POINTS WILL MAKE PRIZES AT CARMEN MEDIA 

Carmen Media, owner of The Gaming Club and River Belle casinos, will launch a loyalty club scheme early next year with players able to redeem points for offline products such as flights.

"Simply because of the size and weight of Carmen Media we can provide you with things you could not get on your own for nothing," Tim Johnson, chief executive at Carmen Media, said.

The Gibraltar-based firm intends to allow users to accrue points that can be exchanged for a range of entertainment products.

It is part of a wider offline marketing strategy for Carmen, which is looking to gain ground on its big rival 888.com during 2005.

These completely non-gaming-related and completely offline products, which will help with the whole entertainment package we want to offer our customers.

"It will be a system where you can accrue points and redeem them for things like meals, tickets to the cinema and flights," Johnson said.

Virgin Games is expected to debut a similar scheme in the new year, with players earning points they can redeem for other products in the Virgin Group, which includes Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Wine.

Johnson was speaking exclusively to eGaming Review as part of an interview for the December/January issue due out in the second week of December.