Can Casinos Cancel Your Bonus?

Online casino bonuses and promotions are a great thing for both casino operators and gamblers alike and it is the main reason why online casinos are so much more popular nowadays than brick and mortar establishments. 

However, from time to time, a gambling operator may decide to cancel a bonus. Read our article to find out if it’s legal and what you can do to avoid a bonus cancellation.

Is it legal for a casino to cancel your bonus? 

Yes, there are certain circumstances in which a casino operator can legally cancel your bonus. Even if it doesn’t seem right at first, there are plenty of legal reasons for which a casino is allowed to do that and according to each licensing authority like the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, a gambling website needs to follow a couple of rules like:

• The Terms and Conditions displayed on the websites should clearly specify all the forbidden play patterns that may lead to the canceling of an offer or bonus.

• The specific gambling websites also need to include the exact terms related to account restrictions in case of loopholes exploiting, software manipulation, the use of multiple accounts, fraud, collusion, or any other sort of cheating or malfunction abuse.

• When a gambler has breached any of the rules and the casino operators decided to deny a withdrawal, the specific player must be fully informed priorly, mentioning the specific terms and conditions that have been breached, therefore leading to the loss of winnings or the cancellation of a bonus or even the account.

These are only a couple of rules shown as examples from all gambling operators with a United Kingdom Gambling Commission license. Other licensing authorities may or may not follow the same rules. 

That’s why it is always important to always carefully read the General Terms and Conditions on a gambling website as well as the Promotional Rules before you decide to open an account at that specific online casino.

In that section, you should clearly find what you are allowed and what you are not allowed on that platform and remember that when signing up you will have to check the box that you have read and fully understand the Terms and Conditions.

If some of the rules are unclear or unfair, just look for another online casino because once you have registered and agreed to those terms, the casino can legally cancel your promotion for any of the specified reasons no matter how unfair they may seem.

Reasons why a casino may cancel your bonus

We have already established that a casino can legally cancel your bonus if it decides that you have breached certain conditions, but that doesn’t mean it actually happens very often. No gambling operator wants to go left and right and cancel bonuses because its reputation will suffer badly, leaving the casino without customers.

To put simply, bonuses are a win-win situation through which online casinos attract new players and keep veterans happy while the players get to gamble with more money than they originally invested. If a casino cancels one bonus after another, the result is pretty easy to guess - no bonuses, no customers.

Looking at things from this perspective, it’s clear that a casino operator will only cancel a bonus if the issue is very serious. The gravity of a situation remains at the decision of each particular gambling operator but may include:

• The creation and usage of multiple accounts on the same platform. This is considered a form of welcome bonus abuse and you will not only lose your wins and the initial deposits but all your accounts created.

• Signs of irregular play. In the Terms and Conditions, you will find clearly what signs of irregular play mean for that actual casino operator but you will find similarities like making only low-risk bets in some table games or wagering on both sides in Baccarat.

• Suspicious behaviour is another thing that is mentioned in Terms and Conditions and that also varies from one operator to another. It usually involves activity on multiple devices or IP addresses which can be associated with sharing an account or multiple accounts.

• The exploitation of technical error or bug. Just like any website, online casinos may have some technical issues or bugs like game freezing or not functioning properly. If a player uses any of these glitches to his advantage, the bonus is automatically closed.

• Using any sort of VPN or IP routing/hiding software. All gambling websites have methods of detecting VPNs and again, you won’t just lose the bonus but also the account.

• Being rude or using inappropriate language towards the casino staff, the live dealers or other real players in Live Rooms. Don’t make any comments regarding one’s gender, race, religion or nationality. You will be deprived of your bonus and you’ll get your account suspended or permanently closed depending on the severity of the insults.

• The bonus timeframe has passed. This one is simple as all promotions come with a time frame. If you fail to complete the wagering requirements before the time window passes, the specific bonus is automatically cancelled and all wins are void.

These are only a couple of reasons why an online casino may cancel your bonus, however, there can be many others since all of them will vary from one gambling website operator to another.

How to avoid bonus cancellation 

It’s pretty simple to avoid a bonus cancellation because as long as you have carefully read the Promotional Terms and you don’t break the rules specified there, you should be perfectly fine. Also, as mentioned in the chapter above there are some conduit rules and prohibited activities that you need to carefully be aware of.

Even if they greatly vary from one online casino to another, here are some general rules you can follow when gambling at any online casino that will surely keep you out of trouble and your bonus safe.

1. Be polite to the casino’s staff, live dealer and other players in Live Rooms

2. Don’t change the games you play too often in a gambling session for real money. If you want to try out games, many of the casinos will allow you to do that for free in Demo mode.

3. Only make a deposit if you really intend on gambling it. Don’t just put money in your account only to take it out later without gambling. It will be seen as suspicious activity.

4. Pick a device and stick to it, whether it is your computer, tablet or smartphone and avoid switching between them. Logging in from multiple devices and IP addresses can be associated with account sharing which is forbidden on all casino platforms.

5. If you encounter an error or a glitch, just report it and don’t try to exploit it as tempting as it may be.

6. If you don’t plan to actually use a bonus, don’t claim it. It will look like promotion abuse.

Final Words

As previously discussed, an online casino will never be in a hurry to cancel your bonus, however, there are some rules in check, mostly to protect the gambling websites from money laundering activities and other abuses.

Read the Terms and Conditions on a gambling website before you register and agree to them and the Promotional Rules before you claim the bonus and stick to the rules stated. As long as you do that, your account and your bonus will be perfectly safe.