Viewpoint: the rakeback deadlock goes beyond affiliates

THE RECENT rakeback debate has concentrated on the rights and wrongs of affiliates and skins providing this service. My take on it switches to the operators and the industry in general.

Operators have made a rod for their own backs by competing in such small marketing positions focusing predominantly on the all conquering sign-up bonus. It is this that is responsible for rakeback gaining weight in the first place.

Surely it’s time that new ground is ploughed by the industry’s marketing and product leaders and we widen the potential customer funnel by making online gaming less of a bonus culture, but more a sociable pastime and more socially acceptable?

It’s been talked about and companies have claimed to have mastered it, but cracking the social network epoch still seems to be a mystery, and for one of the web’s most-grossing industries, that seems a bit of a failure.

Poker and bingo are sociable by nature, but as an industry more effort needs to go in to socialising the products we put to market.

Casino products are gradually evolving to incorporate a social networking element and we should look to focus the experience around the activity of playing online casino rather than depend so much on superseding the competition’s bonus structure

Even with existing software standards we are not promoting the kind of differentiation we should be. Online casino technologies have their differences, but how often do we make the most of them?

Microgaming is renowned in the industry for its slots experience.

How many of its licensees sell this above a bonus offer that may be highly comparable to a Playtech skin?

Very few I would say. Should the customer’s eye for differentiation be on the bonus? What a favour that does for online gaming’s critics.

This article first appeared in the September issue of eGaming Review.

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