Casino Bonus Guide
In the highly lucrative online casino industry, each casino is trying to have a share of the multi billion dollar business and there are hoards of attractive promotions always going on to get a gambler hooked to a particular casino. Bonuses are one of the most commonly used incentives to entice a player to come and play at a site. At Gimmebonuses, our job is to help you find the top gambling bonuses so you can get more bang for your buck!
Sign up bonuses are something that an online casino offers a player at the time they start playing. In other words, sign up bonus or first deposit bonus is the incentive given to a player for joining the site as a real player. This bonus is generally in the form of a match up of the amount deposited by the player. This means that a player has to first deposit some money and then they can receive the bonus. Most sites offer a match up of 50% or 100% but in some cases it may be higher and may also be 200% for a limited period of time. What this means is that when a player registers and deposits at an online casino, they will be given a matchup of the amount deposited. For example: if you deposit $100 in your account, then if the sign up bonus is 100%, then you will receive another $100 taking your balance to $200. There is also a maximum limit till which this percentage can be availed. So don’t expect to deposit $1000 and get another grand in bonus money. Most casinos would fix the maximum limit to be availed at around $100.
That’s so cool, you say! Hold on, my friend, there is a downside to online casino bonuses. It isn’t as easy to cash out this $100 as online casinos are also out to make money and not give away some easy cash.
Wagering Requirements
There is something called wagering requirement, this is what a gambler needs to fulfil before he can withdraw this bonus money. Wagering requirement may be listed as 10 times or 20 times (or more). This means that the player has to wager a defined multiple of the bonus.
If we take the previous example of a $200 bonus and the wagering requirements are 10x. Before they can withdraw any money, including the initial $100 deposit, a total of $2,000.00 will need to be wagered.
Now, there is another catch to it. Some say and it has also been proved that blackjack is one of the safest games to play with odds better of survival than losing. Many online casinos ask the player to fulfil the wager requirements in a particular set of games and most bar blackjack from that set. But if blackjack can be played then I would advise that players start with the lower bets of blackjack and then work towards the $2000. Chances are you might end up making more than your initial amount of $200 or at least nearby the amount. But yes, it might take you sometime before you can fulfil the wagering requirement and to make sure that the wagers are met fast, you could play many spots at a multi table game. This might speed up the process and starting with small bets like $2 or $3 is recommended.
This was in regards to sites that give bonuses on deposits, but there are also some sites that may offer a no deposit bonus as part of some limited period promotions. But this amount is generally very small between $5 and $20. This is mostly the bait offered to a new player to get hooked to the online casino world. Other forms of sign up bonus also include free play bonus which implies that a player is given some casino credits; say $500 and he gets an hour to play. Whatever money he is left with is his sign up bonus. But here again, it isn’t a cake walk. Again the wagering requirements come into being and the games to be played are also limited.
But if you are a high roller then you are sure to benefit. A high roller implies someone who deposits and plays in the big money. For example, a casino may run a promotion that says that on the deposit of $3000 as initial deposit, a high roller may get $1000. This is a high roller bonus. This is valid only on this particular amount and not for smaller deposits.