Firstly, I think it's important to clarify what a Big Cash Bonus Offer really is. The casinos, poker rooms, or bingo halls out there, all offer a bonus but some just exceed expectations. So, you have a lucrative bonus on offer but you must expect 3 things to come with it. These are:
- Playthrough or Handle requirements. The casino, poker room, or bingo hall, will expect you to wager a certain volume of bets before allowing a cash out. If for example you have $100 and you wager $1 at a time, you will win some and lose some and by the time your balance is wiped out, you would probably have placed bets to the value of $2000 or so. Try it and see, it really does add up to a big number! Oh, if only we could place only WINNING bets!
- Game limitations. If a casino were to allow you to wager on, for example, blackjack, they would have to have playthrough requirements (1 above) that were hideous. Blackjack typically allows a person to win $98 for every $100 wagered. What the casinos therefor do is limit play for these huge bonuses to games like slots, keno and table games. Not that you can't win but the odds are certainly less than blackjack. (A typical average should be about $94 won for every $100 wagered on a 3 line slot)
- Deposit Methods. Online casinos, poker rooms, or bingo halls, are sick and tired of people not honoring their credit card payments (charging back). They often link these big bonus offers to the use of more secure payment methods like the very well known NETeller.
Secondly, you need to see the bonus offer for what it is. It's not always pure cash that you can play and cash out, it sometimes has strange little variations. We discuss these briefly below:
- The "normal" bonus. You deposit e.g. $50 into your account and a short while later the casino adds a further $200 to your balance (Yes, that's a BIG bonus). You wager and wager and once you have met the terms and conditions, you can request a payout.
- The "sticky" bonus. You deposit e.g. $50 into your account and a short while later the casino, poker room, or bingo hall, adds a further $200 to your balance. You meet the wager requirement and request a cashout. The bonus amount is deducted from your account at this point. This means you were able to use the bonus to generate a winning bet but you cannot actually cash out the casinos money.
- The "loyalty" bonus. These are generally given on future deposits and as a result of mailed offers to existing players or available from the casinos, poker rooms, or bingo halls, bulletin board in the form of say a "special of the week". They still have terms and conditions applicable, so read them.
- Mystery bonuses. Sometimes casinos will have a "Wheel of Fortune" type bonus where you spin to win the bonus percentage. Great fun and often has better terms for playthrough and cashout.
- Free cash. In some cases casinos, poker rooms, or bingo halls, are prepared to give new visitors free money to try the games out. They do however normally request the player to NOT play progressive jackpots. They also normally restrict cashouts to a maximum amount e.g. Ten times the free cash amount.
Our take on bonuses. We recommend that, where possible, players only take bonuses where they are totally comfortable with the terms and conditions. If you're not happy, tell the casino, poker room, or bingo hall, to NOT credit you with the bonus. Clarify with support that this is the case (keep the e-mail and response) and then you can simply play and stop when it suites you. |
