Prism Casino - a pitch worth of a b*tch??

[Slotmachine]

Phyngster, amazingly good and important post. I hope you stick around, you provide an angle not often seen here. A look behind the curtain if you will.

Three reasons, GREED GREED GREED. A casino is a built in profit center, either on land or over the internet. Just open your doors and collect the money. But some casino owners want it all, and do what it take to try and increase profit by doing things that are not the normal rules.

That pretty much sums up what I've been suspecting all along.

The problem is the majority of the depositers I came across did not play correct. They were addicted gamblers and just wanted to play. The were not really looking to win, they just wanted to play, so the bigger the bonus the longer they would play. If you were an intelligent gambler and looking to "WIN", than you got your couple of chances untill I would label you an "advantage" player.

Yes, the problem with playing intelligently is that after those couple of chances you're banned, and soon you'll be banned from all casinos...The casinos claim that they like winners, but in reality they only like the sporadic slots winners, especially progressives, who they can promote on their pages. The flip side of the coin is, those sporadic slot winners represent a lot of regular slot losers and addicts.

Pretty much a win win for the casino. So some casinos go for win than grinding out a constant profit. I saw thousand of players play, and I would say that less than 1% ever left money in their balance over night, they would play every penny till they were at a zero balance or would cash out.

Very interesting (albeit anecdotal) statistic. If true, it suggests that Casinos are in the business of sucking the addicts dry, throwing them away and enticing new victims by way of big signup bonuses and other flashy stuff. Then someone actually wins with the bonus, they become persona non grata. What a win-win for the casino, and lose-lose for the player, indeed.

This is all making me much more sympathetic to the "bonus-abusers". I hate sign-up bonuses, they are the result of greed both ways, and cause most of the problems for the casinos and players. Just look at the forums, >90% of the complaints and bad publicity are the result of such bonuses. Why would I sympathize with the bonus-abusers then? Because I hope they abuse the sign-up bonus system to death and then go away .

I want to play at a casino that gives generous comps to loyal players, and rewards the biggest losers with extra cashbacks, instead of focusing their attention on the sign-up bonuses, and giving the biggest winners extra prizes. To me, a generous comps program is a much more tempting reason to sign up with a casino than a one-off sign-up bonus.

To take this thought a bit further, into utopia-land: The perfect casino would settle for the profits guaranteed by the house edge. For each player that signs up, they would have a tete-a-tete and set up wagering limits based on that person's monthly income, agree on a comps %, monitor that the player is not spending too much time gambling. The player would be happy in knowing that the casino is out to get 5% of his wagers, and for that they would provide him with exciting games and the possibility of big wins, would give him some of his cash back if he is unlucky, would not let him get carried away with his gambling and get into trouble, because the limit had been set beforehand.

*SNAP*
Ok, let's just get the good comps program...

Cheers,
SM

 

[caruso]

Phyngster, amazingly good and important post. I hope you stick around, you provide an angle not often seen here. A look behind the curtain if you will.

Ted used to be around a lot more when he was manager of Virtual, during which time he achieved the unthinkable and made Virtual playable for the first time ever. Since then another manager has come and gone, and whoever's there now doesn't have any public presence, which means that Virtual has gone back to being play-at-your-own-risk, a shame considering the efforts Ted put in.

 

[Slotmachine]

Ted used to be around a lot more when he was manager of Virtual, during which time he achieved the unthinkable and made Virtual playable for the first time ever. Since then another manager has come and gone, and whoever's there now doesn't have any public presence, which means that Virtual has gone back to being play-at-your-own-risk, a shame considering the efforts Ted put in.

Didn't know Phyngster was VirtualTed

Cheers,
SM

 

[chuchu59]

I just hope that Phynster can revert back to be Virtualted. He was the reason I went back to play at Virtual,honestly. Now if only Prism employed him and let him have a free hand as manager. Many problems at that awful casino can be solved. Nevertheless,as with many of you here,I cant concur with the player for this thread.

 

[JennieGurl]

thank you for all the responses...

As a final update, I've come to agree with those who've responded to my posts: I'm lucky to earn a $900 win (which I've yet to receive), and I've decided not to follow up on this issue any further...

In response to the resulting discussion on bonuses and comps, I'd like to add my $0.02...

Online gambling, although convenient, is a poor substitute for the atmosphere, excitement and SECURITY of a brick and mortar casino... I see sign-up bonuses as a logical response... if you have the same chance of winning at either an online casino or a real casino, the online casino has to offer some incentive for playing online...

I agree that a consistent and honest player reward system would be better than sign-up bonuses; for both players and the casino, perhaps... but because there's no pit-boss there watching you play, and from whom you can request the meals, free rooms, etc. that real casino's offer as rewards for good customers, I think most players are more comfortable when the terms of these offer are specified before the $ is deposited; hence the sign-up bonus phenomenon...

as for the statistic of only 1% of players keeping funds in their account over-night, when NETeller makes is SO easy to transfer funds to your account in seconds, why risk leaving funds in your account? NETeller is free, and it is fast, and (to me at least) it feels more secure than a casino account...

also, I assume most gamblers began their gaming careers at B&M casinos, where almost every player gets used to the idea of bringing funds to the casino, and bringing their winnings home at the end of the night... so perhaps it's only habit that leads to the nightly cash-outs?

Another point - casino's will accept your deposits instantly, but most cash-outs take several days... even if I know I'm going to be playing again tomorrow, why wouldn't I cash out my winnings tonight, and get the process started a day earlier?

well... those are my thoughts...

thanks again for the advice everyone!

 

[GrandMaster]

as for the statistic of only 1% of players keeping funds in their account over-night, when NETeller makes is SO easy to transfer funds to your account in seconds, why risk leaving funds in your account? NETeller is free, and it is fast, and (to me at least) it feels more secure than a casino account...

Most casinos don't offer instant withdrawals. Casinos incur significant costs on deposits and withdrawals, (Neteller Instacash is probably the highest with 8.9%). Depositing and withdrawing every day is wasteful, and it won't give you that much protection from a casino turning rogue or going bankrupt either.

 

[phynqster]

Caruso & Chuchu I would love to thank you for the kind words. I loved the job and wish there was away to still be involved, living here in the United States.
Slot, remember one more thing though, most profits are down at B&M casinos. So much so that things like free rooms and shows and such are a rare. I got back from Vegas recently and found out the the free drinks while playing are no longer "called, premium" brands, but are generics. The casinos now make more off of the other things going on than the action at the tables. I was told by a pit boss that more and more of the hotels are putting in closed circuit gambling on the televisions in the room.
It would be interesting to see how many of the internet players actually make a point of playing like you would at a B&M or just play when they want some action. And what the difference is between winners and losers of those people. You would be shocked to see the numbers of players who you see log on at around 12 am their time and watch as the bets get slower and slower until they stop playing but stay logged on for hours and you just know they fell asleep at the computer, than after 2or 3 hours you will see a few bets until there balance is gone. So it doesn't matter what type of bonus you give that player, they plan on gambling till it is all gone. That is one reason for delayed payments from the casinos. If you are an addicted gambler you will reverse the withdrawal untill it is gone, just for the action. I had people that had maxed out there win ( deposited 100 with large bonus and won there 1000 +bonus) so at this point they could not win anymore money, reverse the deposit just so they could play longer???? That is why I always made sure that the players who did max out a win would get paid first.

 

[Slotmachine]

Slot, remember one more thing though, most profits are down at B&M casinos. So much so that things like free rooms and shows and such are a rare. I got back from Vegas recently and found out the the free drinks while playing are no longer "called, premium" brands, but are generics. The casinos now make more off of the other things going on than the action at the tables.

Yes, I know of this trend. I used to live in Vegas, and have been following the town's development on and off during the years. The main reason Vegas is changing their focus I think is the increasing legalization of gambling all over the US., competition is fierce, profits are down as you say. Also online gambling taking some of it. Vegas is focusing on shows, entertainment, conventions, and overall the Hotel/Casino complexes are turning a healthy profit, they're just showing flexibility in their business strategy.

I was told by a pit boss that more and more of the hotels are putting in closed circuit gambling on the televisions in the room.
It would be interesting to see how many of the internet players actually make a point of playing like you would at a B&M or just play when they want some action.

Personally, I prefer online, and I wouldn't be surprised if a substantial % of gamblers felt the same.

I had people that had maxed out there win ( deposited 100 with large bonus and won there 1000 +bonus) so at this point they could not win anymore money, reverse the deposit just so they could play longer???? That is why I always made sure that the players who did max out a win would get paid first.

Good of you to do that. Yeah, crazy...that's scary, having hit the max win limit, still keep playing? Those must be the extreme cases. You'd think they'd at least have the sense to withdraw, then make a new deposit with no win limit....

Not that I would ever play a bonus with a max win limit (apart from a no-deposit bonus )

Cheers,
SM

 

[suzecat]

Good of you to do that. Yeah, crazy...that's scary, having hit the max win limit, still keep playing? Those must be the extreme cases. You'd think they'd at least have the sense to withdraw, then make a new deposit with no win limit....

EVEN IF they had the sense to withdraw, Virtual casino has a 5-7 BUSINESS day withdrawal period (more realistically 9-11 business days). ALL withdrawal requests remain in a pending mode during that time and no new deposits can be made. The only thing that can be done, if you make a withdrawal, is: (1) wait; or (2) reverse. And you will probably receive an email with a vanity card number and deposit amount attached. Of course, if you use this before your withdrawal is approved, your withdrawal will be denied on that basis. Tricky? I think it stinks and many many people fall for it (ONCE).

 

[scrollock]

That is one reason for delayed payments from the casinos. If you are an addicted gambler you will reverse the withdrawal untill it is gone, just for the action. I had people that had maxed out there win ( deposited 100 with large bonus and won there 1000 +bonus) so at this point they could not win anymore money, reverse the deposit just so they could play longer???? That is why I always made sure that the players who did max out a win would get paid first.

despite my critism of you and your former employers in the past, i think this game needs more people like you.