cookie monster the main point of your story is all good things come to an end. and some are more slowly and drawn out than others.

like the casino here in milwaukee, they used to give $2/hr in points to play poker + they would send coupons out every month with $35/cash per week for me and free meals. now they give $5-10/week and .50/hr in points to play live poker and the rake is higher.

you're also forgetting some major negatives:
1) poker winnings have to be rolled over 3x (this is like a 30% average haircut in the value of winnings)
2) bash moved to costa rica (this is at least a $500/year value moved out of the country)

so now a site that required a $200 deposit to get at least $2000/year in value has reduced that to maybe $500/year in value. still ok but with the time/effort spent it is way less than minimum wage and i have a feeling that $500 will keep drifting lower.