Online Casino Welcome Bonuses

A large part of the attraction of gambling is the chance to get some freebies in return for your time. Everyone wants to get something for nothing even if it isn’t actually a no-strings deal (more on that later), and the promotional offers that essentially get you a host of rewards and perks without any investment on your part is something that should appeal to anyone.

Take for example the welcome bonus. This is a common promotional offer made by online casinos, and basically involves a certain amount of money that is awarded to you and deposited into your casino account in exchange for simply signing on. Land based casinos generally give their customers comps such as free meals and hotel accommodations, and the welcome bonuses offered by online casinos essentially serve the same function, which is to attract new players to the fold and keep existing ones happy.

Most players who sign up for an online casino for the first time are likely drawn to the welcome bonuses offered, since they can be quite impressive. There is no standard welcome bonus amount across the industry, although they can generally get you anywhere from $10 to $20. And that’s only for the no-deposit welcome bonuses. Bonus offers that require you to make a deposit–the ones billed as deposit bonuses–can get you even bigger rewards and they can really fill out your bankroll quite nicely. The amount of these types of bonuses is usually determined as a multiple of your initial deposit. Most casino offer players a 100% bonus with a specific dollar limit.

Best Welcome Bonuses for Players in United States

Welcome Bonus Terms and Conditions

Now here’s the drawback. While welcome bonuses will give you money that you can use to play the games in the casinos–and win even more money–in the process, you do have a further obligation if you are to withdraw your winnings as you will likely want to do eventually. This is typically called the playthrough or wagering fee, and is commonly designated as a number followed by an “X”, such as “15x” for example. In this case, the player will have to wager 15 times his or her initial deposit in order to be able to cash out an account.

There are a number of good reasons why online casinos implement this rule, and the most important one is that it allows the management to restrict players from creating numerous accounts and simply cashing out once the bonuses are given. With the playthrough requirement, players will actually have to risk some of their own money in order to benefit fully for the bonus offer.

Keep in mind that you will still be able to play the games using the bonus money awarded to you even if you don’t meet the playthrough requirement. You could even amass a pretty respectable amount of cash in your account and keep on playing and winning. If you want to use that money in the real world however, you will have to meet the playthrough requirements.