Please ensure you understand any online casino bonus deal

Anyone attempting to run a business will be very aware that one of the biggest and most important objectives is to attract new customers. Whatever service or product you are hoping to sell you need to first persuade your potential customers that they need it, and secondly assure them that you are the best source of that service or product. This is of course called marketing and there are a huge range of companies which do nothing else but provide the ideas and means to achieve that objective. Some businesses however are not necessarily suitable for some of the more imaginative marketing strategies we see on our bill boards and on our television screens, and operating an online casino may well be one of those industries which does not necessarily need an imaginative approach to attracting new customers. Here at online casino.ie we have always been of the view that the most important element of any online casino is the quality of the casino games they feature on the site, but we have to accept that every site operator needs to try other ways to stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately one of the most common ways chosen to achieve that objective is through the offer of some sort of online casino bonus deal for new customers. Quite apart from the fact that almost every online casino operator now employs the same strategy, most of these online casino bonus deals are far too complicated and are all too easily misunderstood. A bonus offer or cash back deal from an online sports gambling site or even through a high street bookmaker is relatively easy to understand and there are usually very few terms and conditions attached. The problem with the online casino welcome bonus deals is that they all tend to be dependent on a wide range of terms and conditions, some of which clearly make them unsuitable for many prospective casino games players. Offering a bonus is of course a well-established marketing strategy in many business sectors, and let’s face it we are all attracted to the idea of getting something for nothing or as we often refer to it as getting a bargain. When it comes to gambling however or more specifically playing online casino games, an online casino bonus may appear to be a bargain but can also be a weight around our neck because of the associated terms and conditions.

Almost all the welcome bonus deals offered by the online casino operators follow the same pattern and consist of a promise to match a new customer’s first deposit with a 100% bonus effectively doubling their available stake money for playing casino games. On the face of it of course that is a very attractive offer and the chance to play casino games with the site operator’s money rather than your own is clearly a great opportunity. Unfortunately as we have already indicated all of these online casino bonus deals come with a list of terms and conditions, some of which can render these deals totally unsuitable for some new players. The most important of these terms and conditions is what we often refer to as the play through requirement, which defines how much a new player is expected to wager on playing casino games in order to qualify for the bonus. Clearly the running costs associated with operating an online casino are far less than the overheads endured by a real casino or even a betting shop, but allowing customers the chance to win money without risking any of their own is a potentially costly way to do business which is why the terms and conditions are deemed necessary. As we have already indicated it is the play through requirement which is likely to be the most significant of those conditions, and arguably the most difficult to understand. In order to qualify for the bonus new players are expected to be prepared to bet a fixed amount of money on playing casino games. This is of course designed to give the site operator every chance to get their money back, which is probably understandable in the circumstances, but it is the size of that commitment which can cause the most trouble. The play through requirement is usually expressed as a multiple of the sum of the first deposit plus the bonus, and that multiple is normally at least a factor of twenty. That means that a player making a relatively modest first deposit of say 20 euros and accepting a 100% bonus of a further 20 euros would be expected to gamble at least 800 euros on playing casino games in order to qualify for the bonus. The option to withdraw any potential winnings resulting from the bonus is also withheld until the play through requirement is satisfied. Many of the online casino bonus deals also specify which casino games qualify fully towards the play through requirement and which don’t. Roulette for example is often excluded from the list of casino games which qualify for the play through requirement because the house edge is lower than in most other casino games. It is also not unusual for a time limit to be applied for satisfying the play through requirement. The need for these terms and conditions is of course perfectly understandable when you are looking at it through the eyes of the online casino operator, but it is also clear that it is easy for any new player to misunderstand what they have to do when deciding to accept this type of bonus. A player choosing to deposit 20 euros into their online casino account may not even dream of gambling as much as 800 euros on playing casino games, particularly if there is a time limit on that commitment. On the other hand for those players with the budget to cover that sort of investment this type of online casino bonus is clearly a good deal. All we would say is please ensure that you understand the terms and conditions before agreeing to accept this type of bonus.