The Most Popular Types of Online Casino Bonuses
As we mentioned in the introduction, there’s more than one kind of casino bonus. Additionally, not all online casinos use the same names to describe identical rewards. Those who are new in this field can find these things a little bit challenging. Reading more about the most popular types of online casino bonuses on this page should help you overcome these issues quickly. Our job is to ensure that you understand what you get from each promotion and how to pick the right one. Remember that some of these offers are similar and can belong to several categories at once.
Registration/Sign-up/New Player Bonus
The name of this deal says it all. The registration/sign-up bonuses were designed to encourage players to become registered members of a specific gambling site. They are created to attract new users. Generally speaking, they come with no strings attached – you don’t have to deposit money and play with this money to get the bonus. In most cases, players must enter a code to activate the deal, and that’s it.
Every online casino has a different policy about the things newly registered players get. Yet, we are talking about free spins that you can use on specific slot games in most cases. Since you don’t have to deposit any money, they are often advertised as no deposit casino bonuses. We should mention that the latter can be offered to existing players in some situations. Suppose this deal is designed for existing users. In that case, they serve as an incentive to support inactive players or reward loyal players. Besides free spins, some casinos provide free bets worth up to €10. Every user can place this bet on any game they want.
Since many online casinos have sports betting, live casino, poker, and bingo sections, we should note that sometimes the registration bonuses can be used on all pages of the site, while in others, you can use them strictly on the casino page. To get the most from these offers, look for those that provide a higher number of spins and lower wagering requirements.
Deposit Bonuses
We can separate the deposit bonuses into two categories, but before we do that, let’s mention that they are different from the last category because they require risking your money. So, every time you make a deposit, and there’s a deal like this, you can expect a certain percentage of your bonus as free money.
Remember that this doesn’t mean you can withdraw this bonus right away. On the contrary, there are specific wagering requirements that you must meet before you can see them on your bank/crypto account. We’ll talk more about these requirements later in this review.
The first category of deposit bonuses is created for new players. These are typically known as Welcome Bonuses or Welcome Packages. You can see the banners promising 100% or 200% on top of your deposit in bonus money. Typically, these percentages start with 50% and end with 500%. Players should not let these numbers make them claim these offers instantly because there are others things they should take into account. First, you must see the maximum amount you can get from the deposit match bonus. Is it 500% up to €100 or 100% up to €500? Obviously, the second option works better if you plan to place higher deposits. But that’s not all. Then you have to check the wagering requirements and see whether they are reasonable.
The other category of deposit bonuses was made for loyal players. We are talking about users that have already used the welcome offer. The best casino promotions include incentives for these players too. It’s worth mentioning that these bonuses work in the same way. Still, the percentages and total sums are usually lower than the welcome offer. The deposit bonuses designed for the loyal players can be offered on specific days of the week, once a month, or occasionally. Their frequency depends on the casino’s policy.
Free Spins
Once again, we have an example of a casino bonus that can belong to other categories. As we already said, the registration bonus can bring free spins. However, there are times when casinos provide free spins to registered players months ago and already used the welcome bonus. In some cases, you get a chance to use these spins on one or two slots, while in others, you can use them on any slot game you want.
In many cases, the gambling sites have established cooperation with some software providers and use these free spins to promote their work. Of course, this is irrelevant for the players who just want to use this opportunity to win real money for free. Another thing we should mention is that these spins are limited in their size. Usually, the casinos will let you use spins with a small value worth not more than €1. However, there are times when you can receive spins worth €2 or more Euros. As you may have already guessed, the value of these spins affects their number. In other words, the more free spins you get, the smaller the size of the bet you can expect.
Cashback offers
Thanks to the cashback offers, players can get some of the money they’ve lost playing games. So, this is not something you can get simply by creating an account or depositing money. To become eligible for cashback deals, one must become a registered member, deposit money, play games, and lose some of their funds. Of course, no one would do this intentionally, but it’s good to know that there is an opportunity to get some money. This means that you will get another chance to win prizes on your favorite games without investing additional funds.
The cashback deals come with a specific percentage applied to your lost money. These percentages depend on the casino and usually start with 5% and end with 50%. In some cases, not all players get the same offer, and the deal depends on their VIP program level. This makes sense because the more you play and wager, the better the casino treats you. More about the VIP programs in the next paragraph.
VIP Clubs/Loyalty Programs
Some online casinos have loyalty programs, while others provide VIP club memberships. These are usually different names for the same system. To encourage players to play more and make them feel special, many online casinos have developed special programs/clubs. Sometimes, players must deposit a certain amount of money in a specific period to become VIP players. In other cases, you will become a VIP user simply by depositing and wagering any money.
Of course, different levels promise various perks to players. Loyal players usually gather points based on the number and size of their bets. As accumulated points grow, they progress on the ladder and unlock new levels. The best part is that the number of points you get will increase as you level up, making getting new bonuses and deals easier. The VIP programs provide access to special rewards, exclusive promos, dedicated managers, free spins, and even birthday gifts. Keep in mind that you may have to contact the support agents to get more information about how to become a VIP member on some sites. So, even if there’s no official VIP club or loyalty program, you can still get perks if you are a loyal player or a high roller.
Refer a Friend
This may be the best bonus deal for those who have friends interested in online gambling. With the “Refer a Friend” bonuses, you act as a micro-affiliate for a specific site. They usually provide a referral link that you should share with your friends, family, and/or colleagues. Once they join the site through the referral link and place a deposit, you get a certain amount of money. The downside here is that the rewards can be of low value, and sometimes you can’t refer more than 5 or 10 friends to get these bonuses.
How to use a Casino Bonus
The way players can use a bonus depends on the casino they have chosen. For example, many online gambling sites will simply add the bonus amount to your account once you become eligible. They will only notify you that you’ve received a bonus, and that’s it. There are also online casinos that provide bonus codes. In a situation like this, you will have to type in the code in a designated place in your account to redeem the bonus. Sometimes they notify you about the code through your user panel, while in other cases, they will send an email with the code.
You should also remember that some bonuses are added to the primary balance. In contrast, others are redirected to the bonus balance. The latter is more convenient because you know how much you have wagered to meet the requirements and how much you’ve won.
While talking about claiming bonuses at online casinos, we should mention the minimum and maximum amounts (unless you are using a no deposit casino). Some players can make a mistake by depositing an amount lower than the one required to claim a deposit bonus. Read the T&Cs and see the minimum amount you can use to benefit from the deal. As for the maximum amount, there’s another catch. Even if you go above the limit, you will still get the bonus. Still, anything that goes above the highlighted amount will not be boosted. So, it may be better to deposit €250 (if the deposit bonus is up to €250) and wait for a few days to deposit again if there’s another deposit bonus offer.
The Mechanics of Casino Bonuses
To maximize the benefits that casino bonuses provide, players must understand how they work. Needless to say, by choosing a reputable online casino, you should be safe from scams, but this doesn’t mean that you’ll get the best deal at the moment.
How do the percentages and numbers work?
We’ve discussed the numbers and percentages a few paragraphs above, but we will now provide the details. Almost every online casino features special sections, with shiny banners advertising bonuses with significant percentages and high limits. Obviously, they were created to get noticed by the players. Still, you should not opt for any of these bonuses before learning about them.
First of all, we have percentages. They are usually associated with deposit bonuses and are usually part of the welcome offers (packages). New players can expect to find percentages that begin with at least 50% and up to 500%, and most of them are around 100% or 200%. But, what do they mean?
Simply put, players can expect at least half and up to five times their first deposit (in case of welcome bonuses). Let’s say you’ve stumbled upon a 100% deposit match bonus, and you’ve deposited €200. In this case, you will win a €200-worth prize. In other words, you will get €400 to play, €200 of which is on the house. Before you get tempted to withdraw these funds, you should know that players must clear the playthrough (wagering) requirements.
Now that you understand the percentages let’s see the amounts. A typical deposit bonus starts with a specific percentage followed by a maximum amount (they provide bonuses worth “up to” an amount). These are the maximum limits you can use to get a match bonus. These limits were designed for high rollers because these players can often place deposits worth several thousand dollars or more. Let’s explain this with another example. The aforementioned 100% deposit match bonus can limit up to €200. So, if you go above this amount, you will not get extra free money. It would be best to use the maximum amount in situations like this and save the rest of the funds for future deposit bonuses. It would be better to start looking for sites with higher limits but don’t forget the playthrough requirements and game contribution.
While discussing the limits, we should also note that there are minimum limits you must take into account. Typically, these limits match the minimum deposit limit, but some casinos may have other policies in play. It’s crucial to get familiar with these things because you may end up without the bonus amount.
Finally, we have free spins, free bets, refer a friend, and similar bonuses, which don’t come with percentages and numbers. They are straightforward and don’t require any calculations. If it says that you will get 10 free spins, a free bet worth €10, or €25 for referring a friend, that’s what you get. Of course, like regular money deposit bonuses, they may come with other terms.
What are wagering requirements?
Some may say that “this is the catch” for casino bonuses, but offering them without wagering requirements is simply impossible. A few online casinos have tried this in the early stages of online gambling but ended up in heavy losses. The wagering requirements serve two purposes. First, they are here to prevent fraud. Without them, anyone can register to a casino, place a deposit, and withdraw the same amount of money to their crypto wallet or bank account right away. Second, these requirements make players spend more time at the casino and test various games. This is how users become familiar with the features and options of every online casino.
So, picking a bonus because it has a massive percentage and high limits without reading about the playthrough requirements would be a mistake. The best casino bonuses have simple requirements because they are here to vouch for fair play, not to trick players. Now let’s get back to their definition.
Some people know them as rollover requirements, while others call them playthrough or wagering, but they all mean the same thing. They are requirements created by online casinos representing a certain amount of money players must wager before becoming eligible to withdraw their earned money. This bonus amount is treated separately from the deposit (you can withdraw the deposit at any time, even without playing).
Thanks to this information, you can understand what players must do to clear the bonus amount they received. By wagering the money you’ve received in this way several times, you will be able to withdraw it. Each online casino has specific wagering requirements associated with different types of bonuses. For example, the wagering requirements are usually between 10 and 30 times the bonus amount for the welcome bonus. Still, you can find many gambling websites that require 40 or more playthroughs.
To ensure that you understand the meaning of this, we will provide an example. Let’s say you’ve joined a casino and got a €150 deposit match bonus as a new player, and this offer comes with a wagering requirement of 30 times. This means that you should wager €4500 before withdrawing the money you’ve earned. In general, the lower the playthrough requirements, the better, but there can be a catch. Namely, some casinos will include the deposit and the bonus amount in these terms. So, in the previous example, this would mean that you must wager €9000 to meet the requirements. Some bonuses like deposit bonuses or reload bonuses for existing players should have more straightforward conditions. Still, the value of these promos is also lower.
Of course, there are other things you should check here, like the minimum deposit, maximum payouts, and game contribution.
The importance of T&Cs
The best online casinos will keep the Terms and Conditions visible to their players. Sometimes, they can be accessed once you click on the Read More button below the bonus offer, while in others, there is a link to the Bonus T&Cs page at the bottom of the homepage. Suppose the website doesn’t have these things. In that case, you should contact the customer support agents and ask them to provide a link or a document dedicated to this issue.
This is where you will find information about the wagering requirements, for example. As we said before, they are inevitable in almost all promotions. Of course, you should focus on the crypto casinos with fair requirements.
Sometimes casinos offer free spins instead of free money, and they usually don’t come with wagering requirements. Still, you may encounter other limits like the size of bets and a time frame for using them.
Players should also learn more about the games’ contribution to the playthrough conditions. Even though all casinos can be fun and players prefer one or another type of casino game, they don’t contribute to the playthrough conditions equally. So, if you are hunting for bonuses and want to withdraw the bonus amount as soon as possible, you may want to stick to the ones with the best contribution. It’s challenging to find a casino where online/video slots don’t contribute 100%. Playing slots is probably the best option for those who want to meet the terms quickly. We also have games like blackjack and similar card games that contribute 25% or 50%. Some online casinos exclude lottery games from this process (they don’t contribute). While discussing these requirements, we should also note that players can’t place bets of any size in this process. Most gambling sites will let you wager no more than €5 per spin. In theory, you should take at least 20 spins on a slot game or 40 rounds in a blackjack game to finish this process (if the bonus is worth €100).
When looking at the Terms and Conditions page, you should read the part about the maximum payouts carefully. Unfortunately, there may be situations when you cannot withdraw everything you’ve earned thanks to the bonus. These limits are typically worth several thousand Euros and are closely related to the deposit amount. For example, if you can get a prize worth up to €500, you shouldn’t expect a maximum payout worth more than three or four times.
Time plays a significant role in bonuses, and every established site highlights the time frame of their bonus offers. First and foremost, they inform players about the period they can use to claim the bonus. For example, suppose you are a new player, and you’ve placed a deposit. You can claim the welcome bonus in a week or two weeks in most cases (unless it’s added to your account automatically). After this period, users lose the right to claim the bonus amount. Second, you must use this bonus (meet the wagering requirements) after some time. Having just a few days to complete this process would be a downside, so stay away from casinos with deadlines like this. Typically, they allow players to wager the bonus amount for seven to thirty days. This should give you enough time for a proper rollover of the funds. Don’t forget that you will have to take dozens of rounds to meet the requirements.
With the help of the T&Cs, you will learn everything about the specific bonuses offered at the site. We have discussed the basics of using rewards and identifying the best ones. However, you still need to read the particular conditions requested by every online casino.
Who is eligible?
Modern online casinos have licenses and certificates that allow them to operate in many countries across the globe without any problems. However, their availability doesn’t mean that players from every corner of our planet can use all their bonuses. You need to take a few things into account to check your eligibility. First of all, there are newly registered players and existing users. Needless to say, you can’t expect to use a welcome bonus or a welcome package if you’ve been playing on the site for many months. Even if the welcome bonus is improved now and you’ve used an old one, you can’t expect to get an additional offer. Don’t try to bypass this limit, but create a new account because this will restrict your old account. Online casinos allow individuals to have just one account on their website.
Your location also plays a significant role. To start with, online gambling is not legal in every country globally. So, if you can’t register to a gambling website legally, you shouldn’t expect to use any bonuses. But, even if players come from a country that allows online gambling activities, they may not be able to use some of the prizes. These restrictions are usually focused on specific bonuses like free spins or the ones related to cryptocurrency. The good thing is that you probably don’t have to do special features because you will see only the offers and deals available to you.
Furthermore, some online casinos provide specially designed bonuses to certain players. For instance, they have bonuses for inactive players that were very active once. Sometimes, these players receive emails with free spin offers or free bets. There are also bonuses for high rollers as a token of appreciation for their loyalty. Many casino sites have VIP clubs and loyalty programs, as we mentioned before. Not all of them are available to all registered players. In some cases, you have to meet certain conditions (like placing a certain amount of money in a month or playing daily) to become a VIP member and use all the bonuses and perks.
How to find the best casino bonuses?
There are literally hundreds of online casinos with thousands of bonus deals. If you are new to online gambling, finding the best casino promotions and bonuses can be overwhelming. There’s no way for an inexperienced player to get the time needed to check all these offers and figure out whether they are worth their time and money. That’s why we have so many gambling portals like Safe Crypto Casinos.
With our website, the best casino bonuses are just a click away. We have a list of bonuses available in crypto casinos that is updated all the time. Online casinos tend to alter their offers, making them attractive to specific players, and we always follow these changes. To stay informed and make the right choice, visit our website regularly.