888 Poker will launch a new rewards system for players and move away from a traditional rake-back system.
The new 888poker Club will reward players for completing “challenges,” climbing levels and accumulating tokens.
According to a report by PokerFuse, online poker systems have long used volume-based rewards called “rake-back.” Depending on their amount of play, players could receive upwards of 70 percent of the rake (fees paid to the poker rooms) back as part of the incentive programs offered by online poker rooms.
That system allowed professional players to generate enough profit from rake-back to make annual sums in the six figure range.
However, online poker operators found that this type of incentive scheme induced changes to the playing style of players and produced a gaming environment that was less attractive to the highly-coveted recreational players, according to PokerFuse’s report.
Under the new rewards system, high-volume players will receive significantly less rewards and recreational players will get more. As part of the program, 888 will also be adding daily free tournaments that promise $100,000 guaranteed every month.
888 has also said it will honor its current cashback commitments.
According to PokerFuse, online poker leader PokerStars last year announced that it would reduce rewards for its high-volume players, but did not honor rewards already scheduled to go to players. The lack of notice caused players to protest, but in the end, PokerStars did not change its policy.
