Percentage bonuses
Percentage Bonuses in Online Casinos
The percentage bonus is just the same as the match-up bonus, and this is typically seen when you register and make a deposit for the first time on an online casino or when you make reload deposits. In fact, this is the most common type of bonus that online casinos offer since the risks of shelling out free money are reduced. Furthermore, this deters players from abusing the bonus.
What is a Percentage Bonus?
As stated above, this simply means that the online casino rewards you a certain percentage of your deposit until a certain maximum amount. The percentage and the maximum amount varies from one online casino to another, with some online casinos offering as low as 15% and as high as 200% of your deposit.
The percentage bonus offered by an online casino is also subject to change upon the discretion of the online casino operator, depending upon other ongoing special promotions and bonuses that they offer.
How It Works
It is relatively easy and simple to understand how a percentage bonus works.
Let us say for example that Casino A offers a percentage bonus of 100% up to $1,000 maximum when you make a deposit. Now, you made a deposit worth $1,000, then this means that you get an additional $1,000 credited into your account. So, all in all, you now have $2,000 to play with.
However, let us say that you deposited $2,000. You will only get an additional $1,000, despite the 100% match-up bonus, because $1,000 is the maximum amount that the casino offered, so this gives you a total of $3,000.
Withdrawing Your Percentage Bonus
It is so easy to make a deposit and avail of the percentage bonus, but it is withdrawing your bonus that makes it a bit difficult. For starters, you will encounter the wagering requirements set by the online casino to deter bonus abuse, which is the terms and conditions you need to abide by and complete before you can withdraw your bonus.
Again, the wagering requirements differ from one online casino to another. There are online casinos that ask you to wager X times the amount of both your deposit and bonus, while others ask that you only wager X times your deposit or X times your bonus. Once you have completed your wagering requirement, you can now withdraw the bonus.
Let us look at Casino A once more. Say for example that Casino A requires you to bet 10x the total value of your deposit and bonus. With your deposit and bonus amounting to $2,000 and the wagering requirement is set at 10x, then this means that you have to bet a total amount of $20,000 ($2,000 X 20) in order to withdraw your $1,000 percentage bonus.
There are other restrictions imposed by online casinos before you can withdraw your percentage bonus, one of which is the exempted games. Some online casinos exempt a variety of games and any bets you placed on the exempted games are not counted towards your meeting the wagering requirement, which makes it all the more harder for you to withdraw your bonus.
In short, the bigger the percentage bonus that an online casino offers, the steeper the wagering requirements become because they want to discourage players from abusing their bonus system.
Pros and Cons of Percentage Bonus
Let us take a quick look at the pros and cons of percentage bonus.
The percentage bonus given by the online casinos is free cash that you can play and bet with, so if you want a bigger bonus, you can deposit a bigger amount since the percentage bonus is dependent upon the amount you deposited.
However, if you look at it closely, the wagering requirements before you can withdraw your percentage bonus put you at a disadvantage, especially if you lose more money than you can win them. With steep wagering requirements and the restrictions on some games, you will find out that you have wasted more money on your bets and losses as compared to the amount of bonus that you are going to receive from the online casino.
Tips in Choosing an Online Casino Based on Their Wagering Requirements
There are many online casinos that will offer you sweet-smelling percentage bonuses. For this reason, you have to be wary of huge percentage bonuses offered by online casinos, especially if the bonus reaches as much as 500% or more of your deposit. Chances are, they are bogus online casinos that will only take your money and run. It is best that you ask around about the trustworthiness and reliability of an online casino before signing up with them.
You also have to make sure that you choose an online casino that offers a low wagering requirement to make the percentage bonus worth your money and your time.
The percentage bonus may be a great way to get some free cash, but if the wagering requirements defeat your purpose, then it is better if you do not avail of the bonus at all.