It will be an interesting promotion but I think a lot of people were a bit disappointed with the last Christmas promotion. Two years ago, you also got a cash prize or free spins when you opened the daily present, but last year it was always couple to a challenge (i.e. wagering a certain amount to get rakeback or freespins). It was a different concept but less interesting for the users.
A Christmas two years ago is about one year after Duelbits participation in Bitcointalk. It makes sense as they decided to run big Christmas and New Year event for Bitcointalk members. It was a biggest chance for them in their first year on forum to run promotion and they did had a successful promotion. It makes sense to reduce advertisement or prize pool in events when they already got remarkable customers for Duelbit platform.
We can't blame the casino. Maybe they realized that they lose money from that event rather than earning with their own promotion that's why they changed it. It will all depend on the gambler if the gambler will take the promotion.
I believe they did find something wrong with their past promotions and maybe they detected suspicious and fraudulent activities from some participants. Anyway, I see Duelbits decided to expand their signature campaigns to be bigger and they still have some other contests for forum members. They do spend big budget for Bitcointalk members and we should appreciate it.