While working on both the header image & a catch phrase for the blog, we stumbled upon the beautiful picture (showed above) of  2 rolling dice, with the single pip (dot) facing the viewers. If you have ever played Craps, you must know that this combination has one of the most exotic names in the gambling jargon: “Snake Eyes”. As per Wikipedia, the “pair of pips resembles a pair of eyes, which is appended to the term ‘snake’ because of the long-standing association of this word with treachery and betrayal”. Yes, once again we have been bad boys, and ought to be spanked.

We have decided to play along, going ahead with our artistic director’s (AKA iStockPhoto) branding concept, and adapted the core of this blog’s essence to the graphic visuals:  Retention Marketing … Snake Eyes Style.

After sobering up, we still believe it’s at least a decent phrase, but also wanted to talk a bit about this Craps game and what can be done with it in our line of work. Well, to be honest, these days with the US prohibition and prior to the enhancement of any regulation allowing the alpha dogs of the Bricks & Mortar Casinos to add their ridiculously large databases to the internet arena – not much. But hey, it’s not like you have a XMAS promo to launch with 23 different languages and at the last minute you’re stuck with “I am not really sure it will work out” by the CMO, CTO, CFO, CEO and many other Cs & Os you haven’t really met up to this point.

Where do we begin? In terms of marketing purposes, Craps presents one of the strongest combos: fast pace, electrifying atmosphere, rare gambling objects (not the usual cards), and symbolic gestures (game depends on fellow players results, and as such, “luck” is a very profound factor). No wonder it frequently shows up in movies and pumped way-too-often by the industry designers, regardless of its relevancy to the campaign content.

Yet what you really care about is one thing only (welfare of the arctic bears?), so as always, let’s understand our edge here. Well, in a nutshell, much like your success with the other sex: it’s complicated. The Wizard of Odds explains it in a wonderfully practical manner and a good summary would be: it’s much closer to Blackjack on the more popular bets (i.e. way lower than 1%), with additional bets varying quite widely in between the different software providers. In fact, in some cases, it can even reach Zero, if some liberal rules are applied.

So how can you make money of it? Let’s face it, not many players know that there is such a game, even less know how to play it, and if they are based in Europe this poor percentage can probably declare bankruptcy. However, you have got here a great product, which can be pushed via unique campaigns, and holds a very wide range of house advantages – and this means that you can be as creative as you wish with your promos.

My suggestion is: teach your players. Have some extra rewarding sessions, so players could ease their way into the game. You can even suggest some basic strategy booklet/PDF to help them with their first steps. Some might come to learn, and possibly few will even win (yes, of course they will… and you will also pay the them the same day, right?), but even more will come because it is out of the regular “deposit X get nothing on top”, and potentially they will stay for the more known games. Peachy.

Let us know what you think of Craps, the Universe and Everything. Don’t pass on this opportunity :)