Online Casinos for Women: Casino Betty
Online Casinos
May 22, 2001, 16:30
By Dina http://www.gamblingonlinemagazine.com
|
|
When Gambling Online Magazine told me that I was going to be writing for a women's interest column in their magazine I was floored. It's not everyday that a female writer from California gets asked to write about the macho world of gambling, and it's rarer still for a gambling magazine to donate its valuable pages to women's interests.
However, in my quest I found only one online casino CasinoBetty.com, that focused its efforts at lady gamblers. I found it hard to believe that with all the casinos in cyberspace, and all the net entrepreneurs out there that only one brainiac came up with the idea to cater to women, but that seems to be the case. As an aside, and directed to all casino operators, Greenfield Online's report "What are the Odds II" reports that 1 out of 4 female gamblers were visiting casinos at least once a week and that "women were a driving force in the industry".
But back to the point, CasinoBetty may be the only casino specifically for women, but at the same time I know that some of my girlfriends would consider this casino an affront to all women because of its patronizing pinks and stereotypical feminine symbolism. Even some of my male friends think that the 50's girl that you would normally see selling margarine on the CasinoBetty home page was a stereotype that shouldn't be forgiven. In fact, in some of the pictures of Betty she is actually wearing an apron! I have to admit that I was ticked off that the computer dweebs who designed this game hadn't the slightest idea about the modern women. But on the other hand, what can you expect from a bunch of guys that probably never went on a date with a live girl before. You'll get the 50's chick waiting for Danny at the drive-in feeling if you even have one feminist bone in your body. But after that wears off and you have had some time to cool off, you'll be happy to know that someone at least tried to design a casino for women.
The games on CasinoBetty are very standard. Actually there is nothing that is particularly "betty" about the games once you start to play. From the home page Betty gives you the choice of Blackjack, Caribbean Stud Poker (not a typical ladies game in my opinion), Video Poker and Slots. The programs are Java, not download, and the graphics are smaller than you normally get from a download game, but they are easy enough to see and you can play them without delay once they are on your screen.
If I had to complain about any of the games it would definitely have to be the Slot machine which took me 5 or 6 minutes to figure out. I'm used to the games that have arrows pointing and chips flashing when I need to do something. This game had none of that.
But let's take a look at the brighter side of CasinoBetty. At least someone is out there attempting to cater to women in the male dominated casino business. It's been a long time since I saw any women's rights activists picketing the casinos, so it's nice to see an operator cater to women on his own.
Here are Dina's recommendations to Betty. Pink is not what makes women come to your web site, Brad Pitt is what makes women come to your web site. But seriously , if you want to cater to women gamblers then create a community for women that addresses women's interests and concerns. I'd love to see discussion boards, chats and multi-person games where women can gamble with a lady's internet handle without getting harassed by men wanting cyber-sex.
As a woman I want the games to reflect femininity that means not wearing an apron! Let me know I am a woman and let me proud that I am. A women's gambling site should give women information and even prizes that are specific to women. Bonus me with perfume or Victoria's Secret, I'd love it and it would make me believe that you were really designing a site for the lady gambler.
---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
| 
