5 Tricks Online Casinos Apply To Make You Spend More Money
You walk your way into the SkyCity Auckland branch or the Christchurch Casino brimming with confidence, with your wallet filled with just about enough money to keep you entertained for a bit. Tonight you really want to stick to responsible play and two Bacardi Colas at a max. Hours later, you have no clue what time it is, how many Barcadis you’ve had, or what the heck happened to your money. But hey, you’re standing at the ATM once again, and you feel even more confident than when you strode into your favourite casino.
You’ve got no plans to leave the casino floor whatsoever as you’re having the time of your life — despite the fact that you’re losing money hand over fist. The next day your fun night turned out to be a lot less entertaining than you initially felt, at least if you check your bank account. It’s not the first time this happened and you’ve had it. The next time you will stick to online play only as you’re sure that an online casino won’t be able to trick you that easily. Ehm, we hate to spoil it, but both online casinos have their tricks too. In this guide we will go through 5 tricks to be aware of so won’t get tricked ever again. Period!
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5 Tricks To Be Aware Of
Casinos are all about the money and so are online casinos. They want you to have a good time, but the bottom line is they want you to spend more money. The best way to get you to spend more money is to get you to play more. And the best way to do that is to make you stick around. As licenced online casinos need to comply with international rules and standards, most players will have the opportunity to set session and deposit limits which should avoid playing and paying too much, but even if your preferred online casino gives you the flexibility to limit your spending, here are 5 tricks to be aware of.
1. Varying RTPs
RTP is an abbreviation for Return to Player. It describes the percentage of the stake that an online pokie pays out to players and is calculated from a large number of spins. The higher the RTP, the better it is for the player. For example, an online pokie with an RTP of 96% will eventually return NZ$ 96 for every NZ $100 wagered. The house edge for the casino is the RTP of the pokie, subtracted from 100%.
For instance:
On a pokie machine with an RTP of 96%, the house edge would be 4%. For a casino, it is therefore a matter of finding a balance. On a game with a very low RTP, the casino makes a big margin but there is probably hardly anyone who wants to play the game and so the final winnings of the casino will be low. An RTP above 100% is not possible as this would indicate that the player wins in the long run. As it’s the house facilitating the game of chance it’s the house that has the advantage.
With the introduction of ranging RTPs, online casinos have had the flexibility to feature games that work with lower RTPs, also meaning that the player faces a significant disadvantage. The Return to Player can be checked by going to the game’s info button that shows all details of the game. In the case of a pokie with ranging RTPs, it’s always recommended to avoid casinos that apply one of the lower percentages. An RTP of around 96% is considered average with RTPs of lower than 95% being a no-go.
2. High Volatility Pokies
Variance, volatility, and RTP are two terms that are often confused. That makes sense because they are closely related, yet it is important to know the difference. The variance of a game describes how often a game allows players to win and differs from the RTP as it is usually put on a low to high scale whilst RTPs are presented in a percentage. A low variance game pays out often, but these tend to be lower amounts. In a casino game with high variance, it can take a while before you make a win, but if you do win a prize the amount is relatively large. Two games with different variances can have the same RTP.
What is more fun, more interesting, or better depends on your personal preferences and even on your budget. Games with high variance are interesting as they give you a chance to win a very large amount but can be frustrating in the case of many dead spins. A low-variance game may feel safe to one player, but can be considered boring to someone else. By emphasising high volatility games in one’s casino lobby, players are encouraged to spend more money as it’s usually the house that wins — at least in the long term.
3. Strict Bonus Terms
The higher the numbers in a bonus, the more appealing they are often considered to be, at least higher percentages and higher match bonuses are believed to be more interesting by players than promos with less impressive figures. Higher numbers aren’t always a positive indicator, especially with regard to the bonus terms and conditions they come with. An appealing and thus feasible casino bonus is a promo that works with fair terms. Wagering requirements are particularly important as this is a condition applied to a casino bonus that affects how and when a player is able to spend the winnings generated by that promotion.
The higher the wagering requirements, the more times they will need to wager their deposit, spins, cashback, or winnings. And the more they play, the more likely the casino will turn out to be the winner. It also means that a player is forced to spend more money to unlock their bonus, and even playing with their own winnings can lead to losses in the end. The most efficient casino bonus is a promo that offers a fair chance of winning.
4. Push Notifications
Enabling push notifications are a way to avoid missing out on any deal, promotion, bonus, new game launch or whatever you find interesting, but they can be very annoying as well. After all, all push notifications are meant to lure players back to the casino and thus spend more money. Now imagine you’re browsing on your laptop whilst you’ve got the mobile casino app installed on your smartphone too. The number of push notifications popping up can be bothersome, but you will continue to receive them unless you decide to opt-out.
Most casinos automatically activate push notifications upon account registration whilst some new casino sites give their new customers the opportunity to choose between opting in or out when they sign up to a new casino. As there are often different sorts of push notifications and we suggest you only stick to the pop-ups or email notifications you consider relevant. Don’t let pop-ups, newsletters, push notifications, and everything that can be labelled part of a casino’s online marketing programme affects your gambling behaviour as they’re clearly meant to keep you playing and thus spend more money.
5. Loyalty Programmes
Loyalty programmes are also an effective way to make players stick around. Don’t get us wrong here as we clearly prefer casino sites that offer loyalty programmes over those that don’t as we believe that loyal customers should always be valued and rewarded for their business. Nonetheless, loyalty or VIP schemes are strictly meant to make the visitor keep on coming back. This especially applies to the casinos that reward their visitors with loyalty points or even gift shops. And yes, every casino site that values its customers should have additional bonuses for its existing customers, other than the welcome package.
Yes, we strongly believe that players should consider registering for the loyalty programme (if they’re not automatically included) but should be very careful when it comes to spending more money than needed just because of the deals on offer. Just make sure that the programme doesn’t encourage you too much, but try to see it as a token of appreciation that can turn out handy at some time when it’s possible to redeem your points, claim your cashback, or make higher withdrawals. Let them reward you, but don’t let them guide you. In the end, loyalty programmes are based on the real money spent by players.
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