Check out the Best Casino Bonuses in the UK below

If you are new to the world of online casinos the abundance of what looks like free cash must look very tempting indeed. The plethora of cash bonuses available seem almost too good to be true. Believe me some of them are. So what is a casino bonus all about? Let alone which one is the best casino bonus?

Are they real? How can anyone survive in business giving away cash? Welcome bonuses, reload bonuses, free spins, refer a friend there’s a ton of them. Let’s take it a bit at a time and explain a few things to guide you.

So What Are The Most Common Online Casino Offers? And How Good Are They?

Well, the casino sign up bonus also known as the welcome bonus is used by everybody in the business. The amounts on offer vary as do the terms and conditions. The established giants in the field tend to offer very similar welcome bonuses.

Usually 100% up to around £200 with wagering requirements from around x20 – x30. The less well known or newcomers to the scene tend to get a little splashy trying to get attention. For example CasinoCruise an Australian based company offer the 100% match bonus on the first deposit but also give 20 free spins on a slots game. The wagering requirements are steep on the welcome bonus, but there are none on the free spins. So that one is a bit of give and take.

Bet365 are considered one of the best online casinos but they only offer a 100% match up to £100, but have a separate bonus for players who only play slots of 200% up to £200 with x20 and x30 respectively. Wagering requirements will be explained better a little further on.

Titanbet are a more established entity than most and their welcome bonus is a 100% match up to £200 with a further 50% refund bonus up to £200. They combine two types of bonus and it is a reasonable promotion with x30 wagering requirement. Quite a few of the leading casinos offer welcome bonuses for their mobile casinos separately from their desktop affair.

So you can claim them even if you already have an account, but just haven’t played the mobile or live versions. All of these bonuses are great if you plan on playing a lot at the casino, they give you more chips to gamble with and if you get through the requirements give a nice boost to your bankroll.

No Deposit – Surely The Best Casino Bonus?

Once upon a time yes it was. Back when online casinos first started the no deposit bonus was used a lot. Designed to be a risk free tempter to get players onboard with relatively unknown brands. It became a victim of its own success with a lot of abuse by players, so much so that most scrapped the promotion. It is still used by some today, usually to get you to download their software, but generally isn’t a large sum. No money won can be cashed out until a qualifying deposit and play through has been made.

The Latest Casino Bonuses

The credit or free time casino bonus is now starting to be used. Very similar to the no deposit with a twist, this is used mainly to promote new games usually slots. You are given an amount of free playing credit, as much as £1000 with some, you have a time limit with which to gamble the credit on the certain game. Any money that you win over the initial credit by the end of the time limit you get to keep. As with any casino bonus there are terms and conditions, you will normally have to make a deposit and wager before you can cash out.

The ‘refer a friend’ bonus is becoming more popular with the top casinos. This bonus is one of the good ones you don’t need to put up any of your cash to get this promotional give away. If you like to have a recreational gamble, chances are you have friends that do to. The casinos are banking on this and have brought out a bonus to meet this head on. Simply get your friend to sign up, usually using a code or through a link, and you get a cash bonus. Most online casinos give you and your friend the bonus. There typically is no limit to the number of friends you can sign on, but of course there are terms and conditions. It really is one of the best there is.

Love The Bells And Whistles? – Online Slots Bonuses Are For You Then

What’s not to love about slots? They are the most popular form of gambling you can find online. Another way to promote a new game, free slots bonuses are regularly given away. These need to be looked into carefully though some are way better than others. A lot of casinos, even the normally generous ones, don’t actually give any cash away with these free spins. It is just a quite cynical way to get you into the new game. But shop around because there are some that let you keep the winnings and are genuinely a cash incentive.

The Re-load Bonus – They want Your Business And Will Keep On Paying For It

The re-load works much the same as the welcome deposit bonus the main difference is it’s given for each deposit. It is very rare for every deposit to be included, but there are a few, mainly US facing sites that will. When it is used it will be usually limited to say the first 5 deposits. The percentage will probably be lower and the play though the same or higher than the welcome bonus.

Some casinos use this as a one off monthly promo, like for example one day per month every deposit made that day will get 50% on top. Be very careful with this bonus though there are wildly varying terms and conditions attached. There was once a casino offering 500% reload on the first 5 deposits up to £3000. Sounds great, but hidden in the terms and conditions, and it was hidden, was x75 wagering requirement!

Regular Promotions

Keep up to date with your favourite review site because casinos bring out promos all the time. Some are quite a good deal, JackpotCity for example run a huge weekend promotion. Run amongst the highest stakes wagered that weekend, a share of £5000 is there to be won. 888 run a promotion with their live blackjack ‘888Xtra’ table daily from 1pm-1am with £750 in bonuses up for grabs. Actually 888 run other daily promos as well with a different one each day making them one of more generous casino brands.

Loyalty Is Rewarded With Bonuses Too

Most casinos run a loyalty scheme to keep their members happy. Not an original idea as land based casinos have always had a system of rewarding frequent visitors. They have always given free drinks to everyone, but the regular guests got limos to pick them up, free accommodation and tickets to the shows.

Now none of these are any good to the online player, so a layered VIP system is used by most with points given for every wager made. These points can be cashed in for real money once a certain level is reached. Usually at a rate of every £10 wagered a point is awarded and then redeemed at the rate of 100 points equals £1.

The higher you go in the VIP scheme the better the rate of exchange. Some casinos have exclusive games with increased prize money available to those that have reached the qualifying level.

Seasonal Casino Offers – A Way To Have A Merry Christmas

Most months will have some form of offer and they will have time limits attached. Christmas is traditionally the time when every casino does something. Mansion Casino are running their Christmas Market this year. Run as a loyalty style promotion points are awarded for cash turned over in December.

You can then cash in your points for free spins or cash bonuses. Points can even be redeemed for a Fire tablet. Tie-ins with the start of the Premier league are also popular with the UK facing casinos.

Cross-over Promotions – Mix It Up With Bookies And Casinos

Crossover or linked promotions are also a favorite with casinos that are also bookies.

The big horse racing meets in the UK will typically have promos attached such as place a tri-cast bet and get free spins on slots in their casino. So keep your eyes open when big sporting events are coming up. There’s a lot on offer at different times of the year.

High Stakes – Big Bonuses

Traditionally those with a big bankroll are well looked after in casinos. Private rooms, Lear jets flying them in from around the world, gourmet buffets and no limit tables, all designed to entice the high rollers. Online casinos use a similar tactic with deposit bonuses set at a higher level.

E.G £1000 deposit gets 50% up to £5000, and some give reload deposits on top. While the majority of money a casino makes is from the middle of the road gamblers, the chance to take a large stack off a high roller means they will risk more in giveaways.

You Have To Play Though All Casino Bonuses

The play through or wagering requirement is the casinos way to mitigate the expense of a bonus. The way it works is that you have wager a certain amount before you can cash out any on the bonus funds. For example the most common bonus on offer is the casino sign up bonus, or welcome bonus. This is usually given as a percentage match of your deposit.

A 100% bonus on £100 deposit gives you £100 bonus. This is where the wagering requirement comes in, most make you bet at least 20 times the amount of bonus and the deposit before you can cash any winnings from the bonus. So that would be £4000 you would have to wager. All casinos use the play though but this is where you get to work out which is the best bonus.

Some have a 15 times play through on the deposit and bonus, another may have x20 but only on the bonus so the x20 would be easily better. But the x15 may give a 200% match bonus and the x20 only 100%. So the x15 would mean you had to play through £4500 to get £200 free and £2000 on the x20 to get £100 free.

There are some out there that offer ridiculous numbers you think you are getting a huge bonus. Then you read the terms and conditions and realise you have to play through x50 or more. You will never see the money! It takes a little maths skills and you have to decide which is worth more to you, the extra bonus or smaller play through.

The Online Casino Bonus Is A Marketing Tool

If you understand that all online casino offers are simply marketing tools, it helps you keep perspective. This doesn’t mean they are not worth taking, just that they are designed to get you to use the casino. Think of it like the buy one get one free in your local supermarket.

You go in to take up the offer and yes you will get twice as many jumbo bags of crisps. But you end up buying half a trolley full of shopping as well. That you really never intended to in the first place! The online casino industry is huge and highly competitive. There are far more casinos to choose from than supermarkets and the array of promotions on offer reflect that. The deals on offer however work differently than at the shops.

The psychology in play when shopping works on a slightly different level. All that lovely food displayed is very hard to resist, and you did go in to buy food, so why not get a few other things while you are at it? The shop can afford to give away the extra crisps, because you have spent money on other things you that you weren’t going to.

Online casinos work on a similar basis in that they need to get punters ‘in the door’ so to speak. But once you are there the brain is not stimulated in quite the same way, you don’t suddenly get the urge to splurge on roulette the same way you do with food. If you do, you have a problem and a responsible casino should be geared to help you not exploit you.

The casino bonuses are worked in such a way to keep you coming back. If you manage to get through the wagering requirements and receive the bonus, chances are, unless you were very lucky, you have deposited and wagered enough for the casino to be in profit.

Keep Up With The Latest And The Best Casino Offers

The best way to keep up with what’s being given away is to visit your review site. A good review site will have regular updates on what is available, and what the catches are. The majority of the top casinos will send email updates on any new promotions.

And don’t forget the forums, while a lot of forums are populated by many sore losers, any particularly good bonus that comes up will get them chatting.

Conclusion: You Can Always Opt Out

Of course there will be plenty of you that think bonuses are just cynical ploys to get more cash off you. And you may well be right with a lot of them. The maths involved with some, to work out when you are actually in profit along with the terms and conditions attached can be a bit tiresome. These bonuses however are optional.

If you just can’t be bothered to work out all the twists and turns, and no shame in that, don’t take them. It does clear your vision allowing you to work out what you really want out of the casino.

Relevant Research on Best Online Casinos

• Best Online Casino UK (Showcasing the Most Popular Gambling Websites Amongst UK Players)
• Psychological Aspects of Mobile Gambling (A Behavioral Synthesis Approach)
• Consumer Spending in the Gaming Industry (Complementary Demand in Casinos and Online Venues)