The Good, the Bad and the Awful: Hidden Anatomy of a Gambling Welcome Offer
$5,000 Welcome Bonus
The welcome offer is a crucial marketing tool for any online casino operator. Without a good one, most casinos fall by the wayside one way or the other. So it’s no surprise then that the SERPs are absolutely awash with all manner of player incentives including match bonuses, free spins, cash-back deals and such like.
Whether you’re a bright eyed newbie or a seasoned-gamer, making sense of the many, many online perks peddled on the web can be pretty difficult. The task is made all the more complicated by the fact that operators often employ ambiguous wording to conceal spiteful little caveats that merely serve as the proverbial pin in the balloon.
To understand what constitutes a good welcome offer, you should therefore take the shrieking headline at face value and examine the small print very closely. Here’s what to look out for:
Wagering Requirements
Wagering requirements are one of the most important considerations when sussing out a welcome offer. While some casinos offer promos free of wagering, the majority of operators include them.
In short, wagering describes the amount of times you’ll need to ‘play-through’ a predefined multiplier before you’re entitled to withdraw any funds deriving from the bonus.
Let’s say by way of a very conservative example that you stumble across a welcome bonus promising this:
100% Match up to £200
(Min. Deposit £10, 30x wagering, 30 day expiry on deposit and bonus)
If we assume that you deposit the minimum £10, you’ll therefore need to spend £600 over the course of 30 days (£10 + £10 = £20 x 30x wagering = £600).
For seasoned players, this isn’t really going to break the bank. But for those on tight budgets, spending £600 over the course of 30 days is just not going to be an option.
The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that some online casinos put in place much higher wagering restrictions. In fact, it’s not unheard of for welcome bonuses to be hamstrung by wagering rules of more than 60.
So if we insert a 60x play-through rule into our example above, you’d need to spend £1200 before being eligible to withdraw any winnings.
That’s quite a sum, no matter how big your budget.
Beware of Weighting
We should also emphasise that when you play through a wagering requirement, you should focus on slots. These tend to be 100% weighted towards most wagering rules, meaning that you’ll reduce the wagering with every penny that you credit to your account and spend on spinning reels
This is most certainly not the case with games such as roulette which tends to average about 10% weighting. So when you spend, say £1, you’ll only be contributing 10p towards wagering.
The best option here then is to look for no wagering bonus offers. Although they’re few and far between these days, they do still exist.
Bonus Expiry
Simply put, a bonus expiry describes the time you’ve got to use the bonus after registration. 30 days is a pretty common expiry period for welcome bonuses, although in some cases an operator will set an expiry of just 7 days. For free spin deals your time-frame may be even shorter.
It’s therefore crucial that you check up on a welcome bonus’ validity period, especially considering the wagering restrictions in place. Even if you’ve got an enormous bankroll, fail to spend the requisite wagering sum in time and you can say bye-bye to any potential winnings.
Keep in mind too that it can be hard not to feel rushed and pressured when trying to play-through time-restricted wagering. This is where ‘Responsible gambling’ (actually a contradiction in terms) often goes out of the window.
Maximum Total Bet
Also pay attention to the ‘maximum total bet’ caveat included in the small print. This applies to free spin deals where the operator imposes a maximum amount per spin. £5 is a fairly typical example. Exceed this limit and you’ll forfeit your free spins as well as any winnings that might arise from the bonus.
Max Withdrawal Limit
Another condition that’s often overlooked by players, a withdrawal limit can have disastrous implications for ill-informed gamblers who think they’ve landed a big-win. Unfortunately this particular curveball is applied by almost all casino operators. This basically means that a cap is placed on the amount of bonus winnings a player can withdraw. But what’s not immediately clear without sifting through the small print is that any extra money you win above the stated limit will be forfeited. So for instance, if you win £5000 and the bonus limit stands at £1000 you’ll need to bid adieu to a cool four grand. And that’s going to hurt.
Final Thoughts
All of the above terms and conditions are present in most welcome offers and should be enough to furnish you with enough information about the quality of the bonus or lack-thereof. While some new player bonuses look rubbish even at face value, you’ll often need to do a bit of digging. We’d suggest that a good starting point is to search for offers featuring generous-looking match bonuses. If you can find no-wagering deals then great. Alternatively try sticking to those with sub-40 wagering, at least 30 day validity periods and a reasonably generous maximum withdrawal limit (at least four figures). You should also search for no wagering deals.
