I don't know about the VIP experience at land-based casinos honestly. So, can't comment on that besides getting free drinks and maybe snacks. Which is okay, but as some of you suggested, free alcohol can lead to massive losses. That's why I don't quite believe they serve it because they love their customers or because they are very generous.  

I know about VIP rewards at online casinos. I'm actually always extra interested in VIP and loyalty programs as many operators try to come up with new staff there to remain attractive to returning customers.

My experience so far has shown that the most common ones are:
Free spins
Birthday bonuses
Playing chips
Higher withdrawal limits
Lower banking fees
Cashback on losses

These are standard perks and they are okay, especially free spins without or with low wagering.

However, some operators also used to organize VIP events, tournaments, etc. That's something really cool as VIPs would get exclusive invitations and the chance to hang out with out VIPs. I haven't experienced this, but if anyone has it would be cool to share their experience. To me, it sounds attractive and interesting.

Also, I've noticed some casinos that have like their own shops, where you can get stuff with loyalty/VIP points. Like EnergyCasino (THIS IS AN AFFILIATE LINK - https://goodluckmate.com/casino/energycasino) has EnergyShop. You can buy free spins with 1x wagering, which is pretty good in my opinion. But there are also other casinos where you can get gadgets and other awesome products. In this regard, I think online casinos can be more creative. And it's easier I guess to get a VIP status here because how many times can you go and gamble in Vegas unless you live there. But with online casinos, you can be a truly loyal customer and then reach the level where you are entitled to perks.

It's obvious that the casino experience one gets in real life can't be recreated (at least not yet). Still, when it comes to perks, I don't really think that online casinos are far behind land-based gambling facilities. If you are a casual player that regularly spends cash on gambling but doesn't care about the real-life pampering, I think you'll be just fine at online casinos.

Well, speaking as someone who has been working in the industry and understands how outcomes work, I can't say that prayers work. In online casinos, there's the Random Number Generator. Its only function is to give random outcomes. One may pray for a 26 on online roulette or I don't know, for a winning or bonus round on slots. The chances for it to happen with or without prayers are the same. Random Number Generators are machines that don't care about anything else and aren't influenced by anything else (unless rigged, but that's another story and very unlikely at reputable casinos).

Even as a religious person, I also don't mix gambling and praying. I've always believed that praying is for special occasions and 'big' things like good health, surviving through especially hard times, etc. Sure, even in my career I'd find myself hoping that I'll be especially lucky and successful. But I generally believe that most things in life depend on my actions as a person and I wouldn't want to bother God with trivial things.

Whenever I win or succeed in anything tho, I always say 'Thank you God' even though I didn't even pray for that specific thing and worked really hard to achieve it. 

Really interesting. Nearly one week in and now the results have shifted from 'NO, royals shouldn't go to history' to 'Don't really care'.

My conclusion with these results would be that most players here at bitcointalk don't really pay attention to the symbols. They care more about the winning opportunities, bonus rounds, RTP, etc. I'm curious whether the situation will change, but I somehow don't think that will happen. 

Ah, absolutely agree with this. And the providers you mentioned ROCK! Also ELK Studios, Play'n GO, and Push gaming have some really cool slots with amazing visuals.
It's not necessarily rubbish. Some of the most popular slots these days like Jammin Jars, Reactoonz, Goblin's Cove, Starburst, Gonzo's Quest, and many more are actually slots without Royals. If they remain popular and widely played, I guess players do enjoy them even without the Royals. As for why Royals still exist, it's obvious in the reposnses that for some players they provide a simpler experience and that's perfectly fine and acceptable. Nevertheless, I think that we'll see less and less from them as most new games come without them while providers try to focus on the visual experience more.

I think the shift is obvious even in crypto casinos. Proprietary provably slots used to be so simple, but now casinos are releasing more graphically advanced solutions. I think that's going to be the main trend moving forwards but we'll see.

Yes mate, it seems that many players share the same idea. They prefer the simplicity of understanding the cards and not bothering with paytables more than the visual experience.

It's an interesting topic and that's why I started this thread. Was interested in different point of views and it's really nice to see what players think for something that hasn't quite changed/evolved while everything else evolved. We have fantastic slot mechanics, innovations of all kinds, and yet the Royals are still there. It seems now that there is a good reason why providers are still using them quite often. 

Yes, the idea was to invest the time in creating themed symbols. For example, instead of spending 3 hours to create a K symbol, providers could creat a golden coin or a cookie or whatever the theme is.

By the way I don't personally hate them, I just prefer slots that are visually rich and with themed symbols. I even don't particularly mind when the Royals are somehow related to the theme.

Hope it makes sense. 

Wow, thanks for all your responses mates. It's really interesting to read different points of view. It's fun that everyone is used to them and that most people don't want to learn new symbols or bother with remember what are high and what are low paying symbols.

I guess everyone has their preferences and all opinions are valid. But, so far, according to the results, it seems that most players actually like the Royals. That's surely an interesting outcome. 

Hey mates,

I hope I have an interesting discussion for all of you slots fans here.

I'm wondering whether you think Royal symbols should not be used anymore? Do you perhaps like them instead? Or do you not even care? 

If you're not sure what Royal symbols are - These are the symbols represented by cards. Casino game developers usually include the highest-ranked ones – Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and 10. Sometimes, you may even find random 9s and 8s all over the reels.

One of our iGaming experts discusses that these are a lazy solution, especially in heavily animated and themed video or 3D slots. Guy Hasson seems to agree through one of his interviews. He's an iGaming veteran who worked with iGaming giants Playtech and Playtika. 

The main ideas why Royals should remain in history are:
- Lazy solution
- Don't contribute to the thematic experience
- Ruin the possibility of players to fully immerse into the storyline
- Slots without Royals are more 'graphically rich'
- It's better for providers to invest the time creating Royals into creating themed symbols

How do you feel about it? Until recently, bitcoin slots were quite simple I'd say. Nowadays we're seeing some cool and creative solutions. Are you in for the payouts only or do you care about the looks too?

I'd love to read your points of view! 

Absolutely agree with you milewilda. Especially for an industry such as online gambling and betting where players are investing their own cash it's really easy to ruin your reputation if you're doing scams and aren't taking care of your customers. That's why bet365's success is even more significant I'd say. I really hope they'll stay on the right course.

I think this is great news for everyone involved in the industry. It shows that iGaming is steadily growing and it will keep growing. iGaming is surely one of the strongest and fastest-growing markets globally, especially now that many American states are opening to it too.

It's good news for anyone working in iGaming, even for affiliate websites and other casinos.

As for bet365 specifically and the owner, this lady has been making headlines for years. She's known for her hard work and great management skills. She kept up the good work, invested in responsible gambling, added great features to the platform, expanded the operations, and even recently rebranded the affiliate program to make it better. So, she's been constantly working on staying at the top and together with her team she's obviously doing a great work.

It's especially good to show that even when you operate in heavily regulated markets like the UK you can still make tons of cash and have happy customers. It sets a good example and raises the expectations of other operators.

That's my take on it as someone who's gambling but also as someone who has a website focused on online gambling and betting. I have nothing else to say expect congratulations to all bet365 owners and I hope they'll keep up the great work!

Hey mate, this is a great thread. 

Umm, these past few months I really enjoy crash games, any of them really. And plinko is fun. Somehow I wasn't familiar with plinko and when I saw it for the first time a few months back it really stayed with me.

I generally love slots honestly, I like trying new ones. There are tons of new features, so these are fun for me to track even if I'm not winning lots of cash. 

I also like poker, but I enjoy it mostly when playing against other people and in person honestly. I think the magic of poker is lost online, so when I play it it's with friends mostly for fun or we share a small pot just to raise the stakes.

Bingo, lotteries, scratches get my attention every once in a while, but can't say they're a favorite.

For some reason I've never liked dice. It's straightforward but also too straightforward to some extent. I don't know if that makes sense to you. I sometimes gamble with dice at home when I'm having a hard time making a decision though. 

As I've been working in the industry for many years now, I'd say that all these stories exist for several reasons:
1. News sites use them as clickbait articles. Everyone wants a sob story and everyone feels superior when they read about someone who made such terrible mistakes. So, I believe that such articles bring lots of traffic and engagement.
2. It's a way gambling authorities use to warn customers of the possible harms of gambling. And I agree that this can be a dangerous hobby, but honestly I also think that every hobby can be expensive. I have a friend who's constantly buying some limited edition books and expensive board games. Some of those cost like $200-$300 and he has at least 50 board games. He doesn't even play most of them. In gambling, you at least have a chance to win something I guess. This is just dead money sitting on a shelf.
3. Religious and social taboo. This was mentioned by many, so no need to further expand on it.
4. There are much more unhappy stories than happy ones. Though, if you follow iGaming news, you'd know that there are actually frequent juicy wins. They just don't reach mainstream media as often.

I don't personally think it's to prevent people from making money by becoming smart gamblers. Most people don't even believe that someone can become rich from gambling. Plus, this strategy wouldn't make sense for operators as they make money anyway. So, I'd say the reasons listed above are the primary ones for the bad reputation of gambling.

Every idea can be perfectly promoted if you add the touch of gambling while promoting it. 

As for the vaccination and Ohio, I'm not sure I'm 100% for this step. I personally want to get vaccinated and I think as many people as possible should get the vaccine. Yet, that's also a personal choice. Plus, paying $5 million tax payers money for this sounds unreasonable to me honestly. They could at least split the reward fund and give it to 10 or even 50 people. That amount of cash could still change someone's life and the chances to be a lucky winner for anyone will grow. If the money is given by wealthy individuals or corporations, then they can do whatever they like I guess.

I would be pissed off if someone gets $1 million from the taxes people pay, especially during the pandemic when many people lost their jobs and even homes. I've read in Serbia that at some point they gave like vouchers of 25 EUR to those who will get the vaccine and there was a huge interest for vaccination that weekend. So, in Ohio they could've given $100 or even $1000 to the first ones to apply and get the shot.

This is just my take. I still think that it's good for people to get vaccinated, but I don't think that politicians should have the right to organize such things with tax payers money. 

Well, I can't say I agree with this list. Especially because we don't know the ranking criteria. Some casinos are better for desktop gamblers, some are great for mobile gamblers. Some offer good crypto games, others lead if you focus on their live dealer section. So, it's important to state how did you rank the casinos and why did you choose the ones you chose as the best ones.

If we're talking about crypto gambling sites, we did a survey among the players and in that survey the best-voted ones were:
Stake
Roobet
Bitvest
Crypto Games
Duelbits

Sportsbet, FortuneJack, Bitsler, and Bitcasino were also mentioned by the players as great and trusted platforms.
Users mentioned reliability, accepted coins, and game offer among the many important things.

hahah agree 100%, why the drama when you can have all the fun! That's why Malta and Russia got my attention, their performances seemed so alive and colorful. But the song is cool anyway. And France I really don't know why it's a favorite because it's so slow and I don't really think that countries from the 'big 5' ever win except for Germany that one time ten years ago with Satellite (which was a cool, dancy song). I don't think France will win now would bet on it honestly. 

I watched all of them. I liked Manizha's song before and now with the performance, I think it's going to be really powerful, lift you up in a way. Malta definitely interesting, good song, nice beat to it. Serbia seemed dancy, something I personally like. Not sure about the rest, France, Bulgaria, Switzerland getting a lot of talks but they were honestly kinda boring to me. I prefer fun songs so maybe that's just me.

GamCare - https://www.gamcare.org.uk/
Gamblers Anonymous - http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/
BeGambleAware - https://www.begambleaware.org/
Gambling Therapy - https://www.gamblingtherapy.org/en
GamStop - https://www.gamstop.co.uk/
Responsible Gambling Foundation - https://www.rgf.org.mt/
Gamban (paid service) - https://gamban.com/

These are some ideas that come to mind where one can find help.

The story about the girl is definitely unsettling. I hope that nobody finds themselves in such a situation and if they do that they would be brave enough to ask for help. As for getting help, I'm not sure if it's enough to just subscribe to one of these services. The first step must be accepting your addiction and be willing to stay away from gambling. Still, not being able to access gambling sites is probably helpful to some extent.

I hope these links will help someone who needs support. Don't give up!

I absolutely agree. Honest casinos that want to build a name for themselves won't do any tricks. But players also have the responsibility to read the rules and protect themselves. The OP admitted his guilt in this situation and hopefully learned a lesson.

But I also think that there should be possibly some tools or features that will alert players in such situations. Like, when you play with bonus funds and want to place a bet over $10 (if $10 is the max bet) to notify you that you will lose the bonus and the winnings. In my opinion, there should be some mechanism to inform users when they want to make something against the bonus rules. This should be a fair approach toward everyone involved. I think that casinos often take advantage of players being too careless and not reading rules and then they have the perfect excuse to do such tricks. 

You're definitely not the first nor the last one to have this issue. Actually, the current discussion on our thread is about unfair T&C as years of experience in the industry have shown that operators will do anything to void winnings won by bonus funds. It is what it is, though and it's a lesson learned. Everyone should always read the T&C and even maybe double-check with customer care before claiming and using a bonus to protect their winnings if they get a lucky streak.

Hey people,

This week we have a fun discussion for everyone.

One of our writers and iGaming professionals Borina has written an opinion piece about unfair casino terms and conditions

1. The author suggests that casino operators use tricky terms to justify not paying out winnings, especially those won with bonus funds.
2. She also discusses how regulators seem to turn a blind eye, at least those least strict like Curacao eGaming to such unfair rules.
3. Finally, she's asking whether there's a need for a universal template for casino T&C so that players get the same and a fair treatment regardless of where they play.

What do you think about this? Are T&C players' biggest enemy? Do you read the T&C before you start playing somewhere? Have you ever had issues with withdrawals because of such unfair terms? 

We'd love to hear your thoughts.

As always, if you also have some ideas on how to improve our GoodLuckMate website, please let us know. We take not of every single suggestion and see what can be implemented to provide a better experience for those who visit us.