It’s very rare that you will encounter an online casino which doesn’t advertise an attractive welcome bonus. But are they actually worth it? In this article, we are going to discuss the different types of promotions available at online casinos, and whether you should be going anywhere near them. It’s essential to always read the terms and conditions regarding these bonuses. After all, your main aim is to convert bonus money into real cash, but you’ve got to predict whether this is attainable. There are a few factors to consider, including wagering requirement and house edge, which we will outline below.
Wagering Requirement
This is probably the most important factor you need to consider when signing up for a welcome bonus. A casino will usually offer a deposit bonus, of, let’s say, for example, £300 with a 35x wagering requirement. This means you must wager the £300 bonus at least 35 times before you can withdraw the money to your account. Bear in mind that some casinos will offer a wagering requirement of around 100x which makes it near impossible to reach. A casino with decent offers and promotions is BETAT which has been established since 2011 and has a glowing reputation. Check out http://slotmine.com/betat-casino/ for more details.
Wagering Percentage
The wagering percentage will determine what percentage a specific game contributes towards the wagering requirement. Usually, slots will count 100% towards this, meaning every single penny you bet will count towards the requirement. However, table games such as blackjack and roulette will count considerably less.
What Is the House Edge?
The house edge is what percentage of total bets the casino is expected to make over a certain amount of time. So, if a slot has a house edge of 4%, they are predicting to make a 4% profit during that time. You will find that games such as blackjack will have a low house edge, while slot machines will be slightly higher.
What Are the Different Types of Bonuses Available?
There are hundreds of bonuses that you can find at online casinos, but they usually fall under a selection of different types. All the common ones are listed below:
No Deposit Bonus Offer – it may originally seem that the casino is giving away free cash to every gambler in sight. However, these offers will arrive with monstrous wagering requirements that 99% of the time ensures the casino won’t be losing any money. Even if you do miraculously manage to overturn the requirement, the amount you can actually win will be limited.
Free Spin Bonus – sometimes a casino may offer a certain amount of free spins for registering an account. Even though some may come with wagering requirements, there are some casinos out there that won’t have any, meaning what you win is yours to keep. There are, of course, terms and conditions that must be adhered too, however. Sometimes the casino will only offer five active paylines for a slot that usually has 50, so check this first before you get carried away thinking you’ve won £100 when really it’s only £10.
Deposit Match Bonus – this is the most common bonus and occurs when you deposit funds in your account for the first time. The casino will then match your deposit with a certain advertised percentage. So, if you deposit £100 and the match deposit bonus is 100%, you will receive £200 to play with. As always, check the terms and conditions. There are usually wagering requirements that must be used before you can withdraw funds. This isn’t ideal if your real money is affected by these requirements. Look out for offers where the requirements are only attached to the bonus money awarded.
Loyalty Bonus – this offer is slightly different to the ones above as it’s aimed at existing customers. These are usually points based which a player will accumulate the more they use the casino. One of the problems, however, is the fact the points awarded are very low compared to the sacrifices made to receive them. For example, some casinos offer £1 cash back for every 1,000 points redeemed, but it usually takes £10 spent on games to receive 1 solitary point. It’s a great idea if you’re going to spend the money anyway, but we wouldn’t advise chasing points just so you can receive a small amount of cash back.
Evidently, there are pros and cons with regards to bonus offers, and every factor must be analysed based on your goals. Of course, we advise that you go through all the terms and conditions of each bonus, but you need to also recognize what you want to achieve. If, for example, there is a wagering requirement of just 10x and a casino bonus of 100%, this is easily achievable by playing low house edge games such as blackjack. However, if slots are more your thing, and there’s a wagering requirement of 100x with a 50% bonus, think whether a profit is actually attainable. Most of the times it’s common sense, but remember that gambling is only a form of entertainment and should never be done to make profit!
