The ever-growing global online gambling market – the current value of $59 billion is expected to skyrocket to $92.9 billion by 2023, an impressive increase over a couple of years – gives birth to gazillions of new casinos daily as the rampant pandemics accelerates the expansion. The balance between brick-and-mortar and online casinos is in a precarious position as online platforms offer everything that their land-based predecessors can suggest and then some.
Speaking of the reason for the attractiveness of online casinos, bonuses are the first thing that comes to mind and the one that lures millions of newbies into ‘trying it out’ aka starting a gambling career that they had no idea of just a minute ago. On the bright side, bonuses may offer free money and other benefits – for example, it might be free spins as by this link https://kasynohex.com/bonusy-kasynowe/darmowe-spiny/ – though most freebies come at a price most players are not ready to pay.
Without further ado, let’s dispel the most preposterous myths about casino bonuses.
#1 I’ll Just Grab Some Free Money, and That Would Be It
The most common fallacy among newbies is that casino perks go with no strings attached. There might be some truth to that – for example, some no-deposit bonuses will allow you to get free money without depositing at all – but more often than not, bonuses come at the price of:
- Wagering requirement. The wagering requirement, also known as a playthrough requirement, is a multiplier – say, 50x – that indicates the amount of money you must wager on the eligible casino games before you can withdraw your bonus money. For example, a $300 bonus that goes with 50x wagering can be withdrawn after you bet as much as $15,000 on the games participating in the offer.
- Eligible games. Some games may be either excluded from the promotion altogether or contribute towards the wagering counter a percentage different than 100% of your wagers. For instance, a game contributing 50% would count only half the money wagered on it – that is, to play through $15,000, you would have to bet $30,000.
- The maximum amount of bonus money you can make. You don’t think you can bankrupt the casino using your bonus money, do you? Casinos tend to limit your bonus winnings to a few hundred bucks, whereas everything else is forfeited.
There are more tricks out there, but the main point is that you should carefully read the bonus terms & conditions before jumping on the bandwagon of casino bonuses.
#2 The Bigger the Size of the Bonus, the Better
All other things being equal, the bigger the bonus, the better. In reality, though, the size of the bonus usually correlates with:
- The wagering requirement: the bigger the bonus, the harder it is to play it through.
- The minimum deposit: the bigger the bonus, the more money you have to deposit.
- The max amount of money that you can make using your bonus money: the bigger the bonus, the less money you can make with it.
Usually, modest bonuses are the ones to pay attention to as they are better for making real money. As for the gigantic bonuses with an unbearable wagering requirement, you can use those to get the feel of the real-money play without spending too much of your money.
#3 There’s No Chance to Make Real Money without Depositing Real Money
Opinion polarization has divided gamblers into two contrasting groups, the one that thinks of bonuses as free money, and the one that thinks of bonuses as nothing but hooks. Both opinions are delusional, though, as some casinos do offer bonuses bearing very little commitment.
- No-deposit bonuses. An encouragement for registering with the casino, no-deposit bonuses may go with no strings attached, though usually – not always! – you have to deposit some money before you can withdraw the bonus.
- No-wagering bonuses. These bonuses can be easily converted into real money because you don’t have to play the bonus through. However, not always both the bonus and the winnings can be withdrawn.
- Registration free spins. Free spins can be a part of encouragement, and even though it’s usually only a few spins and for the hardest slots, it’s still better than nothing: who knows, maybe you’ll catch your lucky break with those spins.
- Entry lucky spins. Some casinos offer lucky post-registration spins – usually a single one – on a special wheel of fortune granting one of the various freebies (money, free spins, tournament tickets, cashback, etc).
To wrap it up, let’s remind you of the most valuable things in gambling: do your research before taking action.