Imagine this scenario: your GM walks in and says, “We need a new website by 2026.” Everyone nods because everyone knows the current site is outdated. But where do you even begin?
For casinos, a website is more than digital real estate. It’s the front door to your property, a marketing engine, a booking tool, and increasingly a loyalty hub. Unlike hotel staffing or gaming regulations, it’s one of the few guest touchpoints you can fully control.
This playbook lays out the indicators for a redesign, the core elements to invest in, and the steps to prepare an RFP that sets your project up for success.
The Website’s Role in the Guest Journey
A casino website isn’t just a pre-visit research tool; it plays a role at every stage of the guest and player journey.
Pre-Visit Research
Guests are comparing you against competitors for the gaming experience, rooms, restaurants, entertainment, promotions, and more. For new players, your website is the first touchpoint in their journey. Picture a group-text scenario in which friends are planning their evening, and a link to Tulalip gets shared as a suggestion. If the digital experience doesn’t match the on-property excitement, that group chat can easily move on to the next suggestion.
Non-Gaming Guests & Groups
Many visitors are drawn by entertainment, events, spa experiences, golf, or dining options, especially those visiting in groups. If those experiences aren’t visible online, you’re invisible to them.
Loyal Players
Rewards members log in to check tier status, redeem offers, or plan their return trip. Returning guests want to feel just as seen, if not more, as new players in the website experience, and strong player portals ensure that.
LT POV: Senior Account Manager at LT, Lauren Chiangpradit, explains, “If somebody doesn't know what you have to offer, you can't be that destination for everyone. If you don't have that inclusive digital experience, then you're probably not going to have guests coming to your property.”
Wow stat: In LT’s May 2025 webinar with Tribal Gaming & Hospitality Magazine, 29% of operators ranked digital experience (websites, apps, player portals) as the single biggest area for growth. That put it at the top of the list, narrowly ahead of loyalty offers and non-gaming experiences.
Signs It’s Time for a Redesign
Most casinos wait until frustrations pile up before investing in a new site, but the key is to be proactive rather than reactive. Most of the time, the warning signs are clear:
Guest Complaints & Silent Attrition
It’s time for an audit if you’re hearing about difficulty booking events, rooms, or dining experiences, broken links, or clunky navigation.
Sometimes, the most dangerous drop-offs are the ones you don’t hear about, like when an Instagram ad for a new top takes you to the site, and the colorway of that top is nowhere to be found. Guests simply bounce and book somewhere else if they can’t find what they’re looking for or can’t complete the task they need to.
Staff Frustration
Don’t ignore the internal noise. Your staff might be the ones receiving guest feedback or seeing gaps in the player experience first-hand.
Outdated Visuals
If your site looks a decade old, guests will assume your property is too.
Quick Tip: Pull up your site on your phone and try completing 3 key tasks. If any of the tasks are hard or feel unintuitive, then it’s time to consider a redesign.
LT POV: According to Chiangpradit, casinos should aim to refresh their website every five to eight years if budgets allow. This not only means a modern UX/UI feel for guests, but an opportunity to keep your brand voice and design up-to-date as new campaigns roll out. For smaller and more budget-conscious casinos, the table stakes mentioned in the next section might be particularly useful for you
The Core Elements in a Casino Website Redesign
Mobile Optimization
A mobile-first experience is non-negotiable. This means fast load speeds, touch navigation, and minimal form fields, not just shrinking a desktop site. Think of the seamlessness of ordering on-the-go from the Starbucks app; you could not only be around the corner and redeem your star points for your free bakery item, but it will be ready for you when you pull up.
Clear Navigation & User Experience (UX)
While mobile usage is key, guests should be able to accomplish their top tasks on any device, regardless of their physical or vision limitations, without friction. We find that ADA is one of the most crucial and often overlooked design and functionality aspects of website UX and one that we build into all stages of our design and development process, testing each of our sites for high compliance scores.
Quick Tip: Test across demographics. A 25-year-old and a 65-year-old should both find your site intuitive, whether on their phone, tablet, or laptop.
Once functionality and back-end processes are locked, design becomes your differentiator. Think out of the box; interactive content, unique hover features, and even video can all engage visitors. Your brand’s story should come through visually, with gaming at the center.
LT POV: “It’s your primary revenue driver, so it should be the focal point,” says Chiangpradit. She goes on to say that while gaming should always be at the heart of your story, things like food & beverage, resort and spa activities, and entertainment are crucial to bringing in non-gaming guests.
Integrated Booking Systems
Casinos operate on multiple platforms like casino management systems (CMS), hotel reservations, dining, golf, valet, and more. Proactive vendor planning (API access, sandbox testing) prevents delays and scope creep.
Wow Stat: Staffing and resources are a major obstacle. In LT’s 2025 national casino study, 28% of operators said limited staff bandwidth or training was their top barrier to improving the digital experience, while another 15% pointed to gaps in IT support. Together, these internal challenges outpaced factors like budget constraints or leadership buy-in.
For smaller casinos with limited internal bandwidth, factor in outsourcing as part of your project scope. The right partner will help bridge the gap, especially when it comes to complex CMS integrations.
Loyalty Program & Player Portal Integration
Loyalty isn’t just an on-property perk; it’s a digital engagement driver and a casino’s best parking tool. It’s expected in other industries like quick service restaurants, retail, and airlines, and your players are those types of customers too.
Wow Stat: In LT’s 2025 casino national study, 33% of operators ranked personalized loyalty offers as the top growth driver. That placed loyalty just behind digital experience, underscoring how tightly connected the two areas are in shaping player retention.
Highlight perks clearly on your site, and integrate your CMS so players can log in, check points, and redeem offers with ease and personalization. When offers, promotions, and events adjust based on a guest’s loyalty tier, the website mirrors the feeling of being recognized on the casino floor.
Learn more about Player Portal Optimization.
SEO Strategy in a Changing Landscape
The search landscape is shifting. Guests increasingly use AI-driven platforms rather than relying on traditional search engines alone.
Casinos must optimize for both branded and non-branded terms. Basics like schema markup, local listings, and optimized metadata still matter despite changing search behavior, and layering in unique content like blogs, dining highlights, event features, and player stories fuel both SEO and AI discovery.
Risk Mitigation
From accessibility to security, predictive thinking around risk mitigation is critical. Casinos are not only a target for lawsuits, but hacking opportunities as well (recall the 2024 MGM and Caesars ransomware attacks that cost operators tens of millions of dollars).
- Privacy and Security: Operators need to think about digital risk in the same way they think about on-property risk. Proactive planning and layered security, including encryption, updated CMS patches, and regular penetration testing, are essential.
- Accessibility & ADA Compliance: Accessibility should not just be a “compliance checkbox” but a loyalty-building feature. Properties that prioritize inclusivity will earn trust and repeat visits, all while avoiding legal repercussions.
When risk is prioritized at the forefront and throughout the project, we see our clients benefit in three ways.
- You’ll make your older and non able-bodied guests feel prioritized
- Your website becomes a competitive advantage: an easier-to-navigate site builds loyalty.
- A healthy site is a liability shield against costly lawsuits
Budget Expectations & Scale
When it comes to website redesigns, timelines and budgets will differ based on the scale of your operation and resources.
Even if you’re a smaller, single-location casino, getting the digital experience right is crucial. Depending on the scope of the redesign and available budget, project timelines can start anywhere from three months to upwards of a year. But where should your budget go?
Budget Buckets
- Upfront web strategy/UX.
- Content development: Can be created in-house, by an agency, or through a hybrid approach.
- Visuals: Photo/video shoots if assets are outdated. This can be costly up front, but it proves to be worth the investment in the long run.
- Design: Translating brand into a modern, immersive site.
- Development & QA: Integrating systems and testing across devices.
Delivering On Budget & On Time
We know that one of the most often asked questions, after budget, is how long will this take. The size and scale of your website project will have some impact on the project and delivery timeline.
- For a single property, a focused project can be done in as few as four months.
- For multi-property or enterprise organizations, timelines extend to 12+ months, especially when considering the inclusion of a player portal.
LT POV: Delays are not just technical. They’re organizational, caused by the number of decision-makers involved and by slow access to APIs or integrations. Your website partner should prefer efficiency, not projects that drag on. Unlike lawyers, we’re not incentivized by time spent.
Measuring the Success of a Redesign
Launching a new casino website is just the beginning. The real value comes from tracking whether the redesign moves the needle on guest behavior, employee efficiency, and revenue growth.
Revenue & Marketing Metrics
- Non-gaming reservations & sales: Are more guests booking directly online instead of third-party OTAs, and is an increasing number of sales and reservations being made ahead of time?
- Coin-in growth: For casinos that invest in digital transformation (like player portals and loyalty integration), is there measurable growth in slot play from engaged loyalty members?
- Organic search and SEO: Are you capturing more branded and non-branded searches?
- Bounce rate and click throughs: Are guests spending more time exploring amenities, or leaving after one page, and are promotions and loyalty perks driving actual behavior?
Wow Stat: This aligns with LT’s 2025 casino report, where 27% of operators cited “unclear ROI” as the top hurdle to digital investment. Tracking marketing metrics closes that gap by showing measurable impact.
Guest & Employee Metrics
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): Add the one-question for website and digital experiences
- Post-booking/experience surveys: Ask if guests found it easy to reserve rooms, dinners, or events online.
- Call volume reduction: Are fewer guests calling the front desk for directions, hours, or reservations?
The Future of Gaming
Casino websites can’t stand still. Guest expectations, technology, and search behaviors are evolving rapidly, and properties that adapt early will win. The next wave of casino website strategy includes four big shifts.
AI-Driven Discovery
We already know search is changing, which means your website needs to be structured for clear, authoritative answers, with schema markup, well-labeled content, and strong local signals.
AI-Enhanced Experience
AI isn’t just reshaping search; it’s enhancing on-site engagement. From chatbots that answer player questions instantly to predictive offers tailored by loyalty tier, casinos have the chance to use AI to anticipate guest needs. For smaller operators, we suggest picking the one AI-enhanced functionality that will make the most difference for your business goals and deliver that flawlessly, rather than trying to tackle more than one and mediocrely.
LT POV: Despite the push for AI implementation, Chiangpradit asks a question many are asking in the gaming space right now: “How do you find ways to use AI for efficiency purposes without losing that human touch?”
Mobile Ecosystems
Loyalty is no longer limited to the player’s card. The ecosystem now includes websites, apps, and SMS working together in real time, all as part of one seamless journey.
Be more like the Amazons and Krogers of the world; properties that nail this integration will see higher loyalty engagement and stronger repeat visitation. While this is a less-daunting undertaking for the enterprise and even mid-size operators with more bandwidth and more generous budgets, we have suggestions for all sizes of operators.
How LT Supports Casino Website Redesigns
Casino website redesigns require more than good design; they demand a partner who understands both the guest journey and the systems behind it. That’s where LT stands apart.
- Full-service expertise: We combine marketing strategy with technical execution, something rare in the casino world.
- Balanced capabilities: Branding, a mobile-first UX approach, knowledge in nearly every CMS, and secure development all under one roof.
- Ownership model: You own your site outright with no hidden lease fees or locked-in contracts.
- Partnership mindset: We act as an extension of your team, handling complex integrations while empowering your team to manage day-to-day updates.
- Scale of expertise in casino gaming: LT has worked with both small operators like Cocopah Casino Resort (~800 slots) and massive properties like Yaamava’ Resort & Casino at San Manuel (6,000+ slots) and has maintained these relationships for years, before, during, and long after the completion of website, app, and player portal projects
Bringing It All Together
A casino’s website is no longer just a digital brochure; it’s the front door to the property, the hub for loyalty, and one of the only guest touchpoints you can fully control. Done right, it drives bookings, builds loyalty, and reinforces your brand promise. Done poorly, it creates frustration, lost revenue, and reputational risk.
LT POV: investing in your website is investing in your future guest experience. Casinos that embrace integration, mobile-first design, security, accessibility, and forward-looking trends like AI will stay ahead of guest expectations and ahead of the market.
If you’re preparing for a redesign, LT is here to help. Our team blends marketing strategy, UX design, and technical execution into websites that deliver measurable business impact.
Next step: Download our “2025 Casino Digital Experience Report” for deeper insights, or reach out to our team to start building your website roadmap.
