A Complete Guide to Casino Bonuses

The Most Common Casino Bonuses and Promotions

Many online casinos will provide their members with a variety of bonuses and promotions. A lot of these bonuses are similar although may have different names. Here is a list of bonuses that you may come across.

The Welcome Bonus – Drawing Players In

All new members at an online casino site are given the chance to claim a welcome bonus. The welcome bonus is only available for new members that have just signed up at the casino, making their first deposit. Welcome Bonuses tend to offer players extra money, free spins, chips at table games and cashback bonuses for sports bettors.

The First Deposit Bonus – Boosting the Bankroll

The first deposit bonus at an online casino is for all new members to claim. Typically, the bonus shows a percentage and then a currency figure. For instance, if a casino were to offer 100% up to €100, that means they will double your deposit (within €100). If you deposit €100, you would be able to play with an additional €100. Other first deposit bonuses include 50% up to €200, 75% up to €1,000 and so on.

The Reload Bonus – Ensuring Your Return

Reload Bonuses are just like first deposit bonuses although they do not offer you as much. Typically, Reload Bonuses give you the chance of claiming a little bit extra after making a deposit. This is an excellent way of ensuring the funds in your account are still on top. Often, Reload Bonuses will be available weekly or even daily.

The Free Spins Bonus – Perfect For Slots Fans

There are many casinos that offer a welcome bonus that looks something like this: “100% up to €100 + 50 Free Spins”.

Free Spins are an excellent motivator when claiming a bonus as they allow you to become more familiar with a specific game whilst not having to spend any money to spin. Furthermore, you are given the opportunity to potentially win big prizes without even paying for a single spin. Free spin bonuses, sometimes they are tied to a specific game, whereas other times they are given to you to use on any game that you please.

The No Deposit Bonus – The Holy Grail

At some casinos, No Deposit Bonuses are offered, and this is a great way of hitting the ground running. For No Deposit Bonuses, all you have to do is register yourself at an online casino site and they will give you credit to play into your account. This means playing from your brand-new account without depositing any of your own money.

The Cashback Bonus – Turning Losses into Wins

One of the most popular casino bonuses is the Cashback Bonus. This gives you the chance to claim back some of your losses from a specific period. For instance, a 25% cashback on last weekend’s play if you failed to win.

The Loyalty Bonus – Rewarding Your Custom

Almost all online casinos have a loyalty program these days. This ensures that all customers are given the chance to claim rewards for their loyalty. Players collect points every time they bet or play a game. The more points the collect, the higher they progress in their loyalty level. The more loyal a player is, the better rewards they receive from the casino. That can be in the form of extra spins, deposit bonuses, regular cashbacks, more flexibility on deposit and withdrawal limits, personalized offers and much more.

The Comp Points – Turning Play into Cash

Comp Points are similar to loyalty bonuses. They are earned by being an active player at the casino. For instance, if you bet €10, you could receive 1 comp point. Generally, once enough have been collected, Comp Points can be exchanged for cash. The higher loyalty level you are, the better the Comp Point conversion rate will be.

The Tournaments – Offering Top Prizes

Tournaments are just as important to online casinos as bonuses. They act rather similar to promotions rather than bonuses. During the competition period, certain slots or other casino games are selected for players to play. As players play the eligible games, they will climb a leaderboard. At the end of the tournament period, the players at the top of the leaderboard will win cash prizes or other perks.

Bonus Terms and Conditions Explained

It is vital to read the bonus terms and conditions before accepting a promotion or a bonus offer. The terms and conditions are more important than what the bonus itself advertises. This is because the bonus has certain criteria that must be met in order to be claimed. If the requirements are not met, you could end up without receiving the bonus you are counting on claiming. Whilst terms and conditions may appear difficult to understand at first, there are a few basics that could help you familiarize yourself with them better.

First and foremost, you should understand wagering requirements. The term “wagering requirements” is used to describe how much you have to play with the bonus cash before you can withdraw it. After all, if there were no wagering requirements, players could just deposit, claim the bonus cash and withdraw it. Thus, it is important to quickly learn that bonus money is not free money.

If you want to claim a deposit bonus but the wagering requirements are 30x, you will have to play a minimum of 30x in order to withdraw the bonus money. For instance, if you receive a €100 bonus with 30x requirements, you will have to wager the bonus money thirty times before you can withdraw it. That means making a total of €3,000 in bets.

Whilst this may sound rather daunting at first, you should also know that if you win money while playing with bonus money, you can then use those winnings to help fulfil the bonus’ wagering requirements. Therefore, if you hit a few big wins, you will have plenty of cash with which to meet the wagering requirements.

Another thing to consider is that not all games contribute the same amount to fulfilling the wagering requirements criteria. For instance, slots typically contribute 100% of your wager towards the wagering requirements. However, blackjack may only contribute 10% of your bet towards it. This means that when placing a €10 wager on slots, you are €10 closer to completing the requirements. However, on blackjack only €1 from the €10 will be contributed towards completing the criteria. The reason behind this is that blackjack has a far lower house edge and is easier to win than slots. The casino tends to adjust the wagering requirements contribution accordingly.

Another thing to look for in the terms and conditions is how much money you can win from the bonus money. Some bonuses may have a cap on how much can be claimed. Others may include timeframes in which you have to use the bonus and meet the requirements. Hence, it is vital that you always check the terms and conditions for every bonus that you see before deciding whether to claim it or not.

The other thing that you should be wary of is bonus abuse. This comes in various forms but it essentially boils down to players trying to take advantage of a casino’s bonus offers in an unfair manner. A typical example of bonus abuse is a player creating multiple accounts in order to claim a bonus several times.

Casino Bonuses - Be Careful but Don’t Avoid

Having read the above, you may conclude that it is best to avoid casino bonuses. However, this isn’t the case. To make use of casino bonuses and promotions, it is essential to know exactly what you are getting into before trying to claim the offer. Simply read the terms and conditions carefully. If you find a bonus that is reasonable and is worth taking advantage of, then go for it. Conversely, if you think you will not be able to meet the wagering requirements of a particular bonus, then it is best left alone.

Once you get the hang of it, taking advantage of casino offers will become more enjoyable and help you play with more money, reduce your losses and give you the chance to become a more loyal and rewarded player.