According to a 2017 Deloitte study, 91% of people agree to legally binding terms and conditions without reading them. We’re probably all guilty of this even though we know better. Terms and conditions are just tedious to read through and it is filled with enough legal jargon to make your eyes glaze over even before you get halfway through.
The fine print at online casinos is not much different. They are copious amounts of terms and conditions and they’re plain uninspiring to read through. When you create an account with an online casino, you are almost always required to agree to the terms and conditions. We’re sure most players check that box without thinking twice, even though it’s real money on the line.
How Do You Know They’re Fair?
So, how do you know if the terms and conditions are actually fair? Casinos can easily take advantage of the fact that you’re not going to read the terms and conditions and make you agree anything and everything with their own best interests in mind. They could even impose unfair restrictions on you withdrawing your money, and unfortunately, many casinos do take this liberty.
Even if you cannot read every letter of the fine print, just knowing the usual terms and conditions casinos use and being aware of how they work can be a great way to quickly vet a casino before you register. When you know and understand the various terminologies used, it makes it much faster and easier for you to glance over the terms and conditions and check for any red flags.
Casino Bonus Terms and Conditions Explained
The online casino market is rife with bonuses. Be it deposit bonuses, sign up offers, free spins, cashbacks or VIP promotions, you are certainly going to run into plenty of offers and that’s great.
However, everything is usually not as it appears when it comes to casino bonuses. How the bonuses are marketed and how they actually work can be quite deviant. Casinos use a host of terms and conditions to significantly subdue the bonus and how much money you can actually get from it.
Yes, it’s true that transparency in a casino’s T&Cs is mandatory, but how important is it to recognize whether the conditions stipulated are actually fair? By now, you should be well aware of the fact that not all operators are created the same. And this applies to casinos who create bonus terms that make it close to impossible to fulfil.
Let’s take a look at some of common bonus terms and conditions online casino impose.
Wagering Requirements
Simply put, these requirements state how much money you will need to wager before you can collect (withdraw / cashout) your bonus funds. When you receive bonus money at a casino, it is usually credited to the ‘bonus balance’ and any funds residing in ‘bonus balance’ may not be withdrawn. It can only be withdrawn to your ewallet or bank account after it is converted to ‘real balance’. To convert your bonus funds to real funds, you must complete the wagering requirements.
So, if the wagering requirements are 30x the bonus amount. You can only collect your bonus amount after you wafer 30 times the amount at the casino from your own pocket.
In general, any wagering requirements under 35x can considered pretty good or average and anything above 40-50x is pretty high, a little unfair and better avoided.
Game Weighting Percentage
When you’ve claimed a bonus and now you need to meet the wagering requirements, you can’t just wager on whichever games you wish to play either. Casino operators are crafty and will encourage you to play games that have a higher house edge by giving these games the highest game weighting percentage.
For example, wagers made on slots could contribute 100% towards wagering requirements completion whereas only 50% of wagers made on table maybe contributed towards wagering requirements fulfillment. Therefore, it is important to wager on games with a high weightage if you’re looking to complete the wagering requirements in the most effective way.
Max Cashout
The max cashout is simply a hard ceiling on how much money you are allowed to cashout from the bonus money you have received. So, if you’ve got bonus funds of $100, but the max cashout is only $10, then don’t get too excited because you can only withdraw $10 and no more.
Validity
When you’re issued bonus funds or free spins. They come with an expiry date. If they’re not fully utilized before time runs out, the bonus is voided. Casinos can even set a limit on how much time you’ve got to complete the wagering requirements of a bonus. If the time is too less, then it’s simply unfair because you won’t be able to meet the wagering requirements unless you spend extravagantly
Minimum Deposit
This term generally refers to bonuses that are rewarded for making deposits. Not any deposit will qualify for the reward, there is a minimum amount defined by the casino and only deposits of that amount or more will be deemed eligible to receive the bonus.
