Comps
I have become VIP at a few places, and there seem to be 2 main types of VIP program, and Club Rouge, which is a little different.
The first type, and easiest to achieve, are at the likes of Fortune Lounge and Roxy Palace. VIP upgrading (and downgrading), is based mainy on wagering during the preceding month. To wager, obviously one must deposit. The benefits are outlined, but some detail is left for you to find out. The Roxy one is the best I have found so far. I reached GOLD, but an error stopped me getting the newsletter. I suspect that this error might have happened to Simmo, who sees the 30% as a surprise. It is contained in the Newsletter as the Fri-Sun match paid Monday, and the Tues-Wed match paid Thursday. GOLD also is 30%, and up to a possible max of 700 per week. The WR is lower than most, and the game limitations are small (and pretty obvious). The "evil" danes have to wager through twice the amount for rest of us.
If Platinum is also 30%, I wonder what the upgrade from Gold consists of, I had hoped for having my cash-ins flushed, but CS say not so.
GOLD at Fortune lounge is "Crap" in comparison, all it seems to offer is extra lucky draw entries, fat chance of being one of the "100 lucky players" to win a free 50 or 100. I have seen the odd 30% bonus when I DON'T play!
Casino Action and Jackpot Factory have another type, the invitation based on gaming activity and length of membership. Normally, a big player will take 2 to 3 months at most to make it to VIP, a smaller player will take longer.
In particular, I have deduced that the Casino Action VIP scheme is not as "invitational" as they make out. This was confirmed when I deposited over 2000 in one weekend and rocketed straight through GOLD, and then Platinum by the morning. The formula I worked out is a relation between length of membership (2 months+), and gross deposits (1000=Silver, around 4000 to 6000 is Gold, and getting on for 10000 is Platinum).
The benefits at Casino Action are higher deposit bonus offers, great big Easter Egg from Vinoka
, and 4x the cashback on comp points than new players. Changes are underway though, so this might change. Occasionally free chips will be added to a players account. Not every player gets the same offer, but having all 5 casinos helps if all have made Platinum. Platinum players can also use instant Neteller payment for up to /$ 2500 each day (24 hour gaps between uses), rather than the 500 once/twice a week.
Jackpot Factory also seems to require at least 2 months membership, but with only 2 accounts, I can not see how much was needed in deposits, but clearly mine was "enough". The benefits here are more substantial. the VIP lounge has a monthly set of promotions and tournaments for VIP players, which they can have as well as all the normal promotions. There is a regular 300 bonus and 300 cashback event each week ($300 for dollars). There are extra tournament events, and lucky draws. Each month, the biggest single payout from a VIP wins a prize worth around $1000, it has been a laptop PC mostly.
VIP's benefit from access to more senior CS, faster response to E-mails, and occasional "physical" comps delivered to your home as in a land casinos. I have received a camcorder, bath set, gift vouchers to name some.
The Palace Group VIP level simply "happens", there is no formal induction, but the weekly offers will suddenly seem bigger, such as 1000 cashback on slots losses instead of 200, or a 25% bonus on your next 6000 deposit(s) (only seen this once!) over the weekend. There is also a special VIP E-mail address, and occasionally a special personal offer will be extended above the normal promotions. I have had two, dinner invitation and a special boost bonus to change my luck, which ran as a bonus with a mere 8xWR the first time, and a 10% cashback for the rest of March. My luck did change, and I never claimed a cashback, I only lost during the weekend, and this play did not qualify, but the events offered a superior deal anyway so I didn't mind.
Club Rouge, unlike the rest, is not about bonuses all the time, but more like being part of the "inner circle" of friends. granted, there are better bonuses, 132 instead of 50 each month, and "Red Ruby" comps (loyalty points for wagering). Occasionally, a special Club Rouge only tournament is run, often alongside one for non Club Rouge players, the difference is that prizes are higher, but so is the amount of play needed to win. The prizes are even better than the record 2000 and 2500 offered by the Jackpot Factory in recent wagering tournaments, but the winners have VERY deep pockets, one 6000 top prize was won with 3 MILLION casino chips worth of wagering during a month. The biggest playthrough I have managed was around 200,000 over a weekend, calculated from comp points obtained. This took a long run of the games playing well enough to not need the deposits to match!
I still only came second in the VIP wagering event though at All Jackpots!
Getting into Club Rouge is really by invitation, there is no fixed criteria, such as deep pockets, losing loads. I believe my own invitation was more to do with my efforts with the MG software bugs last year than what I did at the casino, and the dinner invitation in January was a special thanks, normally the invitations go to the bigger webmasters, such as Bryan, who make an ongoing contribution to the industry.
Begging, pleading, depositing your house, etc will NOT get you into Club Rouge, and if you did get in after all this, you may end up disappointed if you expected lavish bonuses.
good point
"lucky draw"
