Casino bonuses are one of the main reasons we choose a particular online casino over others and they come in many varieties. From free spins to deposit bonuses, promotions have become an inseparable part of the online gambling experience and no online casino can afford not to offer something back to its users. But with so many options to choose from and so many rules to follow it could be difficult to simply get your foot in the door let alone get some actual value from a promotion. In this article, we will give you some pointers on how to make the most out of the bonuses currently available on the market.
Terms and conditions
First and foremost, you need to take a look at the terms and condition that you have to abide by. Granted, that is neither fun or engaging, but it is the only way that we can weed out the good from the bad and give us some idea what we are getting into. The first thing you should consider is the wagering requirement of a given promotion. This indicates how much we will have to wager before we can cash in our bonus, or in other words, how much effort we will have to put in. According to Bonus Insider a wagering requirement is the casino’s way of ensuring that someone would not simply register, cash out their bonus and never come back.
Time was when wagering requirements were quite decent and a person could actually meet them with a bit of luck. But due to the practice of ‘bonus whoring’, online casinos have been forced to increase the wagering so that they do not lose money. They are a business after all. Nowadays, a wagering requirement of 40 times has become par the course. You want to avoid anything above that since the risk of losing your money trying to meet the requirement will be much higher.
Wagering requirement
Additionally, you should also stay away from any promotion that requires you to wager 40 times the combined amount of the bonus and the deposit. What’s the difference you ask? Well, the latter looks deceptively like the former, but there is a world of difference once you do the math. For example, $100 bonus with a 40 times wagering requirement equates to $100*40 = $4,000 in wagers before you can cash in the bonus. Now, imagine the following scenario: you take a 100% match on your $100 deposit and have a to wager the combined amount of the bonus and the deposit. Putting all the numbers in and we get ($100+$100)*40 = $8,000 wagered before we can withdraw. As you can see, the second bonus has twice the wagering requirement and as you can imagine, this only works in the favor of the casino.
Wagering contributions
Moving on to the games that you would like to play. You find the right bonus, you make your deposit and claim it. With a smile on your face, you head over to the gaming library and start looking for your favorite blackjack game. But wait! Did you first have a look at the wagering contributions? This is something else that will affect your probability of cashing in the bonus. See, placing bets on certain games will contribute more to the wagering requirement than betting on others. What do we mean? For example, slot games contribute 100% to the wagering requirement, with a $10 counting as $10 towards the requirement. However, a $10 bet on a blackjack game with a 10% contribution will only count as $1. As you can imagine, playing blackjack significantly reduces the chance of you cashing in the bonus. Trying to wager a $100 bonus at 40x while playing blackjack will require you to wager $40,000, rather than the standard $4,000. The is also true for the vast majority of table games, including roulette, baccarat and others. In fact, there are some online casinos that exclude table games altogether.
Finally, you also have to take into account maximum bet amounts and the time frame in which you have to meet the wagering requirement. All of these are important factors to consider and you have to understand them if you wish to make good use of your bonus.
In conclusion, the best way to the make the most of your bonus is to find one with the lowest wagering requirement possible and make sure to play on slot games. If you like other games, then you are pretty much out of luck.
