Most have been gifts requiring deposits. The biggest so far (32Red have one day left in their Xmas countdown, so could beat this) is from Ruby Fortune with 100% up to 500.
Prime Casino have the same offer, but only up to 150, BUT there is a NASTY STING for the unwary, their terms have reverted back to how they were at launch. Claim this, and you can ONLY play slots (including Keno and scratchcards), winnings CAN BE CONFISCATED if other games are played, and won on, before WR are complete. Secondly, they have set slots WR up to 60x.
The Prime casino rep came on here and made a public statement when they ditched these kinds of terms earlier, but they have snuck this one in without a peep from the rep. It would make them into the biggest scrooges of the year if they caught some players on the hop, as the claim page simply looks and feels like standard Palace Group (who do all their support), it is only the terms that reveal not just the 60x (bad enough), but the CONFISCATION term.
ALL PLAYERS with Prime should check through to terms if they get these regular offers, they may well have been assuming standard EZBonus/Palace Group rules apply, and been playing non-slot games with the offers.
I could well have been caught out, as I saw the big announcement earlier from their rep that they were ditching the 80x slots only and introducing a more usual EZBonus structure. I do not know when they made this change, but I DID notice a while back that I was suddenly making less progress than expected with a bonus while playing slots, and I DID play some 3 card poker, and maybe if I had won I could have had those winnings removed.
The Ruby Fortune gift came with standard EZBonus terms.
I also received "true" Christmas gifts.
From Ruby Fortune, I could select from a lost of 5 gadgets, so I went for the DS Lite (I haven't got one, and I am sure I would get a volunteer to relieve me of it (3 nieces & 1 nephew) should it not be to my liking
I hope to win the iPod touch from the December Slotmeister, although sjn may seek to restrict me to 8Gig, and someone else may contradict me altogether. This last week could see MANY distractions
Pat (32Red) slipped 150 into my account not that long ago (just found it).
Casino Rewards sent me an email to say they had slipped in something, but it vanished in the "noise" from all the other points, so cannot have been more than $50 (which would come out as 33.33333333 because of the static exchange rate they use). I also had a 50 card in the post from them, but somehow this seems to have gone in as 33.333333
Most gifts have just been enhanced deposit promotions, so something needs to be given to receive. This is not so unusual in real life though, if you gave someone a present, but got nothing in return, you might feel slighted, perhaps because it is some kind of "unwritten rule". Children are more likely to express their displeasure, even if in subtler ways than throwing a tantrum.
To a casino business, this gifting at christmas is really about business (they want the player to continue with them the following year), and nothing to do with friendships in real life, even if that is how they portray it. There may be rare exceptions to the rule, and one might be Pat at 32Red when it comes to players he has known for a while, and even met. It seems in such cases it is not an automated system that runs through your year's play history, calculates your "gift", and sends it to you under an automated system made to look like it is personal, as I suspect is the case for most casino groups.
There is still the new year, many casinos offer something special for this as well, so rather than one big gift, you might get two smaller ones.
I would expect less this year anyway, as the UIGEA has crippled the player base of most casino groups, and they are still having to adjust to this, along with the fact that other countries are starting to take a stand on the issue, and most seem to have gone for some kind of prohibition rather than regulation.
In my book you guys rock.
