When newbies are introduced to the world of online casinos for the first time, they usually start expending all the bonuses they can reach without knowing how they work and what they should do with these bonuses.
Let’s have a look at what online casino promotions really are and what gamblers should expect from them not to be disappointed in the end.
Wagering Requirements
This is the key thing every player should know. Seasoned gamblers know this quite well, but for beginners this information may be, and probably will be, absolutely new. So why do we need to pay attention to wagering requirements? Because they show the real value of a casino bonus.
Let’s take an example. For instance, the wagering requirements for a bonus are 25x, which means that you need to place a bet 25 times at a casino before you’re allowed to withdraw your winning.
But this is not all. Sometimes there might be requirements like 25x(d+b), in this case the deposit and bonus money should be rolled over 25 times before you are allowed to withdraw the money.
Or one more example. Let’s say a casino offers a bonus of 100% up to $50 while the wagering requirement is 20xb. What this essentially means is that for a deposit of $50 you’ll get additional $50. And for the “20xb” part: you’ll have to bet $1000 ($50×20) before you’re allowed to withdraw your winning from the bonus.
Check the Expiration Date
The expiration date is actually a tricky thing as many gamblers forget about or simply don’t pay attention to it. At the beginning of their journey to the exciting world of online casino, many players focus more on acquiring casino bonuses rather than on checking all the technical details. You may ask, why is it so important? Some deals may expire before you manage to take advantage of them, or, what’s even worse, cash your winning out.
To avoid such situation check out Terms and Conditions of that particular casino thoroughly. Otherwise, you risk failing to withdraw your winning, because you’d missed out such things, like the time frame allocated to use the bonus. Of course, you may be lucky to find a bonus with the time span that lasts for several months, but remember that not all casino bonuses are like that – for some of them this specific period of time may be pretty short.
Contributing Percentage Matters
Speaking about online slots, it’s important to take into consideration such notion as contributing percentage. This is the amount that each game counts towards the overall wagering requirement. Typically, it’s 100% for online slots, however, it might vary.
Return to Player Percentage
RTP shows how much of all the sum wagered on a slot will be paid back to the gambler over a definite period of time. RTP is expressed in percentage, and with larger percentage, a player can win more often and over a longer period of time. Each slot has its own RTP, but don’t take this percentage too literally. I’ll explain why.
First of all, there have always been random winnings as well as long streaks of losses, so in such cases, RPT won’t be taken into consideration. To put it in simple terms, this ratio will show you the slot’s average estimation of winnings.
Secondly, all slots are governed by random number generators (RNG). Although some may say that thanks to RNG slots will cash out in regular periods, this is not true. Each spin is absolutely independent, and slots are not aware if they have just paid out a win – all this means that if you have just won a prize, you still have a chance to win on the next spin. However, the bad news is that if you play progressive slots the jackpot size will get back to the initial point after you win which means that you’ll have to wait until it grows again.
Unfortunately, you can’t find any mathematical formula to count a slot’s RTP, and the only thing left is to search for casinos that publish this information.
These are the basic things you should know about slots. If you feel that’s not enough, read our article about the principles of operation of slot machines and check out the tips on playing slots. If you want some live practice with casino bonuses, visit our section with online casino bonuses.