Where to start?
Before we get started explaining all the different offers available it’s important to take a step back. You need to do a little research on the site you’re considering playing on. We suggest starting with a quick Google (or any search engine of your choice) search. See if you can find any user feedback or reviews on the site you are thinking of joining.
Sometimes a quick search can help you find past comments and reviews which can help you make a better decision. Usually if a site isn’t reputable, they will have bad user feedback and complaints posted online on different online gambling review sites and forums. Some sites have been known to offer misleading promotions. Others have their games rigged so that the house almost always wins and keeps all your money.
Are they licensed?
Another important thing to pay attention to is whether the site in question has any valid licenses. These include the UKGC license (United Kingdom Gaming Commission) or any other valid gaming license. We would also suggest taking the time to read the offer’s wagering requirements which we will elaborate more on below.
Which offer is right for me?
If you’ve ever ran a quick search on Google for online casinos or online gambling you’ve undoubtedly seen more options than you can shake a stick at. If you take a closer look, you’ll start seeing different types of offers as well. Some may offer you free spins, some may offer you free bonus money or free tickets to an exclusive game or room on the site while others might offer you a chance to spin a prize wheel to claim a prize or special offer. There’s no shortage of options to chose from.
As the saying goes, not all welcome offers are created equally. It’s important to understand what you’re getting by reading about the offer. For example, if you get free spins for slots are you eligible to play any slot game you want or are the spins restricted to one specific slot machine.
Terms and conditions + wagering requirements
Probably the most important things to pay attention to and usually the most overlooked are the terms and conditions and the wagering requirements for each offer which go hand in hand. Terms and conditions are important to look at as they could contain any hidden surprises such as restricted games you can’t use your bonus on or any other type of restriction or requirement which could ruin your fun. Terms and conditions also contain another very important piece of information, wagering requirements. For those of you that are not too familiar (or not all) with wagering requirements here is a quick break down.
What are wagering requirements?
Whenever an online casino gives you a deposit bonus of some kind, you can be sure there will be some wagering requirements. For example, you just signed up to a site offering a 100% welcome bonus offer. You deposit $10 and get a $10 bonus meaning you start playing with $20. Now if the offer has a wagering requirement of deposit + bonus x 10 that would mean you would need to wager a total of $200 in order to withdraw your winnings. To further explain wagering requirements, if you play a slot game where every spin is worth $1 you would need to pull the lever and spin the wheel 200 times in order to meet your wagering requirements. The higher your wagering requirements are the more likely you are to play through your winnings while trying to meet the requirements to claim your winnings.
Conclusion
Every month new online casinos pop up with exciting and enticing offers meant to attract new players. Take the time to read the terms and conditions as well the wagering requirements. This way you can make sure you end up playing on a site, you’ll be happy with. Too many of us rush to make a deposit after seeing what looks like an offer that’s too good to be true but with a little patience and a few minutes of research you can make sure you don’t waste your hard earned money on bad offers.
