{"id":3439,"date":"2025-03-13T11:58:41","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T11:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/?p=3439"},"modified":"2025-03-13T11:58:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T11:58:41","slug":"casinos-bleed-billions-in-free-play-digital-solutions-could-be-the-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/casinos-bleed-billions-in-free-play-digital-solutions-could-be-the-fix","title":{"rendered":"Casinos Bleed Billions in Free Play &#8211; Digital Solutions Could Be the Fix"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/03\/noah-acres.jpg\" title=\"Casinos Bleed Billions in Free Play - Digital Solutions Could Be the Fix\" alt=\"Noah Acres\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3440\" width=\"300\" \/><strong>Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Casinos lose approximately $37 billion annually due to free-play promotions, which fail to attract new players.<\/li>\n<li>Fraudulent groups exploit outdated loyalty systems, maximizing free play rewards through multiple sign-ups.<\/li>\n<li>Noah Acres advocates for digitalization, recommending mobile-based loyalty programs to enhance security and profitability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>During the <strong>World Gaming Protection Conference<\/strong> at the Rio Las Vegas, <strong>Noah Acres<\/strong>, co-owner of Acres Manufacturing, shed light on a major financial drain in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/infographic\/infographic-on-why-the-casino-industry-is-worth-billions-of-dollars\">casino industry<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Namely, he revealed that <strong>casinos collectively lose around $37 billion annually in free-play giveaways<\/strong> designed to attract players.<\/p>\n<p>Acres explained that these types of promotions are inefficient at boosting revenue. He also suggested that digital solutions could curb exploitation by organized groups.<\/p>\n<p>Acres, whose company specializes in casino loyalty and technology solutions, referenced findings from a <a href=\"https:\/\/acresmanufacturing.com\/foundationhq-whitepaper\/\">2023 position paper<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>This survey, which included nearly 200 U.S. casinos, explored how player-loyalty reinvestment impacts profitability. <\/p>\n<p>The study found that outdated casino management systems often lead to reinvestment rates reaching or exceeding 100% in a scenario where casinos only profit through unclaimed rewards. <\/p>\n<h2 id=\"free-play-doesnt-grow-play\">Free Play \u201cDoesn\u2019t Grow Play\u201d <\/h2>\n<p>The same research revealed that the gaming industry\u2019s overall reinvestment in player loyalty goes over the 35% mark, amounting to roughly $25 billion. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/games\/slots\/practice-play-vs-real-money\">Free play<\/a> is at the top of the list as the most significant expense. <\/p>\n<p>Acres argued that this system lowers profits, especially for inexperienced players who do not play long enough to offset the cost.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The biggest problem I see with free play is it doesn\u2019t grow play. It doesn\u2019t bring new players.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Highlighting a concerning trend, Acres noted that in 2006, Americans spent 57 cents of every $100 in income on gambling. By 2024, that figure had dropped to 39 cents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>In the last 15 to 20 years, we\u2019re on the decline<\/em>\u201d, he further explained while also arguing that while GDP is rising and people are making more money, casinos\u2019 revenue remains \u201c<em>stagnant and even declining<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UG1duSZW7x0?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0?ecver=2\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"mobile-based-loyalty-programs-offer-more-security\">Mobile-Based Loyalty Programs Offer More Security<\/h2>\n<p>Acres explained that <strong>free play accounts for roughly 20% of gross gaming win at properties<\/strong> that report such data, translating to the $37 billion figure. <\/p>\n<p>A critical issue, he argued, is the lost time value when players use free play instead of spending their own money.<\/p>\n<p>Acres\u2019s proposal was aimed at <strong>shifting away from physical loyalty cards and PIN-based systems<\/strong>, which are vulnerable to abuse. <\/p>\n<p>Fraudulent groups exploit casino promotions by signing up multiple players to collect free play incentives, sometimes setting up P.O. boxes near <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/states\">local casinos<\/a> to maximize rewards.<\/p>\n<p>Moderator <strong>Willy Allison<\/strong> also acknowledged that the University of Nevada Las Vegas had agreed to Acres\u2019s findings, stating, \u201c<em>Far too much money is given away to players who don\u2019t deserve it.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To fight this problem, <strong>Acres is now advocating for digitalization, recommending mobile-based loyalty programs<\/strong> that, he believes, offer greater security and streamline player enrollment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summary: Casinos lose approximately $37 billion annually due to free-play promotions, which fail to attract new players. Fraudulent groups exploit outdated loyalty systems, maximizing free play rewards through multiple sign-ups. Noah Acres advocates for digitalization, recommending mobile-based loyalty programs to enhance security and profitability. During the World Gaming Protection Conference at the Rio Las Vegas, [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-industry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Casinos Bleed Billions in Free Play - Digital Solutions Could Be the Fix<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Noah Acres has called for a shift toward digital loyalty programs at the World Gaming Protection Conference in the context of casinos hemorrhaging $37 billion annually in free-play giveaways that fail to boost long-term revenue.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/casinos-bleed-billions-in-free-play-digital-solutions-could-be-the-fix\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Casinos Bleed Billions in Free Play - 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