Casino bonuses are promotions designed to give players incentives to play at a given casino. Nearly every online and sweepstakes casino offers some kind of sign-up bonus for new players, but many other kinds of bonuses can be available at a given time.
While land-based casinos can also offer bonuses, this article will focus on the types of bonuses that are the most commonly seen at online casinos and sweeps casinos.
Sign-up bonuses at online casinos
Just about every legal online casino extends sign-up bonus (aka welcome bonuses) to new players.
The most common bonus offers include:
Deposit match bonuses
A deposit match bonus matches a percentage of your first deposit with an amount of free casino credit.
For example, you could see an online casino offering a 100% deposit match up to $1,000 as a sign-up bonus. That bonus matches your first deposit with an equal amount of casino credit, up to a max of $1,000.
If you sign up for a new account at the casino offering this bonus, and you deposit $1,000, you’ll get $2,000 total ($1,000 in cash and $1,000 in casino credit). If you deposit $500, you get $1,000 total ($500 in cash and $500 in casino credit).
If you deposit more than $1,000, you only get $1,000 in casino credit, as that’s the maximum possible bonus.
Free play bonuses
Free play bonuses are just as advertised, as they award free casino credits just for signing up.
For example, you could see an online casino offering $50 in free play as a welcome bonus. If you take advantage of that offer, you’ll see $50 in casino credits appear in your account before you even make a deposit.
As a side note, the casino credits described in the offers in this article must be played through before they can be redeemed. For instance, if you see $50 in free play/casino credits in your account, you can’t just cash that out; you must wager it first and meet the casino’s playthrough requirements.
No sweat first bet
This bonus type gives you a free bet to use when you start playing at an online casino or sportsbook.
If you win the bet, you retain the winnings from the bet (but not the original stake).