The good news for players today is that there are literally thousands of fully licensed online casinos out there, and they are all currently offering each new player some kind of guaranteed welcome bonus.
For some people, choosing the best online casino bonus can be a daunting task, so here are some top tips for comparing the bonuses at online casinos.
What are the main types of online casino bonuses?
Although there are many online casino bonuses to choose from, there are just three main types of bonuses, which tend to include:
- Matching deposit bonuses
- Free spins bonuses
- No deposit bonuses
As a new player, you can usually claim a guaranteed welcome bonus just for signing up to the casino. Let’s take a closer look at how each of these online casino bonuses works.
Matching deposit bonuses
The matching deposit bonus is the most common type of bonus, and it’s fairly straightforward. When you deposit, the casino operator will match your deposit up to a certain amount.
For example, if the casino you are trying to sign up to is currently offering all new players a 100% matching deposit bonus worth up to £500 (or equivalent currency value), it means that the operator will match your deposit pound-for-pound up to the value of £500.
In other words, if you maximise the welcome bonus and deposit the full £500, you will end up with £1,000 to play with as soon as your deposit has been processed. This includes your initial £500 deposit + £500 in FREE BONUS MONEY.
There’s no point depositing more than £500 because you would still only receive a maximum of £500 in bonus cash. If you can’t afford to deposit this much, don’t panic.
At most online casinos today, low rollers can deposit from as little as £10 or £20 (depending on the casino), and the good news is that you wouldn’t miss out on your welcome bonus by depositing this relatively small amount.
If you deposit just £20 with the 100% match bonus, you would end up with £40 to play with (£20 deposit + £20 bonus money), and if you deposit £35, you would end up with £70 to play with (£35 deposit + £35 bonus money), and so on. Tip: Don’t deposit more than you need to when claiming a welcome bonus.
Make searching the best online casinos easy
For a complete list of top-rated UK casino sites that currently have some amazing new player welcome bonuses up for grabs, go to the NewCasinos, excellent iGaming website. Don’t forget that you can also sometimes get special bonuses for using certain payment methods, such as your Visa or MasterCard.
Other online casinos might reward you for depositing with NETELLER, and so on. Tip: Try and use the selected payment method to ensure you don’t miss out on your bonus.
Free spins bonuses
The free spins bonus is the second most common online casino bonus. The casino that you are signing up to might be offering each new player 20 Free Spins to try out a popular online slot in the real money mode.
Alternatively, it may be offering each new player 1 Free Spin for every £1.00 they deposit on their first ever deposit (which could be worth up to a certain amount, say 50 Free Spins, which means you would need to deposit £50).
If you’re really lucky, you can now find online casinos that give new players a matching deposit bonus AND a free spins bonus as part of the initial sign-up bonus. You can then use those free spins to play the selected slots only, and then you can generally only win up to a certain amount (which could be capped at £50, or perhaps as much as £500).
Exactly how much your welcome bonus winnings are capped at will vary from one online casino to the next. Tip: If you love playing slots, always try and look for an online casino with a free spins bonus for new players.
No deposit bonus
The no-deposit bonus is more elusive and much harder to find these days. Back in the early days of online casinos, and up until just a few short years ago, several online casinos were offering new players a free no-deposit bonus as part of the welcome bonus.
It was generally capped at just £5.00, £10, or a maximum of £20.00 per new player, and it enabled players to try out the games in the real money mode using free money. The winnings were also usually capped at a certain amount.
Conclusion
When comparing online casino bonuses today, you also have to look at how much you have to wager before you can cash out any winnings you have made. This particular policy is otherwise known as the wagering requirement, playthrough requirement, or rollover requirement.
The lower the wagering requirement, the better it is for you as a player, and it can be anywhere from as little as 10x times the bonus amount (+ deposit amount) up to usually no more than 60x or 70x times the bonus amount (+deposit amount). Tip: Try and find bonuses that come with a 35x wagering requirement or lower.
When accepting an online casino, always remember to read the T’s & C’s to avoid disappointment. Wagering requirements are generally something that you cannot avoid when claiming a bonus, and most players find them extremely annoying.
