Virtually every single online casino on the internet offers a welcome bonus, or sign-up bonus, to new customers opening an account. These come in the form of free chips to gamble with, and they represent a major advantage of playing online rather than playing in a land-based venue. It might seem too good to be true that you can get what is essentially free money, but the fact is that you can.

Welcome Bonus or the sign-up bonus is where the player makes a deposit and the casino adds additional credits to player's account, doubling it. This form of bonus could be as simple as 100% up to $100 where player makes a deposit of $100 and the casino matches it 100% with $100 from its end, thus a total account balance of $200 to play with. Jan 29, 2021 A deposit bonus is offered by online casinos to new and existing players where your deposit is matched by a given percentage i.e. 100%, 50%, 200% etc. Up to a maximum amount. These are also known as welcome, sign up, matching or match bonuses, and are a great way to boost your playing funds for free.

If you play at online casinos, then you should try to take advantage of these bonuses whenever you can, as they are a great way to get more for your money. However, you should also understand exactly how they work. Not all bonuses are created equal and some are much more player friendly than others. Biggest is not always best, and sometimes a small bonus can actually be a much better value than a large one.

This is because they always come with certain requirements that have to be met, and these vary quite significantly from one place to the next. On this page, we explain how casino welcome bonuses work, and we recommend that you take the time to read through this information.

Why Online Casinos Offer Welcome Bonuses

You may be wondering why online casinos offer these welcome bonuses. After all, they’re there to make money and not give it away. The explanation is quite simple, really; they basically view them as a marketing cost. The online gambling industry is an extremely competitive one and there are hundreds of internet-based casinos that all want you to sign up with them. Offering an attractive bonus is one way they can encourage you to do just that.

It makes sense when you think about it. They know that, in the long run, they are more likely to win money from a customer than the other way around. Therefore it’s worth offering a new customer an incentive to sign up with them, as they’ll probably get their money back and more over time. This doesn’t mean that the bonuses are worthless, though, since they still add value for the player.

If you’re planning to deposit at an online casino and risk a certain amount of money, then getting a bonus is obviously a positive. You are only risking money that you were going to risk anyway, and you’re just getting a bit more money to play with. With more chips to play with, you’ll always have a better chance of winning.

Losing is far from guaranteed at a casino, and with a bit of luck on your side, you could easily come out ahead. With the benefit of extra chips to play with, too, that simply becomes more likely. Even if you do end up losing, you get to play for longer than you would have without the bonus, so you’ll still have some extra value.

Terms and Conditions

For the most part, there’s absolutely no downside to claiming bonuses, but as we mentioned earlier, they do come with specific requirements to be met. At the top online casinos, these are usually reasonably player friendly, but at some places, the requirements are so much in the favor of the house that there’s actually not much value on offer. Also, sometimes you may only be able to use the extra chips at certain games, and if you don’t enjoy playing those games, then such a bonus isn’t really of any use to you.

You should always read the terms and conditions of a welcome bonus before you start claiming it. In particular, you should check what the wagering requirements are and what games are eligible.

Casinos add wagering requirements to prevent people from simply depositing, claiming a bonus, and then withdrawing immediately. There’s clearly no benefit to the casino if they’re allowing players to do this, so they include wagering requirements to ensure that they are only giving the extra value to genuine players. These basically state how much you need to play before you can make a withdrawal.

Typically, you’ll have to wager the bonus you have claimed a fixed amount of times. For example, if the wagering requirements are 20x the bonus and you claim $200, then you would need to wager a total of $4,000 before you would be able to make a withdrawal. Many casinos also include what are known as game weightings. These mean that certain games only count toward a percentage of the wagering requirements. Typically these are low house edge games such as blackjack and baccarat. At some casinos, a bonus can’t be used to play low house edge games at all.

Sign-up bonuses can be categorized in a couple of different ways. First, you have deposit bonuses and no-deposit bonuses. The former are also known as match bonuses, and these are awarded by a casino when you make your first deposit. The amount awarded will be a fixed percentage of your deposit. For example, if there is a 50% deposit bonus and you deposit $500, then you’ll receive an extra $250, giving you $750 to play with.

No-deposit bonuses, as the name suggests, are awarded without you having to make a deposit. These are less common and tend to be much smaller, but they still provide added value. They can be a good way to try a casino out without having to risk any of your own money. If you like what you find, then you can go ahead and make a deposit.

Bonuses can also be categorized as sticky or non-sticky. A sticky bonus cannot be withdrawn; it’s for wagering purposes only. Once you have met the wagering requirements, you’ll be able to withdraw any winnings you make using it, but it will “stick” to your account until you have lost it. A non-sticky bonus is much better for a player. Once you have completed the wagering requirements, you’ll be able to withdraw it, along with any winnings you have made.

There’s another type, too: the phantom bonus. This is also only for wagering purposes, but it is automatically removed from your account when you make a withdrawal. You’ll be able to withdraw any winnings you make from playing with it, provided you meet the wagering requirements.

In addition to a welcome bonus for new customers, most online casinos provide plenty of extra value for their existing customers. This can be done using additional bonuses, promotions, and other rewards and VIP schemes.

Finding the Best Casino Bonus

Once you understand the different types of bonuses and how they work, you can then start looking into what’s available at the various online casinos and try to find the welcome bonus that suits you the best. Just remember to check the terms and conditions to make sure you can use it on the games you enjoy playing.

Of course, you may not want to spend your time comparing different bonuses to see which ones are best, and you don’t have to. We have compiled a list of the online casinos that are best for bonuses, so you can simply take a look at that and take your pick.

Playing online slots is not only a fun way to pass the time but can also be quite rewarding if the reels are kind to you of course! Nowadays, with many online casinos now accessible all across the world, it has never been easier to play online slots. So you might ask yourself where might one play the very best online slots right now? Keep on reading to find out!

Planet 7 Casino Welcome Bonus

For further reading on more great slots to play as well some very enticing casino offers, please check out The Best Online Slots.

Choosing the right game

When it comes to finding the right game to play, players are spoiled in terms of choice as you can choose from all sorts of slots nowadays that feature unique themes and exciting bonus features. The most important thing to do here is to choose a game that mainly suits your playing style. This could be a branded slot, a simple fruit machine slot, or a slot that uses a unique payout system such as Cluster Pays or MegaWays. The choices are endless really and always remember when choosing a slot to check the variance and RTP so you know exactly how a slot pays out over time and what kind of cash payouts it awards.

Slots Of Vegas Casino

Why are Welcome Bonus games brilliant?

It’s all well and good when you sign up with a new online casino to get a lucrative Welcome Bonus but for most players, it is all about the spins you receive and more importantly what games you get them on. It is vital that in order for an online casino to entice players to sign up that they offer spins in a slot that is not only popular to play but also quite rewarding too. Take for example the smash-hit high variance Play’n GO slot Book of Dead, this game offers a top prize worth an incredible 5,000X your stake! Then you have the timeless classic NetEnt slot Twin Spin which is of medium variance and has a maximum payout worth a very respectable 1,080X your wager. Slots like these are definitely worth keeping an eye out for when it comes to Welcome Bonus offers as using your bonus spins on these games is not only fun but also gives you the chance to take home a huge cash prize too.

CasinoLuck – strike it lucky!

For an all-around top-notch casino experience then CasinoLuck is the only casino to visit. When you sign up with CasinoLuck today then you will receive a smashing 100% Welcome Bonus up to €150 plus 150 Bonus Spins on the superb Play’n G0 slot Book of Dead! As an added bonus, you can also enjoy a lovely 50% Day 2 Bonus up to €50. This bonus is awarded the next day after you have registered and deposited. CasinoLuck also awards their most loyal players with lots more bonuses and special offers thanks to their VIP program as well as hosting a range of lucrative promotions where you can claim even more bonuses and spins! Visit CasinoLuck right now!

Selecting the right casino

Finding the perfect casino can be tricky with so many online casinos out there trying to get you to sign up. Well, we’ve done the hard work so you don’t have to as we’ve rounded up a selection of the very best European online casinos available right now. These casinos listed here cater nicely to players everywhere as they offer not only a wide selection of popular games from award-winning software providers but also a superb range of payment methods such as Neteller, Skrill, MuchBetter, ecoPayz, PayPal, and Paysafecard.

NextCasino – your next online casino sorted!

NextCasino is a fabulous contemporary online casino that’s been entertaining thousands of players ever since launching back in 2013. Creating a NextCasino account comes highly recommended as not only will you receive a fantastic 100% Welcome Bonus up to €200 but also 100 Bonus Spins on the awesome NetEnt slot Twin Spin! Astonishingly, the bonuses just keep on coming as new players can also enjoy a fine 50% reload bonus up to €50. In addition to all of this, NextCasino also runs a host of lucrative promos as well as a rewarding VIP program to ensure players are always entertained while on the site. Kick-start your NextCasino adventure today!

WildSlots – let the slots run wild!

WildSlots is a top-quality online casino that’s been a huge success ever since launching back in 2016. Register with WildSlots right now and you’ll be sitting pretty with a superb 100% Welcome Bonus up to €100 plus 100 Bonus Spins on the classic Play’n GO slot Book of Dead! New players can also enjoy another wild bonus here as WildSlots give out a 50% Day 2 Bonus up to €50 to players who have signed up and deposited. Players can also join in the various fun promotions on the site for the chance to claim even more bonuses and spins as well as enter special draws where you can win some unbelievable prizes. Set some reels on fire with WildSlots today!