Online casino bonuses have become common language, and an accepted part of the online casino world, so much so, that if you do not know what they are and how they work you might find yourself at a disadvantage.
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What is an online casino bonus
An online casino bonus is means of rewarding customers. The bonus will usually be advertised as a cash sum and the casino is essentially saying that if you do what it is enticing you to do, you will receive this much money. There are 2 important things to remember however. First of all the sum advertised is usually a top figure sum, in other words, you could earn that much but there are specific conditions for doing so. Secondly, you must know that the money they're giving you isn't really money; for the most part it is casino credit that can be wagered with, but it can not be withdrawn from your account as cash, and usually even the winnings from that credit can not be withdrawn until you have wagered a certain amount of your own deposited funds which is always several fold the sum of the original bonus.
Different types of online casino bonus
The Welcome Bonus: This is the most common type of online casino bonus, largely because these are the one that are plastered all over casino homepages on huge banners. The welcome deposit can take a number of forms, but will most commonly be a deposit cash match. A deposit cash match is a bonus where your deposit, within certain parameters will be met by the casino at a percentage up to a certain amount. For example you might see a casino offering 100% first deposit welcome bonus, $500. this means that the first deposit you make will be equalled 100% up to the value of $500, so if you deposit $500 you will have a starting balance of $1,000; if you make a first deposit of $100 you'll have a starting balance of $200, and if you make a first deposit of $1,000 you'll have a starting balance of $1,500.
Refer-a-Friend Bonus: most casinos run some kind of refer-a-friend scheme in which existing members get to recommend people to the site and get rewarded for doing so. Some casinos will reward just the referrer, but some will also reward the returnee. Most casinos will have a set amount that they will reward, for example $50 per friend, however some will run a pyramid scheme, some will pay a percentage of the first deposit to the referee, and others will have a tiered system whereby the more you recommend the more you get paid. All casinos however run the same system in that the referee must note who refereed them on joining, and must make a minimum deposit of a set amount before the rewards will be given.
Reload Bonus: the reload bonus tends to work in a similar way to the welcome bonus but will usually be for smaller amounts. The reload bonus is an ongoing bonus that will reward a set amount of deposit each month or week depending on the casino
Wagering Requirements
Wagering requirements are an intrinsic part of online casino playing, and most specifically the bonuses that come with online casinos. All online casinos will offer bonuses and say that they are money for nothing; however this isn't entirely true, as all online casinos will enforce wagering requirements on all bonuses given.
What are wagering requirements?
A wagering requirement is the sum that you will have to play with from your own money before you are able to withdraw funds given to you from a bonus. For example, if you join an online casino and they offer you $100 free for joining, that $100 isn't cash but rather is bonus credit. You can play with that money, turn it into more money, however you will not be able to withdraw that money until you have deposited and played through a certain times that amount. The wagering requirements, or play through requirements will vary from casino to casino and from game to game. The requirement itself will be so many times the amount of the bonus, thus if you see a 15x wagering requirement this means that you must play through 15 times the sum of the bonus from your own funds.
Do all games have wagering requirements?
All games that are eligible for bonuses will have wagering requirements, however not all games are eligible fro bonuses. Table games for example will often be excluded from the list of games that bonuses can be used for. Within the games offered by casinos the wagering requirements might differ quite substantially. For the most part, the easier the game to bet on is, the higher the wagering requirements for it are, with some games having wagering requirements of up to around 60 times the bonus; for example slots will often have a very high wagering requirement. In addition to the number of times the bonus you need to wager, you may also find casinos count different amounts of your wager towards the wagering requirements, thus a video poker wager may count 100%, but a blackjack wager may only count 50% towards the sum you need to get to in order to fulfil the wagering requirement.
What to look out for with regard to wagering requirements?
All casinos have wagering requirements, so the best thing to do with regard to them is simply be sure that you understand what they are about, and to be sure you understand how they work at the specific casino you are wagering at. Thus, it is vitally important, that no matter how tedious it is, you must check the rules and conditions of every bonus you wish to use, be it a welcome bonus, a refer-a-friend bonus or a reload bonus. Furthermore, don't be afraid to compare between different casinos as the requirements will change, and this could make quite a difference to your playing experience. The requirements will be listed under the terms of the bonuses, but should something be unclear, you should contact the customers services centre and ask for clarification.
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