Internet gambling is something of a cut-throat world, with huge numbers of online casinos trying to lure you through their doors. For many sites, the preferred bait has been a big fat juicy bonus that convinces you to deposit your hard earned cash with them. Of course, the free riches rarely stack up, and casinos have a nasty habit of extracting considerably more from you than your deposit. However, assuming you want to gamble, and go into these offers with your eyes wide open, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to get at least some benefit from them – even if that only amounts to a few minutes of free play-time.
Roll Out the Welcome Bonuses
These bonuses are typically aimed at new players. And most of them work in a very similar way to one another. The idea is that you deposit some cash, and the casino increases your funds with a bonus that relates in some way to the size of your deposit. 100% bonuses are common. In that case, a £100 deposit would give you an actual balance of £200. Unfortunately, the extra £100 will be locked up, and you won’t have the luxury of simply withdrawing it.
Instead, the casino will demand that you bet (or ‘rollover’, as it’s termed) a particular sum of money before the £100 can be unlocked. Common offers will insist that you bet 25x or 30x your deposit and bonus. In the example above, the £100 deposit and £100 bonus would amount to a total rollover of £5,000 (25x £200) or £6,000 (30x £200). If you lose money, it’ll come first of all from that £100 locked bonus fund. If, having bet £5,000 (on a 25x bonus), you’re left with an account worth more than the original £100, you’re free to withdraw the remainder. As a general rule, though, you will have lost that money long before you have satisfied the stiff wagering requirements.
The problem is that the house edge is almost impossible to defeat. Roulette is pleasingly simple to play, but you do have to put up with a not insignificant house edge: 2.7% if you’re playing a European-style table, and a mighty 5.26% if you’re sitting at an American-style table – those which have not one but two green squares, one of them a double-zero. Play a few hands, and you’ll barely notice that edge. But if you’re needing to turn over large sums with a significant number of spins, the house edge will gradually whittle your money to nothing.
Should you need to wager a significant amount of money, like £5,000, you need to try and do it with as few bets as possible. Place £50 on each spin, and you’ll need to go through this process 100 times in total – that’s a sufficiently long sequence to allow the house edge to work its magic. On the other hand, place just five massive £1,000 bets, and the edge will have little time in which to work. The downside is that you could easily lose several bets in a row, and so see your entire £5,000 sum go down the pan. In truth, casinos are playing on this, knowing that a gambler chasing a £100 bonus is unlikely to have several thousand spare to try and avoid that house edge.
Edges and Even Bigger Edges
The casinos will also try and sway you away from certain games (essentially those with low house edges), and persuade you to spend your money on other, more lucrative titles instead. In the casino games hierarchy, roulette sits somewhere in the middle. It’s a fairly straightforward game to play, so while the 2.7%-5.26% edge seems sizeable, few punters will be paying more than that. Other titles, like blackjack, on the other hand, have far more variable house edges that depend more on the skill level of the player. Having said that, there are games with higher house edges, and casino owners would rather you played those instead. Keno and the slots, for instance, can see the house edge going as high as 20-25%. Roulette bring in a fraction of those returns, and so casinos will often insist that only a limited percentage of the wagering requirements can be satisfied using our beloved spinning wheel – say, 25 to 50%. This generally isn’t as low as on smaller-edge titles, like baccarat and blackjack. Nonetheless, it can make it difficult for roulette players to meet the requirements.
There is a solution, though. Many sites are trying to attract new users to their Live Dealer games – as opposed to the Random Number Generator (RNG) titles that proliferate. As such, the low contributions are often waived if you play the Live Dealer versions. Betvictor.com, for instance, will let you play live roulette, and the amounts bet contribute 100% to the wagering requirements. Admittedly, you can’t turn off the bells and whistles and increase the speed of the game, as you can with RNGs. But the number of bets needed will often be low enough that you can satsify the requirements with a solid night spent playing the Live Dealer. And you will be able to take advantage of roulette’s comparatively low edge, and easy gameplay.
Keep Rollovers Low
You also need to consider how large the rollover is. The more spins are needed, the greater the effect the house edge will exert, so look for as low a requirement as possible. Some sites give you a lower multiplier if you deposit more money. On Betfair Casino for example, a 25x bonus is awarded if you deposit between £35 and £499. But if you deposit £1,000, the multiplier falls to a far more achievable 15x. Other options will be a ‘sticky’ bonus, where you can’t withdraw the bonus itself, but can withdraw any winnings earned with that bonus. The rollover requirements tend to be lower for sticky offers.
Loyalty Schemes
Some sites prefer to offer a loyalty scheme instead. These award you points when you play games, and the points can then be turned into real cash. So 32red.com, for instance, lets you convert every 1000 points into 10 free casino chips. Some companies offer a ladder scheme, giving you access to better deals as your rank goes up. Intercasino runs a scheme where you start at Bronze, and move through the rankings to the mysterious Platinum level. Members of the scheme are entitled to regular bonuses on Mondays and Wednesdays, and higher ranks give access to additional features, such as invites to tournaments and events.
E-Wallet Payments
If you use a favoured money-deposit option, you may get bonuses for that, too. Winner.com, for instance, is paying an extra 15% on any deposits when specific e-Wallet accounts (Skrill/Moneybookers) are used. The rollover requirement is a mere 12x.
Are Bonuses Worth It?
The house edge does make it hard to realise any genuine profits with such offers. But the money is free, and if you’re looking for a site to gamble with, you migh as well find the ones that offer the juiciest deals i.e metro casino, even if you probably won’t see a penny of profit from the deals. Sites with loyalty schemes are particularly interesting, as their regular bonuses and offerings mean you have many opportunities to make something from one of the deals.
The big attraction for gamblers who can consistently win with small odds is that they will, in the long term, win lots of money.
Before anyone embarks on playing roulette, there are two important points to remember: the first is to always play on European roulette tables since they give you a slightly better advantage against the house, and the second is to appreciate that casinos are not stupid in their operations.
While roulette may appear as a great way to win easy money to rookies, nothing will replace the experience of playing roulette regularly and understanding the rules.
