30 June, 2022

ABUSING THE SYSTEM

Greco’s Ozric Vondervelden and Philip O’Driscoll discuss the proliferation of bonus abusers, comparing this trend in the US and UK markets

New Jersey, a population of nine million people, is offering $18,575 in withdrawable value per player in less than a week by playing within the promotional T&Cs.

Where operators only allow you to take one offer, the highest value offer is taken. Using the operators’ live games lists, we’ve selected the higher RTP slots, sticking to a bust rate of 80%, providing a 20% chance of completing the wagering; a typical target for bonus abusers.

We simulated each offer more than a million times to determine the average value of each offer. For sports offers, we calculated the value based on the process of dutching (sharing the risk of losing) the offers, assuming a player can find a market with a 98% theoretical RTP.

To break that down, we have:

  • $14,862 Casino (25 offers)
  • $7,593 Sport (20 offers)
  • $18,575 converged (35 offers)

This can be proliferated through dutching offers against each other, undermining the bonus engine logic, collusion or using content incompatibilities to undermine wagering requirements; practices which US operators seem to have very little protection against.

Looking at a data sample for percentage distribution of household income in the US in 2020, 27.5% earned less than $15k! So $18.5k for a week’s work is extremely appealing and certainly an incentive for players to scale these processes across multiple identities.

It’s a modern day gold rush; the scramble from operators to get licensed and scoop up as much market share as possible is as fraught with danger and pitfalls as the 1800s.

The race has begun and there is no shortage of runners. The market value of $2.17bn in 2020, with a projected CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 17.34% during the forecast period (2021-2026), according to Berkshire Hathaway. This emerging market has not been missed by those looking to make a few extra bucks, nor those that are ready to capitalise on facilitating it.

The more popular matched betting subreddit boasts 280,000 members. All sharing best practice on extracting as much value as possible.

US focused bonus abuse forums and paid subscription services have already appeared, with guides and calculators to educate bonus abusers. Until now, only those familiar with grey/black market exploitation have been operating from within the US. Now, there is a demand for additional guidance for the everyday person.

As well as upskilling people native to the States, there is a growing number of already highly skilled bonus abusers moving to the US to take advantage, as seen in threads across UK abuse forums. Others are accessing the US with remote access tools.