Casino Bonuses

Bonuses in online casinos come in many shapes and forms, and it is recommendable for players that are new to the scene to get familiar with the different variations before making a choice.

Bonus Rules

Before using your bonuses, it pays off to read the terms and conditions. Sometimes a bonus might look superior to another at first glance, while in reality it might be a lot more difficult to get full value compared to a seemingly inferior option. Pay close attention to wagering requirements, more info below. At CasinoMango, we will always include the wagering requirements in our casino reviews so you can easily compare different offers to one another.

Collecting Bonuses

Claiming your bonuses can differ from casino to casino.

Register, deposit and claim bonus

When you are a new player you will usually be invited to claim the bonus at the cashier. This will at the very least involve creating an account. Sometimes you will just have to fill out your personal details, while other sites might require you to verify your account by sending in a copy of your ID card or passport.

Additionally, it is possible that you need to make use of a bonus code and or alert customer support in order to be eligible for the bonus.

Players that already have an account and want to claim another deposit bonus will often receive an email to their registered email address with further instructions.

Don’t forget to look into your spam folder if you cannot find the email!

Types of Bonuses

All casino bonuses can be divided into two broad categories: the ones that are completely free, and the ones that you need to make a deposit for. While the value of the deposit bonuses is usually much greater, no-deposit bonuses allow players to check out the site’s offering without having to risk a dime.

Match Up Bonuses 

A match up bonus is the most common incentive offered by online casinos. The name already hints to the nature of this type of bonus. How it works, you make a deposit and the casino matches the bonus up to a certain percentage. Depending on various terms and conditions.

For example:

You make a deposit of a 100 Euro.

The terms state that you will receive a 100% match up bonus up to 100 Euro on any deposit over 10 Euro.

This means that you will receive a 100 Euro bonus upon a deposit of a 100 Euro.

No Deposit Bonuses

No Deposit bonuses are exactly what their name implies. Players will be given a bonus that is completely free after having completed the sign up process. These bonuses usually come in two forms: a cash amount or free spins.

Types of online casino bonuses offered

Free Spins

Currently, the bonus of choice for new casinos. It has the advantage of giving the player a free and easy look of their product.

How it works

You are given a number of free plays on a certain online slot or on a limited selection of slot games. The winning obtained with the free spins is seen as bonus cash.

A number of casinos grant you the free spins upon registration without making any deposit. Others award them when you make your first deposit, or spread them over a number of deposits.

Casino Welcome Bonuses

This type of bonus is usually offered in the form of a percentage over your deposit up to a certain amount. It is a very similar to the match up bonus. Note that often you need to deposit a minimum amount of 10 or 20 Euro in order to be eligible for the bonus.

For example:

888Casino offers you 100% up to 140 Euro instant welcome bonus.

This means that when you deposit 20 Euro you are given another 20 Euro bonus. Thus you play with 40 euro.

Always make sure that you understand the wagering requirements before making a deposit.

No Deposit Casino Bonus

This is a great bonus because it really gives you the chance to get to know the Casino for free. A no deposit bonus is a sum of money given to you for free, after you have completed the sign up process.

Casino Reload Bonus

A very similar bonus to the first deposit bonus. The difference here is that this bonus applies to deposits made after your initial deposit. Also the terms and conditions of these bonuses are normally not as good.

Bonus Terms and Conditions

There is a fly in the ointment, can easily be the right idiom when you are not fully aware of bonus terms and conditions. Receiving a bonus can be great but it can also cause confusion and even frustration. Below you will find more detailed information on certain bonus rules that can hopefully prevent such feelings.

Wagering Requirements

The first thing you should look at when evaluating a casino bonus is the wagering requirement. In essence, this is the number of times you need to place a bet in order to clear the bonus funds. In general, players are not allowed to cash out the bonus funds or any winnings before you have met the wagering requirements.

Wagering requirements are a method of the casino to make sure that you play with the bonus amount given to you instead of immediately cashing it out. Since casinos are commercial businesses too, they can obviously not hand out bonuses to everybody and just let them withdraw the entire funds immediately.

Always keep in mind that each casino has different requirements and that it is always a good idea to look them up or ask customer support for more information, before making a deposit.  You will need to meet the wagering requirements before you are able to cash out any of your remaining balance.

For example:

The wagering requirement states that you need to ‘play-through’, ‘turn over’ or ‘roll-over’ (wager) the value of the bonus 30 times. And that this needs to be done within 30 business days.

This means that with a deposit of 100 Euro and a bonus of 100 Euro you need to wager 6000 Euro at the casino before you can cash out your winnings.

So how does this work in practice? Let’s say I like to play Starburst, I have a balance of 200 Euro and after making 6000 spins I have a total balance of 250 Euro. Since, with some spins I won and with some I lost but overall I won 50 Euro.

Not bad, now I can cash out 250 Euro since I have completed the wagering requirements.

Last but not least, it is very common for casinos to put restrictions on how much you can wager with casino games like roulette or blackjack. For example, most casinos will discount ‘safe bets’ such as covering a high percentage of the roulette table with bets. These type of bets will usually not count towards your wagering requirement.

Game Weightings

As mentioned before there is a difference in how heavy a game contributes to the wagering requirements. Online slots contribute a 100% while blackjack normally only contributes 10% to the wagering requirement.

Bonus Wallet

A bonus can be either tied to your deposit or kept separated, depending on the bonus rules of the casino.

Merged Bonus

Is tied to your deposit, it is therefore not possible to withdraw your deposit (or any winning you make from it) until wagering requirements have been met.  Note that this only applies if you made a bet, if you decide to cash out before any bet took place the casino needs to honor that request.

Non-merged Bonus

Is not tied to your deposit, here your bonus funds and deposit funds are kept separate. This means that you can cash out your deposit and winnings (made by playing with deposit funds) before wagering requirements have been met.

Low risk bets

Normally it is frowned upon when you try to wager your bonus by only making low or zero risk bets. For example, betting on red and black on the same spin of a roulette wheel. It is possible for the casino to take away your bonus money if they see this betting behavior regularly.

In Conclusion

The Terms and Conditions listed above are the ones where we find that most players are getting confused. Our advice is to always contact the customer support of a casino before you make a deposit when you are not sure about the rules.