Is The Casino Bonus Really Dead?

[Cassaon-casino]

Hi All,

 

Valdes, hope I got the placement right

 

Trust that you're keeping well and that you had some fantastic wins of late.

 

The reason why I started this thread is I'd really appreciate your thoughts/feedback on the 'Death of the Deposit Bonus'. Casinomeister started a similar thread recently on this and it really took off. The general consensus is that the bonus has become bogged down not only by the steep playthrough but by excessive terms as well.

 

In short the modern bonus is not player-friendly and deemed by many as bonus traps. To be honest I have to agree with this statement.

[helenakp]

Hi All,

 

Valdes, hope I got the placement right

 

Trust that you're keeping well and that you had some fantastic wins of late.

 

The reason why I started this thread is I'd really appreciate your thoughts/feedback on the 'Death of the Deposit Bonus'. Casinomeister started a similar thread recently on this and it really took off. The general consensus is that the bonus has become bogged down not only by the steep playthrough but by excessive terms as well.

 

In short the modern bonus is not player-friendly and deemed by many as bonus traps. To be honest I have to agree with this statement.

 

 

yep,many players as i know were called bonus abusers and the casinos refused to pay,just because they were only playing when some casino had bonuses,sooo why do they give those bonuses and even send them in my email address if i am later bonus abuser,i am mean how stupid is that 

[blondie]

Hi, Cassaon-casino! This is an interesting topic, in my opinion. I really like playing with bonuses, but lately I've been choosing them very carefully. I am quite unlucky when it comes to wagering, so I rarely take bonuses that have higher than 30x or 35x wagering, because I know at the very beginning that I will end up losing. So bonuses that I actually like or am capable to wager are very hard to find. When I do decide to play with a bonus, I bore live chat with as many questions as possible, about my eligibility to bonus,allowed games etc just to be 100% sure what I am signing up for. And I almost always play with small bets so just in case I know I haven't abused any terms because casinos have many terms for bonuses and if you're not careful, it isn't too hard to break them.

[Cassaon-casino]

Hi, Cassaon-casino! This is an interesting topic, in my opinion. I really like playing with bonuses, but lately I've been choosing them very carefully. I am quite unlucky when it comes to wagering, so I rarely take bonuses that have higher than 30x or 35x wagering, because I know at the very beginning that I will end up losing. So bonuses that I actually like or am capable to wager are very hard to find. When I do decide to play with a bonus, I bore live chat with as many questions as possible, about my eligibility to bonus,allowed games etc just to be 100% sure what I am signing up for. And I almost always play with small bets so just in case I know I haven't abused any terms because casinos have many terms for bonuses and if you're not careful, it isn't too hard to break them.

Hi Blondie,

 

I agree with you and thanks.

 

If the bonus has a steep playthrough attached to it, it's better to leave it or if you do accept it make a small deposit to make cashing out easier. The bonus terms are becoming more ludicrous by the day. From the looks of things very few casinos now offer a bonus where the playthrough is below 30 times.

 

Plus the modern bonus is bogged down by ludicrous terms such as:

 

1. Max. bet rule of 10%.

2. Some bonuses even have a max. amount imposed that could be won from them:

 

”Players staking more than 10% of their real money deposit in a single bet will be flagged as high-risk players and shall be monitored. The Casino reserves the right to void any winnings derived from such abusive behaviour. Example: a player depositing €100, then immediately proceeds to wager over €20 per hand will be deemed high-risk user. High-risk players will not automatically be deemed advantage users, but will fall under a higher level of security and their gameplay will be monitored for changes in bet value.”

 

”Any player who increases their starting balance by more than double will be prohibited from reducing their bet size by more than 50% for the remainder of the bonus wagering requirements. This will be calculated on the largest bet size made up until that point. If a player is deemed to have acted in this way, it will be considered abusive play and will result in the confiscation of any bonus and accrued winnings and the suspension of the player’s account. For example if a player’s starting balance was £100 and he/she has a win or series of wins that takes his/her balance above £200 while betting £10 per round, the player would subsequently have to complete the remaining bonus wagering requirement with bets of £5 per round or greater”.

 

3. The games they can be used to play are becoming less and less.

4. Before you accept a bonus you need a machet to work your way through the bonus terms which is an essay in itself.

 

Also, what stumps me if the online casinos have less overheads than a land-based casino why are their bonuses (most of them at least) not player-friendly? I understand that there are bonus abusers but surely the casinos can do better than this.

[NextTimeWin]

I think bonuses is alive, and will be alive always. I love to get deposit bonuses, of course sometimes there is bad rules, but in best casinos always everything is good.

[Cassaon-casino]

European-based operators licensed in reputable jurisdiction such as Alderney, Gibraltar, Malta or the UK normally offer their players bonuses with reasonable terms. This is in stark contrast to operators licensed in Costa Rica or even Curacao, also known as the 'cowboy' jurisdictions since they're poorly regulated. Their bonuses are huge but have excessive terms, I think one must be mad to accept them.

[Cassaon-casino]

yep,many players as i know were called bonus abusers and the casinos refused to pay,just because they were only playing when some casino had bonuses,sooo why do they give those bonuses and even send them in my email address if i am later bonus abuser,i am mean how stupid is that 

 

This can be frustrating when a casino sends you a 'special bonus' offer to you Inbox, you use it, just to be told that you've breached some lousy term and now you're labelled as a 'bonus abuser'. 

 

To further substantiate your argument I've taken the liberty of quoting some players' replies regarding the sub (sign up bonus) over at Casinomeister and I agree with them 100 percent.

 

I've never liked SUBs, and I am absolutely convinced that they need to be laid to rest. I'll be doing my part in asking Accred Casino reps to put on their thinking caps and try to steer away from this method of marketing. We're going to be looking at other positive aspects of gaming - focusing more on the games and other attributes that casinos can offer than offering a SUB. At this point in time, bonuses and their convoluted rules have just gotten a bit too much.

 

 

Reading through the responses it looks like were talking both. I have only one casino that I do deposit bonuses at, mainly due to the play through being 10X. I have done the 30X, 40X, etc., and in all cases in my little pea brain decided that by the time I had met the play through requirements I had wasted a lot of time regardless of whether I was up or down at that time. I took a deposit bonus not too long ago, had one of those lucky days and at the time of meeting play through requirements was up about $6000. I played a while longer and decided to make a withdrawal for $5000. Shortly after making my request.

 

I received an e-mail stating that I had made a $20 bet and the maximum allowed by the bonus requirements was $10 so my withdrawal was not allowed and my account was zeroed. After going to the deposit bonuses requirements and spending an hour or two reading them, I found the restriction. After getting sick to my stomach, I made myself a promise to not use any bonuses offered except the one casino mentioned above. My memory is not photographic by any means and I always read the requirements prior to using a bonus but being able to remember all of them is just not a possibility. I guess what gets to me the most is that any and every casino could build their software to not allow a move that is not allowed by the bonus requirements, or at least alert you prior to the move being made, but they don't. I understand to the tune of $5000 plus why they don't do this.

 

Soooooooo, I do not take part in the casino's offering of "free" money to play their games. My gaming activity is basically an entertainment based activity with the sidebar of the possibility of the entertainment being free "break-even days" and occasionally a rare "paid" activity and I definitely realize that most of the time you pay for the entertainment enjoyed. Playing with "my" money pretty much assures that I am able to make the decision when I am offered that rare opportunity to get paid for my entertainment whether or not I want to take advantage of it without having to worry about missing something in the "fine print" (it's all fine print for me). I would just like to finish with this -- Casinos, if you really want to offer "bonus" money for me to play at your business, fix your software so that you are helping me to not make a stupid mistake by not having a photographic memory! Thinking about it, perhaps this is the players way of giving you bonus money!

 

[ValDes]

I don't know if the traditional 'casino bonus' is dead in the way we all know it at the moment or is about to die any time soon. In fact, my personal feeling is that bonuses were never so popular and alive as they were in the last couple of years and it seems like the vast majority of online gamblers cannot even imagine an online casino which is not offering a bonus at all. I can talk days on this subject, but I know that most players have their rock solid beliefs and there is really no point in trying to convince anyone...

 

However, I am a bit surprised no one has yet noticed the big problem with casino bonuses. In my humble opinion, it's okay if a casino put 15-20 terms for a bonus, but it is definitely NOT okay if it didn't implement any software updates which could warn players for a possible violation of a bonus term while playing! For example, it's not a rocket science to get a warning from the software if you are trying to place a bet bigger than what's allowed according to the bonus terms, right? What I am trying to say that most of the common bonus terms could be simply removed if some predefined restrictions are integrated within the casino software while player is playing with bonus funds.

 

One more interesting point... I've seen so many players complaining from weird and sometimes, even unfair bonus terms, however I've never seen some of them notifying the relevant licensing authority and asking questions how come that a casino with such terms and conditions could get a license.. It is so easy to say it was player's fault, player was supposed to read the terms and stuff like that, but hey, let's face it, where's the prevention here? Why those who grant a license and guarantee casino fairness don't inspect and approve the bonus terms for example?...

[blondie]

Absolutely agree with every word VaIDes just said..No wonder we all call you Guru!

[Cassaon-casino]

I don't know if the traditional 'casino bonus' is dead in the way we all know it at the moment or is about to die any time soon. In fact, my personal feeling is that bonuses were never so popular and alive as they were in the last couple of years and it seems like the vast majority of online gamblers cannot even imagine an online casino which is not offering a bonus at all. I can talk days on this subject, but I know that most players have their rock solid beliefs and there is really no point in trying to convince anyone...

 

I agree with you that the bonus is not dead per se. But the emphasis and most players agree with me is that the modern bonus has became laced with terms that's not always in the best interest of the player.

 

One more interesting point... I've seen so many players complaining from weird and sometimes, even unfair bonus terms, however I've never seen some of them notifying the relevant licensing authority and asking questions how come that a casino with such terms and conditions could get a license.. It is so easy to say it was player's fault, player was supposed to read the terms and stuff like that, but hey, let's face it, where's the prevention here? Why those who grant a license and guarantee casino fairness don't inspect and approve the bonus terms for example?...

 

It is and will always be a nice incentive to both loyal and new players.

 

 

I'm stumped as well and a very valid point. After all it's the job of the jurisdiction in which the operator is licensed to ensure that it operates within the jurisdictions' quality guidelines. At times I get the feeling that some reputable jurisdictions are just hot air.

[cornholio74]

Hi,

 

Look at CasinoEuro they have a daily free spins offer now. You can get 1 to 5 free spins daily, wow.

The change of winning anything with 1 to 5 free spins is very small but that's ok.

What not ok is, is that when you do win a couple of cents they have this 1 euro bonus rule. If you do not win above 1 euro your winnings will be removed. Really? yes really..

Like this I can give away free spins too..just ridiculous!

 

[Cassaon-casino]

Look at CasinoEuro they have a daily free spins offer now. You can get 1 to 5 free spins daily, wow.

The change of winning anything with 1 to 5 free spins is very small but that's ok.

What not ok is, is that when you do win a couple of cents they have this 1 euro bonus rule. If you do not win above 1 euro your winnings will be removed. Really? yes really..

Like this I can give away free spins too..just ridiculous!

 

 

 

The idea behind this offer is to get players playing, it's a small incentive. You don't have to deposit, it's purely for entertainment purposes in the hope of enticing players to make a deposit. In life their ain't such a thing as a free lunch.

[raverbabe]

I definitely would agree with the side stating that the "traditional" match bonus is on its way out.. the rules and regulations attached to these bonuses are just getting more and more ludicrous all the time, and I think cashbacks and casino race type incentives being offered by casinos like BetAT and VideoSlots are much fairer to players, and importantly, much easier to understand especially for those who aren't yet fully versed in on-line gambling lingo.

 

I'd like to see a feature of some kind here at AskGamblers where these kinds of innovative "bonuses" are researched and reviewed as I bet theres lots out there that I've yet to find out about!

[Luciana]

I definitely would agree with the side stating that the "traditional" match bonus is on its way out.. the rules and regulations attached to these bonuses are just getting more and more ludicrous all the time, and I think cashbacks and casino race type incentives being offered by casinos like BetAT and VideoSlots are much fairer to players, and importantly, much easier to understand especially for those who aren't yet fully versed in on-line gambling lingo.

 

I'd like to see a feature of some kind here at AskGamblers where these kinds of innovative "bonuses" are researched and reviewed as I bet theres lots out there that I've yet to find out about!

 

Thank you raverbabe Do you have any particular example of Innovative bonus type we should consider involving on AG?

[rebecca123]

Each of the brands intention to go for casino bonus for the users is mainly because they want players to experience the website and explore more about them then take a call to deposit, I feel that casino bonus is not dead but the conditions are more to avail them.