Everyone has played slots at least once in their lifetime, and it’s great fun! Now we have digital casinos that offer a massive choice of online slots and casino games. If you haven’t played online slots you’re in for a treat, but we want you to take a few minutes and read this article. Why? Because we’re going to tell you some things the online casinos don’t want you to know!
Before we get into the detail you want to know what makes online slots more attractive than those at your bricks and mortar casino or your local arcade. These digital slots are simply something else. They offer a variety of interactive games, many pay-out options, and in the latest, a fully immersive gaming experience that you won’t find elsewhere.
So what’s our big story here? We want to talk about Free Spin Bonuses. Let us explain.
What are Free Spin Bonuses?
The choice of online casinos is amazing, so where do you start when you want to sign up? A quick web search for ‘best online casinos’ is a starting point. What you’ll see when you click on any one of them are details of their sign-up bonuses. These include – but are not limited to – free spin bonuses. You’ll also find may offer to match your initial deposit, so that’s free money for you to play.
We don’t want to get too complex here as this is about free spin bonuses. Are we going to tell you how great they are? Yes, and no, as there really is something you need to know. Here’s a few of the popular online casinos and the free spin bonuses they offer to entice you to sign up with them:
- Golden Reels offers 30 free spins on Crystal Queen without the need to sign up.
- Queen Vegas’s offer is 20 free spins on the Book of Dead game
- Royal Panda gives you 10 free spins on Starburst when you sign up.
- Casino Cruise also offers free spins on Starburst, but a total of 55.
As you can see, even from just four of the available online casinos the offers are varied, but they still look pretty good, yes? Look at Golden Reels: you get 30 free goes without even signing up! That’s got to be a bargain, right? You play, you win, you take your money and go – free money!
That would be great, but it doesn’t work like that. As with matched deposits, there are terms and conditions that apply to free spins. You can find legit casino sites that do offer genuine free spins with no catch on some informational websites that we found highly reliable. We recommend you check out the free spins page on nzonlinepokies.co.nz for some of the best and most legit free spins deals in online slots – with that said when you are out there on the internet looking for good bonus you must be careful. We’re going to explain why, and it involves a bit of maths so get your pen and paper and calculator ready!
What’s the Catch?
So are we saying these casinos are not really offering you free spins? Is it some sort of a con? No, it’s not a con, and the free spins are real, it’s simply that to take advantage of them you have to go meet something known in the industry as ‘wagering requirement’. This is often referred to as ‘play-through’ too. What’s it all about?
Put simply, it’s a safeguard that protects the casino. Let’s use Golden Reels – one of those mentioned above – as an example here. They offer 30 free spins before you have even signed up! Now imagine if you could simply play those 30 spins and walk away with whatever you win. Now imagine everyone doing that! Golden Reels would go bust in no time!
The condition attached to the 30 bonus free spins at Golden Reels (at the time of writing) is that you have to meet a wagering requirement of 30 times. This is where things can get a little complex, so bear with us while we try and explain it in simple terms.
30 X wagering requirement means that you have to play through your bonus spins 30 times before you can even consider withdrawing your winnings. The spins will usually be allocated to you as credits. Now, let’s say you win $50 using those free spins. That’s yours to take, right? Wrong.
You now have to play that $50 a further 30 times before you can take any winnings. In other words, you have to play a full $1500 in spins before any winnings are yours. Doesn’t sound like such a good deal now, does it?
However, it’s easier to do than you might think – but you have to be very lucky to come away with anything substantial from those free spins. If you win a further $200 from that initial $50, say, you can then play that $200. That’s $200 towards your wagering requirements. You then play whatever you win with that, and so on.
The problem is the RTP – that’s Return To Player – percentage will always be in favour of the house. It’s usually around 96%, which means on average you’re going to lose $4 every $100 played. The reason that casinos limit you to a specific slot with your bonus spins is so they can ensure the game you are playing pays more heavily in the favour of the casino.
So, free spins are not what they seem, but are they worth treating as an incentive? Let’s see if we can sum things up.
How to Choose the Best Casinos
The casinos we used as examples have pretty heavy wagering requirements attached, but that’s not the case with all online casinos as some actually offers a great selection of lucrative slots with genuine free spins.
The best advice is to research the online casinos carefully, check the wagering requirements and other terms and conditions, and sign up to the ones that have your favourite slots and games, and treat free spins as a fun introduction rather than expecting to walk away with free winnings. That way, you’ll enjoy your online casino experience more.
