A Guide to Online Casino Bonuses
If there’s one thing that the gambling industry does well, it’s understanding their customers. This is why almost every online casino offers welcome bonuses to new and returning players, as it’s a great incentive to register with a site or to return back to playing. These bonuses can be very lucrative, but also very difficult to understand if you’re new to online gambling.
Different bonuses can be used to play different games, and there are requirements that need to be met in order to withdraw any winnings made from them. Many people don’t read the requirements before registering with an online casino, and spend time, and sometimes their own money, without being able to withdraw anything at all.
Aside from the different bonuses and requirements, some games are also better to play than others, which can add to the confusion of where to begin. Therefore, familiarizing yourself with how these bonuses work can help to reduce the frustration, and get you started on why you signed up in the first place: to gamble.
Different kinds of bonuses
One of the most important things to know is that there are different bonuses available for new and existing players. Many casinos will offer different bonuses for players to accept, and there isn’t exactly a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
The most common bonus is a registration bonus which is also known as a welcome bonus. There are two variations of this; a deposit bonus and a no deposit bonus. Essentially with a deposit bonus, you will receive bonus money for making your first deposit, and the no deposit bonus entails receiving bonus money when just registering.
The second most common bonus are free spins. These free spins are gifted to the player when creating an account on the site and are to be used specifically on slot machine games.
The third bonus is less common, and it is called the free trial bonus. The third most common bonus is fairly new, which is a cashback bonus and has been mainly used by new Japanese styled casinos. In a nutshell, even if you don’t win anything when playing any game, a percentage of your wagers will be returned to you.
Understanding the conditions
As amazing as these bonuses are, they are quite useless if you are unable to withdraw your winnings, so understanding the conditions that are required to be met is extremely important. The deposit bonus will often be advertised by online casinos by saying you will receive up to $1000 if you register. However, you will only receive the full $1000 if you meet the requirements provided. Most often the requirement is a match percentage, say 400%, so to receive $1000 you would need to deposit $250. It’s also important to note that if the bonus is “up to $1000”, depositing more than the required percentage will not give you more than what is offered.
The no deposit bonus would you require you to wager a certain amount of money before being able to withdraw any winnings. To calculate the wagering requirement, it would be your no deposit bonus, $100, times a certain amount, 50, which means you would need to wager $5000 in order to withdraw any winnings. It’s recommended to find an online casino with the lowest wagering requirement to make it easier to actually be able to withdraw any winnings.
Some games are better to play
When receiving free spins as a welcome bonus from an online casino, some may only allow you to play on one or two slot machine games. It would be in your best interest to read up on the games that are mentioned in the requirement, and choose a site that offers a game that will give you an opportunity to win.
Things to pay attention to when researching are the payback percentage and hit frequency of the game. The payback percentage is the total amount of all wagers that will be rewarded when winning. A good percentage is anything above 97%. Hit frequency is how often you will win when spinning the slots, a higher hit frequency means you will win more often. Having a high payback percentage and hit frequency will allow you to take full advantage of free spins and the no deposit bonus, ensuring that the bonuses are not wasted.
