Disclosure: I have a small white label casino.
I've read the whole thread and casinomeister's article about bonuses and his general dislike of them. Broadly, I agree with the overall view that bonuses are divisive and not really player friendly.
As an operator I get stuck in this cycle where I have to advertise big headline numbers in order to get some attention on affiliate sites. I feel it's very like the insurance industry i.e. low premiums equals getting on the top of lists and obviously for us is the inverse.
As far as wager requirements go, 40 times allows us to breakeven on matched bonuses. Even then, were spending about half our gross revenue on bonuses, so obviously some customers are doing okay with them.
In an ideal world I would really like to not offer any bonuses, but just have cash back. To me the principle of cashback is equivalent to discounts on bulk purchasing. The more you gamble, effectively the less risk you should have by increasing the amount of cash given back to you if you lose. Also cashback is very manageable from an accounting point of view. In other words a bit like affiliate revenue share, you know your liability based on losses generated. It's one of my big projects for January to come up with some kind of system perhaps hooked into points... Along with some kind of straight cashback percentage, a bit like No deposit casino (Who I admire)
Another thing were doing is copying an idea from the payday loans sector: have a bonus crafter where on one end it's all free spins and on the other it's no free spins and all matched deposit bonuses, with at least 20 variants in between. The bonus crafter generates a bonus code, which will hopefully be the right mix of free spins and matched bonus for you. The idea is to give people choice.
But, it doesn't get away from the root issue which is hopeful rise of cashback/the slow death of bonuses. I think a lot of casinos are either afraid to give it a go or don't have the right systems in place to make the whole process smooth. For example if you're a large operator, these kind of changes are risky. Because you get fired for failure and don't get rewarded for achievement and if you're already making money, why do anything different?
On top of the 'Meh' attitude I've seen from big operators, there's also technical debt and the resulting fragile infrastructures that could easily be broken if you try creating a whole new bonus structure within an ageing system. As somebody who has worked within a couple of large operators, the usual process is:
> 'I've got a big idea'
> put the business case together
> come up with some random numbers because you have no hard data
> pitch the idea in
> get buy in from executives, because good ideas are good
> everything grinds to a halt when it hits the technology team, because they are firefighting some issue that loses them cash/potentially get them fired instead of maybe helping the overall business
That's why brands like Casumo and Videoslots Slotsmillions, Leo Vegas are so good, because they have less to lose and have a culture that is built around customer experience and giving it a go. And knowing several of the founders/CEOs of these brands, I know they feel the same as me about the dangers of that corporate 'Meh' attitude.
For smaller operators like me, I'm anchored into the white label software I use. So, if I come up with a big idea it has to be taken on board, developed and robust enough so they can potentially work across a whole network of sites. In turn that creates inertia and so potentially good ideas end up going nowhere.
I really hope bonuses are on their way out, but since bonuses largely appeal to 'noobs' who don't understand the consequences of the terms and conditions they sign up to and since churn rates are always so high for casinos, I think most brands will stick to trying to appeal to 'fresh meat'. A good example would be the way bet365 have blanked casinomeister, because obviously they believe that experienced gamblers like the people here are not a big enough block of customers to seriously engage with. Not good in my opinion, because beginners become experienced over time.
Final thoughts: there's no such thing as a free lunch. If you're a smart gambler, you won't take a bonus, because the odds will be stacked against you. Bring on cashback.
. He getted my loyalty bonus in 3 minutes. from support
