Wagering requirements / playthrough – the scourge of ‘Joe Average Casino Player’
The team at CasinoLabRat.com assessed 65 online casinos in June. BIG JOB – especially when you see our evaluation criteria & method!!
At times there are very dramatic differences between online casino bonuses from site to site – and often in real terms it comes down to the achieveability of a casino bonus rather than the “up to” amount advertised. In general “up to” values should be considered eye candy until you’ve digested the fine print.
‘Team Labrat’ never encourages players to join a casino just for the bonus anyway, but some casinos have ‘spun out’ & introduced crazy wagering requirements that are confusing, unecessarily complex, sheer bloody minded and in some instances bordering on ‘misleading advertising…’
(and, while we’re on it don’t get me started on crazy-complex casino “loyalty points” schemes – subject for another blog…)
A number of factors up the ante on you achieving a bonus payout . Here’s some major ones:
- the wagering requirement or ‘playthrough’ (eg x15)
- the time alloted for you to achieve the playthrough (eg 45 days)
- the games you can / can’t play during your ‘playthrough’ period (eg ‘Slots only’ bonus)
- any payout ‘at the casino’s discretion’ statement
Have a look HERE for CasinoLabRat’s latest casino bonus comparisons (recommended casinos only not all 65 we assessed).
Some online casinos have been hit so hard by Bonus hunters able to do better math than their own in-house marketing teams that they ban whole countries from bonus eligibility (“no Danish, Chinese need apply” type statements just crack me up!).
Other casinos demonstrate their utter inability to understand their target market by rapidly & randomly cycling bonus values, eligibility criteria and bonus codes hoping we all just sod off (affiliates included). Talk about experimental marketing!
Enough of a rant – there’s got to be better ways to to incentivise players to join and stay loyal.
Business transparency usually works for me. At CasinoLabRat we only recommend casinos we play ourselves – but the main criteria for me is I need to be able to trust them to professionally manage my account. I also like casinos to openly disclose audited payout rates, house edge, etc. and give easy access to game rules (like how many damned decks are in this Blackjack game – and without having to do research on the casino software manufacturers site!).
Another nice-to-have is the ‘personal touch’ – web based businesses that are ‘anonymous’ often are ‘Ma & Pa’ garage-based operations. Name your Directors, Managers & contact people – that’s what they’re paid for isn’t it? (And no, I don’t just mean smarmy marketing blurb featuring the Ed Ware’s (of 32Red) or the Fred Done’s of BetFred… real grass-roots people who I might actually wish to ask questions of.
In summary… online casinos hiding behind unrealisic or miserly bonuses with ‘lawyer required’ fine print are NEVER going to instill a sense of confidence and ‘good times ahead’…
PS: We’re happy to give any casino site specific feedback based on our analysis – just contact us via our ‘contact us’ link on the main CasinoLabRat.com page.
Add comment July 18th, 2006