Casino bonus: what are they and how do they work?

 You’ve probably seen them before: ads for online casinos that offer you great bonuses which look almost too good to be true. Chances are that they are too good to be true.

Although casino bonuses can be great; you do need to understand them in order to know which ones are worthwhile and which bonuses you shouldn’t even give a second look.

We at Bonuslots know firsthand how casinos can lure you in with big promises only to find out later that you can’t withdraw your money because you violated the terms. That’s why today we’ll be teaching you everything that you need to know about bonuses. From the terms and conditions to the best bonuses you can find; at the end you’ll be a pro at finding the best bonuses!

What is a Casino Bonus?

Casino bonuses are a way to lure you in. Casinos use them to get new players to register and deposit money. It’s kind of the same as grocery stores luring you in with nice discounts and free grocery’s if you shop with them.

There are different kinds of bonuses like free spins, 100% deposit bonus or free bets for example. How do these work?

Free spins

Free spins are great! They can be used for certain videoslots. Instead of using your own money you get a certain number of free spins. These free spins can be worth various amounts of money. The most common ones are about €0,50.

100% deposit bonus

One of the most common bonuses are the ones that double your first deposit. When depositing money, the casino will double it. So, if you were to deposit €10 you would get €20 to play with. While this sounds very good there are some things that you need to watch out for, but more on that later.

Free bets

If you are interested in sports betting than this is the most interesting one for you. Casinos that offer sports betting will often times have bonuses that include free bets. These free bets can be used to place a bet for certain matches without having to use your own money.

Casino bonus terms

As we said before: there are some things you really need to look out for when choosing a casino bonus.

When you get bonus money at an online casino it’s not like they are just giving away free money. That wouldn’t be good business of course. So, in order to still be able to offer bonuses they came up with a solution: wagering requirements.

Wagering requirements

To explain this, we are going to use the following example: we deposit €10, and we get €20 to play with. So, the bonus amount is €10.

The extra €10 that we got needs to be used in the casino before we can withdraw it. This is not surprising if you think about it because otherwise everybody would just immediately withdraw again to get some free money.

So, once you activate the bonus you won’t be able to withdraw any money from your account until you’ve met the wagering requirements. What this means is that you need to wager the €10 bonus that we got a certain number of times before we can cash out.

The average wagering requirement at casinos is 30 times. So, using the example of €10 as our bonus this means that we will need to wager €10 at least 30 times before we can withdraw the profits. So, 30 times €10 means we need to wager €300 in total to meet the wagering requirements.

The number of times you need to wager your bonus differs per bonus and casino. Some casinos bonuses have a wagering requirement of 20 while others go as far as 40.

Another thing you need to look of for is that the wagering requirements don’t work the same for all games. In our example we already concluded that we would need to wager €300 to meet the withdrawal requirements, but this can differ per game. 

Videoslots often times count for the full 100%. So, if you wager €5, you’ll be left with a wagering requirement of €295. But other games like table games in the Live Casino have other wagering requirements. Often times the wagers placed at the Live Casino only count for 10% toward the wagering requirements. So, if we were to wager €5 at the Live Casino it would only count for €0,50 towards the wagering requirement leaving us with €295,50 still to wager. The same goes for sports betting and table games at the casino. This too can differ per casino. 

Sports betting and free spins

The bonuses like free spins and free bets have the same rules as the deposit bonus usually. When you make a profit from the free bets and spins, you’ll need to wager this profit a certain amount of times. The number of times you’ll need to wager the profits from free bets and spins is usually lower than 30 times.

What you should look for in a bonus 

A bonus can be a great way to get the edge at the casino. So, what should you look for in a bonus? 

Wagering requirements

The main thing to look out for is the number of times you need to wager the bonus. While the wagering requirement is usually around 30, there are some bonuses that offer bonuses with a much lower wagering requirement. Especially bonuses that offer free spins or free bets can have some juicy wagering requirements. Some bonuses that offer free spins or free bets don’t even have wagering requirements!

For bonuses that offer a 100% deposit bonus the main thing to look out for is that the bonus doesn’t exceed a wagering requirement of 30. Some casinos offer a wagering requirement of 20 for example.

Minimum and maximum deposit

While a bonus and the wagering requirements may seem good, you do need to look out for the amount of money that is needed to activate the bonus. Most bonuses start at €10, but if you are lucky, you can find some that start at €5.

Value of free spins and free bets

Sometimes you’ll see a bonus that offers like 100 free spins. That seems like a really good bonus, but you need to bear in mind that the value of those free spins might not be too good. A nice rule of thumb is to aim for free spins that are worth just as much or more than your deposit. If you deposit €10 for example you should get at least €10 worth of free spins.

The same goes for free bets. When depositing money, you should get a free bet that is worth just as much as your deposit.

When using free bets or free spins you do need to look out for the places where they can be used. Free bets can usually only be used for certain matches and free spins can only be used on specific games.

Conclusion

If you use them right; bonuses can be great. But if you don’t have any experience with them, they can be very tricky. Hopefully you’ll now be able to sniff out the best bonuses you can find online!