Bonuses out of control

[Dragon]

Anyone else notice the bonuses for football are out of control? 25% at Royal? 20% at many others.

[STEVE TURNER]

Dragon, big bonus scare the living shit out of me........Although there is a fight early in the football season to get eyeyones post up money...........

Give me reduced juice anyday and keep your bonus. Bonus whores that get stiffed should know better.

Bo Dog who has made a big splash the last 2 years has always scared me and I have never played there. I think I saw an ad the other day for 50% bonus. All reports I have heard about Bo Dog have been great, but I just can't make myself post up there.

1st Fidelity has advertise in the past 100 bonus, but I am sure it was a bait and switch tactic.

[carp]

BetCBS sent me an email offering a 20% reup bonus(5x rollover). this is in addition to their 5% back weekly on wins/losses. I played last football season without problem. Skipped baseball because of their 20 cent lines. Should I consider this a red flag? I always liked the 5% promotion. Any recent experiences?

[brink]

I've been thinking the same thing about the books in general. I know there's a battle for our money, but you have to wonder. If you made a list of books with crazy bonuses on one side and the normal 10% or less on the other, the crazy list would be much longer.

Rio has at least 20% plus the free half. Skybook. Nasa and all their tag alongs have 45% or more in bonuses. I get at least 3 new flyers a day in the mail.

Lots of these books are not only giving the big initial bonus but also at least 15% for re ups. I don't know what to think.

The one thing I guess we have to keep in mind is that alot of the bonuses are either match plays or have a high rollover which is better (for financial health) for the book of course.

I guess we'll have to wait and see. What's the alternative? Play with one or two books that don't offer this or play with a bunch of boks and cross your fingers.

[STEVE TURNER]

If you only need 2 or 3 outs or less, I would play with someone who offers smaller sign-up bonus and reduced juice.

[Beverly Hills Bookie]

The reason why are giving 20% cash and 15% cash bonuses is because we weren't able to get 10-cent lines for you guys. (We know they suck). So, we thought we could ease the pain by giving these bonuses.
We are going to keep these bonuses throughout the football season.
Justin
-BHB

[STEVE TURNER]

My sweet ole mother would have said, "Liar, Liar, pants on fire. Some people on some sites might buy this bull shit, but not here at BW.

[bruce1972]

It's the beginning of football season guys. If a book isn't offering a big bonus now they don't deserve your business.
All the major ones with good customer service come out with great offers now.

[Unregistered]

STEVE, we're curious as to why you think this??? It was for that reason and that reason only. We started giving away these bonuses quite some time ago when we weren't able to get good baseball lines. We got such a good response from everywhere that we decided to keep them going (yes to get sign-ups) and to keep the players (a little more) happy.
Bruce, that may not have been directed towards us but thanks just the same. We do pride ourselves in this area of customer service.
Thank you and good luck (even if you play with us) ;-)
Justin
-BHB

[Unregistered]

Bonuses are the achilles heel of the offshore gambling biz.

Especially when giving them to bonus churners.

Very big overhead offshore.

For poorly managed businesses bonuses will be the straw that breaks the camels back.

[Climate Control]

bonuses are always good, but i agree that its about better lines, and tighter markets.....give us value for money and good service....
my experience of books with big bonuses, who all budget a set amount of money to 'recruit and retain', they commonly call it cost per acquisition.....is that they all give out great bonuses to get you, but in a lot of cases they would give better customer service if they spent a bit more money on that!!!
Im sick of not getting decent service and waiting for email replies and trying to get decent staff on the phones who know what they are talking about.
Bonuses are ok, but i stick with the books that offer the service to back up decent value....if they give a 'sign up' bonus, great, but id sooner get good service.....

[Cincy]

Most of the bonuses have so many stipulations attached to them these days that they just aren't worth the trouble going after. But I think the bonuses probably work out pretty well for the books. I mean, think about it, how many players win? You could give some players a 50% bonus and they would still manage to lose it.