An online casino won’t survive without a big customer base. It needs to attract and retain customers, because the more people that play, the higher the profit margins for the operator are going to be.
The main marketing tool available to operators is bonus offers. Take any platform from the top 50 online casinos list, and you’ll notice that nearly every one of them has a welcome bonus. These initial incentives are crafted to lure in new customers and are among the most popular offers because they generally provide a greater value compared to those for existing users.
That’s a perfect example that bonuses are not created equal, and behind the scenes there are costs involved for the casino running them. But are some more expensive to run than others?
No Deposit Bonus
No deposit bonuses for new customers don’t require the player to make a payment. Just for registering an account, the operator will credit a certain amount of free play tokens. That’s usually a small amount, but even at a €10 bonus, that assumes plenty of risk for a casino’s budget.
This type of offer has the potential of a high player uptake, because it gives players something for free. Part of the risk from the casino operator is that players could take advantage of the deal, by using the free bonus without ever having the intention of depositing their own money and playing afterwards.
Casinos bank on players sticking around and gambling after any initial bonus, where they can rake back the value given up and more. No deposit bonuses are not as easy to find at online casinos as their bigger, more popular brother, the matched deposit bonus.
Matched Deposit Bonuses
A matched deposit is where the casino credits a bonus once a new player has made their initial deposit on an account. This varies from platform to platform and can be anything from a 50% bonus up to something like a 200% matched bonus or beyond.
These are very different to no deposit bonuses, because to get anything out of them, the player has to first play with their own money. If a player receives €100 worth of free play, then they will have to gamble it X-amount of times before the bonus value will be released. This format eliminates a lot of risk for casino platforms.
The high volume of real money gambling that needs to be done (which can be anything from 25x to 40x and upwards), ensures that the casino has an edge because the risk is all with the bettor.
A €100 bonus for example at 30x requires the player to have an outlay of €3,000 just to get that €100 bonus in the long term. Because of the house edge on all casino games, the operator will bank from that €30,000 worth of play and more than cover the €100 bonus value.
Loyalty and VIP Programs
Ongoing rewards that consistent players can get credited with, can be highly effective tools for casinos in their bid to retain players, especially those who are high-value gamblers. But to run these programs, casinos have to absorb some expense.
VIP rewards include different tiers offering better and better rewards like cashback, quicker withdrawals and exclusive entries to events. Tailored incentives such as account managers are only going to be applied to super high-rollers who are putting a lot of money into the casino. That allows for things like labour costs and the value of other high-end incentives to be accounted for.
This is why things are tiered in loyalty programs, because giving a few free spins for someone wagering €50 in a month, is little cost-risk for the casino. But someone’s gambling input at that level would never cover the cost of a personal account manager. Casinos balance this input/output with tiers, but because loyalty rewards are only earned from deposits and gambling, they have already covered the costs.
Free Spins
Free spins are common at online casinos and carry some expense for operators. Free spins usually come with something like a 0.10 value, and winnings from them are capped quite low.
Winning at slots is notoriously difficult, so this is a low-cost bonus for casinos to run. Players can win from free spins, but much of that will be absorbed because players are likely going to gamble on beyond a handful of free spins.
Casinos in Control
The casino is in control and aren’t just going to let expenses flood out of their business through bonus offers. The terms and conditions of these promotional bonuses put the ball in the casino’s court by utilising things like maximum win amount and wagering requirements.