Free Casino Bonuses: Not As Free As You Think
- Filed under: Slots
- Date: Jun 26,2010
Let’s be honest. We all want something for nothing. So when internet casinos offer free chips or free casino bonus cash as a way to entice us to play, it is very tempting. However, are those free chips actually that free?
To truly answer that question, you really need to get a good grasp on what an online casino is actually offering when they talk about ‘free casino chips’. They are not offering to give you free money, just free casino credits. A very different thing, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Casino credits are, put simply, play money. It is possible to win real cash from these, but the initial credit can never be cashed out. Hence, it isn’t really ‘free cash’. Take this as an example: an online casino offers you $100 free chip. You take the bonus and, luckily enough, find that you are winning. You get up to $200 and think that it is time to cash in your winnings.
So, even though the balance in the cashier section of the casino says ‘$200′, you can only cash out $100 of that. The other $100 is the non-cashable free chip. Worse still are the wager requirements that are always associated with casino bonuses. Wager requirements are set by each online casino and mean that you have to wager a multiple of the bonus cash before you can cash out any winnings. These multiples are usually between 20 and 40 times the bonus amount.
Of course, there are other rules. There are often restrictions on which games you can and can’t play. Some games (often roulette and blackjack) don’t count towards the wagering requirements so these are to be avoided while playing with bonus cash.
Make sure you carefully check every casinos terms and conditions to be certain which games count towards the wagering requirement for the bonus chip you are using. There is one other factor involved when playing a ‘free chip’ and that is: what is the maximum cashout for that bonus.
Many free chips now have a limit on how much real cash you can win from their no deposit bonus. This limit could be as little as $50. That would mean that no matter how much you win, you would only be able to cashout $50.
Again, maximum cashouts should be covered in the casino’s terms and conditions, so read all the rules as carefully as you can before you claim a free chip.
So, just how free do you think that ‘free chip’ really is?
Jim Haines regularly writes on online casinos and you can find his Paradise 8 Casino review along with many others at http://www.usa-players-welcome.com
