Let’s talk about gifts! We’ve said before and we’ll say it again: first and foremost, casinos are a business looking to make a profit. One of the tools these businesses can deploy is offering up a gift in the hopes that players will take the bait.
Read on below to learn some of the factors that play a role in picking the next gift for players like ourselves and let us know what your favorite bribe* has been in the comments!
* Let’s call it what it is from the jump.
Selection Process
Whether you have 12 sets of sheets or an obnoxious amount of pots and pans, there is supposed to be some methodology behind how casinos select the gifts they give out. Yes, casinos often try to pick out something that you will enjoy, but in actuality there is a formula that operators take into account.
Decision makers are looking for gifts based on price, availability, and, most importantly, enticement factor. Other factors come into play, like how large items are and if they can be carried, or more recently, delivered to a player’s home.
Speaking first to the main factors of price, availability, and enticement level, the first two are fairly straightforward. Things typically go awry when operators don’t have their finger on the pulse of their players and totally miss the mark on what will both draw them in and leave them feeling appreciated.
- Price: Like any business, casinos are profit and loss minded. When picking what they will offer up to players, teams must look first at what their budget will allow. The budget dictates the price range that operators can look within and explore what they think will drive people in. The budget is very rigid, so this is often the starting point.
- Availability: You can probably guess this one. Casinos have to select a gift that is available in large quantities. Unless it is an activation geared towards top tier players, hundreds, if not thousands, of the gifting items need to be ordered. In more recent years, dropshipping has made this less of a constraint.
- Enticement Factor: No one wants a lame gift! Operators need to think about the specific player demographic and try to envision what their group would enjoy. For destination properties, they will often pick something a little more flashy like jewelry or a juicy gift card. Local properties will tend to lean more into what they think their players could use in everyday life.
An example of a local property’s offerings was recently shared in The Rudies Facebook group. They offered their players a variety of things that can be used in everyday life. Bandaids and tin foil (hey, New Englanders!) may not knock a player’s socks off but they are extremely practical. Plus, this casino allowed their players to make their own gift selection out of 11 options. Choosing helps make players feel even more appreciated.
Tier Gifting
One way that operators can try and make their budget go a little further is to utilize a tier gifting strategy. This can look one of two ways:
- Different tiers qualify for a free gift automatically while lower tiers must earn it by meeting a specific threshold of play.
- Unique gifts are given to the separate tiers. The higher the tier, the higher the price point of the gift.
As an operator, I am not a fan of different tiers getting different things. When players are not treated equally, it can breed animosity on the floor, and no one wants a gaggle of grumpy gamblers.
With that being said, I do see the value in giving certain tiers things for “free,” while others have to earn them. In my opinion, that is a fair way to give everyone the opportunity to get the same thing. Those on a higher tier have definitely earned their gifts over time, while players with a smaller playing style can choose to come in and play the same day if they really want the item. As long as the “earn and get” threshold is reasonable, no one is getting special treatment, and the casino isn’t left deeply in the red from loyalty gifts.
Dropshipping
When it comes to getting the gift home, in my opinion, both as a player and professional, dropshipping has been a game changer. While the concept has been around for a long time, it wasn’t until recently that casinos really started leaning into the ease of this particular gifting method.
As a player, I first encountered drop shipping at The Palms in Las Vegas, probably about five years ago. I received a postcard in the mail that said if I earned a specific amount of points, I could select a gift from their list of options.
What made this a little different than other “play and get” offers was that none of the gifts were actually on property. Instead, players like myself would earn their points and then head over to the player’s club to get a redemption code. From there, I hopped online, made my selection, and was notified the gift would arrive at my doorstep within a few days.
I loved not having to lug around my bulky selection just as much as I loved being able to pick something that I actually wanted. The local casino gifting image above is also an example of dropshipping!
From an operator’s perspective, dropshipping is the best thing to happen to marketing and event teams since the invention of the player’s card. First off, not having to carry hundreds of boxes to the floor is an amazing thing. When I worked downtown, I loved helping out the events team and would often venture with my friend Jenna down into the depths of our casino’s basement. Hands-down, subterranean Fremont Street is one of the spookiest places you can explore, and while I love some spooky history, that was the worst part of the process. The entire time I would be counting boxes and loading up a cart. I couldn’t shake the feeling the whole building was about to collapse and pancake me under a century’s worth of dust and ratpack memories. Fears of flattening aside, I was always curious to see what goodies we were handing out, and to spend time with the team.
With dropshipping, both players and operators get what they want. Players are provided a choice and can make sure they select something they have an actual use for. Operators are treated to less manual labor and more time freed up for other tasks.
Longing for Great Gifts
As a player, I don’t want to miss the opportunity to call out a challenge for casino gift givers in the future. I want something that makes me say “wow.” After all my years gambling at numerous properties, I’ve yet to receive a gift from a standard player activation that truly stands out.
Most items are very similar, often something plastered with the property logo or cheap kitchen gadget. I am longing for the day when casinos put the personality into gifting. Give me something that rivals the joy of a Scholastic book fair but made for adults that have a penchant for testing their luck.
Want to learn more about the recent dropshipping trend? Check out our previous article about Gift & Go, one of the companies leading the charge!
