Originally posted on 10/07/2012:

Back in the old days, like 5 years ago, books did not care much about retention. They would just advertise heavily with offline advertising like mailings and radio. Many didn't care about their rating because player due diligence wasn't that good and they were marketing machines. Nowdays players are more cautious and google a book before sending money and books market less and focus on retention. Those shifts have made their SBR rating more important.