Generous Giveaway or Cheap Trick

The above banner is advertising an up-coming promotion being held in the live casino at Grosvenor.

On the face of it, seems worth a look. Read a little more on the promo page and there’s nothing in the copy to suggest anything other than this is a pretty generous offer.

Broadly speaking it’s one of those live casino races. The more you turnover on their live tables during the specified period, relative to other participating players, the higher up the prize board you go.

All good so far.

The prizes (again we’re still on the promotional copy top of page)…

“…we’ve got a tournament where we’re giving away £3,000 in cash! “

Awesome!

“All you have to do is deposit at least £15 and join us at the Live Roulette Tables. The top 50 players at the end of the tournament will receive between £5 – £750“

I can do that!

“Remember to chat with our friendly dealers! “

Always do!

Usually with promos of this type, the ‘cash’ prizes are awarded as a bonus credited to your account. This bonus must then be rolled over (wagered, turned over, bet, gambled…whatever you want to call it) a specified number of times before it may be cashed out. It’s not cash. It’s the possibility of having cash subject to meeting rollover requirements and having enough luck/skill to still have some of that bonus left over after meeting said rollover requirements (not to mention the discipline to actually cash it out…but this isn’t an issue we can blame the casinos for). So the use of the term cash always rubs me up the wrong way to begin with.

Now to be fair, some live casinos are very generous with rollover requirements. In rare cases…prizes are actually paid out as immediately withdrawable cash. In others, the rollover is as low as 1x, meaning unless you’re either extraordinarily unlucky, or simply not interested in preserving the bonus, or very bad at selecting your bets (or all of the above), you’re likely to be able to cash out just about all of the bonus prize. In some cases the prize is a something else altogether (eg Vegas Trip) and the rollover/withdraw concept is redundant.

Funnily enough, rollover requirements are usually buried in the promo terms & conditions rather than being in first paragraph of promotional copy.

So it was with the promotion at hand.

The good news…no rollover required!

The bad news…this is because the bonus can NEVER BE CASHED OUT!

“The accreditation of the 50 winning accounts will take place within one week following the end of the promotional period. Bonuses will be credited as non-withdrawable bonus.  Grosvenor Casinos will strive to credit the promotional bonuses in a timely manner however, should any difficulty occur – technical or otherwise, Grosvenor Casinos reserves the right to delay or postpone the accreditation.”

What?

So let me get this straight. It’s actually impossible to ever get your hands on the ‘cash’ they speak of in the promo copy.

Imagine winning the lottery, then being told that the ONLY thing your can spend your new-found millions on is future lottery tickets? Imagine winning a dream holiday, but being told you don’t get to go on it, instead someone else you don’t know goes in your place and you get to see their holiday snaps…maybe.

Generous giveaway or cheap trick? You be the judge.

Rumour has it Grosvenor are  expanding their (Evolution studio) private area to include 4 exclusive live blackjack tables (currently one). I have a suggestion that might help them fill these tables.

Don’t be so stingy (& misleading) with your promotions!