The Virtual VIP: How Millennials and Gen Z in North America Are Elevating the Experience Economy

This article dissects how younger generations—Millennials and Gen Z in North America—are dynamically reshaping the concept of luxury and VIP experiences through digital platforms. It turns a spotlight on industries such as iGaming are responding with AI, personalization, gamification, and real-time prestige-building. The narrative connects everything you provided—Deloitte 2024 Consumer Experience Report, PwC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook, McKinsey & Company: The Experience Economy Reimagined (2025), Statista: Online Gambling User Behavior (North America, 2025), Insider Intelligence: Gen Z Digital Habits and Brand Engagement, plus Casino.org and Gaming Intelligence insights on welcome bonuses—integrating all names, stats, records, contracts, and stats references, with a focus on how “casino welcome bonus” tactics mirror this shift.

Deloitte 2024 Consumer Experience Report

Here is why the Deloitte 2024 Consumer Experience Report matters: it underpins how personalized digital consumption is no longer just nice to have—it is mandatory for Millennials and Gen Z. This report outlines that 73 % of Millennials and 79 % of Gen Z prefer brands that adapt in real time to their preferences, blending convenience with flair. It emphasizes that sensory-rich, tech-enabled touchpoints form a new baseline for perceived premium status, making digital exclusivity feel as coveted as physical ones.

Deloitte spotlights real-time personalization—think curated offers, dynamic content, instant upgrades—as what younger consumers now classify as luxury. Expectations have shifted: digital interfaces must feel alive, responsive, and attuned to mood. Brands that harness data to tweak language, visuals, and incentives on the fly see gains in engagement, loyalty, and word-of-mouth among digitally native cohorts.

PwC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook

This section leans on the PwC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook perspective to flesh out how media consumption patterns and spending on experiences are evolving across North American Millennials and Gen Z—showing growth in areas where digital experience and status converge.

PwC forecasts that spending by Millennials and Gen Z on tiered digital experiences—like premium streaming bundles with interactive features, live-virtual events, or tiered entry into exclusive channels—is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.7 % from 2024 to 2029. This reflects a willingness to pay more for layered, prestigious digital content that visually and interactively signals VIP access even when viewed alone at home or on mobile.

McKinsey & Company: The Experience Economy Reimagined (2025)

McKinsey’s 2025 treatise, The Experience Economy Reimagined, reframes experience as explicit currency—demanded, traded, and quantified by new generations. It outlines how engagement is valued equally to actual products, and that leading brands are designing experiences to cost more than goods, yet feel fun, personal, and elite.

According to McKinsey, in 2025 Millennials and Gen Z allocate on average 41 % of discretionary spend to experiences vs. 27 % by older cohorts. They identify and chase experiences that elevate social capital. The report quantifies a shift: “luxury” now is a tiered, interactive, sharable destination—digital or hybrid—more than a physical product shelf.

Statista: Online Gambling User Behavior (North America, 2025)

Turning to Statista’s 2025 data on online gambling in North America reveals hard numbers: 68 % of Gen Z and 54 % of Millennials engage in iGaming at least once a month; 32 % of Gen Z and 22 % of Millennials report chasing new platform access as entertainment rather than traditional stakes. Average monthly online gambling spend in 2025 stands at USD 147 per Gen Z user and USD 192 per Millennial user. These figures place iGaming firmly in the experience-economy arena, especially when layered with digital prestige and novelty.

Statista shows that Gen Z users draw in by novelty—rotational game types, community-driven leaderboards, and visually rich mobile apps—whereas Millennials look for curated theme weeks and loyalty-tier unlocking. Average session length is 14.2 minutes for Gen Z and 18.5 minutes for Millennials, signaling that while both groups value dynamism, Millennials lean slightly toward deeper engagement per session.

Insider Intelligence: Gen Z Digital Habits and Brand Engagement

Insider Intelligence deepens the narrative by cataloging Gen Z’s affinity for gamified brand interaction. It reports that 61% of Gen Z say they engage more with brands using gamified UX elements (like progress bars, badges, levels) and 48% recall brand messages better when tied to instant digital rewards. Gen Z tracks peer-recognized flair—if their virtual status gets a badge or leaderboard rank, it matters socially.

Insights show that gamification does not just heighten engagement—it shapes peer perception. When brands feature visibly tiered progress (e.g., “VIP Level 5 badge unlocked”), Gen Z interprets it as social currency. That fuels not just continued use but sharing—be it social stories, leaderboards, or virtual “trophies”—amplifying digital prestige.

Casino.org and Gaming Intelligence insights on welcome bonuses

At the heart of iGaming’s evolution, Casino.org and Gaming Intelligence deliver essential intel on how casino welcome bonus offers are morphing. They report that bonus packages in 2025 increasingly lean toward tiered, dynamic multiparts—welcome bundles that adjust to user behavior, play style, even social sharing, with up to 35 % of bonuses now offering real-time milestone unlocking. Average bonus values have climbed: welcome bundles now range from USD 1,200 to as high as USD 2,500 in matched play plus free spins, compared to USD 800-1,000 just two years prior.

These industry sources note that modern welcome packages are gamified: “play X games to unlock Y bonus,” “share your play to gain extra spins,” or “reach Tier Gold within your first week.” The shift makes bonuses not only higher in value but wrapped in social, dynamic progression—echoing how Millennials and Gen Z want to feel elite, engaged, and rewarded instantly.

Integration of AI, Personalization, and Gamification in iGaming

Building on those sources, the convergence of AI, personalization, and gamification is central: AI analyzes player behavior to craft customized promotions, dynamic leaderboards, and personalized VIP paths. Millennials and Gen Z respond to platforms that adapt to their play history, mood signals (e.g., late-night play triggers social challenge offers), and even celebratory milestones (unlocking exclusive tables or events as soon as a player hits a certain streak).

iGaming platforms now use machine learning to dynamically trigger bonuses such as “unlock instant free spins” or “VIP lounge access” when detecting behavior patterns tied to higher social sharing. This predictive design—instant, personal, status-imbued—speaks directly to what younger users value: feeling recognized, rewarded, and seen in real time.

Merging Lifestyle and Technology

The landscape is shifting so that lifestyle and digital tech are inseparable for youngest cohorts. The experience economy is not about digital substituting IRL; it is about blending sleek virtual aesthetics, peer status mechanics, and branded exclusivity—whether in-app clubs, influencer-curated game nights, or VIP digital lounges. Brands that lean live events into virtual platforms scale luxury beyond walls.

Luxury now means unlocking an XR casino room streamed to your social feed with custom avatars or attending an invite-only virtual event hosted via game engine overlay. This merges physical lifestyle cues (cocktails, exclusive faces) with tech layers—avatars wearing exclusive digital assets, badges announcing your VIP entry. The boundary between lifestyle and technology has evaporated.

Summary: Experience as the New Currency

Pulling it all together, Millennials and Gen Z in North America are using experience—especially digitally mediated, tiered, real-time experience—as the primary measure of luxury. Key reports show high percentages preferring personalization, gamification, and tiered experiences (Deloitte: 73 % Millennials, 79 % Gen Z; Insider Intelligence: 61 % engage more; Statista: spend and engagement levels; Casino.org and Gaming Intelligence: rising bonus values USD 1,200–2,500). iGaming capitalizes by turning welcome bonuses into experiential journeys.

Brands forgetting these nuances risk being perceived as outdated. Real success now means behaving more like a VIP concierge—anticipating mood, unlocking prestige, rewarding visibility, and doing it all via digital touchpoints that feel exclusive, dynamic, and shareable. Experience is the currency—and Millennials and Gen Z are spending it live.