Games of chance? Skill-based video games arrive in Atlantic City

ATLANTIC CITY — There aren't many games of chance that involve more ... well, chance ... than slot machines. And that's the problem.

Casinos are worried today's young people won't become slot machine players, the way their parents did. So new, skill-based games are being brought into the Tropicana and the three Caesar's Entertainment properties.

"I think that it is the beginning of a transition period in gaming right now," Roger Gros, publisher of Global Gaming Business Magazine, said.

Gros says the payback to the casinos is not as great as with traditional slot machines, but give them time.

"We just had a tournament in Las Vegas last week that was based on 'Frogger,'" he said. "Everybody knows the 'Frogger' game, even people my age, believe it or not. But it was very popular. It did very well. And I think from what I am hearing about those machines in Atlantic City, they are doing what they are expected to do. They are attracting a younger audience."

He also says Caesar's will be rolling out tough new flat-screen table games that can be played with three or four partners.

"I think that those are going to be the skill games that are really going to be the 'game-changers.' So keep your eye out for them," he said.

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5.