Online casinos offer you a great range of bonuses and promotions to make your gameplay more rewarding. But there are so many different types of bonuses and incentives out there that you wouldn’t be blamed for feeling slightly overwhelmed by all that is available.
The best thing you can do before redeeming any type of online casino bonus is to educate yourself about the different options available to you. In this way, you maximize the value that these offers provide and get the most bang for your buck.
Welcome to our definitive guide to online casino bonuses.
Types of Online Casino Bonuses
Visit the promotions page of any good online casino, and you’ll find at least some of the types of bonuses below on offer.
- No Deposit Bonus: The online casino gives you free money or free spins on slot games without the need to make a deposit into your account. The amount is usually quite small, but it’s enough to help you explore the site and familiarize yourself with the games and software. You’ll find that there are usually strict terms and conditions linked to these types of bonuses.
- Deposit Match Bonus: The online casino guarantees to match your deposit up to a set amount. These bonuses are popular in welcome bonus packages and can be offered on a single deposit or over several deposits.
- Free Spins Bonus: The online casino rewards you with free spins on new or popular online slots. Sometimes you need to make a deposit in order to claim them, but sometimes not. Before you can withdraw your winnings made from the free spins, you need to meet the wagering requirements.
- Reload Bonus: A good way for the online casinos to reward their loyal players. These bonuses are offered to players to reload their accounts.
- Cashback Bonus: The online casino will refund a portion of your losses made at the site over a certain period of time.
How to Find Online Casino Bonuses
How would you go about finding the best online casino bonuses? You could, theoretically, visit the thousands of sites out there and go to their promotions page, site by site. That’s one way of doing things, although it’s not a very logical or time-saving way.
The best way to look for online casino bonuses is through specialized iGaming sites. These sites do all the hard graft for you. They collect updated data about all the hottest online bonuses and present the information to you in an easy-to-read format. This cuts down literally hours of time for you so that you can concentrate on the good stuff. An added advantage is that these iGaming sites only recommend online casinos that are safe, licensed and fair.
What are Bonus Wagering Requirements?
All online casino bonuses come with restrictions, which will vary from site to site and from casino to casino. In general, however, wagering requirements refer to the number of times players need to wager over their bonus money amount or free spins winnings before they withdraw them as cash.
Most wagering requirements are set around x 35 (the requirement to play through the bonus 35 times before winnings can be withdrawn), however the number can rise as high as x 60.
In general, the lower the wagering requirement, the quicker you will be able to unlock the bonus money and claim your winnings.
Example of bonus wagering requirement:
- Online casino ABC offers new players a 100% welcome deposit bonus up to $50.
- Among the terms and conditions of the bonus is the x 35 wagering requirement. This means that before the bonus and winnings can be withdrawn, you need wager the bonus amount 35 x over.
- In this case, on a deposit of $50, the wagering requirement is $50 x 35 = $1,750. In other words, the bonus money or winnings from it can be withdrawn as soon as you wager $1,750.
Things to Look out for in Bonus Terms and Conditions
When an online casino lists the bonus terms and conditions, there are some other important things to look out for:
- How long do you have to complete the wagering requirements?
- Which games contribute to the wagering requirements? Not all games contribute the same, while others may not contribute at all.
- Does my payment method impact the bonus offered? Some casinos offer extra bonuses if you use a specific payment method, while others restrict the use of some methods.
Luckily most licensed casinos have strict instructions from the licensing body like the UKGB to institute fair and reasonable terms and conditions. It is worth finding casinos licensed by the stricter authorities in order to get most fair terms on bonuses.
It’s clear from this guide that not all online casino bonuses have been created equally. If you’re unsure about a particular offer, or need to have its terms and conditions clarified, we suggest that you contact the online casino’s customer support and ask questions.
