What Makes A Good Casino Newsletter?

[vinylweatherman]

I don't think any casino that stops all bonuses and comps will get very far. They don't have the option to give comps in the form of hospitality as B&M casinos can, so have to resort to the bonus method. Often these bonuses are badly designed, and allow too much "mechanical extraction" simply by setting Autoplay and going to bed. This is not really satisfying the need for entertainment, but is giving away money. The best model is to have a different type of promotion on each promotional day. One could be a deposit match, another could be a cashback on losses. There could be tournaments where prizes are awarded for achieving something (such as the new Slotjunkies program) - and they should be designed to prevent "whales" from being able to win them all. They could design really challenging events involving play that the "autoplay brigade" will not be able to master. Events should require the player to actually think for themselves, not follow a set recipe from bonuswhores.com The casinos on their part should not punish players who make minor slipups by confiscating everything, and should be absolutely certain before labelling a player as a "cheat" and then treating them like mud when they try to defend themselves.
Perhaps the best way to fund bonuses is to fund them from a predefined pot reflecting profit already made, and then work out the likely hit on a worst case scenario (100% takeup and all from bonuswhores.com). The casino will not come to grief from a bad promo, but will simply offer something with less exposure the next time to balance the books. Players will accept that the offers will vary and will not expect a fantastic give-away each week.

As for the other aspects of a casino newsletter, items about game history tend to appear in general gambling publications, so anything of this nature should be casino specific.
There should be a section on technical issues that have been brought to the attention of the helpdesk, and notes on how to resolve them. Use should be made of reference links to detailed resolutions for those affected to prevent the newsletter becoming too long.

To round it off there should be a bit of humour, an article about an exceptional win if one has occurred, and please, publish the results of any competitions, tournaments, draws etc that have been completed since the last newsletter.

Any giveaway bonus should be near the end, so readers do at least have to eyeball the thing, even if they don't read it! The layout should be fairly consistent, and the newsletter should be easily identifiable with the readers own membership of the brand it is promoting to distinguish it from affiliate spam that might look like a promotional mailer.

[maxlevine]

I'm interested in personal views. In a weekly newsletter, I expect an article about an event, product/service or establishment with the author's opinion on the subject. And once a month, or in a monthly newsletter, links to different articles/threads.

Max

[Petunia]

**Hey Vinyl & Max! Vinyl, you summed the whole thing up very nicely here, and I would like to add just one little thing. Promotions are good to have, some casinos does not give anything in the form of 'a bonus' but they do have very good promotions, and you are right! Without them (and not just in this industry, in pretty much ANY industry) there would be a bit of a 'dry spell' for the casinos.

I think the industry is chaning to the point where nobody wants to be bombarded by the same crap all the time. Like Vinyl said
" There could be tournaments where prizes are awarded for achieving something " - THIS is a very good sugestion. It will [eventaully] build a good solid communication foundation and interaction between the players and the casino.
It is easy enough, like Max suggested, to have links to threads and other newsletters. How many of the casinos that you play at, are partnered here with Casino Meister for instance? With permission [of course] why not SHOW us that you ARE paying attention to the gripes, growing pains and even compliments from this forum (and others!) by merely referring to a thread on this board?
There are many things that's being adressed here, from Neteller issues to the last/latest conference, and games releases! Bloody hell, the webmasters of this board does their best to 'keep it clean' - WHY NOT educate your players by LETTING THEM KNOW you are pro-active, and that help is on hand by merely reading this board and others?
Anyways.... Ranting again. Sorry. I like your post Vinyl, it seems like you have put a LOT of thought into it... I DO hope there are reps paying attention... maybe more will also participate or ask THEIR questions to be answered PUBLICALLY. Just a thought. Use it, don't use it. **