Online Slots Bonuses

Slot Bonuses

Slots are the most popular and prevalent games of chance you will find in both a land-based casino and an online casino. In addition to the opportunity to bet money and win big from the comfort of your home computer, or on the go with your smartphone, one of the best reasons to go online for your gambling pleasure are slot bonuses. 

Nearly every online casino offers generous slot bonuses, which offer you free spins or even free money to extend your gameplay and increase your chances of coming out a winner.

Why Slot Bonuses Are So Prevalent

A visit to your average online casino will reveal a plethora of bonuses and promotions offering free spins and free betting money for online slots games. Why the slot slant in the casino’s bonus offerings?

As enjoyable as video slots can be, it’s easy to burn through an entire bankroll playing them. Compared to other games you will find in your average online casino, video slots tend to have a hefty house edge.

The “house edge” is expressed as a percentage. If you aggregate every bet made on a particular game, the house edge is the percentage of those bets the casino will collect as profit. 

While games of chance can be thrilling and unpredictable for the player, for the casino they are mind-numbingly predictable. Regardless of which player is up and which player is down, over the course of more and more bets as more and more time passes, the casino will collect player losses approaching its house edge. Even if one player wins big, a parade of losers makes up the difference, ultimately adding up to the house edge. It’s one of the things that makes the casino business viable and profitable.

Games like craps, baccarat, and blackjack can have a house edge of 2% or less. So, too, can many slot games. However, many slot games have house edges of 3%, 6%, or even higher. Find that you’re addicted to Relic Raiders by NetEnt? Be prepared to swallow a whopping 10% house edge programmed into the game.

This means that for every $1 you bet on a spin of Relic Raiders, the house is likely to end the day with ten cents. If you bet $100, the house is likely to keep $10.

This is where bonuses come in. Slot bonuses are so prevalent because they extend a player’s gaming session, allowing them more spins before they burn through their bankroll. This benefits players because they get to enjoy more spins than they could otherwise afford, along with more chances to win big. It also benefits the online casino because it encourages repeat players to fall in love with a game that has a high house edge.

Claiming a Slot Bonus: A How-To Guide

Here’s how to claim a slot bonus as a newcomer to an online casino that offers slot bonuses as a welcome promotion:

1. Check to see if you need a promo code or bonus code to claim the bonus. Some online casinos require you to enter code at sign-up; others load the bonus for all new members. 
2. Sign up for an account at the online casino. Make sure to enter the bonus code in the appropriate field if necessary. Welcome bonuses are typically only available to first-time users, as confirmed by an identity check.
3. If you are required to make a deposit to claim the bonus, make your first deposit. If a minimum deposit balance is required, make sure to meet or exceed that minimum. Confirm that the casino will accept your preferred method of payment. Common methods of payment include PayPal, Skrill, Bitcoin, Visa, and Mastercard, though some banks that issue Visa and Mastercard will not process online gambling transactions. 
4. Start spinning! Remember, the bonus may be tied to gameplay on specific slot games. Make sure not to let the time horizon on the bonus expire. Bonuses are usually only good for a certain time period after sign-up.
5. Once you meet the wagering requirement, any remaining bonus cash will be eligible for withdrawal as cash.
6. Watch your email or check the “Promotions” section of the online casino for slot bonuses and promotions available to existing members.

The Different Types of Slot Bonuses

When considering which bonus to go after, it helps to understand what each different type of slot bonus has to offer. Here are some of the different types of slot bonuses you will see, and how they work: 

Free Spins

“Free spin” promotions offer players a certain number of spins without depositing any coins. These are typically one-coin spins, and they carry with them the same chance of winning as any spin. If you win on one of your free spins, the loot is yours to keep. At the very least, free spins help offset a high house edge, because you have more chances to score a payline with less money on the line.

Deposit Bonus

A casino offering a deposit bonus will match a player’s deposit with a certain amount of bonus cash. For example, a 100% deposit bonus up to $50. If the player deposits $50, the casino will deposit its own $50, leaving the player with $100. If the player only deposits $10, the casino will only match $10, while a $100 deposit will only result in the maximum $50 deposit match.

Free spins, free money … doesn’t it all come out to the same thing? The advantage of a deposit bonus is that you can choose how many coins you bet on your spin. If you like to bet more than one coin, a cash deposit bonus may be right for you.  

Deposit bonuses usually come with “wagering requirements,” which mandate that the player place a certain number of bets before the bonus cash can be withdrawn. More on wagering requirements below.

Welcome Bonus

Welcome bonuses are typically only available to new players, creating an account for the first time at the online casino. This is usually verified by an identity check.

A welcome bonus can take the form of a deposit bonus, no-deposit bonus, free spins, or other benefits.

High Roller Bonus

“High rollers” are well-known and well-loved in the casino industry as people who love to bet big sums of money. Casinos typically give high rollers all kinds of perks. Online casinos follow suit, rewarding big bankrolls with bonuses valued in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Game & Provider Specific Bonus

Many different types of slot bonuses, especially free spin bonuses, require that the player expend the bonus cash or bonus spins on a particular game. This is usually stated right up front—for example “10 Free Spins on Cleopatra!” You can’t expend the bonus on any other game but the ones specified.

Sometimes the bonus will be specific to a provider of casino software, like NetEnt.

A Note About Wagering Requirements

If you want to accept a cash bonus for slots, it’s important to understand wagering requirements. 

Players often wonder why casinos will just give new players or even experienced players free money. What kind of business model is that? It seems too good to be true. Why doesn’t every player just withdraw the free money as soon as it posts to the bankroll?

The fine print is in the wagering requirement. When the casino gives you a cash bonus, whether as a no-deposit bonus or deposit match, the bonus is contingent on the requirement that you bet a certain amount of money before the bonus cash is eligible for withdrawal. 

How much do you need to bet before you can withdraw the money? It’s usually expressed as a multiple of the bonus. 3x the bonus is considered extremely generous. 10x, 20x, even 50x or 100x, are more the rule. 

Moreover, the terms and conditions usually stipulate that the wagering requirement applies not just to the bonus cash, but the bonus plus the deposit.

Suppose a casino has a 10x wagering requirement on a 100% deposit match up to $50. If the player deposits $50 and gets $50 in matching funds, (s)he has a balance of $100 including $50 of free cash. The player must then bet $1,000 ($100 x 10) before that $50 in free cash becomes eligible for withdrawal.

You can probably see where this is going. Because these games often have a high house edge, the odds are against the player to keep much—if any—of that $1,000 over a series of spins where the odds are stacked against them. The player could get lucky, win big, and have more than the wagering requirement plus the extra $50, but the more likely outcome is that the casino will come out ahead, even with the $50 bonus factored in. 

This underlines the fact that video slots, even with bonuses, are not a money-making enterprise. Responsible gamblers do it for the fun and the thrill of chance. If you come out ahead, bonus or no bonus, that’s just icing on the cake.

Tips for Getting the Most out of Slot Bonuses

Want to extend your video slots gameplay by leveraging slot bonuses? Here are some tips to maximize the value of your slot bonus:

Read the Fine Print

In addition to the wagering requirements discussed above, bonuses may include time limits and other stipulations. The wagering requirement may only apply to specific games. Make sure to read the terms and conditions of the bonus before accepting it. You don’t want to lose out on the value of your bonus because you failed to jump through this hoop or that hoop laid out in the T&C.

Look for Return to Player

Online casinos don’t usually advertise their “house edge.” In an ingenious bit of reverse psychology, they advertise the opposite. If the house edge is a percentage—say, 3%—then you can subtract that number from 100 and get 97%. This is the “return to player” or RTP—the percentage of the bet a player is most likely to “win” the more times they play that particular game.

In other words, if a player bets $100 in a day on the slot game in the above example, (s)he is most likely to end up with a bankroll of $97. Of course, (s)he could end up with a lot more or a lot less, but the more spins, the closer the bankroll will approach $97.

If you’re shopping for slot bonuses, look for bonuses that apply to slot games with a favorable RTP of 98% or higher. This is the best way to extend your gaming session and increase the likelihood that you will come out ahead after you play through the wagering requirement. 

Look For the Number of Paylines

Other than the RTP, another metric to look for in a slot bonus is one that applies to a game with more paylines.

Many 5-reel video slots have 20 paylines (winning combinations of symbols) or more. The more paylines, the more chances to win. If you want to come out ahead, look for a slot bonus that targets video slots with as many paylines as possible.

Make Your Bankroll Last

Many video slots have that tempting “max bet” button, enticing you to go big or go home.

The truth is, if you bet the maximum on a single spin, the odds are stacked against you. Coming out ahead in a slots session usually consists of many small losses and a few big wins. Any one spin is likely to result in a loss … but with the right luck, you could beat the odds on a handful of spins and walk away a winner.

Of course, the wagering requirement to withdraw your bonus throws a monkey wrench into this plan. You have to keep betting in order to withdraw your bonus … and the more bets you place, the more your bankroll will approach the RTP, easing some of your wins. But you had fun getting there, right?

Beware of Withdrawal Limits

Some online casinos restrict the cash you can withdraw from your bankroll daily, weekly, or monthly. We don’t approve of this practice in general—it’s your money, you should have access to it, and the most likely reason for these companies to restrict withdrawals is to preserve their liquidity when it is in doubt. This is especially important to be aware of if you're considering taking advantage of a slot bonus.