No Deposit Bonus Terms and Conditions – Decoded! – Part I

Every website fits a certain ‘niche’ and given our site’s name, it is obviously a site focused on free money bonuses from online gaming sites, where the new player just has to register an account to get the bonus. No deposit is required. In fact, with almost 9 years of experience into no deposit bonus forays, this site and its owner/author is quite the expert authority on the subject! (Yes, I am tooting my own horn. Read more here: KeithF’s no deposit bonus journey)

We recently had a player sign up for a no deposit bonus, who made a minimum a deposit and thought he could immediately withdraw his deposit, his no deposit bonus and the deposit match, without wagering a dime. With this in mind, I thought it might be a good time to discuss no deposit bonus terms and conditions, tips on clearing the bonuses, simple do’s and don’t, etc. – So here goes…

Wager Requirements

The online casinos, poker rooms, sports sites and bingo halls will always have a wager requirement that must be met before players can withdraw winnings from any bonus, and this includes no deposit required bonuses. This is to protect the casino from bonus abusers who would try to sign up, claim the no deposit and/or deposit bonuses, and then withdraw almost immediately. The purpose of the no deposit bonuses and freeplay offers is to give players a excellent tour of the online gaming site, and give the player a shot at winning money along the way.

Wager requirements are usually described as something like 25x, 50x, 100x, so on and so forth. The meaning is not hard to decipher. A “25x” wager requirement means that the bonus must be wagered 25 times the original bonus. So if you get a $10 no deposit bonus, then you must make wagers equal to $250 before cashing anything out. (25 x $10 = $250). While it seems like a lot, players would be very surprised to see how much they ‘wager’, and their casino balance does not move much in any direction. This is especially true with lower house edge games like blackjack and smart crap bets.

This leads to the second important consideration when it comes to wager requirements. Approved games! For no deposit poker bonus deals, this is not an issue at all. You can typically play any form of player versus player poker, with a no deposit poker bonus. For casinos, however, this is a big part of the terms and conditions. Casinos will usually only allow a few of their games to count towards the wager requirement. They usually allow only higher edge games like slots, keno and scratch cards. Again, while it may not seem fair, the house is giving the free money with intent to let players look around, learn the benefits of real money play and have a chance to win some money. They do not want players signing up with the intent of playing even money blackjack with perfect blackjack hit chart strategy, and then cashing out, never to be seen again.

To conclude, wager requirements are necessary for any type of bonus, and especially no deposit bonuses. They protect the casino from bonus abuse. In the end, we all want the casino to not go bankrupt because of fraud, misuse and abuse, that way we can all enjoy no deposit bonuses, free spin offers and free play deals into the future.

When signing up for any casino offer, whether no deposit required, or a matching signup bonus, always check the wager requirements for the two important points; how many times the bonus must be ‘rolled over’ and for any game restrictions. Then you can choose whether to play the approved games and try for a big score, or just use the cash to play your favorite games without risking your own money.

Check back soon for the next part of this terms and conditions discussion, and we will cover no deposit bonus terms and country restrictions.

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