Contents lists available at ScienceDirectJournal of Destination Marketing & Managementjournal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jdmmA latent class segmentation analysis of gamblers in a gambling destinationJun (Justin) Lia,b, Mark Bonnc, Jong-Hyeong Kimd,∗a School of Tourism Management, South China Normal University, Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou, 510006, Chinab Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Zhuhai, Chinac Dedman School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Florida State University, B4104 University Center, 288 Champions Way, Tallahassee, FL, 32306, USAd School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Road Xin Gang Xi, Guangzhou, 510275 , ChinaA R T I C L E I N F OKeywords:Latent class segmentation analysisGambling segmentationPerceived valueSatisfactionRepeat visitationA B S T R A C TGambling plays an important role in attracting tourists to destinations and significantly contributes to localeconomies through the generation of salaries and employment supported by visitor spending. Perceptions ofvalue associated with the gambling experience, the gambling facility and the destination, along with the overalllevel of satisfaction with the visit and willingness to return, represent important categories of consumer in-formation that must be obtained by marketing professionals to maximize opportunities for success in the highlycompetitive marketing environment. An exhaustive literature review confirmed few studies have investigatedperceived value in a satisfaction-intention relationship framework involving visitor segmentation research. Dataobtained from 409 gamblers were employed to segment consumers into four mutually exclusive groups basedupon their perceived values, satisfaction, and likelihood of returning. Findings offer unique opportunities forgambling destination marketers to identify plausible target audiences and develop differentiated consumer re-lationship strategies based upon specific segments.1. IntroductionThe availability of commercial casinos and participation in gam-bling at destinations has experienced an explosive growth in popularityduring the past three decades (Wan, 2012). Although an ongoing debateabout using casinos as a growth strategy for sustainable tourism de-velopment exists (Song, Lee, Norman, & Han, 2012; Wu & Chen, 2015),many casinos are becoming major tourist attractions due to their con-veniently close proximity to hotels, entertainment areas, restaurants,bars, and cruise ships. Recent studies even go as far as to suggest thatthe economic growth of certain gaming destinations depends on theexpansion of casinos and related gambling services (Gu, Li, & Tam,2013; Li, Gu, & Siu, 2010). Accordingly, to compete with the gamblingtourism business from other countries or regions, gambling destinationsmust use differentiation strategies by developing powerfully attractiveimages that stand out from competitors in order to draw the attention ofgamblers (Kneesel, Baloglu, & Millar, 2010).Casino gambling, just like any other successful businesses, needs asustainable competitive advantage to secure new gamblers in order tooutperform its competitors (Jeon & Hyun, 2013). Successful marketingcampaigns should start with defining a specific target audience andthen be able to support the wants and needs of that audience. Gamblingdestination marketers must avoid treating their specific gamblingmarkets as though they represent homogeneous gambling consumers.Instead, customized marketing strategies must be created to attractvisitors interested in gambling activities and then be developed care-fully using accurate knowledge obtained by analyzing those uniquemarket characteristics from each distinct consumer group (Lee, Lee,Bernhard, & Yoon, 2006). Previous qualitative and quantitative gam-bling research has primarily focused on the perspectives of narrowlyisolated market segments comprised of two large, but traditional travelgroups representing leisure and business travelers. Because significantdifferences exist between gamblers and traditional leisure and/orbusiness travelers in terms of their travel decisions, motivation, travelinvolvement, activity, and trip behavior (Lee et al., 2006), a growingneed now exists to better understand the distinct characteristics ofvisitors interested in participating in casino gambling activities basedupon demographics, trip purpose, gambling patterns, preferred games,perceived-risk attitudes, amount of betting, etc (Prentice & Wong,2015).In recent years, intense competition among gambling destinationshas increased awareness of the importance of gaining a more accurateunderstanding about key gambler groups, including how a prospectivegambler's evaluation of the expected costs and benefits varies for dif-ferent gambling-related products (Abarbanel, 2014). For example,value in destination management and marketing, also known as tourist-https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2020.100433Received 27 May 2018; Received in revised form 8 March 2020; Accepted 20 March 2020∗ Corresponding author.E-mail address: kimjongh@mail.sysu.edu.cn (J.-H. Kim).Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 16 (2020) 1004332212-571X/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.T
