What Is the Casino Welcome Bonus?

Anyone who gambles online, in online casinos or virtual bookmakers, is familiar with the term welcome bonus. It is the most common bonus in virtual gambling sites. For many players, this is a trigger to create an account and deposit some money. In some gambling sites, they don’t do this, and they may meet you in a different way. For example in the form of a cashback bonus.

But what is a welcome bonus, what can you do with it and is it wise to receive such a bonus? We are happy to explain it to you! In addition, we will introduce you to some of these welcome bonuses.

What Is a Welcome Bonus of Online Casinos?

A welcome bonus is nothing but a bonus that you get when you deposit money in an online casino. Think of it as ‘free’ starting money. It’s the first bonus you get. A condition is of course that the online casino in question offers such a bonus.

If you go to an online casino, you will often see something like a 100% welcome bonus up to €200 + 100 free spins.

When we break this down, the bottom line is that you can receive a maximum of €200 as a bonus, the moment you deposit €200. On top of that, you will receive another 100 free spins. These are free spins on specified slots games that the casino selects. The bet amount per spin isn’t very high and ranges between €1 and €2.

In case you do not have to make a deposit to receive a bonus, this is referred to as a ‘no deposit bonus’. Just registering at an online casino is often enough to claim such a bonus.

Free Money Doesn’t Exist?

Above we indicated that almost every online casino offers a welcome bonus. Especially novice players are blind to these nice bonuses. Not knowing they are digging their own grave with this. Because the ugly truth is that many of these bonuses are really not worth it and they freeze their deposits until they meet the hefty wagering requirements. If you delve deeper into the conditions behind such a bonus, you will discover that you simply have to refuse most bonuses.

There are so many hooks and eyes. The so-called wagering conditions ensure that you are lured into a trap. These conditions say something about the number of times you have to wager the bonus and deposit amount before you can withdraw your winnings.

Welcome bonuses often have to be wagered between 35 – 50 times. Suppose you have received €200 in the form of ‘free money’ and the condition is that you have to wager it 40 times, this means that you must have wagered a total of €8,000. If you have tapped in these hefty playthrough requirements, you can only contact the support service to cancel the bonus before starting using it.

Welcome Bonus Conditions

There may be different conditions to a welcome bonus. You should always read these ‘bonus terms’. If you don’t do this, it may happen that you can whistle for your money. But what conditions do you encounter?

A deposit always starts with choosing the payment method. And you should immediately consider this the moment you want to accept a bonus. Often the bonus conditions state that the payment methods Skrill and Neteller are excluded from the bonus. So take a good look at this!

The most important condition is the number of times you have to play the bonus. This is also known as wagering. As you could read above, in most cases you have to wager an x ??number of times the bonus money.

In some cases, you have to wager the bonus money and the deposited money. In addition, we see online casinos where you also have to play around with the winnings generated from some kinds of bonuses (like free spins).

Once you have accepted a bonus, there are still a few things to keep in mind. We see everywhere that you are bound to a maximum bet per bet or payline. Usually, you are not allowed to wager more than €5 per bet or €0.50 per payline.

In addition, it is also the case that not all games fully count towards wagering the bonus. Often slots count for the full 100% (with some exceptions) and other games, such as blackjack, for 10%. If you only play blackjack, you have to bet 10 times more to play around the bonus. Since there is also a time limit on the conditions, this can get pretty tricky.

You often have to play through the bonus that you receive within a certain time. It can take you about 14 days on average. If you are unable to complete the bonus before that time, the bonus and any winnings will be forfeited.

Now that you know what a bonus is and what conditions are attached to such a bonus, it is good to take a practical example.

A Welcome Bonus in Practice

In the example mentioned earlier, €8,000 had to be wagered. Against this was €200 ‘free money’. Let’s dive a little deeper into this.

The conditions state that you can wager a maximum of €5 per spin and that all video slots count for 100% towards wagering the bonus. We choose a low volatile slot with a payout percentage of 96%. So you are 4% behind every spin.

If you take 4% of €8,000, you arrive at €320. This is the amount you lose on average. And as you can see, this is more than the $200 you got. So don’t bother!

This does not alter the fact that it is not impossible to play the bonus money. You can be lucky and make a big hit, giving you just a little more ammunition to play around the amount.

In addition, you can choose to build up the stack, for example by playing blackjack, using the perfect strategy. You do not play around with this money, but you do have the greatest chance of expanding the €200 to an amount higher than €320.

The wagering conditions in this example are therefore not very good. The limit at which it is attractive enough is around 25 times wagering the bonus money.

Please note: with some bonuses you also have to wager the deposit. When it says 25X, this bonus is still not attractive.

Benefits of the Welcome Bonus

What are the benefits of a welcome bonus? A big advantage of such a bonus is that you get more money at your disposal. Ultimately, you buy a piece of entertainment with your money. And the more money you have at your disposal, the longer you can play.