Understanding casino bonus terms and conditions
Casino bonuses are great, but what about their T&Cs? Here's what to look out for when claiming a bonus...
Many online casinos and slot sites promote an abundance of bonuses that can be useful in giving you the best online slot experience possible - but some players tend to ignore the terms and conditions attached. It can be incredibly frustrating to receive a bonus from a casino, only to find out that you can’t withdraw any winnings due to missing out on a vital piece of information hidden deep within the offer’s terms and conditions. It can ruin your online slot experience entirely.
Ultimately, everyone has gotten used to just accepting conditions online without taking the time to read through pages of what appears to be complicated legal jargon.
Not only should you be reading through these terms and conditions, but you should regularly check them when changes are made to ensure that they haven’t updated anything that directly affects you. Understanding terms and conditions is extremely beneficial to players as it not only creates a stress free experience but you also know exactly what you are getting yourself into.
Being the helpful team we are here at Slot Gods, we’ve broken everything down so you can focus on the important bits! This guide will help you understand the terms and conditions attached to casino bonuses and what to look out for.
What are terms and conditions?
To summarise - terms and conditions are the legal agreements between a service provider (such as a casino) and the customer (the player). Everything online basically has terms and conditions attached to it - so much so that people have become numb to reading them, but it has to be said terms and conditions related to your gambling experience and bonuses should most definitely be read.
The casino’s terms and conditions, typically found in the footer section of their website, usually focus more on the terms of use, handling of data, player safety, country restrictions, and payment and withdrawal conditions and fees.
The terms and conditions of a bonus are quite different and will focus on the conditions of the bonus and its use. They will detail wagering requirements, bet restrictions and maximum winnings as well as the general rules of the bonus, so it’s crucial for you to read these before claiming any bonus.
Why do casinos have terms and conditions?
Whilst they may seem intimidating, terms and conditions are actually there to protect both you and the casino. It’s essentially a contract to ensure that both players and casinos meet all the obligations stated so that both parties can benefit.
The main focus of casino bonus terms and conditions is that the casino business doesn’t lose huge sums of money whilst giving away bonuses. That’s why they often have terms and conditions attached such as wagering requirements to ensure that they can sustain their business.
Wagering requirements
Most often you’ll see amazing casino bonuses such as free spins - but these offers often come lumbered with wagering requirements attached to them. This is to make sure that players don’t abuse the offer. Many players are guilty of missing out on fine print regarding wagering requirements and think that they are being given these bonuses for free.
This is far from the truth as they often have certain requirements such as wagering a certain amount before you can withdraw your bonus winnings. For example, if you see a £100 bonus with a 40x wagering requirement - then you’d have to wager over £4,000 before you could even withdraw any of your winnings.
These requirements sometimes have different names but don’t let that confuse you. They can be called a playthrough or rollover requirement but means exactly the same as wagering requirements.
Keep an eye out for lower wagering requirements such as 10x or 20x or even some bonuses that have no wagering requirements attached at all. These kinds of bonus might not appear as generous, but are far more reasonable.
Minimum deposit
Casinos will usually require players to make a minimum deposit before awarding them a bonus. This can sometimes be as little as £5 but is usually £10, and can be more. Furthermore, the minimum deposit accepted by a casino can be lower than the minimum deposit required to trigger the bonus - another reason to check the T&Cs of the bonus. Overall, ensure that you understand the minimum deposit required and that it’s an amount that you are happy with.
Deposit method restrictions
Some bonuses have certain deposit method restrictions in place. Most commonly, deposits using e-wallets (such as Skrill or PayPal) are ineligible to trigger the bonus. Make sure to read through this term and condition beforehand to see that your payment method of choice is valid for the offer you wish to receive.
Game restrictions and contributions
Many players have taken advantage of wagering requirements attached to bonuses in the past as they found that they could fulfil the wagering requirement by playing low house edge casino games such as roulette and blackjack. Using low risk strategies they could wager enough funds to release their winnings before leaving the pot dry.
As you can imagine, casinos didn’t like this tactic and added restrictions to which games count towards contributing to the wagering requirement. Online slots typically still contribute 100% towards the wagering requirements, whilst live casino and table games vary from 50% to even 0%. If casinos discover that you tried to take advantage of wagering requirements, then you will most likely be banned from that casino and have your winnings confiscated. It’s worth going through this term and condition thoroughly to understand what games can be played with your bonus funds.
Time limits
Most promotions and bonuses have time limits attached to them. The time limit generally refers to the period of time in which the player has to spend their bonuses or fulfill requirements.
You often see time limits attached to free spins as you will most likely have to use these spins within a given amount of time. The time limits to match deposit bonuses usually have specific time periods in which you must fulfil the wagering requirements.
Overall, the goal is to motivate you to play more and quicker - so make sure you check this before choosing a deal. If you miss this deadline, then you will lose your bonuses and any potential winnings.
Maximum winnings
The maximum winnings clause is there to protect casinos and their profits through imposing maximum winnings on bonuses. Similar to wagering requirements, maximum win limitations ensure that offers are economically viable and reduce the risk of abuse. Read terms and conditions throughout to see what the maximum win is so you can gauge if it’s worth your time.
Not all bonuses have maximum win limitations, but generally, the lower the wagering requirements or more ‘generous’ the offer appears, the more likely there will be a restriction to the amount that can be won.
One bonus at a time
Players should know that usually only one bonus can be active at a time, meaning you can’t have a bonus for extra free spins and a matched bonus running concurrently. This doesn’t mean that you can’t take advantage of other bonuses, but must wait until you’ve used the previous bonus first.
Casinos put this condition in play to make sure that no player has an unfair advantage. Like most of the terms of conditions in casino bonuses, this one is here to safeguard the casino against a substantial loss. It also encourages players to make a deposit and utilise a deposit bonus before getting their free spins.
Where can I find terms and conditions?
These should be the easiest thing to find as most will be presented next to the offer with a few sentences highlighting the main terms and conditions. The full terms and conditions for the offer should be available at the bottom of the page or with a link guiding you to them. Players will be able to find the casino’s full terms and conditions at the footer of the page.
If you are wanting to take a bonus given out by a casino, then check the terms and conditions first so you know exactly what you are letting yourself in for. Casino bonuses can be a good way to maximise your playtime and winnings but can lead to disappointment if the T&Cs aren’t adhered to!