Anthony F. Lucas

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Professor, Hospitality

Expertise: Casino marketing, Casino management, Business operations analysis, Slot operations

Biography

Anthony F. Lucas is a professor in UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality, where he has developed award-winning research on the business aspects of the global gaming industry.

Lucas has worked extensively on the development of statistical models to better understand the effects of various casino marketing and operations-related variables on hotel-casino performance measures. He also developed several performance-potential models to explain the variation in individual slot machine performance. He has previously worked in areas of financial and operations analysis for Harvey’s Resort Hotel Casino, Harrah’s, MGM Grand, and the Palace Station Hotel Casino.

Lucas has published numerous articles in professional journals, including Cornell Quarterly and the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research. He has received awards for his research in the area of casino management, including the 2002 Best Article Award from Cornell Quarterly, CHRIE’s Wiley Research Award, and UNLV’s Boyd Research Award. Lucas co-authored Introduction to Casino Management, Principles of Casino Marketing, and Casino Operations Management, which are three of the most widely adopted textbooks in the field.

Education

B.S., Accounting, Ball State University
M.B.A., University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Ph.D., Hotel Administration, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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Anthony F. Lucas In The News

Las Vegas casinos tout rewards cards, but players question their value

Some players say those perks are getting harder to come by, even as casinos appear to be leaning more on amenities beyond the casino floor. Las Vegas casinos saw an 11% drop in gaming wins from January 2025 to January 2026.

Casinos won big in 2025 even as Las Vegas saw first post-COVID tourism decline

Las Vegas Strip and downtown casinos closed out 2025 with a slight uptick in gambling revenue despite a significant drop in visitors and signs of pricing fatigue among customers, according to public data and industry analysts.

Final tally confirms weak 2025 visitation for Vegas

Travel Weekly

Final 2025 numbers are in and confirm what Las Vegas tourism officials could see coming for most of the past year -- a grinding halt to the steady increase in visitation to the destination since the pandemic.

South Point casino stands apart by embracing classic Las Vegas hospitality

While visitors and pundits continue to grapple with affordability concerns in Las Vegas, a few casino operators are separating themselves by resisting the industry’s post-COVID march toward higher prices and fewer player-friendly perks.