888 announced that on March 28, they are changing their VIP program and that the change will mean the removal of rakeback in the room.
The new VIP system, the 888poker Club will reward players for completing challenges. This will give recreational players bigger returns than before, but will severely cut the returns for high volume players.
''In the future we are planning to reward our players differently. Player loyalty will be a more important factor than volume played.''
The previous VIP system at 888 was based on the usual rakeback formula, players received back a percentage of their paid rake. There were five monthly VIP levels and the more a player raked the higher they were on the levels. The received rakeback ranged between 2% and 18%. Yearly VIP levels (VIP and VIP Diamond) were also available, the biggest grinders could receive rakeback of up to 36%.
From March 28, both the monthly and the yearly VIP system will be replaced by the 888poker Club.
After this, players will receive points for completing various challenges in poker, casino and sportsbetting. The challenges get tougher and tougher and as players gather more and more points they will receive an increasing amount of Gold Tokens, which is the new VIP currency on the site.
Players who are currently on VIP or VIP Diamond yearly levels will receive monthly compensation until their VIP levels expires.
Existing player points will turn into Gold Tokens on March 28 and new player levels will be determined based on their level in the previous system.
The challenge based system will give returns to more players, however the attainable returns will be lower and big volume players will have to deal with a significant reduction.
Players who only play poker will most likely receive fewer returns in the new system, while recreational players will most likely receive more.
Details about the system are still unclear, for example it's not fully explained whether players will be able to reach certain VIP levels just by playing poker.
Awarding the recreational players should be good for the ecosystem of the site, but the severe reductions might send some high-volume players to other rooms.
If you rely heavily on rakeback returns for your profits, you might want to check out some of our exclusive VIP offers that are available in several different networks.
0 comments