It is a VIP promotion with nice rewards so the min bet is basically worth the rewards. I do think that the min bet is a bit lowered than the older VIP promotion. AFAIK it was $1 min bet for similar VIP promotion in the past. Few days ago, you also said that you are far from the bronze VIP level so you cant participate since only bronze level and above are allowed to participate.
Yeah, it's a pretty decent deal for someone trying to build a bankroll. If we look at previous promotions, the
participation prize seems to be around $5. To hit a 10x + 20x + 30x multiplier (the three easiest), it takes about 60 bets total on average, so your EV is 60 * $0.5 * 0.01 = $0.3 excluding other VIP prizes/benefits from wagering. You're essentially getting a free $4.70 on average (or $9.90 if your account is verified) for a few minutes of "work".
I am not sure if people would be fine with that. And once again stake is a place for "whales" basically, obviously 0.5 bet minimum is not a whale size but it is not free neither, you may end up losing a ton of money while trying this out as well for some people. I for example gamble with 50$ per month, that is my thing and I do not gamble more, if I joined here and gambled this promotion there is a good chance I could lose all my monthly deposit in one sitting. Maybe I am just too poor, but once again stake doesn't want people like me and this was talked about a lot.
This is why I believe there is a good reason why people like me are moving to other places, because they feel more welcomed in those places, there are even places that accepts "free" bets basically as promotion, they will lose money on that marketing but they get business from me and others like me so they make it up back later on.