Online casinos offer bonuses as promotional tools designed to attract more players. They also use bonuses to encourage more play from existing customers.
Online gamblers benefit greatly from these bonuses as well. They pick up additional money while enjoying fun casino games.
Of course, the key thing to understand is that online casino bonuses aren’t technically “free.” You must satisfy terms and conditions in order to earn the bonus funds.
Most players understand this aspect, because casinos can’t just hand out free money without getting something in return. But gamblers become less understanding when their favorite slots are excluded from unlocking bonuses.
Why do internet casinos exclude certain slots from meeting wagering requirements?
I’m going to answer this question while covering the specifics behind game restrictions. I’ll also discuss how to get around game exclusions and maximize the value of online casino bonuses.
Internet casinos offer several types of bonuses to new and existing players. These include match deposit bonuses, no-deposit bonuses, freeplay, free spins, and cashback.
A match deposit bonus uses a match percentage of your deposit amount to determine the bonus value. Here’s an example.
An online casino is offering a 100% match bonus You deposit $200 You’re now eligible to earn a $200 bonusA no-deposit bonus sees you receive a reward just for signing up at an online casino. You might receive a $10 no-deposit bonus, for example, after completing registration.
Freeplay is a bonus that’s given strictly for wagering purposes. While you can’t cash out the actual bonus value, you can withdraw the winnings generated from your bonus.
Free spins allow you to spin the slots reels for free. Online casinos commonly give players anywhere between 10 and 100 free games during promotions.
Cashback sees you receive a percentage of your losses back. For example, an online casino might return 10% of your losses from the previous week.
You can see that these bonuses have obvious differences between each other. But one commonality that they share is the potential for slots restrictions.
For the purposes of this discussion, I’m mainly covering how game restrictions apply to match deposit bonuses. But note that this topic pertains to all of the bonus types in some way or another.
All online casino bonuses come with terms and conditions. These stipulations are used to ensure that casinos aren’t simply giving away free money.
Just as players want the chance to earn free funds, casinos also want something out of the deal. These wants include players trying their casino and/or wagering a certain amount.
Terms and conditions vary based on the gaming site. But you’ll find some general terms on most types of bonuses.
Here are some examples.
Wagering requirements (playthrough) — You must bet a certain multiple of the bonus (i.e., 40x) before withdrawing your funds Time limit — You normally have to meet playthrough within a specific time frame, such as 30 days or 90 days Game restrictions — Certain slots and table games may be restricted from meeting wagering requirements Max cashout — Some freeplay bonuses put a cap on the amount of winnings you can withdraw Country restrictions — Most casinos restrict certain countries from playing at the site due to legal reasonsOne key term that you want to pay attention to is wagering requirements. Playthrough indicates how much you must wager before bonus funds are actually yours.
Here’s an example.
Wagering requirements are 35x the bonus You deposit $200 under a 150% match bonus deal You’re eligible for a $300 bonus 35 x 300 = $10,500 to unlock the rewardThe reason why I highlight wagering requirements is because this also ties into game restrictions. Furthermore, it’s just good to know the playthrough so that you can calculate a bonus deal’s value.
Here’s an example of wagering requirements and how you can use them to figure out bonus value.
You deposit $100 under a 100% match bonus deal This makes you eligible for a $100 bonus Wagering requirements are 40x the bonus 100 x 400 = $4,000 to unlock the reward You play a slot with a 4% house edge 4,000 x 0.04 = $160 in theoretical losses 160 – 100 = $60 loss while meeting playthroughYou obviously want to examine other requirements, such as country restrictions, the time limit, and max winnings (if applicable). But playthrough and game restrictions are the keys to this discussion.
I mentioned earlier that casinos use terms and conditions to ensure that they’re not creating a bad deal for themselves. Game restrictions are part of this because sites want to prevent players from relying on the most favorable games to earn a bonus.
Some online casinos exclude their highest-paying slots from meeting playthrough. It’s especially common for NetEnt slots to be excluded from bonuses because some of them offer over 98% payback.
Here’s an example of how high-paying slots can lead to losses for the casino.
You’re playing for a $200 bonus with 35x wagering requirements 35 x 200 = $7,000 to unlock the bonus You use Blood Suckers slot (98% payback; 2% house edge) to meet playthrough 7,000 x 0.02 = $140 in theoretical losses 200 – 140 = $60 profitYou can see the problems a casino would face if every player took advantage of this deal. One thousand players would cause the casino to lose $60,000 (1,000 x 60) under these conditions.
Internet casinos aren’t in the business of losing money to gamblers. Therefore, they restrict any high-paying game that gives players an edge.
Online casinos sometimes allow these high-paying slots. But they’ll reduce the percentage that the games contribute towards wagering requirements.
A game such as Blood Suckers may only contribute 20% towards playthrough, while other slots contribute the full 100%.
Here’s an example to illustrate the difference.
You’re playing for a $100 deposit bonus Wagering requirements are 30x the bonus Betsoft’s Good Girl Bad Girl slot offers 97.8% payback (2.2% house edge) This game only contributes 20% towards playthrough (i.e., wagering requirements are now 150x) 100 bonus x 150x playthrough x 0.022 house edge = $330 in theoretical losses Betsoft’s Alkemor’s Tower features 94.96% payback (5.04% house edge) This slot contributes 100% towards playthrough 100 x 30 x 0.0504 = $151.20 in theoretical lossesYou can see that it’s definitely worth playing Alkemor’s Tower over Good Girl Bad Girl in this case. After all, your theoretical losses will be almost $180 less with Alkemor’s Tower.
This example highlights the importance of understanding game restrictions and how they impact your bonus-earning efforts.
Sometimes a high-paying slot seems like the best way to unlock your bonus. But the math can tell an entirely different story.
Most bonus deals either exclude the best-paying slots or reduce their playthrough contributions. Therefore, you must find a different route to maximize the value of your deposit bonus.
A great way to do this is by finding other slots with high payback that still contribute 100% towards wagering requirements.
A 98% payback slot may only contribute 20% to playthrough requirements. But a 96% slot contributes the full amount.
Finding a slot with just 2%-3% less payback but a 100% contribution rate can actually give you more bonus value.
Here’s an example.
You’re eligible for a $150 bonus Wagering requirements are 40x You play a slot with 98% payback and 20% contribution (i.e., 200x playthrough) 150 x 200 x 0.02 = $600 in theoretical losses You play a slot with 95% payback and full contribution 150 x 40 x 0.05 = $300 in theoretical lossesClearly, the 95% payback slot offers the best deal here.
The biggest aspects to watch for include the payout percentage and bonus contribution rate. Any high-paying slot with low contribution usually results in a worse deal when unlocking your bonus.
But there are also times when a high-paying slot is better, namely when the playthrough contribution is still fair.
You can see this in the example below.
You’re playing for a $100 bonus Playthrough is 40x One slot offers 98% payback with 50% contribution (i.e., 80x playthrough) 100 x 80 x 0.02 = $160 in theoretical losses One slot offers 95% payback with full contribution 100 x 40 x 0.05 = $200 in theoretical lossesThe 98% payback slot is the top deal here, even with the increased wagering requirements.
As the examples above illustrate, knowing payout percentages is crucial to determining a good bonus offer. But how do you find online slots payback (a.k.a. return to player or “RTP)?
The simplest way is to look at a game’s help screen and see if the RTP is listed there. Many game developers offer payback somewhere in the help/info section.
Unfortunately, there are still many slots games that don’t list RTP on the help screen. Therefore, you need to run Google searches to find relevant websites.
It helps to know the exact game provider that you’re dealing with when doing so. Websites commonly group slots from an individual provider together when listing payback.
You’ll often find the company behind a slot through the help screen. You can then include their name in a Google search, such as “Rival Gaming slots payback.”
Another method involves searching RTP for individual games. You can look up a game’s name followed by “payback or RTP.”
Assume that I’m playing Microgaming’s Great Griffin slot. I can google “Great Griffin slot RTP” and quickly see that it offers 96.5% payback.
It’s not difficult to find RTP for different online slots games. An alternative to Googling is to check our comprehensive selection of slot game reviews. Where the information is available, we include the RTP information in there.
The only problem is when you’re dealing with a provider that doesn’t offer payback details.
One example is Arrow’s Edge, which doesn’t publish details on their payout percentages. You’re left in the dark regarding RTP in these cases.
Even still, you can generally expect these providers to offer competitive payback. Most gaming companies want players to win a reasonable amount of the time so that they don’t become frustrated and quit.
Using payback and playthrough contributions gives you a mathematical idea of what you must spend to earn a bonus. But these factors don’t tell the entire story.
Slot machines are among the most volatile casino games, meaning your short-term results will vary greatly from the average payback.
I may perform careful calculations that’ll show me only losing $50 on the path to a $100 bonus. But slots volatility could see me lose $500 or win $300 by the time I release the bonus.
This unpredictability is part of what makes slot machines so fun in the first place. Otherwise, most people wouldn’t even bother with the bonus if they were guaranteed to lose $100 or more in the process.
You also have to look at the negative side of volatility, namely that you can lose much more than the math shows. This fact is especially true when dealing with jackpot slots.
Big progressive jackpot slots must make up for the huge prize at the top. After all, casinos seed the initial value with a large amount to draw more players.
An example is Microgaming’s Mega Moolah, which is seeded with $1 million. Microgaming needs to earn this amount back at some point, which is why Mega Moolah doesn’t pay as frequently as other games.
If you don’t want to deal with volatile slots when unlocking a bonus, then I suggest avoiding games with huge jackpots. The chances of you losing more money in the short run increase when a big jackpot is involved.
Online casinos don’t offer bonuses out of the goodness of their hearts. Instead, these are tools designed to attract gamblers who’ll hopefully bet real money.
Game restrictions involving slots are designed to help casinos retain their edge — or at least avoid losing long-term money through bonuses. Gaming sites don’t usually allow slots with 98% payback or higher to contribute 100% to playthrough.
You should comb over a casino site’s terms and conditions to spot games that don’t contribute the full amount. In some cases, these slots don’t count towards the bonus at all.
Sometimes you’re better off playing slots that offer less payback but fully count towards the bonus. I recommend that you run the math on bonus deals and different slots to see what offers the most favorable deal.
Of course, many players just like to play their favorite games without worrying about the top deal. And this is fine if the bonus is a distant second to slots enjoyment.
But those who do want to maximize their bonus value should spend time figuring out the best slots for attacking the offer. Using a combination of wagering requirements, payback, and playthrough contribution will help you do this.
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