Free cheese is only in the mousetrap – Bonuses’ Overview
I am sure that this is the only guide on the Internet that was written with the aim of conveying to players the negative facts in online casino bonuses, and not the standard information about what Wager is and the maximum bet and how it is profitable to take deposit bonuses.
To be honest, a profitable deposit bonus is an illusion that gullible players believe in.
Most online casinos offer various bonuses to players. In some casinos, in order to refuse the bonus during the deposit, you need to check the box several times that you refuse the bonus offer. You didn't notice and didn't tick? Then, get a deposit bonus along with hundreds of conditions from the casino.
Why do you think the casinos insist that you take the bonus at the time of the deposit? Well, obviously so that the player doesn’t have a greater chance of winning something. We do know that the free cheese can be only found in the mousetrap.
In this article, I will write in detail not only about all the main types of bonuses, but also why it is not profitable for the player to take most of the bonuses and why they are so actively sold to us.
Table of Content:
Types of Bonuses in Online Casinos
Why No Deposit Bonuses Are Often Not Worth It
Why You Should Avoid Deposit Bonuses
Cashback: The Only Bonus Worth Taking
How to Maximize Cashback Profits
Conclusion: The Real Cost of Casino Bonuses
Types of bonuses in online casinos
There are several types of bonuses, they are divided into deposit and no deposit, as well as cashback.
Personally, I only take cashback, but first I always find out all the information I need about the conditions. Most casinos have conditions that turn cashback from the usual return of part of the money lost into an outright swindle on the part of the casino.
No Deposit Bonuses
No deposit bonuses are provided by the casino for registration, or just for playing on their site at the discretion of the account manager.
What is the point of an online casino to provide bonuses without money?
The meaning is simple. Bonus further motivates the player to make a deposit with real money.
Let's look at a couple of examples.
You have registered at the Casino and received $ 10 without a deposit to your account.
You started the game and lost the bonus money, but you want to continue playing. Next, you will make a deposit with your own money and the casino has reached its goal. Or you will spoil your mood due to losing the bonus, the money was not yours, but it will be a shame. The result in any case will be bad for you.
Another example. You lost money in some casino, after some time you receive an E-mail message that free spins are available to you, or some amount in the currency without a deposit.
In this case, you are being deliberately offered no deposit bonuses to get you back in the game and if you use the bonus, you will most likely make a real money deposit and the casino goal will be achieved. If you lost at some casino and they offer you something, ask the casino only for Cashback. I will write below how to do it correctly.
Most readers will think that I am talking nonsense, because you can win or lose with deposit, with or without bonuses.
It is possible to catch a big win in some slot, but it is unlikely to withdraw the money won.
The fact is that all no deposit bonuses have hard wagering conditions and rules are on two pages. The maximum amount of a withdrawal will be limited there, as a rule. The maximum possible withdrawal is the amount of a no deposit bonus, if the bonus amount is $5, then the maximum possible withdrawal is $5. The idea of losing the whole evening to get $5 is not ideal.
In addition, there will be a list of slots where it is forbidden to play with bonus money and many other restrictions.
With the active use of no deposit bonuses, most likely in the end you will lose your real money, which you did not plan to lose.
An important point, as a rule, if the casino has good conditions for a no deposit bonus, then most likely the slots have a well reduced percentage of return to the player and the game will be meaningless.
Linked materials
To finally destroy the illusions about no deposit bonuses, I will tell the real story of one of the members of our community (naturally, with his permission).
Our man's name is Tom, he registered in a casino from our rating, then he activated a $10 no deposit signup bonus.
Tom continues his story:
“I decided to play San Quentin XWays from Nolimit City, the bet was 0.20, after about 40 spins I caught a bonus. I think it’s cool, this slot didn’t give me a bonus game so quickly, I don’t buy bonuses in principle in order to spend more time playing slots. A minute later, an event occurred that probably happens once or twice in a lifetime, I got the maximum possible win at X150000! Damn it, I was speechless then! My heart was pounding so fast, it had never beaten like that, I couldn’t speak, I just mumbled…
Only after 10 minutes I pulled myself together and was able to take a screenshot:
Then, within three hours, without exceeding the maximum bet, I won back the bonus without any problems, put money on withdrawal and even uploaded documents for account verification.
The next day, I received an e-mail message that the withdrawal of money was cancelled, I immediately went to the online casino and found only $10 instead of $ 29,900 (the amount on the balance after wagering the bonus).
I wrote to the support chat and they explained to me that the maximum withdrawal amount is equal to the amount of the bonus and it is forbidden to play the San Quentin XWays slot without a deposit when the bonus is activated, but since you were lucky to get the maximum win, it was decided to leave $ 10 for me. As for the bonus rules, the casino did it very tricky, some of the rules were visible during activation, such as wager and the maximum bet, and the other part had to be read by clicking on a link that is not visible.
Unfortunately, this is not the end of my story, as a result, in order to repeat my experience of getting the maximum win, I went crazy and started making a deposit after a deposit and lost all my money. In order to somehow live I had to turn to my parents for help, you have no idea how ashamed I was to say that I lost all my money in an online casino, and I don’t have money for groceries. They paid me a psychologist and gave me money for the first time. If not for them, I don’t know what would have happened to me.”
Deposit bonuses
You will receive a deposit bonus (extra money and free spins) only when you deposit a certain amount. As a rule, the biggest bonus is issued on the first deposit.
Personally, I have not taken deposit bonuses for a couple of years, I only play with my own money. I think that it is better to lower the bet, but play without bonus money, than to play in an online casino with a bonus.
Why should you not take deposit bonuses?
1. When you take a deposit bonus, the bonus has a wager that you must wager.
Wager is a multiplier representing the number of times you must wager the bonus amount before you can withdraw any winnings. A couple of years ago, you could find a reliable online casino that provided a deposit bonus with x20-X25 Wager, and it made some sense to take the bonus. At this point in time, Wager starts at x40.
Until you wager the bonus, you have no way to withdraw money, and wagering it with Wager x40 is not as easy as it seems.
And if you play without bonuses, you can put money for withdrawal at any time.
When a person takes a bonus and his balance doubles, it's just an illusion, it's not the balance that doubles, it's you agreeing to the conditions and rules you don't need. When choosing to take a bonus or reduce your average bet by 2 times, it will be much more profitable to reduce the bet.
2. Maximum bet. During the activation of the deposit bonus, as a rule, you limit yourself in the maximum bet. What if you are lucky and want to increase your bet? If you exceed the maximum bet once (this may be an accident), the online casino will have the right to deprive you of your winnings.
Therefore, most online casinos, when you take a deposit bonus, do not programmatically block the player's ability to increase the bet above the maximum, so that there is a reason not to pay money to the player in case of winning.
3. List of prohibited slots for playing. If you took a bonus, then most online casinos have a list of slots that are forbidden to play, as a rule, these are high-volatility slots for the sake of playing in which it would make sense to take a deposit bonus.
Naturally, technically, most online casinos do not block the game in prohibited online slots in any way, so that there is a reason not to pay you money in case of a big win.
4. Deposit bonus terms and conditions. In addition to the above restrictions, you will find a list of rules that you must first read and then follow, otherwise, if any of the rules are violated, all bonus and won money can be written off.
You are actually paying for this fun yourself. Do you really need it?
5. If you take a deposit bonus, then you can forget about getting Cashback. You need to choose between the first or the second option. I choose exclusively Cashback.
An important point related to the conditions of the first deposit bonus, if the conditions are too good, for example, the X20 wager and not a large list of slots that are forbidden to play with bonus money, then check the return percentage of the slots, most likely the RTP of the slots will be reduced and you will not bonus and with a bonus, even theoretically, you can’t win anything.
Linked materials
If you decide to play with a deposit bonus, then here are my recommendations:
Choose bonuses with a Wager up to 30. An interesting point, some casinos are trying to mislead players, they give a small Wager but not for a bonus, but for a deposit + bonus. For example, they write that there is a wager of 25, but if you count the deposit and bonus, then the wager will turn out to be 50 and the offer ceases to be profitable.
Be sure to watch the forbidden slots for playing with a bonus, or rather, open a notepad and copy all the forbidden slots and watch this file before playing a new slot.
Read all the rules carefully, in addition to the bet limit and prohibited slots, anything can be there, for example, limits on the maximum withdrawal amount, but what if you are very lucky?
Pay attention to how long the bonus is valid, as a rule, there is a time period until which time it needs to be wagered.
Make it a rule, if you see favorable conditions for a bonus offer, then look at the RTP for each slot before playing and read the reviews. Most likely, reviews and ratings, as well as checking the RTP of the casino will be in our rating of online casinos, just enter the name in the search and carefully read what other players write and what is the average return rate.
Why do online casinos offer deposit bonuses to players?
It happens because the online casino wants to earn more money. Let's write it down point by point.
1. By doubling the balance, an online casinocreates the illusion that it is profitable to play: you make a deposit of $100, you get $ 200 .
2. Reduce the likelihood of a player withdrawing money from the casino.
3. Bind the player with restrictions and rules.
4. Increase the time spent by the player in the game - the more a person plays in the casino, the higher the likelihood that a person will break loose and start playing recklessly.
Cashback in online casino.
As I wrote above, of all the bonus offers that the online casino offers, I use only Cashback. I get 10 to 15 percent of the money I lose to my gaming account.
Why do I only take Cashback?
Normal Cashback has no conditions and restrictions such as the maximum possible bet or the list of slots that are prohibited from playing. You just get some part of the lost money back and either withdraw it or play it in the casino.
How to get cashback at the casino as profitably as possible?
In ordinary life, everyone is used to the fact that cashback is the return of a certain percentage of money after you have spent it in an online casino ideally the same, but many online establishments are trying to prescribe restrictions and rules that should not be.
If you have a goal to receive a profitable cashback from an online casino, before making a deposit, you should find out the conditions and they should be beneficial for you.
1. First, find out if there is Cashback, some online casinos have refused to motivate players with Cashback, as it is more profitable for them to provide another deposit bonus.
2. Find out how many percent of the lost money the online casino returns, the standard cashback is 10 percent (the meaning is simple, the more the better, as a rule, regular customers who have been playing in the casino for a long time get more than 10 percent).
3. You need to find out when the cashback is credited, it can be credited once a week or once a month, choose what suits you more.
4. Is there a wagering requirement for cashback, ideally it should not be, since we get part of our money spent back, but wager up to 5 times is quite acceptable.
5. Is there a maximum bet, it should not be there either, as this is not a 100 percent deposit bonus.
6. Also, there should be no prohibited slots for playing on Cashback and any other restrictive rules.
7. Do not forget that any bonus offer is meaningless if the slots have a reduced RTP, do not forget to check the percentage of return to the player.
Words from the Author :
I hope I managed to talk about all the negative aspects associated with online casino bonuses and convince you to take only Cashback. Ask questions in the comments, I will try to answer them.
FAQ
Online casino bonuses are promotional offers provided by gambling websites to attract and retain players. These bonuses can come in various forms, such as welcome bonuses for new players, reload bonuses for existing players, free spins on slot games, cashback offers, and more. Players can claim these bonuses by fulfilling certain requirements, such as making a deposit or using a specific bonus code.
There are several types of online casino bonuses you can encounter. Some of the most common ones include: • Welcome Bonus: Offered to new players upon signing up and making their first deposit. • No Deposit Bonus: A bonus given without requiring any deposit, often as a reward for simply registering an account. • Free Spins: Allows players to spin the reels of slot games without using their own money. • Reload Bonus: A bonus given to existing players when they make additional deposits after their initial one. • Cashback Bonus: Provides players with a percentage of their losses back as a bonus, usually on a specified day or week. • Loyalty/VIP Rewards: Rewards given to loyal players who accumulate points by playing regularly.
Yes, online casino bonuses typically come with specific terms and conditions that players must adhere to. These terms may include wagering requirements, minimum deposit amounts, maximum withdrawal limits, game restrictions, and expiration dates. It's crucial to read and understand the terms before claiming any bonus to avoid disappointment or potential issues later.
Wagering requirements are conditions that dictate the number of times a player must wager their bonus amount or bonus plus deposit amount before they can withdraw any winnings.
Yes, in most cases, you can claim bonuses from multiple online casinos. Each casino operates independently, so you can sign up and take advantage of various bonuses from different platforms. However, remember to review the terms and conditions of each bonus to ensure you comply with any restrictions or limitations.
As mentioned earlier, wagering requirements can make it challenging to withdraw winnings, and some bonuses might have restrictive terms. To determine if a bonus is worth claiming, evaluate its terms and conditions, and consider your playing style and preferences.
xYoloStrafe Oh, the fit is right! Thanks for the list. I've been waiting for something new from Hacksaw for a long time, Invictus looks brutal.
FlameKiller1 Cool selection! Thanks to the author, I was just looking for something to ride on the weekend.
Hellworkers So much for "consumer care". As soon as they are strangled with taxes, everyone will really go to left-wing offices.
The overview of bonuses is good, but it would be more useful with deeper analysis of various casinos. Which bonuses are worth taking? Where are the potential pitfalls? Adding this information would be helpful. have a nice day! ;)
It says here) That it is better not to take bonuses, if only Cashback.
Good overview of bonuses, but would like to see more analysis of different casinos. What bonuses are best to take, where are the traps, etc. It would be helpful.
So what's the article? All this has already been discussed a hundred times. Nothing new. I would like to see something fresh and interesting.
I love your forum for the quality content! The design is really a little outdated, I can help update. And the article is great!
To be honest, the article is not bad, but it could be more detailed. Some points remain incomprehensible. To the Author here - let's talk.