Retention fight under new EU regulations on free bonuses
Trueplay, an iFrame widget with a tokenized loyalty program, shares an article on government regulations on free bonuses.
Opinion.- User engagement is a huge problem for online casinos and yearly operators spend massive budgets to keep casual users in the game while attracting new players. Free bonuses, free bets, and free spin promos have long been used as a classical method for both goals, to attract new players and to encourage casual gamblers to place more wagers. It all looks logical and viable, though these traditional methods do not give huge results in terms of retention rate.
Recently, something else came into play that makes casino owners think twice before implementing another ‘free spin’ strategy. This time, it’s about government regulations.
See also: Blockchain in iGaming: An easy solution for all is now available
More restrictions from EU regulators
On the 22nd of July 2022, Dutch Gambling Regulator KSA issued a warning on the use of promotional games of chance as a marketing tool to attract new players. The KSA (also known as Kansspelautoriteit) warned gambling operators that these kinds of promotions were subject to the stringent advertising regulations outlined in the Netherlands Gambling Act rather than the broader rules for promoting goods and services to consumers.
But it’s not just the Netherlands. A UK Gambling review white paper, which has been postponed several times because of political reasons, also looks into limitations on the use of free bonuses. Same with the Irish government – in their review of the local gambling industry, in the nearest future they will intimate the possibility of banning the use of any free bets or bonuses that constitute free wagers.
Regarding other EU countries and their regulations, it is known that Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, and France have been warning locally licensed gambling sites to take promotions more seriously, especially those that may affect problem gamblers.
The reason for these bans lies in the determination of various governments to limitate users’ addiction to gambling. Regardless of what you think of this decision and its effectiveness, we can only speculate on the outcome that gaming providers will have.
Generally speaking, everything moves towards the fact that EU regulations will make it next to impossible to promote free bets, free spins, and other free stuff as a way to attract new players or retain casual ones. The news itself is not that big a deal yet, although it is understandable that EU regulations are getting stricter each year.
Non-conventional engagement instruments
Getting around the regulations may look difficult in the beginning but it’s actually not. It’s just that instead of giving away free bonuses to players, operators should concentrate more on the in-game tools, for example, loyalty programs. They usually do not give stuff completely for free, and this is exactly what those regulators want to see.
Let’s take a look at Trueplay, an iFrame widget with tokenized loyalty programs. Their loyalty programs do not give anything for free, but at the same time receiving bonuses requires a minimum of effort.
You may have heard of Play To Earn, where users are rewarded for certain in-game activities. With Trueplay, it relates to when a user places bets. Each time a player bets, some amount of crypto tokens arrive in their token account. This is regardless of the game’s outcome, so players receive rewards anyway. And those crypto tokens can be used to exchange for in-game currency to play again or they can be withdrawn to the player’s crypto wallet. Again, rewards are not for free, therefore, they are compliant with the new regulations.
Another loyalty program from Trueplay is Hold To Earn, which is analogous to crypto staking but inside the gaming platform. When players receive tokens from Play To Earn they can put them on a special deposit-like account and have a chance to receive more after a certain period. The chance of receiving more depends on whether the casino’s GGR was positive or negative. In any case, the user receives their money back. Again, in this loyalty program users have to stake their tokens, they do not receive anything completely for free.
Basically, in both of these programs users have to perform an action in order to receive a reward, so it’s more like a ‘do something to earn’ program. Therefore, they both are 100 per cent compliant with any EU regulations that may take place in the nearest future or are already accepted by governments.
Trueplay offers a unique marketing tool to online casinos that is able to improve user engagement, boost retention rate, LTV, Avd Dep Sum, bets made, and other important casino’s KPIs. Moreover, casinos can use this instrument even with tough EU regulations. It is an easy-to-install iFrame widget and casinos may start using it and getting additional profits immediately.
