What kind of bonuses are available?
A casino bonus can come in several variations. The most common is what is known as a deposit match. This is where the casino will match your deposit up to a certain percentage.
For example, a common offer is a 100% deposit match based on a players first deposit. This will also include a limit for both the maximum and the minimum a player has to deposit to claim a bonus.
A common example bonus is worth up to £100. With a 100% match, this means that a £100 deposit would get an additional £100 in bonus money, creating a player balance of £200.
Generally, the higher the better here. We like casinos to offer as much money as possible, however, the deposit match is also a key area that we look at. A bonus that is worth £500 may look good, but if it’s a 10% deposit match, it means that the player would need to deposit £5,000 to trigger the full amount.
Other bonuses that are available include the likes of free spins and no deposit bonuses. These are usually lower value offers as they are easier to clear for the player.
The amount of bonus money on offer is the next step in the process for us. As we have suggested, the higher the better, providing that the deposit match is fair. A lot of bonuses are around the £100 mark, but they do fluctuate.
Once the bonus has been identified, we then move onto the wagering requirements. This is a set of rules that are in place to prevent people from simply signing up, claiming the bonus cash and then leaving.
Wagering requirements are a bit of a minefield and this is where our expertise starts to shine. Our team can pick through the bones of bonus terms and conditions to find out exactly what you need to do to get your hands on the bonus money.
This is an area that can make or break a casino bonus. We’ve seen countless offers with thousands of “free” pounds on the table, only to have unrealistic wagering requirements making the whole offer pointless.
One thing that we will note here is that casinos are a lot more transparent about these terms than they ever used to be. You can find this info yourself, but we take the leg work out this for you and tell you what you need to know.
Just a few of the areas that we look at here include turnover requirements, deposit options, time to clear and game availability.
Game accessibility is the games that you can access and still clear your bonus. This is another important area that many players and even other reviews overlook.
What you will find is that some casino games are limited or even prohibited from clearing a bonus. Table games are often a good example of this, with many restricted in the amount that you wager contributing towards clearing the bonus.
Many players have taken casino bonuses with new accounts, set away playing their favourite game and then later realise that none of it contributed to clearing the bonus.
We make sure that you pick the right bonus for the games that you want to play. We also highlight the contribution that each game has for each bonus.
Following this, we are now looking at any additional products or offers that might be linked. This could be additional free spins, cash prizes, extended happy hours and even VIP treatment.
Basically, what makes this product even more lucrative than it already was?
The final part of our review process is working out if the bonus offers value for money or if there are better alternatives. As we have stated, the biggest bonuses are not always the best value for money.
If you’ve no chance of claiming a £1,000 bonus or a good chance of claiming a £50 bonus, then for that player, the £50 bonus would offer better value for money. It’s only once we’ve worked through the full criterion of the review can we determine this.
