When Mixed Martial Arts first broke into the mainstream, it was heralded primarily as a new professional sport, and in some cases a modern version of boxing. And of course, when Dana White helped to launch the UFC to prominence, these visions of MMA’s potential basically came to life. Today, MMA might not quite be what boxing was in its heyday, but it has certainly carved out a place among major professional sports.
Beyond the octagon though, the rise of MMA has also had some interesting cultural and business ramifications. These include effects on partner companies, clothing and apparel brands, streaming networks, and more. Perhaps most interesting though has been the way in which MMA has helped to boost casino businesses around the world.
Naturally, this boost is largely thanks to the fact that many (if not most) major MMA events take place at casinos, or at least in close proximity to them. While there have certainly been major fight nights at more standalone venues like the O2 Arena in London, or the Staples Center in Los Angeles, fights in the casino hot spots of Singapore, Macau, and particularly Las Vegas are often in the spotlight.
This alone is a boon to casinos, largely because they’re facing a need to revamp their entertainment offerings. To put it simply, a lot of the games casinos have traditionally relied on have grown somewhat stale with younger audiences. Gala Casino outlines that blackjack, roulette, poker, baccarat, and craps are the most popular games in the world. Run that list by a millennial or someone in Gen Z though, and they’ll likely know how to play about two of those games at best. Throw in slot machines — which bank most of casinos’ money, and which do not interest younger gamers — and it’s clear that casinos face potential issues keeping up their activity.
The casino companies are well aware of this issue, and according to Fox 5 Vegas are even looking to skill-based video games to “widen demographics.” Intentional changes like that will need to be made, but MMA has already helped as well. MMA fan demographics skew young, which means every major fight night held at or near a casino resort brings young people’s attention to the casinos themselves. That’s not to say that MMA is getting millennials to play baccarat. But it is giving them reasons to be interested in casino resorts more generally.
On a related note, MMA has also brought famous figures back to casino resort arenas — which has actually always been essential to gambling towns’ general aura. In Vegas, for instance, there have always been larger-than-life celebrities synonymous with the town, from Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra to Britney Spears and Lady Gaga. Various boxers in decades past assumed this role as well, and today it’s fair to say that Conor McGregor — arguably the biggest star in MMA history — has become a sort of celebrity representative of the town. The Las Vegas Review Journal recounted McGregor’s most memorable Vegas bouts just last year, and looking through the list it’s fair to say that the fighter has made something of a home of the famous Nevada gaming hub.
On top of all of this, MMA has of course provided yet another reason for casino visitors around the world to place sports bets as well. Here it’s difficult to assess total activity because betting occurs via so many different methods (with many today placing bets on their phones). But live events at casinos have always attracted a great deal of betting activity, and it stands to reason that MMA fights at these venues have done the same on a regular basis.
To measure the overall impact of all of this on casinos around the world is virtually impossible. But casinos have faced some struggles over the past decade or two, and it’s clear that Mixed Martial Arts has been a bright spot. In retrospect in fact, a new(-ish) sport that appeals to younger audiences, provides major celebrity figures, and inspires betting activity may have been just what these businesses needed.