Are Online Slot Games as Generous as They Seem to Be?

All it takes is just one Google search to find yourself amidst a whole host of online casino welcome offers, with each promising bonus cash and a number of free spins, all that for a price of a simple sign-up and deposit.

But are these amazing offers all that they make out to be?

At face value, yes, these offers appear fantastic, giving players the opportunity to receive an advantage when selecting to bet with a particular online casino. After all, who doesn’t like free stuff?

However, the harsh truth is that no matter how amazing an offer appears to be, in most cases there’s a hidden red flag that can quickly ruin your online gambling experience called wagering requirements.

What Are Wagering Requirements And How do they work?

To put it simply, wagering requirements are a limitation that prohibits the ability to quickly withdraw the money you made from the welcome offer bonus.

Wagering requirements are a simple way for the online casino to include an element of risk on the player’s side, meaning while they’re still receiving free cash to gamble with, there’s no guarantee that they will walk away with the casino’s money.

The difficulty of wagering requirements varies from one casino to another, meaning there’s no set maximum or minimum limit they stick with. However, it’s fair to note that the more honest and fair the casino is, the lower the requirements are.

For instance, one casino may give players $100 of bonus cash with a 40x wagering requirement. What this means is that the player would need to make $4000 worth of bets before anything could be withdrawn.

The sad truth is that most gamblers will lose all of the bonus cash before they get anywhere near to reaching the $4000 threshold needed to make a withdrawal.

Generally, the more impressive the bonus offer is, the more difficult the wagering requirements are. It doesn’t necessarily pay to accept the most interesting offer from an online casino, as you’ll quickly come to the realization that you’re never going to be able to successfully deal with the wagering requirements unless you get extremely lucky.

Why Do These Requirements Exist?

Wagering requirements exist for one reason: to aid in the regulation of what was once a lawless and wild environment.

When online casinos first started to pop up across the internet, players would gather in private forums to discuss which operators were giving generous bonuses that could be abused to land gamblers easy money.

Regarding the carefully curated bonus abuse, online casinos began adding wagering requirements to their offers but they weren’t widely publicizing this. Instead, they added the odd line or two hidden within the terms and conditions, which obviously didn’t go down well.

Players began realizing they were essentially depositing funds into an online casino, only to never see them again due to the incredibly high and well-hidden wagering requirements.

Ultimately, the government had to step in, and the Gambling Act 2014 was introduced. This essentially forced online casinos to be more transparent with new customers, therefore, a medium was established for all parties.

Bottom Line

So, what’s the best way to approach online casino bonuses? Well, it all boils down to how tolerant gamblers are with regard to dealing with wagering requirements since it can be a frustrating hurdle that not every player can cope with.

If you are one of those people, don’t worry because there’s still hope. A lot of forward-thinking players opt to play no-wagering real money online slots instead slots that come paired with big bonuses and insanely high wagering requirements.

These slots can be found at no-wagering online casinos that are providing honest and fair bonuses that guarantee you keep what you win, without any restrictions. Since there are no playthrough requirements, gamblers get a modest amount of free spins that can be used without any pressure or stress.

Admittedly, your bonus won’t be as big as the one that’s paired with wagering requirements, however, there’s no doubt that you’ll be able to cash out your winnings at the end of play. The frustration element is entirely taken out of the equation, and if you ask us, that’s a game-changer.