The United Kingdom is among the countries, which have legalized online gambling. So, players from the UK have a lot of online casinos to choose from. No surprise this business sector is highly competitive – casinos have to struggle for their customers. They try to attract as many users as possible by running various promotion campaigns. One of the strongest marketing tools is a bonus program. In this guide, we’ll review the best casino bonuses in the UK, which make gambling as attractive as never before.
Some uninitiated players can think that a casino bonus is just free cash that is granted to users. However, you must keep in mind that all gambling sites are commercial entities, and they never do anything for no reason. In fact, all types of bonuses are powerful marketing tools that are used with a single purpose – to encourage users to gamble more and deposit funds again and again. On the other hand, a gamer can take advantage of a casino online bonus as well. When used wisely, bonuses allow you to play longer while investing less money. The lucky ones can win huge jackpots by playing through bonuses and successfully withdraw the winnings. Let’s have a closer look at bonuses of various types and their benefits.
A sign-up bonus, in casino terms, is a small gift provided to a user after the registration on the gambling platform. It may come in the form of free coins, free spins, or free gaming time. The main goal of these bonuses is to attract new players and make them stay at the casino. A no deposit bonus can be used to play real money games; primarily, online pokies. If you manage to fulfill wagering requirements until the bonus expires, you can take your winning or add money and continue playing. If you fail to fulfill the rollover requirements, then you can either leave the casino or continue playing with your own money. Though sign-up bonuses are moderate in size, they offer a good possibility to test the casino’s features and usability.
Free spins can come as part of a larger bonus pack (sign-up or welcome) or as a standalone offer. They are intended exclusively for playing slot games. Each free spin allows you to spin the pokie’s reels for free once. Thus, with 20 free spins, you can spin the reels 20 times and win real money. As a rule, free spins are used to promote certain games. Frequently, these are new or unusual slots with plenty of cool features.
The most generous bonuses are provided to players after they make their first deposit. These bonuses are usually referred to as deposit, welcome, or match bonuses. They are expressed as a percentage, such as 100% or 200%, and show how your first deposit is multiplied if you claim a bonus. Thus, a welcome bonus of 100% means that your deposit sum is double, and with a bonus of 200%, it is tripled! Welcome bonuses can be used to play various real money games, though the “weight” of different games is different. Keep in mind that there are also wagering requirements to fulfill. If you do it, the withdrawal of your winning becomes available.
Loyalty programs are another popular marketing tool for online casinos. Their goal is to encourage existing players to spend more time playing at the casino. Gamers get special loyalty (comp) points for playing. These points can be exchanged for cash bonuses or free spins. The more you play the more points you get, and the larger the bonuses are.
Many e-casinos do their best in order not only to attract new users but also to retain the existing ones. This is why they offer so-called reload bonuses to players when they make the second or the third deposit. If compared to welcome bonuses, reload ones tend to be smaller, but they still can be generous enough. Sometimes, reload bonuses are provided on a monthly or weekly basis.
As the name implies these best online casino bonuses in the UK are for the members of the VIP program. Such programs are usually built on a multitier basis. Each tier has its name (silver, gold, platinum, diamond, etc.), and each one has its exclusive benefits. Members of the highest tier often get individual proposals and numerous extra perks, such as personal managers, invitations to closed tournaments, and increased deposit and withdrawal limits.
The category of other casino bonuses includes mobile bonuses aimed at those utilizing a mobile version of the casino or a mobile app. Live dealer bonuses also fall into this category. They are provided to those players who opt for playing blackjack, roulette, or other games in a live dealer mode. Finally, some casinos regularly launch small promotion campaigns coincided with various events and give rewards and compliments for referring a friend.
Inexperienced gamblers often can’t say for sure whether they need bonuses from a casino or not. On the one hand, it’s crucial to understand that a casino deposit bonus is not equal to a gift. It is always provided under certain conditions, and nobody can guarantee huge winnings to players utilizing this bonus. Meanwhile, all casino bonuses do have some benefits, which you can take advantage of.
Personal and VIP bonus offers also can be quite useful, as they are often provided under favorable conditions. Free cash and free spins are good tools for boosting your skills in gambling for no money.
No matter what kind of bonus you are going to claim, you should always check information about the wagering requirements of the promotional offer. Wagering (turnover/rollover) requirements are expressed in round numbers. These numbers indicate how many times you must roll over the bonus to get the possibility of withdrawing the prize obtained. The higher the number is, the more difficult the requirements are to fulfill. Let’s end up with a simple example.
Suppose, the best casino welcome bonus amount is 100%. You deposit 100 ponds and get 100 pounds as a bonus. The wagering requirements are 35x, which means you must play through the 100 bonus pounds 35 times. In other words, your total bet size must reach 35 x 100 or 3500 pounds. If you manage to do it without going negative, you may cash out your winning. If you fail to roll over the bonus until the expiry date, you lose.
There is no single standard for the wagering requirements rate. Each casino sets its own rules, which are usually specified in the terms and conditions. Thus, the wagering requirements of 25x-35x are considered to be pretty moderate. At some casinos, they can reach 60x and even 70x, which is virtually impossible to fulfill.
The best casino bonuses in the UK are the ones provided by reputable and reliable casino sites. All the promo campaigns launched by these casinos always work in compliance with the terms and conditions, which must be available to all casino users before they claim the bonus. However, frequently, they are typed in fine print, which makes them unreadable or hard to read. Still, it’s important to find a way to read the terms and conditions, as they contain important information.
Well, if you are lazy or just don’t want to lose your time reading a whole sheet of text, you may skip most of it. But, at the very least, you should find and study the following blocks of information.
Once you’ve made sure you understand all the terms and conditions and agree with the existing rules, you may claim a bonus. If any information is missing or you didn’t get something, you'd better contact customer support and ask for a consultation. After all, you are going to invest real money in playing, so you need to know all the risks.
If you decided to take advantage of a bonus, the first step is to choose a reliable casino. Check our list of top casino bonuses to find the best offers fully complying with your requirements. Once you’ve picked out a platform, make sure you don’t have an account here. Both sign-up and welcome bonuses are provided to new users only.
Some casinos give bonuses for the second, third, and even fourth deposit. This must be specified in the bonus terms and conditions as well. If you fulfill the wagering requirements, you can withdraw what you’ve won. Later, you may take advantage of reload and loyalty bonus offers as an existing player.
Casino bonuses can turn effective when used correctly. Unfortunately, some inexperienced gamers keep on making the same mistakes repeatedly. Let’s review the most common of them.
To sum it up, if you want to make the most of a new casino bonus, don’t be lazy to double-check all the details before claiming it. This is especially true for large welcome bonuses, which can potentially bring large winnings.
Actually, many new casinos offer rather generous bonus programs. That’s because they have to compete with numerous well-established gambling platforms. In order to stand out from the crowd, they run really exclusive promo campaigns. Meanwhile, old casinos with a good reputation can also have very good offers just because they can afford it. This is why it’s hard to say for sure whether new casinos are more generous than old ones or vice versa. We are monitoring the market continuously and share the best current promos with our users.
When you get a bonus, it, usually, surpluses your real cash balance. However, you can’t just withdraw all the money. You must fulfill the wagering requirements first. If you’ve done it, you are allowed to withdraw a sum, which doesn’t exceed the maximum limit set by the casino.
Each casino provides a welcome bonus to every new player only once. In other words, you can’t claim one bonus in one casino twice or thrice. However, this restriction doesn’t apply to other casinos. So, there is a simple lifehack: if you want to enjoy several promos simultaneously, claim welcome bonuses in different casinos. The only requirement to meet is that you must be a new player in every casino.
A playthrough requirement is the same as a wagering requirement. This is the number showing how many times a player must play through or roll over the bonus funds. For example, if the playthrough requirement is 25x, a player who gets 100 pounds as a bonus must wager a total of 2500 pounds.
In simple terms, a bonus round is “a game inside a game”. In different slots, it can be triggered by certain combinations of symbols or special symbols, such as scatters and wilds. A bonus round can come in the form of a free extra game, free spins, a Gamble feature, and so on. Sometimes, especially when you are playing a high volatility game, a bonus round can result in huge winning! Most new online slot games, especially video pokies, came with various bonus features.Â
