In order to promote themselves, most online casinos offer some sort of free play or bonus offers. Before signing up to an online casino, players can access these to try out the casino and see if they are happy with the way it functions. These offer a risk-free way of doing this as players do not have to submit any personal or financial information or make any funds available in order to play.

These offers are also available after a player has signed up to an online casino and made a deposit. Here, such bonuses are available mostly to keep the player committed to the one casino, and to make sure that the player keeps on playing.

In both cases, the bonuses and free offers are great promotional tools for the casinos, and yet the online casino bonus is also great for players, as it allows for some winning chances and makes the online casinos more attractive.

The Fine Print of Casino Bonuses

However, there are some things to consider before being drawn in by the magic appeal of online casino bonuses.

While casinos may try to make their bonus offers as attractive as possible in order to lure players in and keep them playing, it is easy to become lost in these offers and simply play because they exist. Therefore, it is important to carefully consider casino bonuses before accepting them.

Is the Bonus Really a Bonus?

Even though bonuses exist and are definitely great for some players, they are also not made for everyone. For example, browsing online casinos, it is easy to become enticed by all the bonuses and simply choose a casino based on this, without paying any attention to anything else. In this case, the bonus masks other things that may be important and, even though the bonus is still a bonus per se, it is not a bonus for the individual in that situation.

Also, even if the player has signed up to a specific casino, not all bonuses that are made available by the casino are of use to the player. For example, a player who only plays poker might be given tons of bonuses to access, say, slot games, even though the player has no interest in playing online slots. While accepting the bonus per se does not necessarily have any negative consequences, it is of no use to the player if it will not be redeemed.

Furthermore, bonuses may entice a player who doesn’t play much to play more. While this is obviously the purpose of the bonus from the casino’s point of view, it might not be beneficial for the player to redeem these if they do not wish to continue playing.

Read the Terms and Conditions

Even if none of those factors are of importance, and a player genuinely wants to redeem a bonus that is well-suited to the game of choice, it is still important to read the terms and conditions. Bonuses in online gambling often come with stringent terms, certain limitations or play restrictions, or even wager or rollover requirements. These might prevent a player from, for instance, being able to cash out a winning due to a wager requirement or only being able to get part of the winnings.

While the existence of terms and conditions or requirements do not necessarily make a bonus a bad deal, it is still important for the player to be aware of them before redeeming the bonus.