Play for free, get an extra £200, deposit money and receive tens of free spins. As a casino player, you must have encountered hundreds of such offers. Casino bonuses act as bait for new and existing players, with operators fiercely competing with each other to win a new potential player on their website.
But what are casino bonuses, really? Naive as we all are, no one actually believes that online casinos, which are known for their skyrocketing profits, would actually perform some charity work and freely give away money to their players. Why, then, do casino bonuses even exist? Or, what we should rather ask, is why they exist and generate massive profits for online operators.
A Guide to Online Casino Bonuses
Bearing in mind that we all might have a different understanding of what a casino bonus is, it makes sense to outline the very basic mechanism behind such offers.
Casino bonuses are nothing but an incentive offered by an operator who is using them to build numerous player audiences and further engage them to gamble. In other words, they’re “freebies” that casino players get in exchange for their activity on operators’ sites. If you are smart about them, you can use them to your advantage and slip into the world of online gaming for almost free.
What casino bonuses can we find online?
Free Spins
The true king of enticement! Players around the world love this bonus type and continuously review available promotions to receive a bag of free spins for their favourite slot games. Most of the time, a deposit is required to trigger those but there’s no hard rule. Often, the spins carry a set value and can be used for one particular game that the casino tries to promote to a bigger audience.
The spins generously donated by a casino operator work the same way as regular spins players purchase for the money, meaning that players still can accumulate nice winnings on their accounts thanks to those “freebies”.
(No) Deposit Bonuses
A very popular form of bonus offers cash or extra spins to a player who deposits funds into their casino bankroll. Depending on the minimum and maximum deposit requirements, players can enjoy an extra boost in their account that surely drives their engagement on the chosen casino site.
It’s fair to say that the previously mentioned “fierce competition” among casino operators is an understatement. These days it looks like nothing but a virtual battle where one tries some very extreme ways to attract a new player to their casino. It’s not a novelty to see operators offering no deposit bonuses, which entitle users to start playing casino games with no funds available in their accounts.
As magical as it sounds, the offers concern pretty low in-value bonuses to give players a chance to taste a real casino action for free. Gamblers get a feel for the different kinds of options and the possibility to try out games they never played before. Free is good, they say. It obviously is, but what many don’t see is what follows the very beautified introduction to the casino world. And this, in contrast, has little in common with the experience of the “free, extra, bonus” power that players are offered at first.
Free Means Profitable
This is where the fairytale ends and now we’re heading into a more reality-based, cruel part of the story. It’s time to rediscover the real meaning of “free” and see how online casinos benefit from these charitable activities. Every offer promoted by a casino is supported by, always lengthy and super-detailed, terms and conditions documents. This set of endless rules explains how players should use the promotion to enjoy it fairly and fully legally. It can’t be rocket science, right? Well, it doesn’t require a PhD title to understand it but they’re often tricky, confusing and misleading for players. What’s there to particularly look out for when choosing a casino bonus?
Although terms and conditions vary depending on the operator and bonus, the pattern remains the same for all of them. By checking the guidelines of the promotion we can understand what to expect as a result of the bonus. The key to the over-bonus assessment is knowing the wagering requirements. The general rule is – the lower it is, the better, but don’t hold your breath. It’s a nearly impossible scenario to find a bonus that has no wagering requirements.
All in all, this is exactly how casinos secure extra safety, as players are told how many times they need to wager the given value in order to be even entitled to winning withdrawals. And, as luck has a quite short expiry date, the chances one can manage to meet the requirements and accumulate massive funds are low, to say the least.
Let’s look into this possible scenario. A bonus of £100 has the wagering requirements of 30x, meaning a player needs to bet £3000 in total to be entitled to paying out their winnings. Now, is the “free” bonus worth this risk? There is no obvious answer to this question, as it’s dependent on many factors – a game type, the above-mentioned wagering requirements, and, cliché as it sounds, the pure luck of a player. And for this exact reason, hated by many terms and conditions constitute players’ book of wisdom when it comes to casino promotions. They might not tell you how much there’s on the plate to be won but surely can give you a better picture of how much there’s to lose.
Winning Over Casino
To clear all doubts before they even emerge, let’s clarify that it’s simply impossible to win with a casino. But! One can play, win money and enjoy the thrill of gambling. Many have tried to break casino algorithms and failed horrendously, so instead of planning another attempt of proving superhuman powers, it’s better to acknowledge the mechanism behind casino bonuses and simply have fun while playing slots, poker or blackjack online.
Casino bonuses exist to attract, retain and entertain players but it’s in there, and only their business knows they won’t secure them any magical source of income. Winning and losing come inseparably and together they describe a real casino experience which every player should always remember when choosing a casino bonus.