You go to an online casino, and get your casino bonus. Wahey! You’re in the money you say, but hold on soldier, not too fast. Have you read the small print about wagering requirements?
To understand what a no wager casino is, one must first understand what a wagering casino is.
Your initial deposit match bonus of 100% of £100 (£200) has a whopping wagering requirement of 65x. Which means, when you deposited your £100, you are now required by the online casino to bet 65 times the sum of this deposit plus the bonus amount to clear the wagering requirements and withdraw any potential winnings, you will therefore have to wager £200, 65 times making up a hefty £13,000 before the casino will even allow you to withdraw any money earned from the deposit match bonus. That is what is in the small print, and many folks who are suckered in by these bonuses invariably end up with a huge gambling bill, just to extract the money from the casino.
If you want to take your money out of the casino once you have won, just don’t accept the bonuses. This is the simplest way to operate without getting that major sinking feeling when you realise your amazing winnings are now tied down by a monstrous wagering requirement of 75x.
Many punters get stung by these ridiculous wagering requirements imposed by online casinos, where if you win, you can’t even take out your goddamn money. That’s the reality of the situation out there, and these casinos are preying on the people who do not read the small print. Obviously, the wagering requirements are designed to keep money in the casino and out of your pocket. Finding a no wager casino bonus, is kind of like finding gold dust, it can make a real difference to a negative experience of brutal wagering requirements in some casinos.
Always check the small print
When you are comparing bonuses on all the casino sites, be sure to check out the wagering demands, or you’ll be betting until the sun sets before you can take out your bonus money and any of the related winnings. This is perfectly legal for casinos, and they can impose any demands they want before any of your winnings are allowed to be pocketed. Seeing a bonus with a very high wagering requirement means you might as well not play, because you will have little or no chance of ever taking out your winnings.
To wager or not to wager, that is the question
Invariably, this wagering system takes away the fun of much of the gambling, and could even be viewed as a pseudo casino tax foisted on players making their lives a lot harder and miserable. Casinos have a built-in house edge, not only with the algorithms on certain games, but the up-hill hurdle of trying to clear the punitive wagering requirements means the house has a clear chance of relinquishing you of your gaming balance. If you give up halfway along the line, then you lose the bonus and all winnings, and take a huge hit in the nether regions. Also, be weary of the expiry dates of bonuses, because they will affect your gambling experience, major time.
At the end of the day, casinos do not want you to take low-risk bets, and they don’t want people coming in, taking their bonuses and leaving quickly. There is some sense in their policies, simply because their main job is to keep people betting for as long as they can, eventually, the house will take everything.
It’s like that famous scene in the film Casino, by Martin Scorsese, where the Japanese business man leaves the casino with his multimillion dollar Baccarat winnings, but the casino operators arrange for his private plane to have mechanical issues, stranding him in Vegas. The Japanese gambler is then invited back to the casino where he loses all his winnings and then some.
Luckily, there are changes a foot in the online gaming industry, with either low wagering requirements, or none at all. As the punter, it is your job to check out the deals that are worth a throw of the die, and to bypass the casino traps out there designed purely to entrap gamblers with their unreasonable designs.
Thank the lord for laws, online casinos these days are being told to give their wagering requirements more prominence on their websites. By law, every casino that provides a cash bonus offer must display their terms and conditions clearly including the wagering requirements. If by any chance you come across a casino operator that does not offer clear information, do not hesitate to contact their customer services so you know what you’re getting yourself and your hard-earned cash into.
