already doing well.
That’s not what’s happening.
National slot creators already have followers in your market. Your regulars are watching their videos. So the question isn’t whether this content reaches your audience. It already does. The question is whether your property shows up in that content in a way that supports what you’re building.
And regional operators have a real advantage here, not a consolation-prize one. The community context that makes a visit feel like an event. The loyal regulars are already creating their own content. The operational closeness that lets you actually execute a creator visit well, instead of drowning it in process.
Tashina Williams, who has run these activations at Potawatomi Casino Hotel, puts it plainly:
Many people view this line of work as ‘just social,’ but that generalization misses the reality of the modern guest journey. Social media is the heartbeat of a successful omnichannel marketing strategy. It serves as the bridge that converts digital interest into physical foot traffic.
That’s the right framing. Not social-as-side-project. Not influencer-as-novelty. Social is the connective tissue between online interest and the people walking through your doors.
What Has Changed Since Casino Influencer Marketing First Emerged
The bones of what we laid out in 2021 still hold. Start with your own property. Start local, start smaller. Authenticity matters.
Those principles haven’t moved.
Pretty much everything else has.
Justin Shank framed the category this way when we first talked it through. The thing to remember, he reminded me, is that we’ve always had influencers among us. We just used to call them tastemakers. As a former publicist, he recalled using them for movie projects long before “influencer” was a word anyone said out loud:
It was somebody to whom you could send a product, and they would talk about it. Maybe they were a media personality or some other celebrity. Influencers started to really come up into the mainstream with the widespread adoption of YouTube.
That definition is still a clean on-ramp for a skeptical operator. But the category it describes has changed dramatically over the past five years.
The slot creator ecosystem has matured. Short-form vertical video — TikTok, Reels, Shorts — is no longer an incongruent add-on. It’s a real part of how slot content travels. Live streaming on YouTube, Twitch, and Kick has turned slot play into a spectator category with its own conventions and audience expectations. Rate cards and agency representation have standardized for some creators. Others still operate more like sole proprietors. The spectrum is wider than it used to be.
And the relationship between operators and creators has matured, too. Tashina describes the shift better than I could:
The biggest change in my approach compared to when I began is that I now prioritize long-term partnerships. When I started, I approached these activations much like booking entertainment — as ‘one and done’ transactions. I thought I would pay them once, see them once, and hope they had a good time. I’ve since learned that creators and their teams value mutually beneficial business relationships that are professional, fun, and sustainable.
From transactional booking to ongoing partnership. That’s the single biggest operational change in this work since 2021.
Plan for the relationship. Not the shoot.
Start by Auditing the Creator Content Around Your Casino
The first move is still the first move. Search your own property on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram — in that order. You’ll almost certainly find something. Your regulars are already making videos. So are creators who’ve passed through without your knowing it.
That was true in 2021. It’s more true now.
What’s changed is what you do with that content when you find it. The 2021 instinct was to decide whether to welcome it. The 2026 reality is that the content exists whether you welcome it or not. The only real question is whether your property is ready to participate constructively in a category that’s already showing up in your market.
When Courtney Carr was running social for Golden Nugget Las Vegas in the earlier days of this category, her team did a version of this assessment and made the call to update the filming policy:
We wanted to be welcoming to influencers. So, we looked at our filming policy. We realized we had way more to gain than we did to lose by updating the policy to meet the current trends and what was going on in pop culture.
More to gain than to lose.
That’s still the framing. The specific policy question has moved on. Most properties have worked through the filming-on-the-floor conversation by now, but the strategic posture is the same.
If Your Casino Is Not Ready for External Creators Yet
Not every property is ready to bring in an outside creator. And there’s nothing wrong with saying so: budget, operational readiness, leadership comfort — all legitimate reasons to take the in-house path first.
That’s the path Kasey Strenke has been building at Three Rivers Casino Resort. What struck me in talking with her is how quickly she reframed the skill set:
One thing I didn’t fully expect going into making video content is how much of it is about relationships and timing, not just the creative side. I thought it would mostly be about shooting and editing, but a big part of it has been building connections with people at events and promotions and learning how to capture the right moments as they’re happening.
That’s a deeper observation than it looks.
The work of making compelling video content for a regional casino isn’t primarily a technical skill. It’s a presence skill. Being in the right place at the right moment to catch what’s already happening. Knowing your team well enough that they’re comfortable being in the frame. Understanding which promotions actually produce the moments people want to share.
If you’re earlier in that journey, start there. You don’t need an outside creator to learn the lesson Kasey is describing. You need someone on your team with permission to spend time on the floor, at events, and in the room when things are happening.
How to Choose the Right Casino Influencer
Prioritize Local and Regional Creator Fit
The 2021 version of this post warned against chasing national names. That warning still holds, and for the same reason. A micro or regional creator who genuinely fits your brand will outperform a national name who doesn’t.
What’s changed is that the category now has enough creators, so finding a fit is more achievable than it used to be. You’re not scanning a short list hoping someone matches. You’re narrowing from a wider field based on criteria that actually matter for your property.
Look for Values Alignment Before Audience Size
The most important of those criteria, and the one regional operators should lead with, is values alignment. Tashina, speaking from a tribal property, put it clearly:
I would tell them to focus on creating relationships with aligned creators. As a tribal property, our values and the standards we uphold are often more rigid than those of commercial gaming properties. It is important that the people we exchange value with and put our brand next to align with us. For example, I’m not bringing in anyone who openly disparages other creators or properties.
That last sentence is the kind of disqualifier more operators should be comfortable naming out loud.
You’re putting your brand next to a creator’s. What they say about other properties, how they treat other creators, whether they’ve been in public disputes — none of that is neutral. It’s part of what you’re buying.
Expect a Wide Range of Creator Professionalism
One more thing worth knowing before you start reaching out. The spectrum of creator professionalism is wider than you might expect. Tashina again:
I came into the influencer marketing sphere assuming most of the influencers to have managers, similar rates, funneled communications, robust programs, etc. As I meet more of them, I’m realizing that there is truly a spectrum of experience, depth of brand, and preparedness with each of them. In fact, a lot of them don’t have managers. I honestly believe that’s because many of them don’t even realize just how big their influence truly is.
That’s the category in 2026. Some creators operate with agents and riders. Others respond to DMs themselves. Your outreach approach needs to be flexible enough to work across that range — without either over-formalizing a casual creator or under-preparing for a professional one.
Why Authenticity Still Drives Casino Influencer Results
One line from the 2021 post is worth preserving exactly as it was:
You cannot get more authentic than someone who chooses to spend their dollars at your property.
That’s still the clearest answer to the authenticity question.
And the line between “influencer” and “enthusiastic regular who makes videos” has only blurred further since 2021. If you’re looking for someone who legitimately understands your property, your audience, and your community, start with the people who already show up. Some of them are already making content.
Contracts, Disclosure, and Usage Rights for Casino Influencer Campaigns
This section didn’t exist in the 2021 post.
In 2026, it has to.
Require Clear FTC Disclosure
The regulatory environment has sharpened. FTC disclosure expectations are now a real compliance consideration, not an afterthought. Any creator producing content about your property under any compensation arrangement — comped rooms and play included, not just paid partnerships — needs to disclose that relationship clearly in the content itself.
Executing that disclosure is the creator’s responsibility. Requiring it in writing is yours. It protects both of you.
Define Content Usage Rights Before the Visit
Content usage rights should be included in every contract. If a creator produces a video at your property, what can you do with it? Can you repost it to your own channels? Embed it in your email marketing? Use clips in paid advertising? All of this should be spelled out before the visit, not negotiated after the fact when the content performs well, and you wish you could do more with it.
Limit How Property Footage Can Be Used Later
And the rights conversation runs both directions.
The footage filmed at your property should be included in your contract, too. Not just what you can do with theirs, but what they can do with yours. The standard language I’ve always written into filming agreements limits the use of footage to the express purpose intended.
This matters because a creator who films a fun, positive video at your property today is producing footage that exists somewhere, on a hard drive or in a cloud library, indefinitely. If a different project comes along later — a critical piece, a negative story about the gaming industry, a piece about something your property had nothing to do with — you don’t want your floor showing up as B-roll in it. Purpose-limitation language closes that door before it opens. Most creators won’t push back. The ones who do are telling you something useful about what they have in mind.
Compensation Should Include the Full Guest Experience
Compensation conversations vary widely depending on where the creator sits on the professional spectrum. Some are comfortable with hosted visits( rooms, play, meals) in exchange for content. Others have standard rates and agreements. A few will have agents and riders.
Don’t assume. Ask.
And don’t assume that compensation ends with the obvious items. Carr, now on the creator side, offered this:
It is more than just compensation (and it will cost more than a free room). Invited guests like to feel special. Invite your guest to lunch with the team, a tour of the property with the GM, a swag bag waiting in their room. Any meaningful addition will be welcomed. Something to keep in mind is that often these creators are away from their homes and families. They took time to come visit, and they appreciate being invited, included, and valued.
The distinction she’s drawing is the one most often missed.
The creator isn’t an entertainment booking. They’re a guest whose entire visit should be designed with the same care you’d bring to any VIP. The economic argument is straightforward. Creators who feel genuinely welcomed are more likely to produce warm content, accept return invitations, and talk about your property in ways their audiences trust.
How to Plan a Casino Influencer Visit or Event
The pre-arrival checklist we referenced in 2021 was the result of a collaboration. Courtney built the original form. I took it and pulled in what I’d learned from years of production work: the operational detail, the cross-departmental coordination questions, the things that go wrong on set if nobody’s thought them through. Together, we ended up with something more robust than either of us would have built alone.
It was designed for one primary use case: a creator showing up to film on the floor, usually with a tripod and maybe one assistant.
That checklist still matters. What it missed, because the category hadn’t fully arrived yet, is the second use case that’s now just as common.
Now that influencers and creators are getting more into the community aspect of things, I would encourage properties to break out their checklists into two types — create one strictly for filming (live and recorded) and another for events. When I first created my influencer checklist, the idea of inviting 350 players to a creator event seemed almost laughable. Now, it is happening all the time, and properties need to be prepared.
Two checklists. Not one.
Use One Checklist for Filming Visits
The filming checklist handles the smaller, quieter visits: one or two people, a camera, maybe a live stream. Power supply, wifi reliability, a wide-area release for anyone incidentally in frame, a point person on the floor who knows the creator is there. These visits are manageable with the infrastructure most properties already have in place.
Use a Separate Checklist for Creator Events
The event checklist is a different animal. A creator event — a group pull, a slot tournament, a meet-and-greet — can draw hundreds of players who’ve traveled specifically to be there. That’s a ticketed-event operation. Crowd management. Check-in flow. Extra security. F&B capacity. Staffing across departments that don’t normally coordinate on marketing activations.
The difference between a successful creator event and a chaotic one is almost always in the pre-planning. And the planning looks more like producing a live show than hosting a video shoot.
Carr, now watching this from the creator side, sees the gap clearly in properties that haven’t adjusted:
I will always appreciate a property that puts thought into planning creator visits. There are some operators that still only go as far as greenlighting a visit without any other ideas in place besides one recorded video. Properties that handle a visit well are creating detailed itineraries for the invited creator, they are offering transportation to and from the property during their contract, and they have a general understanding of the types of things the influencer likes to do.
Build Cross-Department Support Before the Creator Arrives
Tashina, who has now run multiple creator events at Potawatomi, including a sell-out with Vegas Matt, frames the operational requirement as a partnership across the property:
It helps to have leaders who trust you, allow you to run experiments, and understand that not every effort will be a home run. From gaming ops to security and beyond, the camaraderie and shared desire to operate at a high level coupled with the autonomy and trust from marketing leadership helped me take risks and optimize our approach through learned experience.
That’s an honest note for any property leader reading this.
A creator program succeeds or struggles based on conditions that marketing alone doesn’t control. Leadership trust. Cross-departmental coordination. Permission to experiment with things that won’t all work. If those conditions aren’t there, the best marketing execution in the world will still run into walls.
How to Measure Casino Influencer Marketing Results
Every marketer running this kind of program eventually has to answer the same question. Is it worth it?
Track the Campaign Metrics Leadership Expects
There are the trackable signals. Engagement on the creator’s content mentioning your property. Traffic to your website from the creator’s channels during and after the visit. Sign-ups or bookings tied to an activation-specific offer code. Sell-through on events. Merchandise attach if you’re selling branded items. Repurposable content you can use in your own marketing for months afterward.
All of those belong on a report for leadership. A well-run program will produce real numbers on most of them.
Capture the Property Energy the Numbers Miss
But some of what you’re measuring won’t show up cleanly on a dashboard. Tashina’s story about Potawatomi’s Vegas Matt event is the best illustration I’ve heard of what I mean:
Even after a highly successful first event with Brian Christopher Slots, 95% of the team would say, ‘That was cool, but I still don’t quite get it.’ Fast forward to our second influencer visit with Vegas Matt. We sold out our event center in about one week. While everyone was excited about the first-ever ticket sell-out on the property, they still didn’t fully grasp the ‘why.’ Finally, Matt and his team arrived. The exact moment I realized my colleagues finally ‘got it’ was during a live-streamed group pull. The second the group hit a bonus round, the crowd of onlookers assembled around the stanchions joined the participants and the Vegas Matt crew as the casino went wild. The next day, my inbox was full of emails regarding the liveliness and excitement the event brought to the property. Many were asking for more events because of how much fun it was for both guests and employees.
Read that again.
The first event was successful on every metric a marketer would normally report. Ninety-five percent of the team still didn’t understand what it was for. The second event sold out. They still didn’t get it.
The moment they got it was a moment of atmosphere. The gaming floor was vibrating with shared excitement during a live-streamed group pull. The crowd was becoming part of the content.
That moment is real business value.
It’s operational team buy-in, which means smoother execution next time. It’s leadership understanding, which means easier approval for the next activation. It’s property-wide energy that carries beyond the event itself and affects how employees feel about coming to work.
None of those appear in a standard post-campaign report. All of them build on the former and help build the next.
Tashina’s bigger point:
By leaning into the influencer space, you aren’t just making content; you are proving to leadership that social media is a tangible business asset, one that drives sell-outs, fuels merchandise sales, and serves as a vital catalyst for property-wide growth.
That’s the case a marketing director or VP needs to be able to make internally. Some of the proof is in the numbers. Some of it is in the room on the night.
Build your measurement approach to capture both.
Integrate Influencer Marketing with the Rest of Your Casino Marketing
One framing that still holds from the 2021 post: influencer marketing is not a side project.
It feeds on and is fed by your social channels, your database marketing, your website content, and your broader content engine. The creator visits that produce a great video but don’t get repurposed into an email is a missed opportunity. The event that sells out but isn’t cross-promoted to your existing database is money left on the table.
Plan the integration before the visit. Not after.
How Regional Casinos Can Start With Slot Influencer Marketing
If this post has convinced you that slot influencer marketing is worth taking seriously for your property — and I hope it has — here’s what to actually do this week.
Search your property name on YouTube and TikTok today. You’ll find something. Pay attention to the kinds of content already being made, by whom, and how your regulars are responding.
Pick one creator whose audience aligns closely with your market and start watching them. Don’t reach out yet. Understand their voice, their audience, and how they handle other properties. Note what you’d want to replicate and what you’d want to do differently.
Decide whether you’re ready to reach out, or whether you need a partner to help you think it through. Neither answer is wrong. What’s wrong is letting the category continue to happen around you without deciding to participate.
And if any part of this feels higher-stakes than it needs to be, hear Carr one more time:
Influencer marketing, if planned correctly, is relatively low risk compared to cost. You can always start out small with a more localized influencer before inviting someone with a much larger audience. Similarly, if you are worried about live content, you can start out with just recorded content.
You can start smaller than you think.
And Kasey’s reminder applies to both the external and the internal version of this work:
I’d say just start. Don’t overthink it or wait for everything to be perfect. Start with what’s already going on day to day. Consistency matters more than being super polished. When I started, I had my old cell phone — no fancy setup, no nothing. Just a girl and her Galaxy Android, creating content that people were loving. It really is that simple, just capture real moments with real people and real emotions.
That may be the best advice anyone interviewed for this post offered.
The hardest step is the first one. The rest gets easier with practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions About Casino Influencer Marketing
What is slot influencer marketing for casinos?
Slot influencer marketing is a partnership between a casino and a slot-focused creator who shares casino visits, slot play, events, or related content with an audience. For regional casinos, the goal is not simply exposure. The stronger opportunity is to connect online attention with an actual property visit, event, booking, or guest relationship.
Should regional casinos work with national slot influencers?
Sometimes, but national reach should not be the first filter. A regional or micro creator whose audience overlaps with your actual feeder market may be a better fit than a larger creator with limited local relevance. Audience alignment, professionalism, values, and guest experience fit should matter more than follower count.
How should a casino choose the right influencer?
Start by searching for existing content about your property on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Look for creators who understand your market, treat other properties and creators professionally, and produce content that would feel appropriate next to your brand. For tribal and regional properties especially, values alignment should be part of the selection process.
Do casino influencers need to disclose comped rooms, free play, meals, or payment?
Yes. Any material relationship should be clearly disclosed, including paid partnerships, comped rooms, meals, free play, travel, or other consideration. The creator is responsible for making the disclosure, but the casino should require it in writing as part of the agreement.
What should be included in a casino influencer agreement?
A casino influencer agreement should define deliverables, timing, compensation, disclosure requirements, filming permissions, content review expectations if applicable, usage rights, and limits on how footage from the property can be used later. The agreement should also clarify whether the casino can repost, edit, boost, embed, or use the creator’s content in paid media.
What is the difference between an influencer filming visit and an influencer event?
A filming visit is usually a smaller activation built around a creator recording or livestreaming content on property. An influencer event may involve hundreds of guests, group pulls, meet-and-greets, tournaments, F&B, ticketing, security, check-in, and cross-department staffing. These should use separate planning checklists because the operational needs are very different.
How can casinos measure influencer marketing success?
Casinos can measure influencer marketing through engagement, video views, website traffic, offer-code redemptions, bookings, event sales, database growth, merchandise sales, and content reuse. They should also document less obvious value, such as employee excitement, leadership buy-in, guest energy, and how the activation supports future events.
Can a casino start influencer marketing without a large budget?
Yes. A casino can start by auditing existing guest-created content, building in-house short-form video skills, inviting a smaller local creator, or testing recorded content before trying livestreams or large events. The first step does not need to be expensive. It needs to be intentional.
If you want to go deeper on this topic, the Winning Influencer Marketing webinar series — the original conversations with Justin Shank and Courtney Carr that informed the 2021 post — is still available. Much of it remains relevant, particularly the foundational material on policy, authenticity, and getting started.
If you’re thinking about running your first influencer activation and want help thinking through how to match it to your property, or if you want a partner who can handle the operator-side execution so your team can focus on the relationship, the JCA Collaborative includes partners who specialize in exactly this work, including Justin Shank and the Shank Marketing team. You can also join us for a deeper conversation on this and other regional marketing topics at the next Casino Marketing Boot Camp.
Julia Carcamo is the founder of J. Carcamo & Associates, a casino marketing consultancy focused on helping regional casino teams build strategies that compound.
Recent Comments