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How to get the bonus.
Returning to the
land based scenario, you can't expect to take your additional $100 bonus from
the cashier and say "Thank you very much, I'll cash in straight away". Of
course not, and naturally the online casinos won't let you do that. All the
casinos have special rules and conditions that must be met before cashing out
any winnings that include bonuses.
Wagering Requirements.
The most usual conditions that
you need to meet to cash in are known as wagering requirements. Let's use a
real example here from Platinum Play whose initial deposit bonus is buy $20 get
%30 Free. This is an extract from their rules for this bonus:
In order to
cash-in the $30 bonus, players will need to wager the bonus amount ($30), and
the minimum purchase amount ($20) 5 times - a total of (5 X $50) = $250 worth
of wagering.
Easier to understand than some rules. You sign up, get
your bonus and wager bets totalling more than $250 before you may cash in.
Excluded Games.
Another clause from those bonus
rules:
Wagering on Craps or Roulette will not be counted as part of the
requirements for this sign-up offer.
It is another common rule to
exclude certain games from counting towards the wagering total.
Be careful
as Blackjack is often on the excluded list or may have a higher wagering
requirement.
Cashable and Non Cashable Bonuses.
In the Platinum Play
example above any amount you have remaining after you have met the wagering
requirements is available for you to cash out, including bonus amounts.
However, this a rule from another casino:
The bonus credits are for
wagering purpose only, and you may not cash out the bonus. You may only cash
out your winnings. Only withdrawal of an amount superior to the Play Bonus will
be processed, and the Play bonus will be deducted from your withdrawal
request.
As you can see you CANNOT cash out the bonus at all and cannot
cash out anything until have met their wagering requirements, (in this case 8x
bonus+deposit).
These "sticky" bonuses are useful for leverage in your
betting but are not as attractive as cashable amounts, so always check the
rules.
You are often better off declining the bonus in these cases and just
playing with your own money.
Bonuse Abusers.
That's what the casinos call them
anyway. To you and me it's someone who plays the minimum amount to cash in the
bonus. The casinos don't like them and have rules to try and prevent this. So
use some common sense. Don't just play the minimum, play a bit more or come
back and play again briefly before attempting a cash out. If you like other
games then play some video poker or slots.
Cashing Out.
There is no doubt that the best way to
deposit and withdraw money from the online casinos is by one of the new payment
methods such as NETeller, FirePay or Moneybookers. These methods are fast and
free or inexpensive and also put an end to credit card denials. Credit cards
will usually only allow cash ins upto the original amount deposited. Wire and
bank transfers usually attract fees and are a lot slower. To find out more see
our section on alternative deposit
methods.
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