Bonus Wagering Requirements – Part I
Online casinos give players different types of bonuses – some upon registration, some for their first deposits and some don’t even require a deposit in the first place. But almost all of them have wagering requirements and if you are not familiar with them, these bonuses may do more harm than good. To prevent that from happening, I have decided to create a small guide, in which I will explain how these bonuses work and how to play through them like a pro. Let’s begin!
In this article, we will look at the different types of bonuses in terms of how and whether or not you should claim them, because you should only pick a bonus with favourable wagering requirements. The first bonus we will talk about is the no deposit one. As you could tell from the name, this offer doesn’t require you to fund your account, but simply to register. However, as attractive as these offers may seem, most of the times they will not do anything else for you than give you the chance to try out the software and some of the games. The reason for which I say that lays precisely in the wagering requirements, as they are usually extremely high and have a short validity period.
To give you an example, let’s say Casino X offers £10 for newcomers, no deposit required. When you see such an offer, you should immediately check the terms and conditions of this bonus and be prepared for the worse. Don’t get me wrong. if you only want to play around with it and get a feel for the casino site, these offers will do just fine. If, on the other hand, you plan on making money from this bonus, then roll up your sleeves and get ready for quite the battle. Some no deposit offers can even have a wagering requirement as high as 100 times, which means that you have to wager that amount, let’s say £10, a 100 times to be able to withdraw your winnings. And while it is do-able, if you have only 7 days to fulfil these conditions, this becomes mission impossible.
Deposit bonuses, on the other hand, are a whole different dish, although they also have conditions attached to them. There are two types of offers – first deposit bonuses and deposit packs or packages. The latter imply a larger bonus amount, spread across more than just one deposit. This means that every time you make a deposit, it will be matched to a certain percentage by the operator and you will have a significantly bigger balance to play with. There is one considerable difference between deposit bonuses at different online casinos: while one casino may ask you to play through the bonus 30 times per say, others may impose the same wagering requirement for the bonus and your deposit. Let’s say you claim a 100% up to £100 bonus. As you can probably imagine, it’s one thing to wager the £100 that you claimed and a whole different thing to wager £100 + £100 that you deposited. And there is the matter of games contribution, about which we will discuss in our next casino bonuses lesson. Until then, have a good one and good luck at the tables.