Do you play with Signup Bonuses? (2015)

[Simmo!]

Just under 2 years ago we ran the same poll. More has happened since then, new terms added, more restrictions and issues, some new ways of presenting them etc. So I am out to see if opinion is shifting or not.

 

[lockinlove]

very rarely. Only time I do is if the sign up bonus is good. free spins...play any games and wagering at 35x or lower.

Id say 5% of the time I will do it. Just so many damn rules and restrictions and high wagering. All I see are problems

 

[randomiam]

not these days

i used to love a good bonus but they are harder to wager these days and theres not many good 100% at 35x or less coming up
rather play straight cash 90% of the time now

 

[Batman]

Only when the T&C is transparent;
If I have doubts regarding my play-style contradicting their terms, I always get confirmation from support.
So most of the times, yes!

 

[Simmo!]

Only when the T&C is transparent;
If I have doubts regarding my play-style contradicting their terms, I always get confirmation from support.
So most of the times, yes!

And out of interest, how often would you say you get to a point where you could cash out a profit? (from the bonus deposit)

 

[Batman]

And out of interest, how often would you say you get to a point where you could cash out a profit? (from the bonus deposit)

It's really complicated;

But you are right! Cashing out is rarer and rarer nowadays than let's say 2 year or so ago...
Bigger wagering requirements, lower max bets, stupid max cash out limits - ON DEPOSITS !!! (still trying to recover over this one which seem really unfair)...

And it will only get worse!

I like playing with bonuses... more chances usually, however, if it will get absurd, I'll simply stop taking the bonuses,
It's not the case at the moment... thankfully!

 

[paul7388]

When signing up to a new casino I sometimes take the sign up offer on a low deposit.

Don't know why but I just feel that if I take the sign up offers it gets them out of the way and will have less problems later.

Sounds daft but take betspin for example. It says once you complete the 3 sign up bonuses you are then eligible for all the offers they give. So I am guessing that after first 3 deposits even without taking the bonus you would be eligible but I took the bonus anyway just to make sure.

After I start playing at a casino tho I rarely take a bonus at all. People say it gives a lot more playtime etc. but for example if I was depositing £50 to get a £50 bonus I would rather just deposit £50 without it or try and deposit more.

I like the fact that without the bonus I can play whatever I want and whatever bet size. No need to ever worry about breaking any of the terms that are getting more crazy all the time. Also nothing worse than hitting a great win knowing that by the time you meet wagering you will probably have lost it all. Better to have less funds to start and know that if lucks on your side you can cashout any time.

Also to me I just don't get why players take a bonus then spend hours stressing at how they will make playthrough. Worrying if they have broke some sort of term etc.

Gambling should be for fun not sitting trying to work out best way to meet playthrough and cash out as soon as its done. Just deposit real money and if you lose you lose. If you win its all yours.

Way I look at it if the slots are playing real bad you will lose the bonus money as well so why bother. How many posts are there where people have hit a good sized win then tried to complete wagering and still had over 50% wagering left after busting out. Without the bonus that money would be sitting in their account for them to spend.

 

[Simmo!]

Don't know why but I just feel that if I take the sign up offers it gets them out of the way and will have less problems later.

Ah now that's interesting. The only time I take a signup bonus is when it's automatically credited and like you, I just play through it thinking I am one step closer to winning with my own money. But I like to play it at big bets to either make it worth having or more usually to get to the 2nd deposit faster and more and more, you can't do that.

I am thinking maybe this poll will be less revealing than a poll asking "How do you approach a signup bonus". Maybe that should be a follow-up poll later.

 

[Casino2014man]

I never take sign up bonuses anymore unless they are wager free freespins.

I do not like spending my time reading through endless lines of terms, and prefer to just use my own money to cash out whenever I like.

personally I find 30x way too high for wagering let alone 50+ like some.

I never accept them.

 

[Wild Reels]

I will always take a sign up bonus at a new casino i join, and this is purely for the extended play time it offers, overall we are all supposed to be losing in the infinite time frame of rtp, so id rather share that burden with casino's bonus money .

Sometimes it can be a burden having to complete the wagering to cash out, but on other occasions the big hits and cash outs wouldn't have even happened if i didn't have that extra 100%, and as gamblers go i'm fairly cautious when playing purely with my own money, to say that id happily cash out if i doubled a £100 deposit in to £200.

When I've been tied to wagering and had to continue I've had some fantastic runs because i had to keep playing, and some horrible runs where ive got up considerably then slowly lost it all.

On the flip side, i don't sign up to any old casino just because they are offering a 100% match, i did the whole chasing the dead or alive wins with bonuses thing a while back, so now any new casino has to look like it will be worth playing at a second or 3rd time for me to even bother signing up to, any ridiculous terms for wagering/cash outs would make it a casino not worth signing up to in the first place for me.

 

[fun4all]

It's the only reason to try a new casino in my opinion. If I didn't want to try a new casino I would just play at 32red/betspin/guts/videoslots

 

[quber]

I don't take any bonuses at all except for the free spins on new games each month when they are automatically there, and i always load the game before I deposit to get any winnings out of the way.

I just prefer to be able to do what I want while I am playing and be able to cash out whenever I want.

 

[Dinahnana]

I agree with Wild Reels I will take sign up bonus if it's allowed at a sister site to an accredited casino or at a casino going through the BBF section. Having said that I am going to give GDay casino a shot as I have read really good things on here about this casino. Let's hope they decide to go for accreditation soon.

 

[syntynyt]

i would like to but pretty much i'm country bonus banned everywhere that matters. i do get though later bonuses after some deposits but usually are up to 50% so nothing interesting being a low-roller. i would like a new feature in a casino: deposit credited in free spins. i'm lucky on them

 

[Tirilej]

If I sign up to a new casino it will have to have been here for a while, or recommended by someone I trust.

If I don't like the rep (I do talk to them all) then I won't sign up no matter how good sign up bonus they have.

Some always have a few games I like excluded from bonus play, and since I'm not a millionaire, I see no reason to play there if that's the case.
They don't realize that they maybe don't lose much on those games with that kind of rules, but they are actually losing a lot from players that never sign up for that particular reason

I voted 50/50 but it's rare that I try a new casino. I have so many good choices already.

 

[psychogene]

I used to take sign up bonuses only occasionally but the last few places I have played at I have taken them all the time.

I think most people here would have their favorite places to play at now and if you are going to make the switch to play at another place at least on a regularly basis the sign up bonus would be one of the first things you look for. I don't really like most places wagering requirements these days (besides 32red 100%) even if it comes with free spins they all seem quite high and alot of places have their sign up bonuses WR even higher than their regular deposit bonuses. One good thing about sign up bonuses is they are almost always 100% at the minimum.

I vote 'Very Occasionally'.

 

[cncas2123]

I take a SUB but only for a small deposit, maybe £20 or £30, just to see how the site is and play a few games. I very rarely take any other bonus as I believe any bonus is just going to tie you in to hefty WR and if you are lucky enough to get a decent win you can waste it trying to hit the WR. When you look at some of the newer sites and the WR they have for DOA and other games, how can anyone make WR of x 175 and make a withdrawal?? Not very likely.

 

[horseplayer]

I voted very occasionally because new casino opportunities are few and far between in the US. I've long ago joined pretty much every casino available to me. I generally did use signup bonuses when they were offered.

 

[partyhummel]

i love no deposit bonus ;-)

i grab any i can. first i succeeded at casino la vida (lastz ywar may) 5 euro bonus - cashed out 160 € (recently they limited it to 100)

last week from freespins 100

rubyslots 3 times 100$

prismcasino 2 times 100$

pampercasino 240 but they didnt pay ...

yesterday i busted onlinecasinoeu - 25€ 99x wager - almost made it but close before aim it vanished ;-))))

those freechip goodies always get me. i just like presents (who doesnt?)

 

[hedgehok]

By reading partyhummels post I think the poll should have another option "only NDB" - because that's what many do, just no risk and a slim chance to convert

I think Simmo! some intention with this poll is to evaluate if players tend to use SUBs more often compared to years ago. For me much has changed since the old days. I still usually take them.
However much has changed how to approach the playthrough.

When I started playing online 2005 most bonuses had no catch: You could see the wagering requirements and that's it. No max-bet, no excluded games (let alone excluded slots), no max-cashout shenanigans.
Back then I played many different games. Slots, Live-Casino-Games, but also table-games. Basically everything you can find.
In 2015 things have change dramatically. Casinos are cought in the bonus-race and therefore decrease the bonus-quality up to a point where it's almost impossible to make the playthrough. And I play much more slots today.

The biggest difference comparing 2005 with 2015 is I usually don't make the playthrough. I don't fancy playing hours to make the playthrough so I only play at casinos where I can play the bet-size I find fitting to fulfill the wagering requirements in modest time. However I mostly fail to do so and bust. This is why I sometimes make a straight deposit to just a play for half an hour.

What I actually like is that many casinos offer things like (wager-free) free spins or cashbacks as incentives. This approach you see far more often nowadays which I consider a good thing.
I think that's the future. And many innovative casinos do that already. For example Videoslots with it's race/cashback, Thrills with the free-spins treasure journey (you trigger chests with wager-free freespins along the way), betat with bonuses you get with a certain playing activity (or the supercharged winnings at their sister Slottyvegas).

 

[sapit222]

Last year i almost never took any signup bonuses or others.

This year i always take them all if they are 100% or above..
I always check the terms of course, but mostly just a quick check..
Most of the casinos i play at are accredited though.

 

[Valhalla]

I never take any kind of bonus.

 

[brianleeporter]

I always Take the signup bonus me.

Gives you more cash to play with obviously and explore the site.

I Always read those terms tho just in case.

 

[KasinoKing]

Sorry Simmo, but I don't think the question was worded very well.
I think you should have asked: "When you join a new casino, do you take the sign-up bonuses?"

I say this, because people who play regularly at the same casino(s) can only vote "pretty much never", whereas I suspect that it is new sign-ups that you are particularly interested in... ?

Just IMO!

KK

 

[mcgameboy]

Yes. Every time. Because I do like a bonus. I joined three new casinos this year, all of which are CM accredited. BETAT, Gala and GUTS. The reasons why were simple....

1. I wanted to try games by developers other than MG and Playtech.
2. Those three casinos cover a pretty sizeable chunk of those developers.
3. Those three casinos are among the cream of the crop and CM accredited.

I also "re-joined" Bet365 after a near year long absence. And I did so for the same reasons.

That said, I have found myself playing more often without a bonus. I'm happy to take the SUBs/welcome package bonuses for two reasons...
1. simply because they are there and
2. Because every so often, I like to take on a WR challenge, which SUBs enable me to do.

But after the SUBs/welcome packages have been used up/exhausted, I am quite happy to make deposits with no bonus attached. It's taken me quite some time to really appreciate the benefits of playing without a bonus. But now that I have realised what those benefits are, I find myself embracing them more and more.

Nowadays, the only casino where I find myself regularly taking any "post-SUB/welcome package" bonus is at 32Red with their DOTD. And that's because it's a considerably "less daunting" WR of £1,500 on a £50 bonus. I still get offers of 25% at Gala and Bet365, but I am simply not prepared to take them, because they are in effect bonuses which come with a WR of Bx100. To me, that is ridiculously -EV.