You may ask yourself, why would a casino offer bonuses to customers? Well the answer is quite simple, its there to entice more customers to join their casino! Due to online gaming being relatively new compared to traditional forms of gambling, a simple cash bonus can be a seen as the perfect way to attract new customers. For an experienced and disciplined online gambler, this is something they can really take advantage of. When it comes to online bonuses offered by online casinos, they fall into three main categories: the sign-up bonus, the reload bonus and the referral bonus.
Sign-Up Bonus
The sign-up bonus as indicated in its name is only offered to new customers of the on-line casino, with the bonus amount dependant on the on-line casino and specific promotion they have going. Some on-line casinos offer a straight cash bonus, also known as a no-deposit, but these casinos are getting quite rare. Most sites do however offer a percentage on tops of a new client’s first deposit, say 50 percent. For example, with a 50 percent bonus, when a new customer deposits $100, the site awards will basically award $50 bonus. Some sites can offer up to a full 100 percent bonus and even more in some cases for an initial deposit. It is important to read the fine print when you do receive a cash bonus, as some on-line casinos may require you to take certain steps to claim the cash bonus, ie. some casinos may require you to enter a specific code when claiming your cash bonus.
Obviously, many casinos tend not to award sign-up bonuses in cold hard cash, but instead offer bonus points, which can only be converted into real money after the player completes a number of hands or reaches some other specific milestone. Most sites do not allow withdrawals to be made on bonuses until a player rolls over the bonus at the site. Information about how much a player has to wager before the bonus money can be withdrawn is found on the particular casino’s home page or sign-up fine print. Search for “wagering requirements”, which is the common industry term used for this
It must be emphasized once again that it is import to read the fine print when it comes to bonuses to understand how a particular on-line casino works, as not all sites are the same.
Reload Bonus
Once again, as the name implies, these sites offer their customers some for of reload bonuses. A reload bonus would therefore be awarded every time a player deposits additional funds into an already activated account. Some reload bonuses are available immediately; others are converted into bonus points just like sign-up bonuses. Typically a player cannot withdraw the reload bonus amount until they have rolled over the bonus at the site a pre-defined number of times. Once again, read the fine print.
Referral Bonus
The referral bonus as the name applies tends to be the most straightforward bonus of all. The referral bonus is issued when a player refers a new player to the site. Typically the referred player has to wager a fixed amount of money before the bonus money is released.