Hi All,
We're a new casino and haven't been yet put through baptism by fire (waiting to complete our MGS integration - currently running on Chartwell). This is soon to be requested, however I do have a question regarding bonus systems for the community.
We're fortunate enough to have developed our own platform that includes innovative CRM capabilities and in view of incoming MGS I would like to revisit the bonus system we employed.
This isn't going to be the shortest post, but please do read it until the end and comment as I would very much appreciate community's opinion on what is fair and what isn't.
Common Practice
At the moment, majority of systems work by allowing a player x% deposit bonus match and assigning a requirement. This turnover is required to be completed before any winnings can be withdrawn, including winnings from purely deposited funds.
In reality, a player may not need to utilise the bonus funds, yet they will be forced to wager a substantial amount before making their real money withdrawal. I have found this causes many players to opt-out of bonuses at the point of their deposit, not to have their funds locked in.
***************************************
Our Current Practice
We have employed a system which, until it was presented here I thought to be fairer than above. Some have disagreed and I am keen to listen to comments of what is, in your opinion, a reasonable approach (that doesn't leave the casino exposed to heavy abuse, forcing them to change their ways).
We have not tied real funds to bonus funds. Meaning, any bet and its winnings placed from real funds from the very first bet can be withdrawn in full at any point. Bets placed from bonus funds and their wining are locked however, until a full turnover is achieved. This allows the players that are lucky from the start to not have their funds locked in, while players who do end up utilising the bonus will have their winnings locked until turnover. So, if your £10 spin on slot utilised £5 from real funds and £5 from bonus funds, the winning hand will be credited 50% to real funds and can be withdrawn and 50% to bonus funds and will be locked.
The "catch" that had me hung up when presented on this forum: The turnover can only be made using real funds.
I thought this to be quite fair, considering real funds are never locked in. It would in retrospect only make sense that bonus funds remain 'playable only' until enough real fund wager has been achieved. It's also important to note that the turnovers as a result are averaging at x30 bonus only, making the real money volume placed reasonable. Not everyone agrees - fair enough.
If you do comment, I would appreciate it if you could offer advice on what you think about the way it is currently being calculated and if you are in disagreement on its fairness I would like to know why.
The idea is to create a non-abusable, player friendly system that works well for genuine players but is not open to wide abuse and potential swarm of PAB's & bad press in return.
So,
An option going forward
I was looking at MGS' Clearplay system (the old-school one). It's an absolutely brilliant system, baring the fact that it was widely abused by various strategies, employed by entire syndicates of players and caused substantial bonus damage to casinos. ooops
Something had to give and casinos vastly turned to higher turnovers, locked funds, etc.
The MGS's Clearplay system worked 'in analogue' mode, releasing the bonus funds into real funds in £10 increments, as the wagering was being completed. This meant that a player would withdraw any portion of their winnings (turned bonus increments included) while forfeiting the remaining bonus balance. Again, this was vastly abused and very few casino's implement it in its original form today...
I thought that merging the Clearplay, while employing the 'real money only' wager of our current system may be the answer to a relatively non-abusable (other restrictions will need to apply of course) and most importantly, fair bonus approach.
While only real money will count toward (a reasonable) wagering requirement, bonus increments are being unlocked during the wager itself allowing further turnover.(?!)
**********************
It's important to note that both our system and Clearplay worked on the premise that real funds are used first.
Example
Lets take a £100 deposit with a 100% match bonus of £100; with x30 requirement. Slots only for sake of game weight simplicity (100% weight, 95% average RTP). Game play on Clearplay system would imply that for every £300 wagered, a £10 would be unlocked.
Given that a player is playing slots at 95% RTP, he is expected to lose £15 on every £300 wagered, but receive £10 real in return. This would effectively decrease his real money balance by £5 for every £300 wagered.
This effectively allows the to turn the £100 into real money (wager £3000), and while using the bonus money in the process remain with £50 in their balance.
It works out as a continuous 50% cash back on losses, or if you want to look at it differently, it halfs the margin (i'm a bit suspect about stating the latter one).
The questions that spring to mind now are:
1) What happens if you deplete all your real funds and hit a royal flush with bonus funds and bonus balance increases to £4000? having to wager £300 real for every £10 makes it impossible to fully take out your winnings.
- to answer that I would say that casino is not meant to be a place where you can guarantee your winnings. It completely defeats the purpose of it being 'a gamble'. This does however extend the volume of your deposited funds for a longer play-through experience and an opportunity to hit it big using real money.
For example, re-depositing on time (before depleting real balance) would ensure you always gamble real funds, while sustaining a continuous, ongoing cashback on your volume. That way, whenever you hit big, it's not with bonus and it's not locked in.
2) Is using real funds first the answer? Could something be achieved by shifring the balance priorities so that real money / bonus money is used 50/50 with every bet? Hmmm...
It's a given that above is a wobbly concept for now and a lot needs to be explained and questioned - but I'm on a quest (and I'm sure eventually I will find) a fair acqusition and loyalty award program that does not influence/lock in deposited funds and simultaneously works well without exposing the casino to a host of abuse.
What do you think? Was there a time when you thought to yourself I wish the did so and so? The players are the people who really do know best, so I'm keen to hear opinions.
We're young, we just started and its not too late to change things drastically and we have a host of developers on call that can do this.
What is it that you'd like to see?
Thank you CM & Community
We're a new casino and haven't been yet put through baptism by fire (waiting to complete our MGS integration - currently running on Chartwell). This is soon to be requested, however I do have a question regarding bonus systems for the community.
We're fortunate enough to have developed our own platform that includes innovative CRM capabilities and in view of incoming MGS I would like to revisit the bonus system we employed.
This isn't going to be the shortest post, but please do read it until the end and comment as I would very much appreciate community's opinion on what is fair and what isn't.
Common Practice
At the moment, majority of systems work by allowing a player x% deposit bonus match and assigning a requirement. This turnover is required to be completed before any winnings can be withdrawn, including winnings from purely deposited funds.
In reality, a player may not need to utilise the bonus funds, yet they will be forced to wager a substantial amount before making their real money withdrawal. I have found this causes many players to opt-out of bonuses at the point of their deposit, not to have their funds locked in.
***************************************
Our Current Practice
We have employed a system which, until it was presented here I thought to be fairer than above. Some have disagreed and I am keen to listen to comments of what is, in your opinion, a reasonable approach (that doesn't leave the casino exposed to heavy abuse, forcing them to change their ways).
We have not tied real funds to bonus funds. Meaning, any bet and its winnings placed from real funds from the very first bet can be withdrawn in full at any point. Bets placed from bonus funds and their wining are locked however, until a full turnover is achieved. This allows the players that are lucky from the start to not have their funds locked in, while players who do end up utilising the bonus will have their winnings locked until turnover. So, if your £10 spin on slot utilised £5 from real funds and £5 from bonus funds, the winning hand will be credited 50% to real funds and can be withdrawn and 50% to bonus funds and will be locked.
The "catch" that had me hung up when presented on this forum: The turnover can only be made using real funds.
I thought this to be quite fair, considering real funds are never locked in. It would in retrospect only make sense that bonus funds remain 'playable only' until enough real fund wager has been achieved. It's also important to note that the turnovers as a result are averaging at x30 bonus only, making the real money volume placed reasonable. Not everyone agrees - fair enough.
If you do comment, I would appreciate it if you could offer advice on what you think about the way it is currently being calculated and if you are in disagreement on its fairness I would like to know why.
The idea is to create a non-abusable, player friendly system that works well for genuine players but is not open to wide abuse and potential swarm of PAB's & bad press in return.
So,
An option going forward
I was looking at MGS' Clearplay system (the old-school one). It's an absolutely brilliant system, baring the fact that it was widely abused by various strategies, employed by entire syndicates of players and caused substantial bonus damage to casinos. ooops
Something had to give and casinos vastly turned to higher turnovers, locked funds, etc.
The MGS's Clearplay system worked 'in analogue' mode, releasing the bonus funds into real funds in £10 increments, as the wagering was being completed. This meant that a player would withdraw any portion of their winnings (turned bonus increments included) while forfeiting the remaining bonus balance. Again, this was vastly abused and very few casino's implement it in its original form today...
I thought that merging the Clearplay, while employing the 'real money only' wager of our current system may be the answer to a relatively non-abusable (other restrictions will need to apply of course) and most importantly, fair bonus approach.
While only real money will count toward (a reasonable) wagering requirement, bonus increments are being unlocked during the wager itself allowing further turnover.(?!)
**********************
It's important to note that both our system and Clearplay worked on the premise that real funds are used first.
Example
Lets take a £100 deposit with a 100% match bonus of £100; with x30 requirement. Slots only for sake of game weight simplicity (100% weight, 95% average RTP). Game play on Clearplay system would imply that for every £300 wagered, a £10 would be unlocked.
Given that a player is playing slots at 95% RTP, he is expected to lose £15 on every £300 wagered, but receive £10 real in return. This would effectively decrease his real money balance by £5 for every £300 wagered.
This effectively allows the to turn the £100 into real money (wager £3000), and while using the bonus money in the process remain with £50 in their balance.
It works out as a continuous 50% cash back on losses, or if you want to look at it differently, it halfs the margin (i'm a bit suspect about stating the latter one).
The questions that spring to mind now are:
1) What happens if you deplete all your real funds and hit a royal flush with bonus funds and bonus balance increases to £4000? having to wager £300 real for every £10 makes it impossible to fully take out your winnings.
- to answer that I would say that casino is not meant to be a place where you can guarantee your winnings. It completely defeats the purpose of it being 'a gamble'. This does however extend the volume of your deposited funds for a longer play-through experience and an opportunity to hit it big using real money.
For example, re-depositing on time (before depleting real balance) would ensure you always gamble real funds, while sustaining a continuous, ongoing cashback on your volume. That way, whenever you hit big, it's not with bonus and it's not locked in.
2) Is using real funds first the answer? Could something be achieved by shifring the balance priorities so that real money / bonus money is used 50/50 with every bet? Hmmm...
It's a given that above is a wobbly concept for now and a lot needs to be explained and questioned - but I'm on a quest (and I'm sure eventually I will find) a fair acqusition and loyalty award program that does not influence/lock in deposited funds and simultaneously works well without exposing the casino to a host of abuse.
What do you think? Was there a time when you thought to yourself I wish the did so and so? The players are the people who really do know best, so I'm keen to hear opinions.
We're young, we just started and its not too late to change things drastically and we have a host of developers on call that can do this.
What is it that you'd like to see?
Thank you CM & Community