7 Things to Know Before Starting the Bonus Hunting
Online casinos are businesses that are always keen to make a profit. The online gambling industry is incredibly competitive, so pretty much every online casino offers a number of bonuses to attract players and get them to sign up, so they don’t spend their money elsewhere. The type and size of the bonuses vary greatly from casino to casino. For example, one might offer a roulette bonus no deposit, while another might offer free spins and bonus money. Before you start hunting down casino bonuses, here are seven important things you need to know about the bonuses, and how they work.
The Welcome Offer
As its name suggests, the welcome offer simply refers to whatever bonus the casino has lined up for new players. That is players who haven’t yet officially signed up to become members of the casino. When you go hunting for bonuses, it’s the welcome offer you’ll see advertised more often than not. This particular reward can get very competitive indeed – after all; it’s the one that casinos use to attract new players and encourage them to sign up. There are several different types of the welcome package available.
The Match Bonus
A very common incentive given to new players is the match bonus. This simply gives you a free sum of money equal to a percentage of your deposit. For example, if it’s a 100% match bonus, and you deposit £10, you’d receive free £10 as a bonus and would have a total of £20 to play with. Nearly all match bonuses have an upper limit on how much bonus money you can claim. For a 100% match bonus, the money might be capped at £100, for example. So if you deposited £100, you’d receive £100 in bonus money, but if you deposited any more than £100, you would still receive £100 and no more.
Free Spins
Another common reward you can get for signing up for a casino is free spins. This gives you a certain amount of spins that you can use for no cost at all on a single slot, a selection of slots or all of the casino’s slots. Some casinos may offer new players a small number of free spins to use, whereas others can offer in excess of 100. Many casinos give out free spins on their newest slots in order to promote them.
No Deposit Bonus
As its name suggests, this type of promo is one you can claim without actually having to make a deposit into your account. If a house has a no deposit reward advertised, you’ll be able to claim it just for signing up to the establishment – no deposit is necessary. This type of offer typically rewards you with a small amount of money to play with. You may be able to use that money on any game, or it may be restricted to a certain selection of games.
Wagering Requirements
Many bonuses seem too good to be true. What you have to understand about them is that there’s always a catch. The vast majority of online casinos have wagering requirements set in place. These are designed to protect the casinos and prevent new players from signing up, claiming a load of free money and withdrawing it. A lot of casinos have wagering requirements of 35x – they stipulate that you have to play through the deposit and bonus 35 times in order to cash out. So, if you’ve deposited £100 and have received a free £100, you’d end up having to wager £7,000 before you can withdraw your winnings.
Ongoing Promotions
When looking at different casino bonuses, it’s very much worth looking beyond the welcome bonus. In other words, you should see what promotions there are for casino members. Many casinos have daily, weekly and monthly offers, alongside ongoing promotions and limited-time special deals. A gambling house might have a very tempting welcome offer, but not much in the way of other promotions; on the other hand, it might not have the best welcome offer, but plenty of other promotions that would make signing up worth your while.
Safety and Security
It’s always worth pointing out to anyone looking to sign up to online casinos that you should only ever sign up to casinos you can trust. The vast majority of casinos are reliable and trustworthy; however, there will always be a very small number of them that you should avoid. Before signing up to a gambling site and taking advantage of its bonus offers, do some research on that establishment to make sure it’s reputable. A telltale sign that a casino can’t be trusted is if it doesn’t have a gambling licence; you’ll typically find this towards the bottom of the casino’s webpage. So, when you’re on the lookout for that great casino bonus, make sure it’s at the one that’s safe and secure.