By Samantha Williams
Casino promotions are by no means incentives which only take place in online casinos. For as long as casinos have existed, they have given something back to the public for spending money and being loyal about it. It’s guaranteed that if casino promotions don’t take place, exoduses of players to other casinos can be expected. The moment a person spends a lot of money in one particular place, they will call the odds, “do you know just how much of my money I spend in this place?”
Because of this casinos have learned to offer promotions as a pre-emptive measure. They offer them so you know right from the start that you are being treated like a VIP, if you spend money like one; so they are a bit of a Venus Flytrap too. In land based casinos these takes all shapes and forms and have only been changed slightly to fit in with the online scenario. I mean you can’t serve a free Jack Daniels on the rocks to an online player, but you can send them a bottle of wine in the post.
Some of the best ever land based casino promotions have been $ Million slots tournaments – these happen online too. The first of these was created in Downtown Reno in 2004 and was called the Stay, Play & Win $1 Million! In this particular promotion 2000 qualifiers played in a two day tournament to see who the winner would be. Winning criteria are based on various eventualities and these could be the biggest wagerer or the biggest winner, it just depends. Obviously casinos never looked back and slots tournaments are a regular feature at many sites as well land casinos today, even bingo sites offer slots tournaments!
Casino promotions include incentives such as bonuses for making deposits, free spins, free play for a certain period of time with winnings capped at a certain amount. All of these apply to both new and existing members. Loyalty points are issued and earned which can be exchanged for free play, free gifts, a VIP membership, whatever the player would like.
Tournaments are not only limited to slots, they can play across the entire gamut of games and some pretty dynamic casino promotions come out of these. There are sites which give away cars, luxury holidays to world-wide gambling Meccas, guaranteed prizes, free games with real winnings, by-ins to expensive and big money pay for play tournaments all over the world. You name it, casino promotions will do it!
Gambling activities have expanded exponentially over the past decade, and not only online. This is a fiercely competitive industry and the greater part of the marketing budget of any casino, goes towards promotions. Casinos are becoming more and more creative, as well as more generous, and the only ones who stand to win with casino promotions is the people who dare to buy into the game, but be warned, it will cost you money to win.
