Casino Bonus

Which Type of Online Casino Bonuses Should I Look For?

Due to its competitive nature, online casino operators have to go all out to catch your attention. They do this by offering bonuses and promotions. Let’s call it eye-candy if you will. The one looks more attractive than the next, and choosing the best one is a daunting task.

Online casinos don't only reward new players for signing up. Operators keep on releasing new and exciting bonuses and promos to keep you coming back for more.

Here are some of the online casino bonuses you’ll find:

• Deposit match welcome bonus: It’s when the casino matches your first deposit. It can be a 100% match up to a certain amount, or it can be more than 100% in some remarkable cases.
• Free spins welcome bonus: When the casino wants to spoil its slot lovers, it’ll go this route and satisfy you with a fixed amount of free spins. It’s often on a specific slot that’s newly released or trendy ones. You regularly see free spins bonuses on games such as Gonzo’s Quest or Starburst.
• No deposit bonus: It’s the perfect type of reward when you’re still undecided about whether you want to sign up for a specific casino. The casino gives you a particular amount of credit or free spins that you can use without making a real money deposit.
• Cashback bonus: It’s everybody’s favourite type of bonus: the casino gives you weekly or monthly cashback rewards. It’s a specific percentage of all the wagers you make during that time, not the amount you have deposited. It’s an excellent way to reward you for your patronage and a regular feature in online casino VIP programmes.
• Reload bonus: The casino uses this reward to motivate you to deposit during a specific timeframe. It could be a weekend reload bonus or a Monday one. There’s nothing set in stone, except the fact that you can play longer for less. Always an excellent offer.

Narrowed down the bonus you want to use? That's great! We recommend to check out the following slots, that way you'll understand the game mechanics before playing with real money.

Casino Bonus CA Pros and Cons

Everyone loves getting things at no cost. However, casino bonuses are a bit more complicated than that. There are pros and cons to claiming casino promotions, and we will break them down in detail here!

The Good Side of Bonuses

Let's talk about the pros first. First up are welcome packages – advantageous offers that entice you to sign up. These usually grant some bonus funds matching your initial deposit.

Welcome bonuses offer a great way to try an online casino, too. They make your money last longer. Furthermore, with Lady Luck on your side, you can transform the bonus funds into real cash that you can eventually withdraw and enjoy.

Free spins are another reason to hunt for promotions. Free spins usually get awarded on specific casino games. If a title ever seems interesting, free spins allow you to try it at no cost. Free spins can be standalone bonuses or come bundled with other promotions such as welcome bonuses.

Part of the charm that promotions offer is how many bonuses there are! Casinos offer a lot more than an initial welcome offer and some free spins here and there. An individual website will offer countless bonus rewards to keep you engaged.

Some are one-off promotions, while others are available once a week. Some casinos also have month-long promotions such as tournaments. There is always a new bonus ready for you if you want to play one.

Another way casinos use bonuses is to reward casino members for sticking with them. These loyalty programs reward players in many ways. The most apparent form of a loyalty program is a cashback which pays some of your net losses back to you.

Many bonus programs also feature bonus points. You can trade these bonus points back into real money. Loyalty programs offer various other goodies, which we will let you discover yourselves!

A subsect of these bonuses is the no deposit bonuses. These can be a rare find in online casinos. After all, they grant their bonus reward without requiring players to deposit money! Casinos limit the effectiveness of these bonuses – otherwise, everyone would claim them and leave.

Finally, we have to talk about seasonal promotions. These bonuses launch around the holidays and give casino members something to look forward to. What events a casino will make bonuses around varies between websites. However, the most common seasonal promotions focus on Christmas and Halloween.

The Bad Side of Bonuses

Of course, casino promotions are not all sunshine and rainbows. If they only gave an advantage to the player, websites would not implement them. Despite the upsides, casino bonuses have some disadvantages.

The most considerable downside we have to consider is the presence of the wagering requirements. Wagering requirements force you to play through a bonus before claiming the bonus funds.

You have to consider the wagering requirements before accepting any promotions. Sure, the bonus funds sound great. However, they are not as attractive if you have to wager 50 times your initial deposit to receive them. Ideally, you want wagering requirements ranging from 20x to 30x.

Wagering requirements also limit how you can play in online casinos. Without a bonus, you can enjoy any game and wager as much as possible. That is not the case when you have a promotion active. Bonus terms often dictate what games you can complete the wagering requirements on. Additionally, you will usually have a maximum betting limit.

Promotions that do not have wagering requirements will limit you in other ways. We see this frequently with no deposit bonuses. Such promotions often limit how much money you can withdraw from the feature.

And finally, there is the feeling of bonus pressure. With so many offers, you feel pressured to claim one. It can lead to chain claiming bonuses for some players, which can become a problem.

Terms and Conditions to Watch in a Casino Bonus

Mostly when something looks too good to be true, it’s because it is. The same rule applies to online casino bonuses. Sure, there are some fantastic, jaw-dropping bonuses out there, but it takes a trained eye to spot what’s hot and what’s not.

Our experts at topcanadiancasinos make a habit of checking out exactly what each casino’s bonus offers you.

Each bonus and/promotion comes with what is called a ‘wagering requirement.’ These are the minimum requirements you have to fulfill to get the maximum benefit from your bonus. It’s generally a set number of times you have to play through the bonus before you may withdraw any winnings that proceed from it.

For example, suppose you claimed a deposit match bonus of $100 with a wagering requirement of 40x the bonus. It means that you have to place bets to the value of 100 x 40 = $4000 with the bonus credits before you have access to withdraw it.

Anything up to 45x the bonus as a wagering requirement is industry standard. Although it sounds high, you can play through it relatively quickly. More than 50x gets a bit steep to fulfill, and the chances are pretty good that you’ll stop gambling online and forfeit any winnings before you manage to meet the requirement.

There’ll also be a maximum winning amount you may withdraw. This amount should not be too low. We want to see a fair opportunity to withdraw the full amount of winnings you generated from the bonus. Talking of withdrawals, the deposit required to obtain the specific reward is equally essential, and another critical point we consider when reviewing a casino bonus.

The last point we consider is whether there’s a maximum bet amount per wager/spin. If it’s too low, it’ll take you forever and a day to play through the required terms, and you might stop playing out of pure boredom. We want to see that the casino gives you a fair chance to play through it and allows you to place decent sized bets should you prefer to.