The popularity of gambling online constantly growing and one of the main reasons this is continuing is the range of online bonuses that many of the casinos offer to both new and regular members. The pull of a big bonus tempts many through the virtual doors of a casino, but you must make sure you know exactly what you are getting into as you would with any other online site where you are likely to place some of your own cash.

There are a few main bonuses available that are going to be explained on this page, these being the most important ones and these are what we are going to concentrate on to lessen any confusion or unnecessary stress to any prospective player.

The Wagering Requirements or Playthrough Requirements

Any decent site will tell you up-front what a playthrough or wagering requirement is. This is a requirement of most casinos and simply put it is the amount of cash you have to play before you can withdraw any cash.

For Example:

• You have taken a deposit bonus from the casino (say you put in £100 and got another £100 from the casino).
• The casino requires that you need to play your deposit 20x before cashing out (these numbers can vary from casino to casino).
• This would mean that you are required to wager your £200 at least 20 times before you can even think or withdrawing any winnings and in effect will mean that you make £4000 worth of bets.

Some casinos say you only have to play your bonus through a certain number of times so that would mean you would only have to play the £100 bonus through 20x in the above example (meaning you would make at least £2000 worth of bets before you can withdraw any winnings).

One other point here is to note that you need to be positive which games are allowed and which are not as nearly all of the casinos you go to play at will exclude certain games from this playthrough/wagering requirement. This in effect protects the casino so it is vital that you check the terms and conditions on each of the casinos you play at as there are many variations of this rule.

The No-Deposit Bonus

Many casinos offer a no-deposit bonus simply for registering with them in order to get the money. This bonus can be credited to your account immediately and sometimes you will be required to claim the bonus via an email or a submission form.

Once again there could be some limitations on this type of bonus at different casinos, so once again please read the terms and conditions that apply as one of the limitations placed on this type of bonus could be how much you are actually allowed to withdraw, so if you won a complete fortune using this bonus it would be hard luck if you were not allowed to withdraw it all!

The Match Bonus

This is the type of bonus you will get when you put in some of your own hard-earned cash. The casino will match your deposit with a percentage of their own, increasing your bank-roll, so if the casino offers you a 100% match online casino bonus and you deposited £100 you would have £200 to play with. The biggest match bonuses are usually reserved for new players to tempt them through the casinos virtual doors.

The Free Money Bonus

This is another type of deposit bonus where you actually know how much you are going to receive irrelevant of the amount you have deposited. An example of this might be that the casino offers you £50 if you deposit £10 which would give you £60 to play with. If you deposited £20 with this type of bonus you would still get the £50 bonus. Although many times this type of bonus actually works out better than a percentage bonus so please check them out.

The Sticky Bonus

Simply put you cannot withdraw the bonus you have been given by the casino, being given the free money to play with once you have reached the playthrough requirements of the casino and you can only withdraw your winnings that are over the initial bonus amount with the bonus money being removed from your account when you get to make your withdrawal.

Bonuses given in this manner can be huge meaning you can play games using the maximum of coins and bets that give you a greater payout ratio if you hit a big win.

The Exclusive Bonuses

These are bonuses where the casino has made some type of deal with the website owner to offer his members and can be a variant of any of the above bonuses previously mentioned so don’t forget to read the terms and conditions and the details of the offer.

The Loyalty Bonus

Many casinos have loyalty status which offers their most loyal members special rewards and prizes. Some casinos require a playthrough requirement but not all, so again please check all the terms and conditions that apply.