Casinos and other iGaming websites, like live poker sites and slot sites, use incentives as a way of attracting new players and encouraging existing players to deposit more. Traditionally these incentives have included deposit match bonuses and free spins or games.
Modern incentives typically offer these same bonuses, but they have expanded to specifically reward the use of certain platforms or even different currencies and payment methods.
Platform-Specific Bonuses
Traditional online casinos meant the player had to access the site on a browser on their desktop. Modern casinos can be installed as apps on mobile devices, and players can also find sites offering a Discord casino bonus to players who install and play on the messaging app.
Discord casinos are mini apps that are installed within the Discord app. Users effectively send a message to a Discord casino bot and it places the bets, reports the results, and maintains the player’s account. Some other casinos offer their own special bonuses to encourage players to use this and similar platforms, some of which are even tailor-made promotions aimed at retaining existing players.
Bitcoin Bonuses
Cryptocurrency is still relatively new to the payment industry. It is popular with casinos because payments are instant and they attract lower fees than payments made by credit cards and bank transfers.
Because Bitcoin payments keep prices down and offer faster transaction times, casinos have lower overheads when accepting this payment type. As such, some modern casinos provide Bitcoin and cryptocurrency-specific bonuses. Players can receive 200% or more deposit match bonuses if they deposit via a cryptocurrency wallet. As crypto becomes even more popular, these bonuses will become increasingly commonplace.
Free Spins And Free Games
Free spins and free games are already fairly commonplace in the iGaming industry, but as new games and new game types are introduced, casinos rely on these incentives to encourage players to try them out.
Live dealer games are quite a new phenomenon. Crash games are also becoming increasingly popular, and we are seeing more casinos offering free spins and free tries at these games. Not only does this present the player with the opportunity to potentially win prizes for nothing, but it is a good way to determine if they enjoy these styles of games.
Gamified Loyalty Rewards
Gamification is nothing new. It is the application of gaming elements to other areas of business, so it doesn’t just mean the playing of casino games on a casino website. It is used in every industry.
Casinos use gamification in their loyalty programs. Players are encouraged to play more games to unlock special rewards or prizes. They might also be able to unlock rewards like quicker withdrawals or increased betting or deposit limits for depositing minimum amounts in a month. Other elements of gamification can be more cosmetic with players being awarded badges for reaching specific milestones. These incentives encourage existing players to spend more.
Social Incentives
Social incentives not only encourage existing players to spend more, but they also use players as brand ambassadors to attract others to their site. Social incentives might include friend leaderboards, bonuses for referring players from social media networks, or other social media integrations.
Social incentives can be combined with gamification through the inclusion of leaderboards that show who has invited the most friends or met other targets. Social incentives can also include influencer-driven marketing, with followers receiving special, one-off bonuses for signing up via an influencer’s link.
Sustainable Promotions
Sustainability is an important consideration for a lot of consumers. Many shoppers avoid stores that do not have sustainable practices in place, and some investors are turning away from currencies like Bitcoin because of the energy-intensive operations required to mine them.
Some businesses, including casinos, use the modern desire for sustainability to help them promote their services. Casinos might offer incentives such as planting a tree for every $100 deposited. These kinds of promotions are still quite rare in the online casino industry, but we may see more of them as climate awareness increases further.
Charity Campaigns
As well as sustainability programs, businesses also offer charitable donations as bonuses and incentives. These benefit the company because it paints them in a positive light, and donations can typically be offset against taxable revenue. Donations also benefit players who like to donate and look for unique ways to be able to help out charities.
Again, this remains rare in the online casino industry, and it is obviously more common with lotteries, which are usually licensed on the basis that they give a portion of ticket prices to charities. But with some careful research, it is possible to find casinos that do this.
VR Experiences
The iGaming industry is typically at the forefront of new technologies. Mobile casino apps appeared early in the life of mobile apps, and Bitcoin dice games were among some of the first cryptocurrency games found online.
VR and AR have been around for quite a while now, but they are only just building up a head of steam with users, and casinos are offering VR experiences to their clients. VR casino gaming means a more immersive gaming experience and it combines well with live dealers and social gaming.
Personalized Offers
AI has changed the way businesses do business. It can be used to analyze, interpret, and use large volumes of data, and it can do so at a fraction of the cost of using real people to perform the same analyses.
Online casinos can use AI to assist in marketing and advertising, as well as in the creation of online games. It can also be used to create lifelike chatbot experiences, and AI can analyze players’ playing patterns and preferences to come up with tailored offers that will really encourage more playtime. As AI continues to evolve, we can expect to see it used more often and in a wider array of ways.
Conclusion
Online casinos use bonuses and incentives liberally. They attract new players, encourage increased expenditure from existing players, and can even get players to do the casino’s marketing for them.
New incentives tend to concentrate on the platform and the payment method, as well as on new game types, but they still offer something of value to the player as a means of encouraging them to play.
