How to Claim a Casino Bonus

Online casinos are popular because they offer a wide variety of bonuses and promotions. Read on to find out what a bonus is, what it involves and how you can claim it!

What is a Casino Bonus

The gambling market has come a long way since the beginning and nowadays online casinos are in no short supply. With so much competition around, a casino operator must find ways to attract new customers and make them stay.

This is how casino bonuses appeared and this is one of the main reasons why gambling websites are better and more popular than their brick and mortar counterparts. 

Basically, the casino will offer you an amount of cash to encourage you to pick that website and gamble there. It’s a win-win situation for both the casino operator and the player alike. One gets to remain in business and make a small profit through the house edge and the other one gets longer gambling sessions and potentially more chances to win. 

While for high rollers there are few welcome bonuses that look tempting, for casual players, low rollers and beginners who are just making their first straps, any amount of cash is helpful as they risk less of their own money.  

5 things to look for when looking for a bonus

To be considered worthy of claiming, a casino bonus must meet a couple of requirements. To make sure you make the right decisions, here is a short checklist of 5 things to look out for.

1. The desired bonus should have the wagering requirements as low as possible. Finding a no-wagering casino is hard, but low-wagering casinos are easy to find.

2. A good bonus should have as few restrictions as possible in terms of the games you can play or the games that count as 100% towards the completion of rollover requirements.

3. The terms and conditions should be as few as possible or at least fair

4. The bonus should be offered by reputable online casino

5. When possible, try to claim an exclusive bonus from an affiliate website

Select the Best Casino

If you are not already registered at an online casino, you will have to open an account with a gambling site if you are hoping to claim a bonus. It’s important to mention that picking the right casino is just as important as picking the right bonus because the casino is the one offering you the promotion.

First of all, check the background of the specific website, what authorities have licensed it and if there were any bad incidents in the past. By skipping this step you risk running into a rogue website.

A proper online casino should also have a good customer support team, preferably available 24/7. They are the ones that will help you in case you run into an issue with your bonus.

While you are checking the casino, don’t forget to pay a visit to the general Terms & Conditions. You will find there all the general rules you will need to follow on that website and what behaviour is prohibited. Remember that if you break the Terms & Conditions the casino operator might cancel your bonus or even suspend your account. 

Casino Bonus Wagering Requirements

Unfortunately, all casino bonuses come with wagering requirements unless the specific casino operator states otherwise, which is very rare. They are often referred to as playthrough requirements or rollover requirements and represent the number of times you have to gamble the bonus and in some cases the initial deposit also in order to be able to claim the wins.

Until the wagering requirements are completed, all the wins will go into a separate bonus account where you will not be able to access them.

Wagering requirements can be found on affiliate websites banners, right near the bonus or on the casino operator’s website in the bonus terms and conditions section and will be formulated as 10x, 20x, 35x, 40x and so on. This number represents how many times you have to gamble the bonus.

You might ask why a casino can’t simply just handle the bonus without the wagering requirements and what’s the trick. There is actually no trick in this but instead, a safety measure. It prevents money laundering activities and different players from abusing this. 

Without wagering requirements, anyone can go around opening accounts at different gambling websites, claim bonuses and simply walk away.

With such practices, the online market will soon collapse and there would be no more online casinos because they would be bankrupt. In the end, no gambling websites mean no more bonuses for players and no more benefits.

Casino Bonus Terms & Conditions

All casino bonuses have Terms & Conditions just the gambling websites, however, there are much shorter and more specific and may refer to:

• The timeframe in which the wagering requirements have to be completed

• The specific game or set of games where the bonus can be used - slots, for example.

• Eligibility of players (Some bonuses are available to new players only, or just VIPs, etc)

• Minimum deposit amount (not applicable to no deposit bonuses)

• The maximum amount of wins you can claim from the offer

Always check these terms and conditions before you claim the actual bonus to make sure you understand what rules you need to follow and that they are fair.

Claiming a bonus step-by-step

Now, that you understand what a bonus is and what it involves, it’s time to learn how to actually claim one and for that we have prepared a short and easy step-by-step guide

1. Firstly, scout around as shown in this guide, read every T&C until you have found a bonus that fits your needs 

2. Once you have found your favourite casino bonus on SlotsMate, just go on that specific online casino homepage and register an account

3. Make the initial minimum deposit required for the bonus. This is not required if you have claimed a no deposit bonus. 

4. You will need to input the bonus code you get from our website.

5. Check if the bonus is active and start playing the games required to complete the wagering requirements

6. Have Fun!

Keep in mind that casino bonuses are either sticky or can be withdrawn. If they are sticky, you can only claim the potential wins after the completion of the wagering requirements. If on the contrary, they can be withdrawn, what’s left of the bonus after the rollover requirements completion and the wins resulting will be granted to you.