I spent about 6 months as a bonus hunter nearly two years ago. I made a few thousand. At first I thought it was great.
However, after having stopped hunting for bonuses, I have become more and more edgy. No casino has accused me of abusing the bonuses, but people in the wider world have warned me about falling for a scam.
I have a horrible fear that the casinos will notice that my accounts are completely inactive after having claimed the signup bonuses and will come chasing me for the bonuses back, or accusing me of fraud, threatening my future career etc. After all, every casino has a clause prohibiting 'bonus abuse' in the terms and conditions.
I know this fear is somewhat irrational, but I've been spending time every day searching for 'casino bonus abuse arrest' 'casino bonus abuse prosection' etc etc etc on google and generally scouring the internet trying to put my mind at rest.
Is there any evidence that anyone can put forward that this is definitely not going to happen?
It'll NEVER HAPPEN!!
The worst that could happen is that you will end up on some kind of "bonus abuser database". Casinos deny these databases even exist, but it seems that there are SEVERAL different databases, rather than ONE central database. Players thus flagged may find they cannot claim MORE bonuses in the future. Many casinos are run by a group, so it is likely that by "abusing" the bonuses in a couple of their casinos you will be refused further bonuses for ALL casinos in the group.
Rival software casinos share a true central "bonus abuse" type database, and players are routinely finding themselves banned from FUTURE bonuses.
I can recall TWO cases where casinos really went out on a limb and tried to make your fears a reality.
1) Prime casino, long ago, paid out winnings, and then TWO WEEKS later did a "chargeback" to the player's Neteller account because they decided that, after all, they had abused the bonus.
In the end, it was Prime Casino that had something to fear, not the player. There was public outrage, and the casino put the money back. The player community was STILL not done with them though, and the debate continued, revealing along the way some of the "secret understandings" between casino and processor.
ANY casino manager who was aware of that issue would know NOT to go retrieving bonuses from "bonus abusers" once paid out.
2) A more recent case involves a casino that accused a player of "fraud", namely using a bot (robot program to play casino games, usually Blackjack and Video Poker). They confiscated a very large progressive jackpot. There seemed to be threats from both sides to take the matter to court, but as far as I know this has not happened, and it may be a bluff on the part of either, or both, sides.
The usual way this plays out is that the casino will spot "bonus abuse" when auditing the play during the cash out process. They will either find a specific rule breach, or refuse to pay because of some "in the spirit of" clause. The player gets their deposit back, and can then appeal for thir winnings through one or more of the available dispute processes.
After all this time, far from threats of the bailiffs, these casinos might try to convince you to come back for another try
, and offer you another juicy bonus. This is particularly likely to come from the ones you lost at, and even some of the ones you won at may try to win the money back from you.
To spot this though, you will have to remain subscribed to their promotional emails and letters.
The rules that define "bonus abuse" have changed a fair bit, and many things that were OK two years ago would now be classed as "bonus abuse" at casinos. To avoid problems, a thorough reading of the terms is needed, and players should NOT try to exploit obvious loopholes, and then argue the finer points later. Slots bonuses are the safest, WR is generally much lower, and there is nothing a player can do with SLOTS that any casino could argue (and get away with it) is "bonus abuse".
One casino group tried claiming "bonus abuse" on slots play, and failed - they were forced to pay up in the end.
As they say on Crimewatch (or used to),
"Don't have nightmares"
