Gambling Bonuses

If you’re like me, you’ve been spammed with your fair share of gambling bonus offers. Bonuses are also prominently displayed when you visit an online casino, poker site, or sportsbook.

If you’ve signed up to try a gambling site for free, I’d be willing to bet that you’ve already received an email trying to entice you to deposit by offering a bonus.

Yes, gambling bonuses are everywhere. But for newcomers, it’s hard to know whether bonuses are legit, or something that is too good to be true.

If you would like to read my opinion, here are some of the best casino bonuses for USA players.

Below, you’ll read some things you need to be aware of or do before accepting a gambling bonus.

Understand the types of bonuses you’ll encounter

Bonuses differ greatly depending on whether you’ll at an online casino, poker site, or sports betting site. In general though, you’ll find 3 main types of bonus offers on gambling sites.

No Deposit Bonuses

One of the rarest gambling bonuses is the no deposit bonus. This is a small bonus that gives you a chance to gamble with real money online for free, before having to make a deposit.

While these can be a fun way to try out a gambling site, be careful to understand the terms and conditions of the bonus. Most of the time there is a cap on the amount you can cash out or win from a no deposit bonus. The last thing you want to do is hit a huge jackpot and find out you can only cash out $50.

Deposit Match Bonuses

 These are the most common bonuses. Deposit bonuses are offered to new players to encourage them to sign up and deposit. These bonuses always carry certain play through requirements that must be met before you cash out. These are much stricter at casinos than at poker or sportsbetting sites.

Casinos have had to deal with a lot of bonus fraud, so they’ve increased the amount you have to wager and restricted a lot of games you can play with the bonus money. For those reasons, I advise players to be very cautious about accepting casino bonuses. Always understand the terms before accepting a casino bonus.

VIP Programs

Something a lot of gambling sites have implemented is a VIP program to reward loyal players. Some casinos, and a lot of poker sites have VIP programs. The most famous being Pokerstars VIP program. They offer points for playing real money poker games that can be swapped for everything for books, apparel, and electronics, to even a brand new Porsche.

Always read the promotional terms and conditions

At first, reading a gambling site’s terms and conditions can make you feel like you need a law degree. However, that’s where all the fine print about bonuses is located. So, it’s worth the effort.

The first thing to look for is something that says whether or not the bonus money can be cashed out. All the sports betting and poker sites listed here allow you to cash out winnings. However, many casinos have bonuses that are for “wagering purposes only”. Meaning that when you cash out, the bonus is deducted from your cash out.

The second thing to look for is how much you have to wager, or how many hands of poker you need to play to cash out. These are often referred to as wagering requirements, rollover requirements, or play through requirements.

With casinos, you need to find out whether there are any game restrictions. If you play slots or keno only, you’re safe.

However, if you like games such as craps, baccarat, and blackjack, you need to study the T&Cs carefully.

Because of bonus abuse, a lot of the games may be restricted. If you play any restricted games with the bonus, the casino has the right to refuse to pay your winnings.