Deposit Bonus How-to
Attracting newbies and securing the regulars can be tough. Most casinos offer different bonuses and promotions to do this. They are easy to manage, profitable, fun and attract attention. Deposit bonuses are probably the most popular deals in online gambling. Let’s find out everything we can about them.
A deposit bonus is usually a free credit. Use bonus cash for gambling just like your own cash. Usually if you meet all the terms, you will be able to cash out the bonus wins, just like any other winnings. Deposit offers are available to any player, whether a new or an experienced one. Most houses prefer the so-called matching bonuses. It’s when the house credits you with free cash matching the amount of your deposit.
Say when you deposit $10 with the 100% match, you get $10 more on your account. Thus, you will have $20 to gamble on. But don’t forget, most bonus offers usually have the minimal deposit amount to be activated. You have better check it beforehand. As the casino’s minimal deposit may be, let’s say $10, while the entry point for the deposit bonus is $20. Most deposit deals are limited at their maximum amount too. So it doesn’t matter how much you deposit, there is no way you get more than a predetermined bonus tops.
All deposit bonuses may be divided into welcome offers, 2nd (or 3rd, 4th etc) deposit deals and reload offers. All welcome deals are simple: they are offered exclusively to newbies. Probably, the welcome deposit promo is the biggest deal you may get: those may match your first deposit up to 200%. Deposit bonuses on the second and the following deposits are usually less impressive.
They may match your deposit by 50% or up to 100% sometimes. As for reload offers, they require you to make a deposit on a particular date or day of the week designated by the casino. Those offers are rather moderate, frankly, rarely over a 25% match.
After you get your bonus, then there are some rollover terms to meet. Most bonuses come with those. Rollover conditions mean you need to wager several times more than you have received as a bonus. Say you have received a bonus worth $30 with the rollover terms 30x. Thus, your total bets at the casino have to exceed $900.
There are two types of playthrough terms: one counts only the bonus amount and another that counts both the bonus and the rollover amounts. How does that work? Say you have deposited $100 with a 200% matching part and 20x rollover. In the first case, you would have to play through only the bonus amount — $200. So your rollover would be $4,000.
But in the second case, when rollover terms apply to the deposit and the bonus together, your rollover would be $6,000. Clearly, rollover is much easier to meet when only the bonus sum counts.
Meeting the rollover might also be tricky, as different games contribute towards meeting your rollover terms at different rates. That is true for basically all online houses, all you need is to find out the rates your house offers. The easiest way to do it is to study the Terms and Conditions.
Why do casinos impose such restrictions? Well, that is pretty obvious: without them meeting the rollover would be extremely easy. It will attract bonus hunters. Probably the easiest way to meet the rollover, is to bet the entire bonus in a high variance game. Stake the whole amount on one number in any European roulette. With the odds of a straight bet 36:1 you might win 36 times your bonus amount in one spin.
That is why casinos allow you to play only certain games to meet the rollover. Some games are excluded from the offer entirely, others are usually limited by the size of the contribution. Say most slots contribute 100% towards meeting the wagering goal. It means all your bets will count towards meeting the rollover in full: bet $1 and get $1 towards meeting the goal. But other games usually count only 50% or 25% or even less towards meeting the rollover.
Take Craps, for example, it’s RTP is around 98.63%. Most casinos either exclude Craps from wagering entirely or lower its wagering rate to around 5% only. So from every $1 wagered in Craps, only 5 cents will count towards the rollover. How long will it take you to play through, say, $1,000? Do the math! So, basically, casinos force you into playing certain games.
Usually, those with lower variance and payout rates. So before accepting the offer, check its terms, to see that the games you like to play are qualified for the rollover. And there is one more rub. Meeting the playthrough is time-sensitive. It may be 30, 60 days, and sometimes less. Consider what time you have along with the wagering requirements!
But even if a certain game is allowed for wagering, there might be some regulations you have to consider. First, the allowed size of bets. Most likely, all the allowed games have maximum wager limits. You can’t exceed those. Otherwise, you would probably never be allowed to withdraw your wins. So no chance of betting the entire bonus in one chunk at a roulette.
One more thing is the gamble button. Some casino card games have this option of a 50/50 chance to double your wins. It usually raises the game’s variance considerably, so most casinos don’t allow to use it while meeting the rollover.
Finally, if you have met the rollover and qualified for the withdrawal, there is one more catch: the maximum amount of converted credit. Sounds complicated, but it basically means that you will be able to withdraw only a certain part of your wins. For instance, you have deposited $100 with a 100% matching deposit with a 20x rollover and a 5x the original deposit cash-out. And say you have won $2,500 with it. You would be allowed to withdraw only 5 times your original deposit, namely $500.
Reading all this, you probably wonder if deposit bonuses are worth it. Some of them are. They give you a great financial boost and allow you to play longer. They might be extremely profitable.
The trick is to find them. Now when you know what to expect and what are the pitfalls, you will be able to make much more informed and leveled decisions. Remember, gamblers can’t lose their heads when it comes to free cash! And read the fine print. It might save you a whole lot of trouble.
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