Most of us are guilty of having skipped over important terms and conditions, whether that’s not reading the extremely lengthy T&Cs of a new mobile phone service, when registering for an email address, using an app, or pretty much anything that you do online. That includes online casinos, which have their site terms and conditions to abide by, but also for every bonus that they offer.
Bonus incentives are prominent in the online gambling experience because operators use them to acquire and retain customers. While they are ostensibly a marketing tool, they do still offer something for players, but only if the guidelines for fulfilling them are not overlooked. Taking a casino bonus without first looking at the terms and conditions is a rookie mistake, but an extremely common one.
The thing is, those T&Cs are well worth a closer look. Online casinos often cram in a whole bunch of restrictions. So even if you have read the terms, actually unlocking that bonus can be trickier than it first seems. It’s not about catching players out, but the rules aren’t always as straightforward as you’d hope.
Missing Out
A welcome promotion is often the first encounter that someone will have with a bonus at an online casino. More often than not, these are promotions that offer a matched deposit bonus to a certain value, with perhaps some free spins thrown in. These exclusive one-time offers are targeted at new customers who may not have experience with casino sites and who probably don’t even know to look for T&Cs in the first place.
So that’s how they can, and do, get missed. But what happens next after taking a bonus without reading the T&Cs? When this happens, it can come with some pains; the biggest of all being disappointment.
A Disappointing Blow
Imagine signing up at an online casino site because of a “100% Matched Deposit Up To £50” offer that appealed to you. The natural assumption would be that you simply register, make a deposit into the account and then you have £50 worth of bonus cash to play with.
You play that bonus cash and earn some winnings from it, only to find that those winnings aren’t available, which raises confusion. Upon investigation, it’s discovered that there was a 45x wagering requirement on the bonus, meaning that to unlock it, a total of £2250 (£50 x 45) first needed to be wagered.
If you weren’t prepared for that kind of commitment, then it would be disappointing not to get the bonus or find that it wasn’t financially viable. Typically, it’s only when a scenario like this plays out that people will actually turn to the T&Cs to try and find out what the problem is.
The Biggest Hurdle
Wagering requirements (also called rollover or playthrough) are the main reason that people fail to collect on casino bonuses. They can be seriously demanding — you’ll often need to wager a lot before you’re even eligible to withdraw anything.
But that’s just the start. Casino bonus terms are packed with other tricky bits that can trip up even careful players. Experts at the review site LegalCasino dug into over 300 UK bonuses to find out where most players get caught out. They’ve highlighted the key restrictions to watch for and picked out five of the hardest bonuses to complete with real-life examples.
Here are some of the most common ways casinos restrict bonus use:
Can’t Undo What’s Done
By failing to complete the offer within the set timeframe or not completing the wagering requirements for it, you have violated the T&Cs. If a bonus had a minimum deposit value of £50, for example, and you only deposited £25, then that offer immediately becomes void and can’t be reversed because the casino is not at fault, so they aren’t going to hear complaints and credit you a bonus on a whim.
All casino bonuses have terms and conditions, so be prepared. Before jumping in, take a step back and allow some time for the terms and conditions to be fully understood. These are valid promotions that are claimable and can be fulfilled by players, but gaining the knowledge of how to fulfil them is the key.
Article written by Karen Benson
