Should I claim bonuses? The answer is ‘No’

Even beginners are aware that online casinos offer bonuses. Once you sign up in the casino, you may claim its welcome package after making a deposit. Then, you will be showered with reload bonuses, free spins and whatnot. It would be weird if you sincerely thought that casinos are good Samaritans or Saint Nicholas who can hardly wait to give you a freebie.

Let’s dissect a typical bonus which I can see in 888starz.bet (if your country is blocked, visit BC.Game or Winshark. All have comparable bonus programs).

Also, take a look at the most essential terms and conditions for this bonus:

Another provision reads that all deposit bonuses are subject to a x35 wagering requirement (WR) within 7 days after receipt. The maximum bet when wagering the bonus is €5.

So, the first bonus will give you 100% of your deposited money up to €300 + 30 free spins. You will see that your account shows two values: Cash Balance (your real money) and Bonus Balance (granted by the casino).

The x35 WR means that you must wager the Bonus amount 35 times. Suppose you transfer €100 and receive the €100 bonus. So, you must wager €3,500 (€100 x 35). Your Cash Balance remains untouched. You can use it for real-money betting, but it will not count towards the WR.

My experience shows that a bonus balance usually zeros out when I complete about 10% to 20% of the WR, because losses eat into the Bonus Balance faster than winnings contribute to it. Suppose I bet €0.5 per spin. Therefore, I will have to make 7,000 spins within my €100 bonus budget, which is unrealistic for most players.

WR maths

Let’s assume you want to wager your 100% welcome bonus on Book of Sirens. Its factory RTP varies, but suppose you play it with the maximum 96.14% version. With $100 bonus and 35x wagering on a 96.14% RTP slot:

• You need to wager: €3,500
• Expected loss to achieve that: €3,500 × 3.86% (the house edge) = €135.10, so you will run out of money before completing the wagering
• Expected wagering completed before busting ≈ €100 / 0.0386 ≈ €2,591
• Percentage of WR completed on average: €2,591 / €3,500 ≈ 74.0%

Of course, each game has ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ cycles, so you might expect to be on the plus side ultimately. However, on average, you would rather deplete your bonus balance at 74% of the WR, as calculated above.

Is claiming bonuses always a bad idea?

No, it isn’t. The package reviewed above is better than many others because it spends money only from the Bonus Balance without touching the real money. Speaking from experience, this kind of bonus is available in 5% to 10% of Spinomenal casinos. Most often, casinos take the cash balance first, followed by the bonus, making you lose all your money.

So, you can redeem a reload bonus (e.g. a welcome bonus) when the WR are quite low (below x25) and you must only wager the bonus funds, not cash + bonus.

Another type of bonus worth claiming is cashback. You just receive a certain share of your losses (normally, 5% to 15%). The majority of Spinomenal casinos have low WR on cashback (x5 to x20, some are wager-free).

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These casinos have good bonus programs:

Conclusion

All things considered, the general answer to ‘Should I claim bonuses in online casinos?’ is ‘No’ because most of them are not profitable. Identifying favourable bonuses requires experience and knowledge, so novices should hold back from claiming them.

What’s your opinion about casino bonuses? Please share your thoughts.