Casino Bonuses
There are many different types of casino bonuses on offer from online operators, all designed to reward you for playing at the site. Bonuses can consist of free spins, free plays or funds credited to your account, which come with wagering requirements that must be achieved before you can withdraw any winnings you make on them.
Similarly, land-based casinos will also offer incentives to retain players, which are often referred to as comps.
Online Bonuses
Although they may be given slightly different names, depending on the online casino you use, here are the main bonuses you will encounter:
Welcome Bonus
Virtually all online casinos offer a bonus to entice you to sign up with them, and the value of most will be determined by your initial deposit. Some will match it 100 percent, meaning that, if you put £100 into your player account after registering, you will have £200 available to spend on games. Others might match it at a rate of 150 percent, 200 percent or even more.
In order to withdraw the bonus and winnings accrued from it, you will usually be required to play the bonus amount, or sometimes the bonus and the deposit amount, through a number of times. These wagering requirements will be clearly stated in the casino’s terms and conditions.
No-Deposit Bonus
Some online casinos will offer bonuses without you even having to deposit your own cash. The wagering requirements on these bonuses are usually very high to minimise the amount of ‘free money’ players manage to withdraw.
This is a good way of trying out a casino for free whilst also giving you the chance to win money if you are lucky enough to be able to surpass the wagering requirement.
Weekly or Monthly Bonus/Loyalty Bonus
A weekly or monthly bonus acts as a reward for continuing to play at a specific casino. The value will usually be determined by how much you have deposited and played in the previous week or month.
Some casinos offer player points for staking cash and the number of these collected over a set period of time will translate into a bonus.
Deposit Bonus/Reload Bonus
These offers are similar to welcome bonuses, giving you small bonus amounts as incentives to keep depositing funds into your casino account.
VIP Bonus
If you are a VIP or high roller, you will sometimes be rewarded with the potential to earn much bigger bonuses than most other players, based on a history of depositing significant funds with the site.
Promotion Bonuses
Casinos tend to have a promotions section where they offer bonuses, cash and non-cash prizes as incentives to wager. These could be held to promote a specific new game, to celebrate a major event such as Easter, the World Cup or the release of a major film, or just as a way to ensure people continue to stake money across the site in general.
The bonuses offered as part of promotions will usually come with a wagering requirement before they can be withdrawn.
Land-Based Casino Comps
Casinos like customers who spend large amounts of time, and money, in their establishments. Therefore it is common for them to provide perks to keep players happy. These can range from free drinks, meals and discounts on hotel rooms for normal players right up to air fares and limousines for big-spending VIPs.
Players’ gambling is often tracked using membership cards that log their play on slots, while pit bosses will note gamblers’ buy-ins, the size of their average stake and how long they spend at table games to figure out what, if any, comps the player might receive.
Casinos will usually calculate the comps you receive depending on how much you wager, whether you are winning or losing. There is no harm in asking politely for comps if you have not been offered one, as long as you graciously accept their answer, even if it is a ‘no’.