Handling Sign-up Bonuses
Many online casinos offer sign-up bonuses as an incentive to get new players to make their first deposit. These bonuses normally match a percentage of the player's deposit, and almost all bonuses require a minimum amount of wagering before the player is allowed to cash out. As mentioned previously in this article, games such as craps and roulette may not count towards wagering requirements.
Listed below is an example of a typical sign-up bonus, along with its requirements:
1. The online casino offers new players a deposit matching bonus of 100%, up to $100.
2. The player must wager 25 times the combined total of the deposit and sign-up bonus before cashing out.
3. Wagers on craps and roulette do not count towards meeting wagering requirements.
In this particular example, a player depositing $100 would start with $200 in his account. The player must then make $5000 ($200 × 25) in wagers before being allowed to make a withdrawal.
Advantage Players - Bonus Hunters and Bonus Abusers
Advantage players who use casino bonus offers for an expected profit are often called "bonus hunters", "bonus abusers", and "bonus whores". Some online casinos have restrictions regarding "the spirit of the bonus offer," which they sometimes use as a deterrent towards what they consider "bonus abuse".
But advantage play in casino sign-up bonus situations is mathematically possible.
For example, the house edge in blackjack is roughly 0.5%. In the example above, $5000 in wagering with a house edge of 0.5% will result in an expected loss of $25. Since the player received a $100 sign-up bonus, the player has an expected profit of $75.
This is a tricky strategy, but one which can pay dividends for the persistent online gambler.
A player wishing to employ this strategy at a large number of online casinos must be careful. Some casinos are rogues and simply do not pay. Others have terms and conditions which are not favorable to the player, such as bonuses that are restricted to slots. The best method, as always, is to spend time finding reputable casinos which meet your specific needs as a player.
Ongoing Bonuses and Online Slot Clubs
Ongoing bonuses are deposit matching bonuses which are available on every deposit.
For example, Crazy Vegas Casino offers up to $3000 a month in a deposit matching bonus, but it's a 10% deposit match, so you would have to deposit $30,000 a month to get the full bonus.
Although the requirements to achieve the maximum bonus can be rather high, keep in mind that a $500 deposit would still net you $50 in free money to play with.
Slot clubs, meanwhile, pay back a percentage of the player's action in the form of rebates and/or comps. Sometime this amount is around 0.3%, but it can fluctuate slightly higher or lower.
Skilled players can sometimes use the slot club rebate to actually get an edge over the house.
Take a look at the video poker game called Pick'em Poker, for example. Long term, this game pays out 99.95% (meaning that it will pay out $99.95 for every $100 bet), but the 0.3% rebate added in brings the number to 100.25% (99.95% plus 0.3% = 100.25%).
While a quarter profit may not seem like much, keep in mind that these are just averages. Your .25% advantage over the house could very well give you a much higher payout, but even if it doesn't, it's definitely better than giving the casino a 0.25% edge.
Page Six - Online Slots Tournaments
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4- Privacy Issues and Online Casinos
7- Online Slots Paybacks and Payout Percentages
8- Dealing with Potential Problems
