Almost all of our featured online casinos are currently offering all new players some kind of guaranteed matching deposit welcome bonus. You don’t have to accept a deposit bonus, but they can instantly add extra funds to your account just for making a deposit and there are very few strings attached. The only thing that you must be aware of is the wagering requirements that are almost always attached to matching deposit bonuses.
Wagering requirements are also often referred to as playthrough requirements and they must be completed before you can start the withdrawal process. The wagering/playthrough requirement is basically the amount of cash that you need to wager before you can withdraw any of the winnings that you have made from your bonus cash. You will also find that most wagering requirements can be anywhere from as little as 20x times the bonus amount up to usually no more than 60x times the bonus amount.
If the casino is asking you to wagering more than 60x times the bonus amount before you can withdraw, then perhaps it would be a good idea to simply decline the offer. In addition to having to wager the bonus amount you also need to wager the deposit amount as well. Let’s take a look at one quick example of exactly how this works.
Let’s just say that one of our casinos is offering each new player a 100% matching deposit bonus worth up to $/€/£150 on the first ever deposit with a 25x wagering requirement attached to the bonus (+ deposit amount). This means that the casino will match your deposit up to $/€/£150 and the minimum deposit amount is usually $/€/£10 or $/€/£20.
If you deposited $/€/£25 on your first ever deposit, it means that your account balance will show $/€/£50 (including your initial $/€/£25 deposit + $/€/£25 bonus cash). The total amount that you would need to wager before you could start the withdrawal process would be $/€/£650 ($/€/£25 deposit x 25 wagering requirement which is $/€/£625 + the initial $/€/£25 deposit). You generally only have one week or up to one month to complete your wagering requirements and if you fail to do so you will simply lose any winnings that you have made from your bonus cash.
You can easily forfeit your bonus at any time, but you need to contact the casino to do so. The only other thing that you really need to be aware of is that certain games such as the online slot machines and scratchcards will contribute 100% towards completing them, whereas games like blackjack and roulette may only contribute anywhere from 2.00% to 5.00% towards completing them. In other words, to complete your wagering requirements in as little time as possible, stick to playing on the slots and scratchies.