Historically, casinos have always been more than just gambling establishments. They have always represented a certain type of escape that operates outside of many social norms, structures, and confines. Before they became a global industry of immense scale, casinos were places where gambling and atmosphere were symbiotic.
This has historically applied to physical establishments that varied from mere underground gambling dens to colossal resorts in some of the brightest cities around the world. From La Serenissima’s first historically-attested casino to Las Vegas and the Cotai Peninsula, there has always been a sense of wonder about casinos.
However, their appeal has always been more than just the opportunity to play games of luck. They started leveraging atmosphere, a sense of privilege, and luxury. There aren’t many things that can make one feel as important as receiving gifts of appreciation.
As its title suggests, we will track the historical evolution of rewards and privileges provided by casinos to their patrons. How did we get from unlimited beverages at a gambling table to the desired offered no deposit bonus casino gift? We’ll do our best to answer such questions and provide key context along the way.
A Reason to Come, A Reason to Stay
Given that gambling has had a historically complex reputation within societal constructs, its appeal to people has always been an interesting subject. We tend to forget that concepts like instant gratification are extremely recent when compared to how long people have likely been gambling.
Some may have been doing it for its financial implications, others for the merit of taking risks. If one is on the fence about gambling, the packaging around it could play a key role. We’re talking about the establishment that surrounds gambling activities and its atmosphere.
This is why casinos, dating back to their beginning in Venice’s high society, were exclusive, noble-coded places. As a casino’s history went on, core tenets have transferred and become systematic.
Privileged Treatment of Valuable Guests
Privileged treatment in gambling is all about receiving something for the simple act of choosing to gamble within an establishment. You wouldn’t have to pay for beverages, food, or even accommodation. Your mere presence and financial willingness would win you these privileges.
Naturally, the more a patron would splurge while gambling, the higher the privileges would be. Someone who has a history of bringing large sums of money to both the physical and proverbial table should feel like their recurring presence is appreciated, incentivized, and desired.
We can easily track the servant-to-noble deference to the era of European feudalism and the gravitas that blue-blooded individuals would have at a certain establishment. Naturally, lauding and indulging a patron at a gambling establishment goes back to doing so for nobility.
The Vegas Effect
Every historical account and piece of fiction that has portrayed the Mafia (and similar organized crime) showcases them as being surprisingly similar to nobles. They had
- varying degrees of power within pyramidal organizations,
- were open to blood-letting,
- had immense influence,
- felt like the shepherds of their communities,
- and felt there was a clear distinction between them and the rest of the world.
It’s no wonder that mafiosi were the first to genuinely control the gambling heart of Las Vegas and be the most privileged there. Some were consumers of Vegas’ spoils, but most of them organized it.
Their legitimacy was also contingent on their ties to the political and judicial sphere. This is how high-level guests got to enjoy the rewards of completely privileged treatment at gambling establishments in Las Vegas. You need to wine and dine someone important if you are to enter their graces.
Corporate Ownership, Incorporated Capabilities
As we’ve said before, the beginnings of industrialized gambling services have risen to the current day’s field. Nevada’s Gaming Commission’s statutes and regulations basically rose from the 1969 Corporate Gaming Act, which is the direct predecessor of Regulation 15 in the State’s gambling legislation.
The direct link was allowing entities like Howard Hughes and, later, real estate developers to receive licenses as corporate shareholders, not as individual shareholders. As a result, mafia ownership started getting boxed out.
The effect was that corporate ownership groups started developing the first wave of megaresorts. What’s striking about them is the fact that they succeeded in creating massive establishments whose core element was gambling but with capabilities way beyond gambling.
This is how casinos started implementing privileges. Their actions transcended corporate lobbying for licenses and leasing rights. Now, the customer was the target of loyalization efforts. Naturally, they had the capabilities to create and implement very stratified strategies for rewarding patrons.
- Guests with extended stays and high-spending sprees would get the best suites at any point.
- High-rollers at a gambling table would get as many drinks as they like at no cost.
- Long stays would get patron-free tickets to the resident singer’s concert.
These are just a few examples that explain how spending is appreciated and encouraged by casinos by way of gifts. Resorts still do this, and they have become more efficient than ever at it.
Entering Online Casinos and Their Specific Ideas
Online casino platforms have been around since the 1990s. As gambling started merging with software development and the implementation of an expanding network that has turned into today’s internet, it needed to adapt.
Drinks, accommodation, and physical privileges were obviously out of the question. However, internet gambling has always had the advantage of mass implementation capabilities, not to mention wide availability. Online casinos discovered that they can reward as many players as they can house in their digital confines.
Implementing Bonus Codes and the Coupon Principle
Bonus codes, which have turned into casino bonuses in general, are widely available gifts with varying conditions of access.
Historically, casino bonus codes have been associated with the coupon principle. In the case of online gambling, the coupon is a sequence of numbers and letters that a player can redeem to receive a reward. As technology evolved, bonus codes per se started to phase out, with direct linking and digital contracts serving as the new method of implementation.
While the idea of bonuses has started to get a bit old, they have been on the front lines of digital gambling. Allow us to explain how they work within the context of an online casino – it’s the best explanation for how they survived for so long.
Welcome & Reload Bonuses
Welcome and reload bonuses are what the industry calls ‘deposit bonuses.’ It means that you receive a bonus contingent on depositing (investing) a sum of money that you are going to use to gamble. As such, they are perfect examples of the ‘bang for buck’ idea.
- Welcome bonuses are the digital implementation of a warm smile when you enter an establishment. The host invites you to sit at a table after you buy your chips. Once you buy your casino chips and start betting, you receive more chips to play.
- If you win with them, the host will invite you to play some more until they allow you to bag the money you made with their gifted chips. As such, profiting from them is not immediate, but you still receive a gift that you can use.
- Reload bonuses are the ‘welcome back and thank you for returning’ type of incentive. The casino appreciates you for choosing to pour money into their hold again, so they give you a gift that is very similar to the welcome gift that you received at first.
Online Casino Freebies
As bonuses, online casino freebies are the result of very careful calculations. Simply put, an online casino takes its chances with how much money it can make in the future if it gives you a gift with no strings attached.
In most cases, both free money packages and free spins are bonuses reserved for new players. The idea is to market these freebies as an incentive to register, get a taste of playing at that casino, and return for more by depositing.
They bank on making a positive impression, increasing their player base, and turning this grand opening into a steady amount of revenue in the long run.
As a result, we can say that it’s an evolution of the corporate strategy that has defined what it means to have a bottom line and take an extremely carefully calculated risk.
The Rise of Reward Systems
Reward systems are an evolution of the evolution, showing that gambling and its gifting policy are always on the move. Like every other business, an online casino looks for efficiency, captivating the customer, and establishing a distinctive brand identity.
A reward system is all about carefully stratifying incentivization. We’re saying it’s a new evolution because a standard reward system implements both gifts and privileges.
This time, each new level of membership can lead to gifts in the form of bonuses, privileges like faster and heftier transactions, and even game-testing opportunities for to-be-released slots.
In the most outstanding cases, online casinos claim to provide the opportunity to receive physical gifts; this is one of the least substantiated claims among the operators with such ambitions.
Gamification and Personalization – Tomorrow’s Newcomers
We’ve reached the final level of this historical exploration. Both gamification and personalization are extremely contemporary because they’re completely dependent on a practice that defines businesses worldwide: data management.
Personalization
Collecting data and using it to formulate relevant takeaways identifies opportunities. In today’s gambling, using data leads to outlining behavior patterns such as spending and playing certain games.
Once the casino identifies a certain pattern, it chooses to offer gifts (bonuses, for example) personalized according to your tendencies and preferences. As such, it raises the probability that you will take it on its offer.
Gamification
Gamification is in the same ballpark as data management because it analyzes the likelihood that you will continue to play based on the incentive to do so. Instead of gambling for the same of gambling, you get multiple reasons to motivate you to play.
- Challenges particular objectives that may ask you to play a certain number of spins, hands, or time in order to complete it and receive a reward.
- Reward systems can implement gamification as a tool; multiple levels, each with its own advantage, can feel very close to an RPG game.
- Community events can ask players to combine their efforts and complete a certain objective, creating cohesion and wide motivation within that community. Naturally, this type of connection builds on the nature of the parasocial relationship in the digital world.
Conclusion
As we can see, gambling rewards have evolved from a closed-circle set of privileges to an entire digital industry of incredible proportions. From deferential hospitality to gifts to digital bonuses and intricate data-driven elements, gambling incentivization has evolved tremendously.
However, realizing the downsides of readily available reasons to gamble is just as important. If you’re a player yourself, don’t forget to play responsibly despite the incentive to gamble continuously for the sake of rewards!
