Spirit Mountain Casino launches Internet casino games

The games that went online Nov. 6 at Spirit Mountain Casino can be played anywhere through the Internet and there is a link on the casino's Web site -- www.spiritmountain.com -- that will bring you there.
These games play like the real thing, except for no bets and no payouts.
"The online experience is a marketing tool," said Spirit Mountain Casino General Manager Randy Dugger. "Whether it brings people into the building will take some time to see. We have not marketed it as fully as we will be able to do when we have more information and can see the patterns and preferences of players that we can leverage into brick-and-mortar visits."
iGaming, as the casino calls the gaming experience, keep players interested with the sights and sounds of the casino games, even when they are not in the building.
"Players throughout the Pacific Northwest know Spirit Mountain Casino as Oregon's largest casino and entertainment destination," said casino Advertising Manager Angela LaBarbera in a press release on the new platform. "Now the brand and experience they love has a new destination, one that is as close as their computer, laptop or mobile device."
Tribal Council Chairman Reyn Leno said at the Dec. 10 Legislative Action Committee meeting that the site has received 10,000 individual hits and 33 percent of those people came back to register.
"We're getting a real good response," Leno said.
The software program is called nLine, from Australia-based Aristocrat Technologies, and has an international casino following, according to the company. Programs are tailored to individual gaming operations, like Spirit Mountain, to allow marketing on a local or larger scale. Aristocrat also supplies many of Spirit Mountain's onsite machines.
In the last month, some 4,000 have registered to play the iGaming offerings at Spirit Mountain. On average, some 6,500 customers visit the casino daily.
It is too early for the casino to evaluate how many playing online also will visit the casino, LaBarbera said.
"We are giving the site 60 to 90 days to gather information before we sit down and dissect what it all means," she said.
What they know already, however, is "the iGaming site has increased overall traffic to our Web site allowing us to promote our Players Club, dining, lodging and gaming."
About half of the games available online are also on the casino floor. Some of these are 5 Dragons, 50 Lions, Big Red Buffalo, Imperial House, Miss Kitty, More Chilli, Queen of the Nile and Sun and Moon; also table games Hi Lo Solitaire, Jacks of Better, Pro Blackjack and Roulette.
A third-party verification process keeps anyone younger than 21 off the Internet site, LaBarbera said.