Are Free Slots Apps Learning Too Much About You?

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Upgrade to free mobile casino games app tells real-money casinos all about the behaviors of social gamers.

If you haven’t heard of PLAYSTUDIOS, odds are you’ve heard of some of their mobile gaming apps. PLAYSTUDIOS is the proud creator of social casino games like myVEGAS Slots, myVEGAS Blackjack, myKONAMI Slots, and POP! Slots. These Android and iOS apps took the free-play gaming world by storm a few years back, and continue to attract more and more players with each passing day. The company boasts over 90 million downloads, with 5 million active daily players.

These are free to play casino games, mind you. The slot machines, the table games, and everything in between, cost nothing to play. Users can collect free chips every day, if not every hour, and are never obligated to purchase anything. It is an option, of course, but not required. What sets PLAYSTUDIOS’ free slots apps apart from the hundreds of other mobile gaming labs that create them is the unique rewards system.

Building the Most Popular Free Mobile Casino App

Prior to launch, PLAYSTUDIOS pitched a wild idea to major casino corporations like MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment; the respective owners of major gambling destinations like The Bellagio, Luxor, MGM Grand, Bally’s, Harrah’s, The Rio, and so many more. The company partnered with these brand, giving them the opportunity to attract players by offering real-life rewards to their players.

It was an instant success. When the first free casino app, myVEGAS, launched in 2013, it skyrocketed onto the 100k+ downloads list, soon hitting the 1+ million mark. Players loved the idea of earning free rewards points, known as V-coins, that could be redeemed for real rewards, such as hotel stays, meals, show tickets and other perks from Las Vegas resorts. However, according to the latest news reports, the company may be collecting a bit too much information about their players.

Upgrade to Free Vegas Apps Divulges “Real-Time Behaviors”

According to a press release from PLAYSTUDIOS, the latest upgrade to their free mobile gaming suite is loaded with perks – not necessarily for their players, but for their casino corporation partners. The missive reads:

“The award-winning game developer’s newly-redesigned playAWARDS platform introduces a groundbreaking suite of B2B tools that connect partners and players while providing unprecedented insight into today’s mobile and social casino gamers.

“playAWARDS offers partners improved data security, workflow, and monitoring of their rewards portfolios, with advanced performance metrics that capture the real-time behaviors of PLAYSTUDIOS’ global gaming audience.”

PLAYSTUDIOS goes on to boast its partnership with “more than 70 iconic brands”, including Canada’s largest gaming group, Gateway Casinos & Entertainment. For these companies, the new playAWARDS platform is said to be an “essential tool” for reaching “mass audiences of potential customers worldwide.”

What the company neglects to state is exactly what “real-time behaviors” their app intends to monitor and share with all those casino corporations. That could be a huge issue for players, who are already disappointed in the upgraded rewards system. They already seem to be losing interest as it is.

Players Say Awards Have “Gone Downhill”

The most recent reviews on Google Play aren’t good. In the last week, numerous long-time users say their opinion of the games has diminished greatly. Just this week, a reviewer of the POP! Slots app said she’s played the game for more than a year, but that “echoing other reviews, it has gone downhill”. She was particularly disappointed by the new rewards system, complaining that it now offers just 10 points per V-coin balloon pop.

I haven’t played this game in a few months, but it’s still on my mobile phone, so I launched it and decided to see for myself. I do remember that the V-coins were previously doled out in higher increments, and that – like others have complained about – the wins come so infrequently that you run out of chips long before another bonus is paid (i.e. if you don’t pay for chips, you cant play much). What I found was even more disappointing…

It used to be that the balloons popped in cycles – or it least they seemed to. You’d get free casino chips, XP, and V-coins, on a rotating cycle. If you missed a balloon, you missed what was in it. Sadly, after playing for more than half an hour, popping every balloon that came up, I was never once given V-coins. Almost all of them were XP, with a few casino chip bonuses in the mix.

If there’s one thing I can say, it’s that PLAYSTUDIOS founder, chairman and chief, Andrew Pascal, wasn’t lying when he said, “We’ve taken a very different, approach to promoting all that our partners have to offer.”