Casino Bonus – Fact or Fiction?
by: Hein Hayman
Casino bonuses – what is up with this? Is
somebody actually nice enough to give you money for
free? Sure, and pigs fly!
You see, the people running online casinos are
actually quite clever (no, don’t laugh). They know
that giving away an online casino bonus will not
only attract more people to their casinos, but they
will make money from it as well.
And don't think that this is a new idea. Land
based casinos all over the world have been using
"freebies" to attract people to play at their
casinos. Think about the free drinks, rooms, etc
that casinos offer.
How can online casinos make money from giving
away money ? Casino bonus deals are structured in
such a way that you can only withdraw it from the
casino after you played a number of
hands/rolls/spins. The casinos know that few people
will have any of the bonus amount left by the end of
these hands/rolls/spins, never mind the full amount.
Plus, they probably lost their own deposit in the
process!
Most people that play at online casinos are
either fun players or they don’t have a strategy, or
both! These people are the lifeblood of a casino, as
they have no idea how to overcome the advantage the
casino has over them.
Every casino game has a house edge (the average %
of profit that a casino makes from a game). The only
way to overcome the house edge is to enter the
casino with a working strategy.
But let’s get back to our discussion about casino
bonuses.
Actually, for all the bad press, casino bonuses
are quite useful. You won’t get rich using them
(unless you win the jackpot!), but armed with a bit
of knowledge, it is an easy way to make some extra
money.
Before you sign up with an online casino based on
their newest casino bonus, you *must* read the terms
and conditions regarding their promotions. Obviously
all the terms and conditions are important, but you
really want to check out the following 3 elements:
*Wagering requirements*
Simply put, this is the amount of money you have
to wager before you can withdraw the bonus. This is
normally expressed as a multiple of your deposit
plus your bonus.
Example: The wagering requirement is 20x, you
deposit $100 and get $100 bonus. Therefore, you have
to wager a total of $4,000 before you can withdraw
the $100 bonus. You can withdraw your deposit at any
time.
*Excluded games*
Very important! Some games are excluded from
fulfilling the wagering requirements. These are
usually the games that have the lowest house edge,
including Roulette, Craps and Blackjack and all
their variants.
However, if you spend a little time and search
around, you will find casinos that will include one
or more of these games in the wagering requirements.
*Withdrawal conditions*
A few casinos have withdrawal conditions to
withdraw the bonus. Even if you have fulfilled the
wagering requirements, you still have to meet
certain conditions. These might range from
depositing a minimum amount of money to being able
to withdraw your winnings only after you reached a
certain amount.
These extra conditions mostly relate to free
casino bonuses (where you do not have to deposit any
money to get a casino bonus). But beware, there are
some casinos where these conditions apply to the
normal deposit match bonuses.
**Strategy**
In order to make a bit of money from online
casino bonuses, you *have* to follow a proven
strategy. Your goal is to get through the wagering
requirements without losing too much of the bonus.
That way you have your initial deposit plus a bonus
amount which you can withdraw to make a nice profit.
Who knows, you might even have a very good system
and make some profit on top of the casino bonus!
Good luck and start playing!
Hein
