If we take roulette as our example, theoretically you could sit there and just bet black every time over and over again until you reached your required clearance amount. This is probably one of the lowest cas new casino sign up offers uk house edges of any bet within the casino and more often than not after a good few hundred hands, you will likely be around the break-even mark or slightly better/worse. This makes it easy to clear and as a result you are going to clear your bonus cheaply and with very little variance.
The casino is almost forcing you to make a progressive contribution to the games within that casino as well. It’s likely that you wouldn’t play your normal casino ‘strategy’ like this, with it simply targeting the clearing of the bonus. So, limiting the amount that each bet contributes from certain games keeps the casino ticking and encourages you to play higher variance games such as slots as a result.
A lot of casinos will limit low variance games (blackjack, roulette etc.) and encourage high variance games (slots). The majority of games will contribute in some way, but the contribution could be as little as 5%. So, by this we mean that only 5% of each wager you make will be taken off your required balance to wager through. Below is a list of the game percentages to clear your bonus taken from one of the major online casinos in the industry: Video Slots & Slots, Scratch card, Keno, Race, Arcade, Dice and all other games that do not appear in the table = 100% All versions of Roulette, Pai Gow Poker, Caribbean Poker, Triple Card Poker & Poker table games = 20% All versions of Blackjack, Live Casino games, Hi-Lo, Video Poker, Power Video Poker, Baccarat = 10% As you can see, unless you are playing slots or a variant of that game, then playing other games is going to put you at a serious disadvantage when clearing this bonus. Most casino bonuses are going to limit you to the stake that you can make for each qualifying bet.
As with all terms, this is going to range between each casino. For example, the casino could allow bets from £5 to £50 to contribute to clearing. The minimum bet is often fairly uncommon, but the max bet is pretty much standard. The reason behind it is that it prevents a player from just being able to wager the full or near full amount of the wager requirement to get their bonus quickly. For example, let’s say that you needed to wager £3,000 to clear your bonus. Whilst seeing a casino bonus that say’s you can earn up to £2,000 in bonus when you sign up is all well and good, but the reality is that for some players it’s actually going to be detrimental to their time within that casino. The answer to the question will basically come down to each individual player and it’s up to them to decide what’s going to be best or more importantly, if the bonus attainable. Below we have listed some pro’s and con’s of taking or leaving the bonus.
The main advantage to having the bonus is that you are going to get more money to play with at the tables. The majority of bonus will be a deposit match, so, if you deposit £100, they might give you another £100 in bonus money, giving you £200 in total. This is going to be a very enticing start to life at the casino!
| Casino | Claim Period After Sign-Up | Wagering Period After Claim |
|---|---|---|
| PartyCasino | 30 days | 90 days |
| Karamba | 14 days | 60 days |
| EnergyCasino | 7 days | 30 days |
| Sloty | 21 days | 180 days |
The next pro is that the money is going to give you a lot more game time. Depending on the bonus amount, it’s going to give you more chances to play more games over a longer format. Makes sense really that £200 is going to be better than £100.
In some cases you will find that both you and your referral are given a bump in rewards, but this isn’t always the case. We have actually seen that some casinos offer you straight up cash for getting other players through the door, although this is much rarer these days. There are numerous bonus these days that are targeted toward specific games. Later in the article we are going to discuss more about how some games are restricted from certain bonuses, but game specific bonuses are a great way to get around this. Often a casino is going to give you the chance to choose which bonus you want depending on the games that you are going to play.
You might find the following offers for example: We’ve spoken briefly in this article about what they are, but we wanted to go into a little more detail. Wager requirements are applied to all casino bonuses. They are in place so people don’t just get their bonus and then withdraw without even playing a game. The wager requirements mean the amount that you need to bet at the casino. This could be a £10 spin at the slots, £50 roll on the roulette wheel or £100 bet on blackjack. A good way to play with the bonus is to not see it as money that is yours and will never be yours. It may sound daft, but a lot of players see it as a chance to browse through the casino with in order to get to know different games and just how the casino works. If they do manage to clear to bonus then this is an added bonus – no pun intended – but if not, they’ve not lost anything and can target their favourite games with their own money. The major pitfall to casino bonuses for most players is that they all come with a wagering requirement that you need to attain before being able to withdraw the bonus. What you will usually find is that most casinos will ask you to play from anywhere between 20x and 50x the bonus amount. So, if your bonus is £500 and comes with a 30x wagering requirement, you will then need to make £15,000 worth of wagers before you can withdraw that money. A lot of casinos wont let you withdraw –any – money from your account whilst your bonus is still live. So, if you decide that you want to withdraw some funds, even if it’s your own money and not your bonus, which likely isn’t withdrawable at that point anyway, your bonus will be forfeited along with any winnings from the bonus money as well.
A high roller could just make one £3,000 spin and the bonus would be cleared. If their spin won great, they get the winnings from that plus the bonus and if the spin lost, then they still get the money from the bonus. So, the limit is in place essentially to prevent situations like this occurring. You are going to find that most casinos will only allow you to claim bonuses if you use a certain range of banking methods. Usually methods such as Visa, MasterCard and other fully regulated methods are accepted.
Often you will find e-wallets are not too friendly with casinos and bonuses, with the likes of Neteller, Skrill and Paysafecard’s pretty much being banned across the board. The reason for this is down to security and a number of casinos seeing players take advantage of multiple bonuses from these non-verified banking methods. We mentioned previously about certain games that are excluded or carry a lower contribution to clearing a bonus than others. There are a number of factors that contribute to this… The main one is to prohibit players from grinding out low volatility games in order to hit their wager requirements. Above we showed you a typical example of what percentage you could expect from certain games, with slots being the highest and table game such as blackjack and roulette being the lowest. A lot of people lose sight of the end goal within an online casino, which is to have fun and hopefully make some money.
The bonus almost forces people to play more than they would if they are trying to clear it and can take some of the enjoyment away. If you are playing without a bonus then you are simply just taking the casino on head to head and there are no worries about having to reach a certain target by a certain date. It’s the old school way of doing it and more often than not, you are going to have more fun doing it this way.
| Casino Operator | Max Bet with Bonus Active | Consequence of Breach |
|---|---|---|
| Unibet Casino | €5 per spin/hand | Bonus voided, winnings forfeited |
| PokerStars Casino | €8 per spin/hand | Bonus and winnings removed |
| Genesis Casino | €4 per spin/hand | Account review, possible penalty |
| Dunder | €6 per spin/hand | Forfeiture of bonus funds |
You are going to be able to get hold of your money at any point, which is imperative as far as we are concerned. There are some, albeit few, online casinos that won’t let you withdraw until either your bonus has cleared or the allotted time that comes with your bonus has expired. It’s possible that you could have a massive win from a casino game using your bonus money.
| Payment Method | Typical Eligibility | Processing Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Credit/Debit Card (Visa/Mastercard) | Yes | Instant | Most widely accepted. |
| E-wallet (Skrill, Neteller) | Often Excluded | Instant | May forfeit bonus if used. |
| Bank Transfer | Yes | 1-3 days | Bonus credited after funds clear. |
| Prepaid Voucher (Paysafecard) | Usually Yes | Instant | Popular for anonymity. |
| Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) | Yes (at Crypto Casinos) | 10-30 minutes | Often offers extra bonus %. |
But, if you fail to clear the bonus then your winnings from the bonus money will also be forfeited. If you were playing with your own cash then you get the big pay day and wont have to play a ton more hands within the casino to get your money out. The biggest downside to not taking a bonus is that you are missing out on some casino funded play and some of the offers these days can be quite generous.
It all adds up towards the requirements set in place. The requirements will range quite dramatically between each casino that you come across, but the majority will be between 20x to 50x your bonus amount. One key area that many people overlook is if the wager requirements are just the bonus you get or the deposit amount as well, often with casinos opting for the latter. This actually makes a huge difference, and here’s why (assume offer is 100% up to £100): WR of 30x with just bonus = £100 bonus x 30 = £3,000 WR of 30x with bonus and Deposit = (£100 bonus + £100 Deposit) x 30 = £6,000 As you can see, from this offer with the bonus and the deposit, you would need to wager through £3,000 extra in casino bets. Most, if not all bonuses will come with an allotted time that they need to be cleared in.
Again, the range in time can be vast, with some being as little as 3 days, whilst others can be as long as 90 days. It’s important that you recognise this part of the bonus as it will allow to work out if you think it will be attainable or not. Generally, you are looking for a bonus over as long a time period as possible. A great advantage would be is to work out what you are likely going to wager within that time frame and then work out how much of any potential bonus you can clear. Not all games are going to be eligible to clear for your bonus with. If you do decide that the bonus isn’t for you then that’s fine, but we would recommend that you at least do your homework to see if you have any chance of clearing it prior to simply dismissing it altogether.
