Many online casinos tempt people into joining with the promise of a great new player bonus. Often this is in the form of a lump sum of cash paid into your bonus cash account just shortly after you have made your initial deposit on the site. You can't withdraw this money of course, not yet anyway, so what do you need to do in order to release it?
The reason the casino operates two funding accounts for you, your cash account and your bonus cash account, is simply to differentiate between the two for the purposes of the new player bonus, plus any other bonus cash awards you may receive while playing at the casino.
Let's use a real life example like Jackpot City. When you join Jackpot City, you receive an initial deposit bonus of 100% your deposit up to a maximum of 200.
What this means is that when you deposit, say 100, you receive a bonus award of 100 into your bonus account.
When you start playing on the site, you use your cash account money first and then when this is exhausted, you start playing through your bonus. This is the standard operation at most online casinos.
Before we can explain how best to start playing through your bonus cash, we need to first understand what the play through requirements (sometimes called wagering requirements) are for your particular casino.
Jackpot City - Wagering Requirements
At Jackpot City, all your bonus awards (you receive additional bonus rewards on your second and third deposits, up to a maximum of 500 free of charge) are subject to a wagering requirement of 50 times the original amount you receive.
Therefore, if you receive $100 in bonus cash from your first deposit, 50 from your second and 50 from your third, that is a total bonus award of 200.
50 x 200 is 10,000, which means that you are going to have to make 10,000 worth of wagers using your bonus cash before you can withdraw it from your account.
This may seem a lot - and it is - but it is actually a fair and sensible business idea. If wagering requirements were too low, online casinos would quickly start posting huge losses as increasing numbers of customers wagered their bonus a few times and then withdrew the money.
Essentially, without the wagering requirement, the casino is taking on all the risk. The wagering requirement ensures that players gain fair access to the bonus cash but can only withdraw it once they have met stringent criteria.
So with 10,000 in wagers to be made from a bonus of 200 at Jackpot City Casino, how can you go about turning 200 bonus cash into bets totalling 10,000?
It isn't easy but it may just be possible for a fortunate few.
Turning Your Bonus IntoReal Cash
The first thing to note here is that real cash play (that is when you play at the casino using the money you have deposited into it) does NOT contribute towards your bonus requirements.
This sounds like a hindrance but in actual fact, it is a blessing. This means that if you wager your cash and win, you can withdraw any cash paid to your cash account at any time, with no play through requirement.
For example, if you are using 50 from your bonus cash balance to play a slot and you win 1,000 this gets added to your bonus cash account and you can't withdraw it until wagering requirements are met.
However, if you use 50 from your cash account and win 1,000 you can withdraw some or all of your winnings immediately.
Any winnings from the casino that get paid into your cash account can be withdrawn with no wagering requirement to be met at all. Indeed, if you are in the fortunate situation of landing a big win from your early play with your own cash - withdrawing at least your deposit value back means you've made a profit and what remains in your account can simply be used to generate further profit!
So let's assume you've played through your own cash and are now set to start playing your bonus cash, what games should you target in order to offer you the best chance of playing through your bonus?
Table Games v Slot Games - How Each Affects Your Play Through Requirement
In some casinos, placing a bet on a table game (such as blackjack) only revokes a small percentage of the stake you place (due to the low house edge on these games). Whereas a spin on the slots contributes the full amount of the stake towards removing withdrawal restrictions on your bonus.
However, at Jackpot City, the good news for punters here is that there are no such complications. Whatever you bet, whether it is at the slots, blackjack, baccarat, sic bo or roulette table, contributes fully towards your wagering requirements.
Now, casino savvy users will immediately think that this is great news as they can slowly work through their bonus by placing only low risk bets, such as betting on the even money options in roulette, sic-bo or craps.
However in the terms and conditions of the Jackpot City site it states:
5.8.1 Before any withdrawals are processed, your play will be reviewed for any irregular playing patterns. In the interests of fair gaming, equal, zero or low margin bets or hedge betting, shall all be considered irregular gaming for bonus play-through requirement purposes. Other examples of irregular game play include but are not limited to, placing single bets equal to or in excess of 30% or more of the value of the bonus credited to their account, placing even money bets on Roulette, Sic Bo or Craps, placing single bets equal to or in excess of 20% or more of the value of the bonus credited to their account until such time as the wagering requirements for that bonus have been met.
The upshot of this rule is that players can't simply slowly work their way through their bonus requirement using the low-risk bets available at the casino and nor can they place large bets of more than 30% of their total bonus in the hope of landing a big win immediately.
With these restrictions in place you need to think about how to play through your bonus most profitably and sensibly.
Which Games Should I Target?
At Jackpot City therefore, I'd target games like the mid-jackpot slots, games with smaller jackpots that pay out more frequently and which have a high pay out percentage (ideally greater than 97%). I'd also play the 'middling' bets at the craps and roulette tables, (predominantly those that offer returns of 2/1 or better).
Of course playing through the bonus does require luck, but by keeping the odds as much in your favour as you can, you give yourself a better chance of winning money on every wager. This tops up your account with further bonus cash, which you can then wager again.
If you are lucky enough to hit a big jackpot, then it is important to remember that you still need to play through your bonus before you can withdraw any money. So for example, in the example above, our 200 bonus meant we needed to play through 10,000 worth of wagers. But if I win a jackpot when playing of 12,000 this doesn't mean the bonus has been fulfilled.
The bonus states that it is 10,000 worth of wagers that must be made, so if I have only made 100 worth of wagers when I hit the big jackpot, I still have to play through 9,900 worth of wagers in order to release the bonus.
However, the good news is, I am guaranteed to have a profit when the restrictions are limited as even if I don't win again, I should have 2,100 in the account when the conditions of the bonus are met.
Playing through your bonus into profit isn't easy and few players do it, but what the bonus does offer you is a lot more fun for your money. Viewed that way, a player cannot lose with a bonus, but if you are really keen to try and turn your bonus into a real cash profit, we hope these tips will help you achieve your aim.
Next Post: Is there a secret formula for online slot jackpot success?
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