How to cope with the crossovers sites are now doing to vip systems

[KT]

Like so many sites are cancelling the RB offer for the VIP system

How much of an inpact is it having on Rackback

KT

[Pokeraddict]

It isn't having much impact at all. You just add the VIP sites to your rakeback sites. VIP offers are the same as rakeback offers, they just offer tiered rakeback instead of a flat rate. Some of these VIP offers are rakeback cleverly disguised as a rakeback program that the network does not allow but approve if they call it anything other than rakeback. Just make sure in your reviews to make it clear that the VIP offers are not a flat rakeback and explain the programs.

[KT]

Cheers for that

KT

[GonzoPAS]

Hey KT,

Expanding on PA's post...

As you stated, there is a slow trend towards VIP programs over the last few years, which has became even more apparent with the events of Black Friday that effectively wiped out 3 prominent rakeback rooms (FT, UB and AP).

Despite the trend, we believe that traditional rakeback will continue to be offered by most of the rooms that currently offer it. There will always be (at least for the forseeable future) players seeking out rakeback deals so when another room halts their rakeback offer others can jump in and fill the void to some extent.

In regards to poker sites that don't allow "rakeback," we feel that many players are becoming more educated to the fact that traditional VIP programs are competitive with rakeback, especially when generating large volume. As an affiliate, you can offer your players extra incentives such as Free Coaching, Rake Races or Freerolls, and you'll likely find that many players are willing to look beyond the fact they wont get a flat deal at the room if rakeback isn't offered anywhere else. We are seeing good results from a handful of poker rooms that don't offer traditional rakeback even though they are being marketed on rakeback sites.

[Grinderschool]

I feel like rakeback is a way for the new up and coming sites to get new players. It is not a profitable venture in the long run and in the end I would imagine that all sites eventually plan on removing their rakeback once they add enough members. Or, they do as Full Tilt did and offer a flat 27% rakeback, very low affiliate commissions, and then additional bonuses for high rake earners. Think about what happened over the summer with Merge, they added a bunch of new players and hit that threshold where they no longer needed the rakeback to get new players.

By that time, they had already emerged as the go-to site for USA players and had a decent enough VIP system that didn't turn away any customers. Many poker rooms don't want to reward the players that rake less than $100-200/month, which makes sense. Unfortunately those kind of rake earners are going to be the majority of your new signups (at least mine anyway).

I don't think the 40% rakeback on Minted is a profitable long term business plan, and I'm sure if/when they get up to a daily average of 6-7k players they'll make a switch too.

In the end you have to do a good job explaining the difference between Rakeback and VIP as people will get confused easily, especially when you're trying to market both rakeback and VIP sites to the same players on the same pages.