Unacceptable marketing from Cherry Casino

[thelawnet]

Just sent to me

HAPPY FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE DAY!
Our American friends have finished celebrating their Independence Day and are now free to continue celebrating Financial Independence with CherryCasino! So how can you use Cherry to help yourself on the road to independence?

Try out our two new slot machines - Safari Madness and Magic Love - each of them offering nine reels and eight lines to bet with! Best of all, these newcomers offer incredible jackpots of $96,000 for Safari Madness and $64,000 for Magic Love! Enjoy casino and poker tournaments - including three weekly freerolls featuring free passes into a Poker Classic qualifier, or perhaps take home an iPod Nano just for playing the casino!

This is not acceptable.

Gambling does not lead to 'financial independence', and irresponsible emails like this are designed to appeal only to problem gamblers.

Bad casino.

 

[jsp377]

Perhaps they mean independence from the government telling you you can't gamble until at least the next time Congress convenes?

 

[winbig]

Perhaps they mean independence from the government telling you you can't gamble until at least the next time Congress convenes?

I seriously doubt that.

They're pretty stupid for saying "financial independence" in the first place with the jackpots they advertise in that email. Who's going to be able to retire on ~$100,000?

Either way, they need to be shot for using that campaign.

 

[jpsartre]

This is not acceptable.

Gambling does not lead to 'financial independence', and irresponsible emails like this are designed to appeal only to problem gamblers.

Bad casino.

Where do they say that gambling leads to financial independence? They say that you can use Cherry Casino to help you on the road to independence. IMO, this is very different from saying outright that gambling leads to financial independence. It's like the difference between saying that the lottery will make you a millionaire (false) and saying that the lottery can make you a millionaire (true).

 

[winbig]

Where do they say that gambling leads to financial independence? They say that you can use Cherry Casino to help you on the road to independence. IMO, this is very different from saying outright that gambling leads to financial independence. It's like the difference between saying that the lottery will make you a millionaire (false) and saying that the lottery can make you a millionaire (true).

It's insinuated that gambling will lead to financial indepenence. 99% of people that look at that will believe the same thing.

 

[jpsartre]

It says that gambling can lead to financial independence. (It's actually even weaker - it says that gambling can help you gain financial independence). Maybe the wording is unfortunate (I don't see the big deal myself) but isn't it unfair to bash a casino for how some readers might misinterpret the wording? I didn't know that 99% will misinterpret the text but apparently you've made a survey? I certainly do not believe anybody need to be shot for this, as you suggest.

 

[winbig]

I didn't know that 99% will misinterpret the text but apparently you've made a survey? I certainly do not believe anybody need to be shot for this, as you suggest.

Ok, fine, nobody needs to be shot. It may not be 99%, but IMHO a good majority, including problem gamblers, will read this and the first thing that comes to mind is "hey, here's a way to get rich quick".

 

[jpsartre]

And those people would be naive if they think that. Nothing in the text warrants this conclusion. I don't see it as any different than any other casino advertising big jackpots.

 

[NoMouthToScream]

Yeah, I really don't find anything wrong with it. I think it may be intrepreted in a bad way though. It's just a really bad slogan used to mix with america's independence day. After I saw this though, I did get some wins back from Cherry. Happy Independence to ME!

 

[silcnlayc]

This is not acceptable.

And who might you be to say this?
Censorship is not acceptable, otherwise none of us here would be able to post our thoughts as freely as we do...

....

It's insinuated that gambling will lead to financial indepenence. 99% of people that look at that will believe the same thing.

If anyone believes this to be true, then maybe, just maybe they do need to BAN all online gambling...geezes,...it's starting to sound as if a few here wants to be the "big brother" also...

You cannot CHANGE a person or his habits no matter how much you try to PROTECT him, unless he desires this for himself....doesn't anyone understand this yet?

When will we demand that one must take responsiblity for what one does instead of blaming others, his childhood, his parents, the schoolteacher that didn't give him an A+ but an A-, etc etc for being who they are and what they choose to do?

 

[tencardcharlie]

And who might you be to say this?
Censorship is not acceptable, otherwise none of us here would be able to post our thoughts as freely as we do...

I don't think anyone proposed censorship.

I do, however, agree that this is not any worse marketing than other casinos advertising their progressive jackpots. They don't claim that you have an edge or anything like that, so I think it's OK.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Ok, perhaps unwise

While this seems OK, perhaps marketing should have had second thoughts given the recent Jackpot Factory incident.
I doub't if this one would have even got a mention had the JPF issue not erupted earlier in the year. Fortune Lounge were also doing a promotion for players to send in "inspiring stories", but at least these were really written by the players!

Casino Marketing departments should make themselves aware of the groundswell of opinion at the time they design a mailer, or campaign. Currently, anything that looks remotely like connecting gambling at "your" casinos with not having to worry about money as a result of your play will not go down at all well here, even if such "silliness" was OK last year. The above was nothing like the articles in the JPF case.

In order to balance such marketing, casinos should also market help for players who are becoming compulsive, such as limiting deposit limits - and not just increasing them just because a player becomes a "high roller" - try to find out if this high rolling is still manageable. (Yes - not easy, as many players who are compulsive will try to evade any restrictions).

 

[CherryRick]

Hello all,

My apologies that some of you found the latest newsletter upsetting, obviously that wasn't our intent. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of our players will understand the "tongue-in-cheek" nature of the term "Financial Independence". We have never promoted problem gambling, and I'm confident that the way our text has been structured will in no way cause someone to spiral out of control in a brand new gambling habit.

As a note, I've been in the industry a long time, and no headline is going to "encourage" a problem gambler. The very existence of jackpots and games that offer significant winnings will be enough to encourage them without a headline or marketing campaign. Cherry will continue to do what it can to ensure problem gamblers are able to find the help they need, up to and including a link on our main page to assist them, and deposit limits to help ensure nobody sinks their life savings into our casino.

Keep well,
Rick.

 

[rreevy]

I do think the use of the phrase 'financial independence' was a little unfortunate. However, this is obviously not in the same league as the Jackpot Factory debacle. Although it didn't help Jackpot Factory that their stories were obviously fictitious - some casinos such as Pharaoh's post genuine winners' stories on their web sites, and I can't really see how anyone could object to that.

In any case, I gather that compulsive gambling is much more likely to occur when people do win initially - if people lose the first time, they're much more likely to just lose interest. Unfortunately compulsive gambling will always be a problem with this industry, just as alcoholism will always be an unfortunate consequence of the liquor industry.