Types of Online Casino Bonuses

Overview

With all of the competition between online casinos, they have introduced a range of bonuses and promotions to help them attract new customers to their sites and to keep existing customers from leaving. Some online casinos offer a limited number of bonuses, while others offer many. In addition, some online casinos offer promotions that run for limited periods or are based on specific events. The promotions page of a casino may list weekly or monthly promotions. You must check the wagering requirements of each specific bonus carefully before you claim it. This will explain how you can withdraw winnings from using your bonus.

No Deposit Bonuses

No deposit bonuses are among the most popular bonuses available. They offer free cash to players simple for registering an account at the casino. They require no deposit and can be used to play the games at the casino for real money. Players may also find no deposit bonuses that offer a set amount of cash that can be used to play for a specified amount of time with the winnings up to a limited amount kept. Free spins bonuses are another type of no deposit bonus that allow players to play on a specific slots game for a limited amount of time and to keep their winnings up to a limited amount.

Welcome Bonuses

Welcome bonuses are the most common type of bonus available. They are bonuses for new players who are making their first deposit into their online casino account. These are typically percentage bonuses and can reach quite high amounts. Welcome bonus packages that offer bonuses on your first multiple number of deposits are also common.

Reload Bonuses

Reload bonuses are similar to welcome bonuses, but they are available to existing customers when they make deposits into their online casino accounts. These are percentage bonuses and are usually smaller than welcome bonuses.

Alternative Payment Method Bonuses

Many online casinos offer bonuses if you use one of their preferred payment methods. These are known as alternative payment method bonuses and they are a percentage of your deposit; typically 10-15%.

Refer-a-Friend Bonuses

Another way that online casinos try to attract new customers is via word of mouth and they encourage it by offering refer-a-friend bonuses. If you refer a friend to the casino you will be eligible for a set bonus amount and your friend may also be able to claim a bonus, on top of their welcome bonus.

Loyalty Bonuses

Loyalty bonuses are offered as part of a loyalty or VIP program at online casinos that run them. These bonuses aim to reward loyal players for their activity at the tables. The exact bonuses may vary, but they often include exclusive reload bonuses, birthday bonuses or special limited bonuses.

Understanding Wagering Requirements of Online Casino Bonuses

Overview

Online casinos offer online casino bonuses as a way to differentiate them from the competition and attract customers. There is such fierce competition between online casinos that the bonus offers have become more and more generous. Unfortunately, in its early years bonus hunting became common and some people skipped from casino to casino claiming bonuses and withdrawing the cash without playing the casino’s games. Some customers went as far as to open multiple fraudulent accounts to enable them to claim multiple welcome bonuses. This abuse meant that casinos started to lose money on the bonuses and had to crack down hard before they were forced to stop offering the incentives altogether. This is what led online casinos to introduce a concept known as wagering requirements, wagering conditions or play through requirements.

How Wagering Requirements Work

Wagering requirements on online casino bonuses basically stipulate an amount that the customer must play before he can withdraw his winnings from using the bonus. Wagering requirements require the player to play through a multiple of their initial deposit, or their initial deposit plus the bonus amount, before they are able to withdraw their winnings.

The wagering requirements for online casino bonuses are stated clearly by the online casino offering the bonus. The exact requirements will vary from casino to casino and it is important to read the small print before you accept a bonus. These requirements were not popular when they were introduced; however they protect the casino and they generally do not affect genuine players.

Understand the Requirements

We will provide an example of how wagering requirements may be written to help you understand how they work. You may be offered a welcome bonus of a 100% match deposit bonus up to £200. The wagering requirements may be 20x play through of the deposit. This would mean that you would need to wager 20 x £200 (£4,000) before you can withdraw your winnings.

Some casinos may state a play through requirements of the deposit and the bonus amount. In this example, players would then need to wager 20 x (200+200) = £8,000 before they can withdraw their winnings.

In addition, most casinos when they offer online casino bonuses allocate percentages to specific games in how they contribute to the play through requirements. Generally, slots games count 100%; however a game such as poker may only count 40%. This means that for every £100 you wager on a poker game, only £40 will count toward the play through requirements. Some games may not count at all. For this reason it is important to understand the wagering requirements before you claim a bonus to ensure that it will suit your playing style and your bankroll. Not all online casino bonuses must be claimed by all players.

Sticky vs. Cashable Online Casino Bonuses

Overview

Online casinos offer many different types of bonuses. In fact, specific types of online casino bonuses may vary from casino to casino in the way players can claim them. It is important to understand the differences between these bonuses and the implications of those differences. There are two main types of bonuses that we will discuss – sticky online casino bonuses and cashable online casino bonuses.

Sticky Bonuses

Online casinos were once much freer with their bonuses; however, as the practice of bonus hunting became more prevalent, casinos needed to find a way to better protect themselves. They did this by making it more difficult for bonus hunters to withdraw their bonus cash and they created the concept of sticky bonuses.

Sticky bonuses are also known as non-cashable bonuses or phantom bonuses. They are often described by the casinos as “for wagering purposes only.” These online casino bonuses are awarded to the player, but are stuck in the player’s account and cannot be withdrawn. In other words, the bonus money can only be used to play casino games. The bonus amount stays in the player’s account until it has been used up or until the player makes a withdrawal of their winnings, in which case the bonus amount will be lost.

Superficially, sticky bonuses may appear to favor the casino only and not the player; however the benefits of sticky online casino bonuses are significant. While cashable bonuses may offer 100% deposit bonuses, it is not difficult to find sticky bonuses of 400%. In addition, the wagering requirements for these bonuses are often significantly lower than the requirements for cashable bonuses, making your winnings more within reach.

Cashable Bonuses

Cashable online casino bonuses are bonuses that allow the player to cash in the bonus amount. This means that once you have fulfilled the wagering requirements for the bonus, you will be able to withdraw your winnings as well as the bonus amount. Commonly, if you claim a cashable bonus, the wagering requirements of the bonus will require you to play through a number of times the bonus plus your deposit. In other words, if you claim a 100% match deposit bonus up to £100 with a play through requirement of 30 x, in order to make a withdrawal you will need to play 30 x (100 + 100) = 30 x 200 = £6,000. While the wagering requirements are high making it much more difficult to withdraw the bonus and your winnings, there are much larger amounts at stake. It is worthwhile to look up strategy for playing with a cashable bonus in order to optimize your takings. If you play wisely, you can significantly boost your bankroll when you claim cashable online casino bonuses.