Anyone think that this has more to do with the phrase....

[mtdoak]

"Rakeback" then anything else? Notice the most adamant against rakeback have been Empire and Party, the two publically traded online poker rooms? How many times do you think this conversation has taken place:

Investor: "I hear you offer 25% rakeback to new signees"
Party Poker: "Well, not exactly"
Investor: "Remind me how you make money again?"
Party Poker: "Rake"
Investor: "And you give 25% of it back"
Party Poker: "Well...."

here are my thoughts. Party doesn't want to have 'rakeback' because its hard to explain to investors, but it doesn't want to lose the high volume players. Solution? Offer a volume player deal where player agrees to play x # of hands in a month and gets a better "deal" the more hands they play. It'll probably be less than the standard 25% (though, i doubt it'll have a % attached to it at all)