What happened to the daily gift?

This seems to be an ongoing pattern in recent months. A reduction in rewards for contest of mayors. A reduction in the amount of pink plumbobs awarded for making purchases. A major increase in 'limited time shops' pushing buildings to increase their sales, which used to involve being able to use gold/platinum keys but now mainly asking for cash or simcash to buy these items, in an effort to get players to spend more money. And now the daily gift has gone. What is decreasing massively are incentives to keep playing this game.