A casino bonus allows you to play for longer

If anyone ever pays attention to the advertising for online casinos whether that be direct mailing or TV there is always some kind of  casino bonus on offer but rest assured that the online casino in question is not about to give away free money. There is one exception to this when occasionally an online casino such as Paddy Power casino will give €5 to new players simply for registering but the general casino bonus comes in the form of what is known as a deposit matching bonus. This in effect says that the online casino will match your first deposit into your online casino account and although not set in concrete it is usually a 100% match. What this means is that if you deposit for example €100 into your account there will be a further €100 placed into your casino bonus account. Sometimes online casinos will also offer a matching bonus on your second and even third casino deposit but these matches are often for only 50% or less. Two things should be noted about these casino bonuses. Firstly they are only for new players to the online casino although some will allow existing customers of sports gambling for example to participate as long as they have not played at the online casino before. The second point is that the casino bonus money is placed in a bonus account which means that although it is available to play casino games it is not available for withdrawal until certain criteria have been met and herein lies the rub. The online casinos have what is called play through requirements which state that the bonus money must be staked a number of times on certain casino games before withdrawal is possible and this number can be quite high; often 30 or 40 times the bonus amount. In addition the online casino selects the casino games which are eligible which means that relatively low risk casino games such as roulette either do not count at all towards the requirements or count for a very small percentage. If for example the play through requirement is 30 times and you have your €100 in your bonus account you will need to wager 30 times €100 or €3000 on games that count 100% towards the requirement such as casino slots but if you elected to play roulette or blackjack which only count 5% then you would need to wager €60,000 before any withdrawal can be made. The more you are forced to play the greater the chance that the online casino will recuperate the money that it has “given to you”. Another trick which is often used is to quote a lower number of times that the bonus money has to be played which makes it look attractive but then apply it to both the bonus and your deposit money. If the bonus was 100% of your deposit then 20 times your deposit plus the bonus is equal to 40 times the bonus but 20 times looks more attractive. You probably now have the distinct impression that to actually withdraw any money from a casino bonus as cash is difficult and you would be right, the likelihood of actually benefitting from a casino bonus is quite small except of course for the fact that you will be playing longer with your deposit money and possibly getting more enjoyment out of it that would be the case without a casino bonus. This is an important point and should really be the way in which this sort of casino bonus is approached. Another disadvantage of this form of casino bonus is that it is only valid for new players to the online casino so once you are signed up that’s it.

There are however alternatives to this form of casino bonus which may appeal more to some Irish casino players and they can be found at www.nobonuscasino.com or www.freespinscasino.com. The first online casino as the name suggests does not offer a casino bonus to new players but has instead an interesting cash back offer to all players on every deposit into the casino which works very simply. If you make a deposit into your online casino account and lose it all in the same day then you receive 10% of your deposit back as cash the very next day. There are no strings attached to this cash back; there are no play through requirements and you can do what you want with the money which includes withdrawing it immediately. This in effect ensures that you never lose more than 90% of your deposit and as stated the offer is for every player and every deposit made into the casino. As an alternative to the deposit matching bonus and as a way of attracting new players casinos.ie thinks this is far better. The second online casino mentioned has a different offer which may appeal to casino slots players in particular. The offer at freespins casino is that for every deposit you are awarded free spins at a selection of casino slots. The actual number of free sins will depend on the size of your deposit and which of the casino slots you elect to play as the spins have different values. The more you deposit the better the free spins offer so for example a deposit of €10 results in free spins to the value of €1 which is 10% of your deposit but if you deposit €500 then the free spins value awarded is €100 which is 20% of your deposit value. At the end of your free spins you will probably have made a profit, after all they cost nothing to start with but there are wagering requirements before those winnings can be withdrawn and these are set at 50 times the amount won. You also have to complete the free spins wagering within 2 days. This arrangement is once again valid for every deposit made into the online casino and for every player so although 50 times the winnings might seem a bit high you will have lots of playing time for free.