How to Evaluate Online Casino Bonuses | A Guide

Many new players make the mistake of claiming the biggest no deposit bonus. The real trick is to claim the bonus with the lowest wagering requirements.

A terse example can illustrate why:

As the table illustrates, with Bonus #1 you only have to win $100 before you can withdraw your winnings. Alternatively, you would have to wager $5,000 using your bonus if you wanted to win real money with Bonus #2.

You need to ask yourself which games you want to play. No deposit bonuses are often liberal with their selection of eligible games. However, certain games with favourable odds may face restrictions.

For example, table games such as blackjack, roulette and poker are likely to have their game contribution lowered, making it more difficult to fulfil your wagering requirements.

We can illustrate how this makes a difference using an example:

Ultimately, under these conditions it would take you ten times longer to fulfil your wagering requirements playing on table games than it would on slots.

While you can win real money with no deposit bonuses, you won’t be able to bankrupt the casino. The vast majority of no deposit bonuses come with a winnings cap, often set at around $100. Essentially, this means you would only be able to win up to $100 in real money using your bonus.

Our tip here is predictable: claim a no deposit bonus with a high winnings cap.

An easy way to evaluate match deposit bonuses is to compare its monetary value. In some cases, it may not be self-evident which match bonus is the most valuable because it depends upon how much you are willing to deposit. .

Let’s say you are looking to make a first deposit of $150 and you have three match bonuses to choose from:

As you can see from the table, the second bonus – while offering to match your deposit by a lower value – is actually the most appropriate for your budget. If you change the amount you deposit every so slightly to $200, this is no longer the case:

Now that you have increased your first deposit to $200, Bonus #1 is a better option than Bonus #2, for you receive more in bonus credits for the same deposit.

Wagering Requirements
Due to the high value of match deposit bonuses, the wagering requirements can be unreasonable. For example, let’s say you claim a match bonus worth 100% up to $2,000, and it comes with wagering requirements of 60x. When you put these figures into the following equation, you realise it’s almost impossible to win real money:

Value of Bonus ($2,000) x Wagering Requirements (60) = Sum Total ($120,000)

Unless you think you can win $120,000 before your bonus expires, you should not claim this hypothetical bonus.

When it comes to the winnings cap, match deposit bonuses are superior to no deposit bonuses. Many do not come with a winnings cap, and when they do, it is often more generous. Nonetheless, it is still one way you can compare match deposit bonuses. Ideally, you should claim the match bonus with the highest winnings cap.

Match bonuses give you the chance to play a wide variety of casino games, including table games, such as blackjack, roulette and poker. However, we do not recommend playing table games with a match bonus.

While it may seem wise to play on table games due to their favourable odds, these same games are likely to face restrictions under a term and condition entitled ‘game contribution’. Here’s a definition:

Game Contribution – The percentage of your winnings on a particular game that goes towards fulfilling the wagering requirements.

If you have not already seen it earlier in the article, the following table illustrates how ‘game contribution’ works:

Essentially, it can take you more than 10x longer to fulfil your wagering requirements playing table games than it does playing slots.