The gambling industry is one that keeps changing and evolving, especially with the emergence of new technologies, which is important to keep the customers interested. In online casinos, most of them vary greatly, to give customers varieties to choose from which also greatly depends on how much they want to spend.
Free bets are one of the ways that gambling companies have developed in order to entice new customers to their sites. Free bets are the bonuses that customers are given to place a bet either in part or full. While they appear as simple as they sound, free bets are actually more complicated with each bookmaker offering varying terms.
How Free Bets Work
In free bets, the bookmaker offers to pay the stake. The difference between a regular bet and a free bet is that in free bets, since you do not contribute the stake yourself, in case the bet wins it will not be refunded to you together with the winnings. Usually, most bookmakers offer free bets to any first time customer.
A Chance to Win without any Initial Risk
Free bets are growing in popularity because of only two reasons; they offer the bookmakers the opportunity to attract new customers and secondly, they give the gamblers the opportunity to win real cash without having to cater for the initial risk.
However, even if the offer sounds attractive to any potential customers, it is still an expensive endeavor for the bookmakers to run. It is for this reason that the free bets are normally rare, and in most cases limited to just a short period.
Additionally, in recent years, the industry has come under fire for failing to make clear their terms and conditions regarding free bets. Therefore, as much as they serve as a great way of getting a win over on the bookies, the gambling companies still have the responsibility to explain exactly what is on offer to avoid getting the gamblers caught out.
New Changes for the Industry
Initially, free bet offers were brought in to lure casino-style game players, like in poker or roulette, by providing bonus funds when they stake their money.
In recent years, advertisers for these companies are using a technique called the dynamic retargeting. This is where people who have not gambled in a while are singled out and given free bets to encourage them back. Many firms have found this technique to be an effective way of luring back more people on their sites. Offering increasing amounts of free bets every week is one way of achieving this.
Clearer Terms
Bookies, however, will have a responsibility to promote these free bets while being clear about the associated terms in order to facilitate these changes to the industry. Some of the big names in the industry such as William Hill and Ladbrokes have agreed to change their terms concerning these free bets promotions.
While there are many ways the online casino industry has found to attract customers to their sites, from great offers and deals to innovative apps, free bets are one of those ways that really seem to be working. However, failure to use caution while offering these free bets could prove disastrous to the industry and its market.
Customers need to have the feeling that they are in control of the situation when they are gambling. However, if the betting firms do not provide proper caution of what is in offer with the free bets, it can lead to having the customers being caught out and trapped into gambling for longer than they had planned.
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