Case Study

From Worst to First: What Six Months of Reddit Did for a Southern California Casino Resort’s AI Recommendations

Local conversations on Reddit built reach with Southern California audiences and moved the resort ahead of its closest rival in AI recommendations.

Industry:
Hospitality & Gaming
Duration:
6 months
Channels:
Reddit, AI answers

  • 637k

    Reddit impressions

  • 77.4%

    AI visibility in October

    64.3% in May

  • 40.0%

    AI share of voice

    #1 of the tracked casinos

  • 937

    AI citations to campaign content

The Results

What Changed

Over six monthly cycles, RedPulse built the client a library of Reddit conversations that now earns attention on two fronts: engagement from Southern California audiences, and recommendations from AI engines when people ask where to go.

  • Overtook the closest rival in AI visibility. On unbranded, recommendation-style prompts, the resort’s visibility rose from 64.3% in May to 77.4% in October. It trailed Competitor A early on, passed it in July, and now leads by about seven points.

  • Number one in AI share of voice. Across the campaign, the resort holds 40.0% share of voice on unbranded prompts, ahead of Competitor A (29.5%), Competitor B (23.3%) and Competitor C (6.8%).

  • Named first more often. Average position improved from 3.3 at the start of tracking to 2.3 in October, and in October to date the resort was ranked first in 51.5% of answers, against 16.7% for Competitor A.

  • Strong reach. About 637,000 impressions, 506 upvotes, 1,184 comments and 494 shares across live posts, with Month 5 the strongest cycle yet at 223k impressions.

  • Reddit is a top-three source behind the resort’s AI answers. Campaign posts and seeded comment threads alone have earned at least 937 AI citations.

The Approach

How We Ran It

People deciding where to go for a night out, a staycation or a high-limit session ask Reddit and AI engines the same questions. We built a program to join those conversations through genuine community content rather than brand messaging.

  1. 1

    Scenario-driven topics

    Posts built around real situations such as a girls’ weekend, an anniversary dinner, an adults-only staycation or a first casino visit, each tied to a target AI or search query.

  2. 2

    The right communities

    Broad local audiences (r/SoCal, r/OrangeCounty, r/AskLosAngeles, r/InlandEmpire) for reach, and niche communities (r/casino, r/gambling, r/baccarat) for high-intent comparisons.

  3. 3

    Consistent cadence and seeded comments

    Eight posts a month across six cycles (43 live so far, with five more scheduled), supported by 104 live seeded comments and a bank of 45 approved topics.

Results were tracked from the campaign tracker (Reddit engagement) and Peec AI (AI visibility and citations).

The Outcomes

The Numbers, Channel by Channel

Outcome 1

Reddit Reach Across Southern California

Live posts generated roughly 637,000 impressions. Month 5 reached 223k impressions, about 75% more than Month 1, and the biggest threads came from local lifestyle communities where “where should I go?” questions thrive.

Post (paraphrased)SubredditImpressionsUpvotesComments
Adults-only resort for a staycation near Costa Mesa?r/OrangeCounty77.0k3770
Best sports bars in OC? Tired of the same spotsr/OrangeCounty66.7k6457
Which concert venue is your favorite for live shows?r/SoCal41.6k17114
A few days off in San Diego: where for a short staycation?r/SoCal41.0k2887
Best spots in the IE for a girls’ weekend?r/InlandEmpire33.9k3143
Selected top live posts by impressions, campaign tracker.

Several of these threads draw heavy discussion (114 comments on the concert-venue post), which is the kind of engagement that signals relevance to both readers and AI engines.

Outcome 2

Overtaking the Closest Rival in AI Recommendations

On unbranded prompts such as “best casinos near Los Angeles,” the resort leads every tracked casino in both visibility and share of voice.

The client resortClient

Visibility
71.2%
Share of voice
40.0%

Competitor A

Visibility
69.4%
Share of voice
29.5%

Competitor B

Visibility
65.2%
Share of voice
23.3%

Competitor C

Visibility
22.0%
Share of voice
6.8%
Unbranded prompts, Apr 24 – Oct 28, 2026. Peec AI.

The trend tells the story: the resort started behind Competitor A on visibility, passed it in July, and has widened the gap since. Competitor B, meanwhile, slipped over the same period.

  • The client resort77.4%
  • Competitor A70.5%
  • Competitor B61.8%
60%65%70%75%80%MayJunJulAugSepOct*

*October through the 28th

Share of unbranded AI answers that mention each casino, by month, May – Oct 2026. Peec AI.

Outcome 3

Strong Visibility on the Questions That Matter

The resort appears in roughly 80–90% of AI answers for the biggest local and high-limit queries, and is strongest on the engines with the most tracked volume.

Unbranded promptResort visibility
  • Best casinos near Orange County91.8%
  • Which Southern California casino has the highest slot machine limits?91.2%
  • What are the best casinos in Southern California?88.7%
  • Best casinos near Los Angeles80.8%
  • Where can I find high limit table games in California?78.0%
Selected unbranded prompts, campaign to date. Peec AI.
AI engineResort visibility (unbranded)
  • ChatGPT80.6%
  • Gemini75.4%
  • Perplexity53.8%
Unbranded prompts, campaign to date. Peec AI.

Outcome 4

Reddit Content AI Engines Actually Cite

Campaign posts and seeded comment threads have earned at least 937 AI citations. Across all sources behind answers that mention the resort, reddit.com is the third-largest, with 1,930 citations. Only the resort’s own website and TripAdvisor rank higher, and Reddit sits ahead of Expedia, Casinos.com, Hotels.com, YouTube, Yelp and Wikipedia.

Campaign post (paraphrased)SubredditCitationsRetrievals
What’s the best casino in Southern California?r/casino16081
Which is better for slots: the resort or Competitor A?r/gambling152118
How is the resort since the renovations? Worth a weekend trip?r/SoCal11661
Looking for high-limit table games in Southern Californiar/baccarat10683
Is the resort a good casino? First time visitingr/gambling5636
Top campaign posts by AI citation count. Peec AI, campaign to date.

Head-to-head comparison threads, including the resort-versus-competitor thread in the table above, are among the most-cited content, which shows AI engines treating the campaign’s Reddit conversations as a credible source for “which should I pick?” questions.

Want Results Like These?

Tell us about your brand and competitors. We'll show you where Reddit could move the needle.

Let's TalkExplore Reddit Marketing

Spotlight

Orange County

  • 204k

    Impressions across four r/OrangeCounty posts

  • 91.8%

    Visibility on “Best casinos near Orange County”

  • 77.0k

    Impressions on the top r/OrangeCounty thread

Orange County shows how reach and AI visibility reinforce each other. Four posts in r/OrangeCounty delivered about 204,000 impressions, and the resort appears in 91.8% of AI answers to “Best casinos near Orange County,” its strongest unbranded prompt.

Takeaways

Why It Worked

  • Real situations, not sales pitches.

    Scenario-driven topics match how people actually ask for recommendations, on Reddit and in AI engines.

  • Two kinds of community, two kinds of win.

    Broad local subreddits delivered reach; niche casino communities produced the comparison threads AI engines cite most.

  • Comparisons get cited.

    Honest “this or that” threads helped the resort pull ahead of its closest rival.

  • Consistency compounds.

    Six months of steady publishing, with more posts scheduled, is lifting visibility month over month.

Sources: Client campaign tracker (live posts); Peec AI (unbranded prompts, Apr 24 – Oct 28, 2026).

Keep Reading

More Case Studies

See All Case Studies

Let's Build Your Reddit Library.

Tell us about your brand, competitors, and goals. We'll reply within 24 hours with how a program like this could work for you.

contact@redpulse.io
Miami, FL

By submitting, you agree to our privacy policy.