There are alternatives to the normal casino bonus for new players

Today is Aprils Fools Day and some of the casino bonuses on offer at online casinos do seem like a joke but this is not limited to today. Every online casino is always trying to attract new players and the most popular method is to advertise a massive casino bonus for those that register for the online casino. This can even be available to those players who already have an account with certain sports gambling firms as long as they have never played at the online casino before.  As an example Paddy Power Casino is offering a huge €500 casino bonus but it is not as simple as it seems. Casinos.ie is not singling out Paddy Power Casino as being a particularly bad example but just typical of what online casinos are offering. In fact Paddy Power Casino is one of the recommended online casinos for Irish casino players but the bonus needs to be explained. Firstly the €500 is what is called a deposit matching bonus and it is spread over the first three deposits that you make into your online casino account. To obtain the full €500 you will need to make three separate deposits of €200 which totals €600 within a 30 day period but you must meet the play through requirements of each individual bonus within 14 days. The first and third deposits will be matched 100% while the second deposit will be matched 50%. Bonus money is placed into a bonus account and it is not withdrawable until certain conditions have been met.

These conditions are always in the form of play through requirements which in effect means that you must stake the bonus and sometimes the buy in amount as well a certain number of times. In the case of Paddy Power casino this is 20 times for both which for a 100% match is the same as 40 times the bonus amount. Certain games however will not contribute in full to the play through requirements and in fact it is only slots which contribute 100% towards the requirement. Roulette for example only contributes 25% and Blackjack only 10%. This means that €40 wagered on the roulette wheel only contributes €10 towards the requirement. To put this into perspective if you made a deposit of €100 and received a €100 bonus and played roulette you would need to place bets to the value of €20,000 before you could withdraw any winnings. There are also additional rules to prevent players from trying to fulfil the requirements by playing red and black for example as any bets which cover more than 75% of the table will not count at all towards the requirement. Once again, this is not getting at the online casino presented by Paddy Power, it is merely an example which is typical in the industry and it should help if new players understand what they need to do to turn what appears to be a large bonus into real cash. A casino bonus is nice to have and it certainly allows a new player to play for longer as any of the casino games can be played with the bonus money but even a big win will not necessarily mean you can get your hands on it.

There are however alternatives to this type of bonus and one of the more interesting ones can be found at the aptly named No Bonus Casino. No Bonus Casino has been around for a while and is a very respectable online casino which is correctly licensed in Malta and uses mostly casino games supplied by the well known casino software company NetEnt. It is as good as any online casino around and better than some but the major difference is that it offers no casino bonuses but the alternative may well appeal to some Irish casino players and that is cash back. The promotion is simple enough and states that if you make a deposit into your online casino account and are unfortunate enough to lose the whole of that deposit on the same day then 10% of that deposit will be returned to you the very next morning but the real difference between this promotion from No Bonus Casino and deposit matching bonuses is that are no wagering requirements at all. The cash is returned into your playing account which effectively makes it your cash to do with as you please so you can continue playing with it or if you wish you can simply withdraw it. Even better is the fact that this promotion is not exclusively for new players, it is available for any player on any deposit they make into their online casino account so there you have it, the choice is yours and casinos.ie knows which they would rather have.

If neither of those options of a casino bonus appeal there is yet another alternative at Freespins Casino. As an alternative to the deposit matching bonus Freespins Casino gives away free spins on a selection of casino slots for every deposit made. The size of the casino deposit and the chosen casino slot will determine the number of free spins awarded but it can run into the hundreds. It will be clear to any Irish casino player that free spins on a casino slot will most likely result in a profit being made so even a generous online casino must have the chance of getting its money back so there are play through requirements on the winnings but unlike deposit matches not on your original deposit. Once again the offer is not for new registrations only but is available to every player at the casino on every deposit made. Freespins Casino is similar to No Bonus Casino being registered in Malta and using predominately casino software by NetEnt which provides a complete range of casino games and some of the more interesting casino slots round.

New online casino players have a choice between several deposit matching bonuses but as an existing player it may well be worth taking a look at either no Bonus Casino or Freespins Casino.