Online casino bonuses offer incredible ways to extend your bankroll and elevate your gambling experience. For this, and many other reasons, almost all online casinos offer a variety of different bonuses designed to attract new players and reward loyal customers.
If you are new to the world of online gambling, knowing which of these bonuses to look out for first may be challenging, particularly because not all bonuses offer the same value. Therefore, prioritising which bonus to claim is vital to making sure you get the most out of them.
To help you in this endeavour, check out the casino bonuses ranked below.
1. Welcome Bonus
The very first bonus you will likely receive is a welcome bonus. This bonus type often combines benefits from several other promotions and can offer more value and rewards as they are designed to attract new players, especially from competing operators.
As such, if you are a new player looking to get into online casinos, welcome bonuses are the perfect place to start. Commonly, they offer deposit match bonuses, which will usually match the amount you deposit with free credit or free spins on slot games.
If you want to test the waters before committing, these bonuses are still a good option to look for but may be less well-suited than no-deposit bonuses (explored below). This is because getting the best out of a welcome bonus often requires making minimum deposits of varying amounts.
2. No-Deposit Bonus
After welcome bonuses, the most rewarding type of bonus you can claim is the no-deposit bonus. As its name suggests, this form of bonus allows you to reap the benefits offered, which is usually a small amount of credit loaded to your player account, without needing to make a deposit first.
Because of this, no-deposit bonuses are perfect if you want to try online gambling without taking on any risk. However, there are two small catches to this.
First, no-deposit bonuses are commonly worth significantly less than other bonuses. While they may offer a $10 or $20 credit, you will not get much more than that. Conversely, the bonuses offered by even a $10 deposit casino can offer deposit matches of up to $1,000 or more.
Second, no-deposit bonuses often have more stringent wagering requirements and conditions attached to them. This is to ensure that the casino does not lose too much if you hit a jackpot or a significant win when playing using free credit.
3. Free Spins Bonus
As mentioned, free spins bonuses commonly form part of a casino’s welcome bonus offer and provide a set number of free spins on a slot game. These are a great way to essentially play for free, as no money is deducted from your player account for each wager, yet you still get to keep any winnings—provided you meet the wagering requirements.
While these are great for new and established gamblers alike, they lack the flexibility of other bonuses because the games for which the free spins can be used are often set by the casino. Therefore, you may be forced to use the bonus on a game you are not familiar with or one you do not like. These bonuses also mean little if you prefer table games like roulette or blackjack.
4. Reload Bonuses
Reload bonuses are most commonly offered only as part of an online casino’s loyalty programme or VIP rewards system. These bonuses offer you deposit matches for each time you make a new deposit to your player account. For instance, you might be offered a weekly 100% reload bonus, allowing you to claim up to $100 in bonus funds each week. If you claim this, each week that you deposit $100, the casino will credit an additional $100 to your account.
These bonuses are great if you make regular deposits and play often enough to reach a loyalty tier where you get generous rewards. However, if you more often make a large deposit that you play through over time or struggle to reach loyalty tiers, these bonuses will have less of an impact.
5. Cashback Bonuses
Similar to how cashback is offered by retail stores, reload bonuses are a type of cashback bonus typically offered as part of a casino loyalty programme. Unlike reloads, these offer rewards based on your losses, not your deposits, by refunding a set percentage of your net losses over a specified period to your account as credit.
If you play regularly, these could be worthwhile, particularly if you have a week where you do not achieve many wins. However, if you are a casual player who tends to gamble smaller amounts, truly benefiting from these bonuses may be challenging.
The Fine Print
Each of the above bonuses offers unique and rewarding ways to recoup some of your losses, gamble without as much risk, or extend your bankroll. However, each is also subject to strict terms and conditions that should be thoroughly read and understood before accepting a bonus.
Among the most significant of these conditions is the wagering requirement that needs to be met before any winnings received using a bonus can be claimed. In many cases, a wagering requirement could dictate that you need to spend 35x the bonus amount before winnings become eligible for withdrawal.
For a $100 bonus (either a deposit match or a reload), you would need to deposit and play through $3,500 of your money before you can withdraw winnings achieved with the $100. If you received a no-deposit bonus, the wagering requirement is also typically higher.
Aside from wagering requirements, casinos can also set other conditions. These include the maximum amount you can win using a bonus, how much you can withdraw if you win, and even how long you have to meet the wagering requirement.
Claiming any bonus without understanding these conditions and ensuring that they are attainable for you will likely lead you to forfeit the bonus and any possible winnings you may derive from it.
Last Words
Keeping in mind the warnings about the fine print of casino bonuses, the above ranking of casino bonuses should enable you to find the best deal, whether you are a novice or experienced gambler. Leveraging these bonuses to your advantage should also go a long way in elevating your gambling experience and ensuring you get the most from it.
