There are a horde of bonuses to win at casinos, including cash prizes, spins on the house and even actual real world gifts. But with casino jargon and small text engulfing any tempting promotion, it can be tough to know what you're actually getting for your money and what you have to do to get the most out of your bonuses.
Obviously, we can't tell you how every individual bonus works, but here's a few key terms to look out for in order to be in the know about what bonuses you're in for and see if that promo really is as good as it sounds.
Cash
Bonus cash is by far the most common type of promotional reward you'll run into. Whenever you receive a cash reward for signing up, or any deposit matched cash, this will usually be bonus cash. Bonus cash is different to regular currency in your casino wallet, because it comes with wagering requirements.
Basically, that means that you won't be able to withdraw any bonus cash from the casino, until you've transferred it into real money. Casinos differ in their wagering requirements, but a normal amount is around 30x. What this means is that you have to wager 30x your current bonus cash, in order to transfer it as real money. As an example, with 30x wagering requirements, that means that for every £30 you wager into the casino, £1 of your bonus cash is turned into real money. This is much like exchanging money at a Bureau de Change, with the wagering requirement being the exchange rate.
Casinos often have time limits for how long bonus cash will remain in your wallet for and also other restrictions such as which games count towards your wagering requirement. Your real money that you initially deposited, will be kept separate from bonus money, so you will be able to withdraw it at anytime. And if your bonus cash times out and gets removed from your wallet, your real money will remain safe.
Some casinos do offer free cash, which works the same as real world money. It is money given to you, for free by the casino and it comes with no wagering requirements. You can simply win on it and withdraw it if you make a profit, although for obvious reasons, this is a very uncommon bonus type.
Spins
Much like cash bonuses, spin bonuses come in 2 forms: bonus spins and free spins.
Bonus spins work in much the same way as bonus cash. Whatever you win on a spin, effectively becomes bonus cash. You could spin 30 bonus spins and win £1 or you could spin once and win £3,000 and both amounts would have wagering requirements put on them.
Bonus spins are either better or worse than straight up cash based on how large your budget is. You can of course end up winning a load of cash, which can be great, but then if you don't have the ability to match its wagering requirement, then the more you win, the less chance you have of actually enjoying your winnings.
Free spins work the same as free cash. Effectively, whatever you win on your spins, you get to keep as real money. Free spins, like free cash bonuses, are much rarer at casinos, since the chance for the player to take a lot of money home is much higher.
Rebates
Rebates are effectively cashback and they can be given based on two reasons. Casinos may offer you rebates for winnings, or they can do so for losses. At the end of a period of time, most likely a weekend, casinos can offer to return you a percentage of any winnings or losses you've made on certain games.
They're usually just a nice treat and are optional, offering a little extra on your success or making up for any mistakes after a particularly bad weekend. It's best to remember before opting into a rebate, that rebates nearly always come with wagering requirements. Since they are optional, it is completely up to you whether or not you want to have to take on the burden of reclaiming your new bonus cash, or just going on as normal.
But rebates are pleasantly surprising promotions that offer you the chance to claim some money back from the casino, long after your initial welcome bonuses may have already come and gone.