When Brian Christopher began uploading content of himself playing slot machines to social media seven years ago, it was just “for fun.” Before long, however, his videos had gone viral, and he accepted an invite from the historic Plaza Downtown Las Vegas to film on its casino floor, host fan events there and more.
Now, Christopher—who has 5 million monthly viewers and more than 1.5 million subscribers across YouTube and other major social media platforms—and others can play at Brian Christopher Slots at the Plaza, a smoke-free and social media-friendly area added to the hotel during its recent Main Street Reimagination project.
“It’s super-exciting,” Christopher said, noting that many fans traveled to Las Vegas for the space’s grand opening. “This place is massive. It feels very different; it feels like our own space now. Before we shared it; now we’ve got our own space. … Our fans are very excited.”
The space, accessible off Main Street, offers Plaza guests and casinogoers a stylish place to play the slots, where, untraditionally, smoking is prohibited and the use of phones is permitted.
One corner of the large room—filled with slot machines, including Christopher’s own namesake, Brian Christopher’s Pop’N Pays More—is decked out in bright, pink lights and chairs for people feeling photogenic. The other features a backlit, nearly life-size photo of Christopher, his catchphrases, like “Rude” and “Lucky,” and more.
The room can be deemed social media-friendly for multiple reasons, Plaza CEO Jonathan Jossel said. First, the hotel and casino can easily control the sound system, so players can film without having to worry about music in the background that might be copyrighted. Second, its atmosphere not only allows, but encourages, players to take photos.
“We played into the Instagram, photo-friendly environment,” Jossel said. “You see that, when you walk into the space [there’s] filming in process, so people know that there’s photos being taken in here. And that definitely makes it stand out … from other casinos in town.”
Content creation in casinos is still relatively taboo, Christopher said, and many places won’t even allow patrons to take pictures of themselves on the casino floor.
As people like him continue to gain a following, however, many casinos are “waking up” to the benefit of social media, Christopher said. He has a wide range of fans, from fellow gamblers to people who don’t have the money for it themselves, Christopher added.
“Plaza’s been very forward-thinking in the social media aspect; they latched on to it very quickly,” Christopher said. “That’s how we got our own space, and that’s why this space is social media-friendly. Anyone can walk in there and film their gameplay if they want to.”
Brian Christopher Slots at the Plaza will also be smoke-free, and Christopher—who’s originally from Canada and now lives in Palm Springs, California—said he’s pushing for smoke-free casinos overall, not just in the interest of patrons, but also the health and safety of casino staff.
“I started getting really big, and I’m like, ‘You know what? I’ve got to do something with my platform,’” he said. “And I believe in breathing regular air.”
Jossel, who emphasized that smoking remains allowed on the Plaza’s main casino floor, said a non-smoking area makes a lot of sense for Christopher and younger generations who might not smoke and want that option.
The partnership between the Plaza and Christopher is a special one, Jossel said, and he believes they’ve both been pioneers in the increasingly normalized relationship between social media and gaming. Streaming gaming content isn’t going anywhere, he added.
“We embraced it,” Jossel said. “A lot of people were shying away from it, and we thought, ‘No, let’s really take a step and give these people a place where they’re comfortable to come and film their play.’"
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