Almost all UK casinos offer special bonuses and promotions to both new and existing players. Bonuses are an important marketing strategy for attracting customers in this highly competitive gambling industry. Most of the casino bonus offers are quite lucrative. However, UK players shouldn't simply go for the bonus. Instead, they should take notice and carefully read the bonus terms and conditions, especially their wagering requirements. Players should have in mind that casinos are not really fond of giving away free money.
Bonus Restrictions
Before claiming casino bonuses, it's important for UK players to read the fine print also known as terms and conditions. They detail out all bonus restrictions and rules for a specific offer. By carefully reading and understanding the terms and conditions, players will avoid misunderstanding related to claiming the bonus or cashing out bonus money. The most common bonus restrictions are the wagering requirements also referred to as rollover or playthrough requirements. To explain them closely, let's consider the sign up bonus offers at the UK friendly Gday Casino and Amsterdams Casino. The former casino gives un unlimited 100% deposit bonus plus $500 each on the second and third deposit, while the later offers a 100% bonus up to a maximum of $555.
Wagering Requirements - Specific Wagers
Two common wagering restrictions are related to the types of casino games you can play with bonus money and how much you can wager on a game. In the first restriction, UK casino players will be directed to the types of games that they can play with the bonus. These are usually games based on luck such as pokies and scratch cards. In the second restriction, players are provided with strict single wager limits.
In our example casinos, the bonus available at Gday Casino has 35x wagering requirements (both bonus and deposit amount) on pokies, fun and ball style games and scratch cards. However, certain pokies such as Blood Suckers, Jackpot 6,000 and Dead or Alive have 175x wagering. Other types of games such as poker and table games can be played with cash only. In addition, for a wager to count towards the wagering requirements, players must wager at least $0.35 on pokies and scratch cards.
The bonus at Amsterdams Casino has 50x wagering rollover requirements (both bonus and deposit amount). The types of games that count 100% towards the wagering restrictions are slots. However, certain pokies count only 50%. Some of them are Devils Delight, Kings of Chicago and Big Bad Wolf. Furthermore, table games count 20% while live casino games and video poker variants count 10%. In addition, the min wagering limits are $0.50 for slots and scratch cards, $2.50 for table games and $5 for video poker and live dealer games.
Wagering Requirements Explained
Another way UK casinos impose restrictions on the bonus money is through the wagering requirements. These requirements refer to the number of times a bonus and/or deposit amount must be wagered in order to receive your winnings. As mentioned above, the bonus at Gday Casino has 35x wagering requirements, both the deposit and bonus, while the sign up bonus at Amsterdams Casino has 50x wagering, also both deposit and bonus amounts. Until the wagering requirement is met, no money can be withdrawn.
Calculating the Playthrough Requirement
UK players can easily calculate the rollover requirement. For example, at Gday Casino a player deposits $100 and gets a $100 casino bonus. Therefore, he has $200 in his account. If he decides to play slots, he must wager 35 times $200 i.e. wager $7,000. Same calculation applies for the bonus at Amsterdams Casino. If a player makes a deposit of $100, he will get $100 bonus from the casino. Because the wagering requirement is 50x (bonus + deposit), he must wager 50 X $200 i.e. wager $10,000 before the bonus is converted into cash and eligible for cashing out.
Withdrawal Limits When Using Bonuses
Some UK casinos also have other bonus restrictions such as withdrawal limits when using bonus money. Our example casinos have $500 withdrawal limits and only this amount can be cashed out after meeting the bonus wagering requirements.
Wagering Size Limits
Top stop players from using systems to lower the house edge, most casinos will impose a restriction on the amount you may wager at once. They may set the limit to an absolute value, like $6 per spin, or they may limit the wager size to a percentage of the bonus money in your account. This stops players fro making a chance by betting the entire bonus amount at once and if the get lucky they clear the wagering requirement in a matter of a few turns.
Summary
All in all, it seems difficult to earn something from casino bonuses. However, if you find a generous bonus with easy-to-meet terms and conditions, you indeed have an opportunity to win free cash. UK players should consider taking advantage of such bonuses and claim them. However, they should understand what they are getting and what they need to do in order to meet the bonus wagering requirements and cash out their winnings.
