It might seem like a strange idea to ask players to vote on their favourite casino games. After all, there are already dozens of industry awards events that showcase the best of the best, so why would players need their own voice? Well, if the Steam Awards are anything to go by, this strategy could have some merit.
And, after all, how can the gambling industry boost retention if we don’t listen to our players?
For those who are unaware, Steam is the biggest PC gaming platform, with over 40 million concurrent active players. The library is estimated to have 100,000+ games in the store, and if you play video games on the PC, you are almost certainly doing it through Steam.
How do the Steam Awards work?
Despite there also being countless official video game awards ceremonies and endorsements that game developers love to pepper across promotional materials, Steam also runs an annual awards ceremony. Players log into their Steam account and nominate any game for the categories. Once a shortlist has been made with the most popular choices, players can then vote on the nominees for the final winner.
In the Steam Awards, players can vote on the following categories: Game of the Year Award, VR Game of the Year Award, Labour of Love Award, Best Game on Steam Deck Award, Better with Friends Award, Outstanding Visual Style Award, Most Innovative Gameplay Award, Best Game You Suck At Award, Best Soundtrack Award, Outstanding Story-Rich Game Award and the Sit Back and Relax Award.
How can this be applied to online casinos?
Customers are encouraged to vote on these awards. This serves two purposes. It forms a sense of brand loyalty between customers and the games they nominate; and it also provides an opportunity to market similar games to them at the same time.
For example, say a customer nominates their favourite online casino game for the Outstanding Visual Style Award. But when they check the finalists, they see five names they do not recognise. If the customer is passionate about strong art styles, then there is a good chance they will connect with the other games in the finals and check them out. It creates a natural bridge between players and additional content they may not have found otherwise.
It does not take a marketing genius to realise that these steps could just as easily apply to online casino players as well as traditional PC video game fans. From the different categories, preferred studios and regular game releases, there are more crossovers between the two demographics than some may think.
The majority of these, barring the VR category, could just as easily apply to iGaming titles as traditional gaming ones. They also inspire several possibilities. Some easy options include Best Bonus Game, Best Sequel or Best Game from a New Studio.
This is a good opportunity for all the stakeholders involved. Studios get easy coverage of their games if nominated, platforms can see a spike in spending as customers want to try out these recommended games, and the players themselves get to experience something new.
Voting with their wallets
Besides the opportunity to highlight new and popular games, or titles with precise mechanics that may not make the homepage otherwise, there is another aspect to this that analysts may have already caught on to.
A voting system also provides a valuable insight into which mechanics, features and trends have been received positively by customers. It acts almost like a player survey, without the customers even being aware that they are providing their data on the matter.
If there is a disconnect between the games that VIPs or high-spenders enjoy (and vote for), versus which games they spend the most on, this could be used by studios to bridge the gap between the two.
Equally, smaller studios could focus on one aspect, such as a great soundtrack, to get noticed.
Online casinos and studios are always in a cycle where they are forced to rethink their marketing strategies. Creating natural and parasocial bonds with players could be a step in the right direction. The Labour of Love Award could be used to highlight certain studios and their creative processes, while live casino fans could even vote for their favourite croupiers or hosts.
Ultimately, the process could result in increased performance across several metrics if it were done correctly. It may seem redundant considering how the industry awards, but how many customers pay attention to these? By encouraging players to open up the app to get involved in initiatives like this, operators could actually add some level of engagement to the age-old player engagement and retention issue.
A total of 43.8 million people were believed to have voted in the 2025 Steam Awards
