There are countless examples of promotions offered by bookmakers that are designed to ensure that punters stay loyal to them. I’ve talked about plenty of them in detail elsewhere on this site, with the likes of Free Bet Clubs and Price Promises being prime examples of the sort of thing I’m talking about. These promotions are different in nature from welcome offers, primarily because they’re not aimed at attracting new customers but rather keeping hold of the ones that are already there.
It’s entirely possible that you might not mind jumping from one bookmaker to another in order to take advantage of all of the new customer offers that crop up, but the likelihood is that you’ll want to find a favourite bookie that you use regularly. One of the things that might help you make the decision as to which is your normal ‘go to’ company could be their offerings for regular punters, with Loyalty Point Schemes being one such example. I’ll try to tell you a bit more about what these are and how you could advantage of them here.
During the UK government’s gambling review which began December 2020, VIP and loyalty schemes came under the spotlight. It was suggested that these programs would face much tighter restrictions or could even be banned outright, this lead to the closing of the vast majority of these incentives.
What Exactly Is A Loyalty Point Scheme?
You can learn about free bet clubs elsewhere, but it’s worth mentioning them here because they are, in their own way, a different type of loyalty scheme. They see punters rewarded with free bets for placing a given number of qualifying bets, but that’s different from what I’m talking about here. The big difference between the two is that these offers aren’t based around specific actions, which is to say placing bets and placing bets alone.
Rather, they see customers earn points every time they complete an action on the bookmaker’s website. Some actions earn more points than others, so you’ll likely get a couple more points if you place a certain bet than you’ll get for simply logging onto your account, for example. The idea is, though, that you get points for doing things you’d normally do anyway, which is great. Obviously the more you use your account the more points you’ll earn and you can then exchange those points for rewards, meaning your loyalty as a customer doesn’t go unnoticed.
If you’re looking for a decent analogy then you’ll want to think about the likes of a Tesco Clubcard or Sainsbury’s Nectar Card. You’re going to do the shopping anyway, so you might as well scan your card and receive points for it. The only major difference, really, is that you need to remember to scan your cards, whereas bookies with loyalty programs figure out how many points you’ve earned automatically.
Things To Look Out For
Offers will almost always have terms and conditions attached to them, so it’s always worth knowing what sort of thing to keep an eye out for so you don’t miss out on anything. This list will definitely not be definitive, but hopefully it will give you a clearer idea of how you can take advantage of being with a bookie that offers one.
How Do You Earn Points?
This differs from company to company, so I haven’t made this section to actively tell you what you need to do. Instead it’s more of a tip to you, as you’ll be able to earn more points for doing some things than others. To continue my analogy from before, if you knew that you’d earn double or triple Clubcard points by buying a particular type of bread, wouldn’t you want to do that? Doing your research can help you to earn yourself more points, so it’s definitely worth it. Everyone who signs up to a bookmaker that offers a scheme will earn points by doing stuff, but it’s the savvy users who will be able to most take advantage of it.
What Do You Get?
Again, this is different depending on the individual bookmaker. However the truth is that most companies tend to offer very similar things to each other, so it’s easy enough to talk about it in general terms. You’re mostly looking at things like free bets, cash, various prizes and also bonus boosts.
How Does It Work?
As you might have already gathered, some bookmakers will allow you to swap your points for various prizes, whilst others will tier customers according to how many points they’ve earned. Often you will begin at the bottom tier which might be called a bronze tier. The more frequently you use certain products on a site the higher up the chain you’ll climb, with perhaps silver, gold and platinum tiers awaiting you.
Everyone gets the same base benefits but the higher you climb the more that opens up to you. For example you could get invites to exclusive sporting matches, be asked to attend VIP events and also get increased bonus amounts added to your winnings.
Any Minimum Requirements?
There aren’t normally any minimum requirements that you’ll need to meet in order to take advantage, but as I mentioned before you might find that you earn more points if you place bets on things with higher odds. It’s also worth remembering that any free bets you earn, choose or swap points for will have minimum odds attached to them in accordance with standard free bet terms. Keep an eye out for these so you don’t rack up points by being loyal but then squander them by failing to obey the necessary terms and conditions of your reward.