All You Need To Know About Casino Gamification

Updated on August 22, 2022

Casino gamification is massively popular among players these days. But what exactly is it that makes it so powerful and irresistible, and what are casinos worldwide doing to apply it to their products with maximum effectiveness? But let's not forget to say that gamification can be used in many sectors such as gamification in igaming, casino affiliate system, igaming CRM, etc. To answer these questions, first, we’ll need to start with the basics…

The easiest way to understand what casino gamification means is to think of it as having an extra dose of gaming options in the casino experience.

Gamification is the process of introducing game-like elements to encourage participation and boost engagement in all kinds of activities. It makes everything much more fun, immersive, and easy to understand.

By further gamifying casino play, you can provide a much more exciting and fulfilling experience to the user, which, in turn, will drive them to come back for more.

Simply put, imagine playing one of your old-time favorite video games, only now you have the ability to earn money and gamble a bit by playing it each time you play. That is the power of casino gamification.

Tracing the roots of casino gamification can be tricky, but a general belief is that it emerged as a consequence of the neverending growth and demands of the industry. With market growth and growth in competitiveness between casinos, also grew the needs and expectations of the players. In turn, new casinos started to offer more alluring bonuses, and this quickly became the norm globally. Casinos needed a powerful tool to help win the loyalty of their players, and many of them gambled on gamification — the rest is history.

But not all casinos were able to incorporate gamification successfully and create a system that satisfied the players and the needs of their business. This is one of the key reasons why many are still on the fence about whether to give gamification a chance or not. We at Smartico.ai are perfectly aware of these issues, and that’s why we’ve made it our mission to provide the best gamification solutions the market has to offer so that you too can reap the fruits of success… the high level of success your casino business truly deserves.

Casinos apply various gamification techniques to make users feel appreciated, which helps them stay motivated for a long time. Тhis isn’t a new trend, but it has become increasingly popular in recent years.

Some of the most common casino gamification elements include badges and awards that are given upon successful task completion. This can be anything from winning a specific number of hands at blackjack to playing a specific number of rounds on the slots.

New casino games that use gamification nowadays offer rewards such as free spins, bonus money, and other goodies for players who stand out as regular customers. This gives them the drive to keep at it and try out new games, which also helps to keep them immersed in the casino experience.

When it comes to customer acquisition, gamification is applied to lure in new users with a welcome gift that rewards them for joining and making their first deposit.

There are two key groups of gamification benefits. One of them deals with how it benefits the players, and the other is about how it benefits casinos.

The real reason for a casino to want to gamify the player experience is to make it more addictive. The more addictive it is, the more profits the casino makes.

Gamification brings a lot of fun to the table, which results in people wanting to devote more of their time to the casino. A well-gamified casino naturally boosts player retention, and in this industry, there’s nothing more important, as there are plenty of casino options for people to choose from.

For the player, a casino with strong gamification means more rewards and more exciting gameplay. Gamification adds significant value and enjoyment to the player experience so that they can feel that their money is well spent, and the added rewards system contributes to this in a significant way.

Furthermore, it’s been revealed that players feel a sense of accomplishment as they advance through the gamified levels of casino games. This is vitally important because rewarding players with exciting prizes and experiences drive loyalty and helps the casino rank higher on the charts, which in turn brings in new players.

The majority of online casinos offer a selection of slots, and that’s generally what players want. However, some casinos will turn it up a bit by adding free spins and tasty rewards to ensure the best possible player experience.

And while casinos incorporate gamification in different ways, we’ll take a look at some of the most potent methods and techniques that have the power to deeply immerse players and drive them to return for more.

1. Unlockable Content

There’s no bigger joy in a player’s journey than unlocking exciting casino content. Once you pass a level of the game, you are given permission to enter the next one. The unlockable content might be a new level, a special points package, or even a secret new game. The better your performance in the game, the better content you can unlock.

2. Tournaments

The thrill of competition has always captured human beings, no matter if there’s money and prestige on the line or if it’s just for fun. There’s also much more excitement involved in casino games that can be played in a tournament format, where players can face up against each other to determine the ultimate winner.

Based on the number of tournament participants, leaderboards are set up at the end of the game and the winners are given their rewards.

It’s easy to set up and the benefits are immeasurable!

Tournaments are usually set up in one of the following ways:

• Sit and Go – If your hands are full with other activities but you want to jump in for a quick tournament.
• Scheduled – These tournaments are organized in advance with much care as there is serious competition. This is where the most alluring prizes can be won.

In terms of entry fees, some tournaments ask for pre-payment ($1-$30 normally), while the others are free to enter.

3. Leaderboards

If you’ve ever played classic arcade games such as Space Invaders, you might remember people giving it their all to reach the top of the scoreboards, now widely known as leaderboards. Today, online casinos incorporate leaderboards to bring out people’s competitive nature so they can have a more immersive and focused experience. Also, leaderboards are a perfect fit for online casinos since they already have competitions and tournaments with rankings.

Leaderboards are pretty simply structured, which makes them perfect for players with different levels of expertise to enjoy. Online casinos may also have a number of select slot games that need to be played in a particular order to climb the leaderboard. The better you perform, the higher you climb to win big and exciting prizes. In order to draw in even more players, some casinos allow players to share their scores on their social media pages. And this brings us to…

4. Social Media iGaming

The rise of Gamification in iGaming also owes a major part of its success to social gaming. Not long ago, games started popping up on social media platforms like , and most of them were basically online casino games, with the key difference being that players couldn’t spend actual money to purchase in-game currency.

These precursors of iGaming served as an experiment to see how much engagement they could extract from users; how many players would be playing; how many would be willing to spend cash on in-game purchases such as special items, and how different video game elements would influence the user base. And as soon as the test gave out sufficient enough information, online casinos entered a new era by fully embracing Gamification.

5. Narrative Storytelling

Another key tool online casinos have adopted to immerse online players is narrative storytelling. Back in the day, casino games would only consist of buttons being pressed, levers pulled, and combinations made, which resulted in cash being won.

Successful online casinos, however, now include appealing storylines with missions and quests to go through in order to clear levels. Narrative storytelling gives people a worthy reason to keep on playing, aside from wanting a cash reward.

6. Mission-Based Accomplishments

Mission-based accomplishments are crucially important when it comes to an immersive online casino experience. When applied to iGaming, these elements feel similar to role-playing video games (RPGs), first-person shooters (FPS), adventures, and other massively popular types of games. Missions can take on many shapes in which players can complete in-game tasks or play as a cool protagonist like a sword-wielding knight to complete an adventurous quest and save a princess from the clutches of evil.

7. Loyalty

Casinos have been offering loyalty points since the creation of the industry. These points are used to reward regular and loyal customers. The key point system is based on the frequency of bets placed. For example, a player is awarded 2 points for every 5 dollars they spend on slots or tables. Some online casinos have applied these ideas to an astounding extent. Instead of regular loyalty points, for example, they use virtual in-game currency, which players collect as they go along on their journey. They can then use this currency to spend it in the virtual store for additional bonuses, free spins, and so on.

Smartico.ai has a wide arsenal of unique features that set it apart from the competition and can do wonders when it comes to engaging and retaining players.

At each stage of their Gamified journey, players are offered highly-alluring incentives such as bonuses/rewards, tournament play, badges, and other elements that keep players motivated to become better players and climb the leaderboard ladder and win big. In turn, this also nudges them to spread the word and bring in new potential customers.

In Smartico’s virtual marketplace, you can spend your points in exchange for real cash bonuses, free spins, vouchers, gift cards, electronic devices, and more.

As a leader in the Gamification industry, Smartico.ai also offers:

• Various intuitive challenges and gaming techniques
• High-value incentives that encourage long-term loyalty and retention, elevate player value, strengthen engagement, and boost user acquisition
• Multi-Currency/Language/Deep Brand Support
• Missions – Engage players with fun real-time solo or multiplayer tasks
• Points – Encourage players to keep coming back through point-based incentives and unlockables
• Badges – Stand out from the rest with sleek badges and earn free spins for each earned badge
• Levels – Players gain experience and special perks after each successful level or tournament completion
• Incentives – Motivate players to come back for more with unique rewards and bonuses
• Marketplace – Players can actualize their points by cashing them in for free game spins or other awards such as online shopping vouchers
• Mini-Games – Players can reset their senses through short, award-earning games
• Tournaments – Set your own qualification rules and offer your customers a powerful endorphin rush with Smartico’s special tournament system
• Leaderboards – Set daily, weekly, and monthly prizes and watch your user engagement skyrocket
• Bonus Engine Integration – Cash bonuses, free spin bonuses, and more

And that’s just a small taste of what Smartico.ai can do for you to set you apart from the rest.

Join the winners club and start your journey to the top of the casino charts by booking your free demo today at: https://smartico.ai/request-a-demo

Share this article with your friends!

Want to find out how our event triggered campaigns can raise your customer engagement through the roof? Contact one of our experts for a free demo.