Online casinos love to come up with new ways to try to attract new customers to their sites.
No deposit casino bonuses are one of the top trends in the industry right now, with many of these offers – which mean players do not have to risk their own money – simply seeming as if they are far too good to be true.
While you stand to win a lot more with match bonuses or no bonus at all, you also stand the chance of losing a lot less, so the benefits are obvious.
Various terms and conditions that are included in no deposit casino bonuses can make it hard to come out on top, though.
After all the house – or the online casino site – is almost always winning. So what is the real value of a no deposit bonus code and are they even worth taking?
Some offers are a lot better than others
The first thing to point out is quite obvious – some online casino offers are a lot better than others, giving players a bigger chance to make a profit.
While deposit match bonuses have much bigger numbers, they require players to risk their own money, while this is not the case when it comes to no deposit bonuses.
This means there is a lot less bonus money on the table to be claimed, with a no deposit bonus from an online casino often just a few dollars.
Alternatively, it might be free spins that are offered by online casino sites for their no deposit bonus, giving players a chance to test out a new slot game for the first time for free.
But determining the real value of no deposit casino bonuses means looking beyond the headline figure of how much cash or free spins are being offered by the operator in question.
For example, the wagering requirement is a key number to be looking for. Most people will already be aware of wagering requirements but, for those who have not come across them before, this means bonus money must be gambled a certain number of times before it is available to be withdrawn from an online casino account.
Wagering requirements can vary quite widely in the various no deposit casino bonuses that are available. However, in general, the lower this figure is, the better it is for the customer. A wagering requirement of 50x is going to be a lot harder to reach than one set at 25x.
Keep in mind that not all games at online casinos contribute 100 per cent to the wagering requirements either, with this information often buried in the small print of the terms and conditions. It is usually the case that slots contribute 100 per cent, but many other games such as blackjack and roulette may only provide a fraction, which a lot of players may not realise.
Maximum wins are another key factor
To work out the value of no deposit casino bonuses, the maximum win on offer also has to be taken into account when making calculations.
Online casinos put a maximum win in place for these deals to cut the chances of a player walking away with a massive jackpot win from a free spin that cost them nothing at all.
While this might not seem fair on the face of it, without controls such as wagering requirements and maximum wins in place, online casinos could not offer such generous promotions.
But if a maximum win is set at a particularly low figure, players at online casinos may decide it is not worth the time and effort required to work through the wagering requirements of an offer.
When the wagering requirement is high and the maximum win is low, this is a bad combination that means no deposit casino bonuses are very hard to turn into real money. Even if a player manages to do so, the time it takes to achieve this may mean it is not worth doing anyway.
Time is a massive factor for working out the real value of no deposit casino bonuses. If an offer like this takes many hours to convert bonus funds into real cash, it might be better to skip them.
People have to decide for themselves if no deposit casino bonuses are worthwhile, but perhaps it is more helpful to treat them as a way to test out new games and casinos, not a route to profit.
