Is it wise to play slots without a first time bonus?

[BlueSky]

Simple question really.

Suppose I wanted to play some slots, should I make use of the deposit bonus or would I be better off without it? I mean, they seem attractive at first sight, but without it I would not need to play through a certain amount of wagers and I can cash out at any time.

Also, which online casino would you pick as the most reliable? Seems like an appropriate question for this forum

 

[Webzcas]

Welcome to CasinoMeister

If you are going to accept a new player deposit bonus, make sure you know what the wagering requirements are beforehand. Just so you are not disappointed when you try to cash out, you still have to wager a couple of more thousands in spins before you are able to.

In terms of which casinos to pick. Well any on the accredited list are good to go - click the link in my signature.

My personal favourites are King Kong on InterCasino - when you trigger the feature on that, you can get up to 125 free spins.

Tombraider on any of the microgaming operators.

Just avoid Thunderstruck, or as I call it Thundersucks judging by my bad luck playing it last week. LOL

 

[BingoT]

Hi BlueSky again I welcome you here at CM's forum.
If you love to take a little extra go with the bonus and hope you hit something good.
For me I don't do them bonus things.
I say if I deposit $50.00 and make say $200.00 I know I can take it out anytime I want and I don't have to worry about some kind of WR I have to meet.
Some people live by them little extra bonus things but they are not for me.I don't have that kinda luck some people do.
But all them free no deposit offers are cool.Sometimes you do well on them and make the wr.
Good Luck to ya
~T~

 

[BlueSky]

Thanks for the welcome webzcas. The wagering requirement is what makes me doubt about whether I should use a bonus or not. Indeed I would have to read the T&C carefully. I will however take a look at the casino's you advice. I have visited the accredited casino section before, but its a lot of casino's to pick from. Hence my question to see if there are a select few that raise above others.

Thanks again for the welcome BingoT. I have done a lot of no-deposit offers in the past, but expected nothing from it. I just want to play at a casino that is reputable amongst the people here, and determine wheter I should go for a bonus or just plain. I have never had the chance to get some real input on it from people that are realistic about the bad stuff that goes on. The review sites are all the same in my opinion, made to make money.

 

[Webzcas]

You can't go wrong with the following:

32Red - Microgaming
Intercasino - Cryptologic
Aladdins Gold - RTG

 

[BlueSky]

Thanks webzcas, thats useful info. I'm gonna look into it...

 

[love2winalot]

Hiya: It is not just the wagering requirements, but also some Casino's have a Cap on the amount of money you can Win/withdraw, when playing with bonus money. It would be a shame to get a %100 bonus, up to $200, and a withdraw limit of $200, WHEN YOU JUST WON $3000...

imhop; Unless you are going to play the bonus, using a method of meeting the play thru requirements, in order to try to keep most of it, and then Cash it out, and do this over n over n over again.........imhop, it is not worth it. To many strings attached, to many rules, and so on.....But this is just me....

 

[De Beuker]

Personally, I always take the SUB.
Especially Microgaming, as they are cashable and have a reasonable WR.
I only play slots, so I don't have to worry about restricted games.
And if I play a session I usually want to play at least a few hours, not 15 minutes, so big chance I'm gonna play through that WR anyway, if I'm lucky ofcourse.
Taking a bonus is a gamble 'an sich', I've had sessions where I won big in the beginning and lost alot of it clearing the WR, but it can also turn out good, when you end up cashing out far more than you would have when playing without the bonus.
Good luck!

 

[Mavin1]

Hiya: It is not just the wagering requirements, but also some Casino's have a Cap on the amount of money you can Win/withdraw, when playing with bonus money. It would be a shame to get a %100 bonus, up to $200, and a withdraw limit of $200, WHEN YOU JUST WON $3000...

imhop; Unless you are going to play the bonus, using a method of meeting the play thru requirements, in order to try to keep most of it, and then Cash it out, and do this over n over n over again.........imhop, it is not worth it. To many strings attached, to many rules, and so on.....But this is just me....

This is a very good point to remember, because it does happen. Back long before I knew of forums like this and didn't bother to understand wagering requirements I had taken a bonus at "Not" so Cool Cat casino, didn't know it was blacklisted then, but I had deposited $25 took a bonus that had a max cashout of $250, didn't pay attention to this. Anyways I played on Diamond Deluxe single line slot and won the $4,000.00 jackpot playing the nickels, I was so excited to have for the first and only time ever to win such an amount. I put it in for cashout whereas $3,750.00 was removed from my withdrawal and I was sent $250.00 . Needless to say I have never done that again.

 

[BlueSky]

This is a very good point to remember, because it does happen. Back long before I knew of forums like this and didn't bother to understand wagering requirements I had taken a bonus at "Not" so Cool Cat casino, didn't know it was blacklisted then, but I had deposited $25 took a bonus that had a max cashout of $250, didn't pay attention to this. Anyways I played on Diamond Deluxe single line slot and won the $4,000.00 jackpot playing the nickels, I was so excited to have for the first and only time ever to win such an amount. I put it in for cashout whereas $3,750.00 was removed from my withdrawal and I was sent $250.00 . Needless to say I have never done that again.

yeah he makes a good point and you back it up with past experience. Man, sorry to hear that, it must have felt horrible.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Safety in slots

It is usually "safe" to take a bonus when you intend ONLY to play slots with it. The many twists and turns of bonus conditions apply to non-slot games, and this is where the unwary player gets caught out. Quite a few casinos however ban play on PROGRESSIVE slot games, which CAN catch out the slots player.

As far as WR are concerned, slots have the least playthrough. Microgaming uses 30x bonus as a default, however this is operator adjustable, and I have seen this go as high as 80x bonus even on slots.

A recently introduced trap for the unwary are terms stipulating that no bet greater than a certain percentage of the bonus, balance, deposit, or combination thereof, may be made. This is usually pretty generous, and bets of 10% or less of the bonus granted should be safe. The trap is where a player has a big win, and starts raising the bet with the much higher balance - it is easy to forget the max bet limit, especially if you started off with a small bonus.

Free chips usually come with tighter restrictions than deposit related bonuses, often having a maximun cashout.


An interesting way to play slots WITHOUT a bonus might be to enter a reward based promotion, where you stand to win a prize for aspects of your play, such as highest wagering (the usual), most spins (32Red Slotsmeister), or even based on a lucky draw. This would enable you to cash out at any time if you win big, and have your reward bonus credited at the end of the promo. Whilst this will come with WR, the important thing is that this does NOT tie up your initial deposit.

Check the terms carefully though, some promotions that LOOK like reward contests are nothing more than fancy deposit bonuses. These will stipulate the bonus is credited at the end of the promotion, BUT will contain a term that states any cash-in before the end of the promotion voids the bonus.

The Jackpot Factory ongoing 10% offer is a prime example of this. If you cash-out before the 10% is credited, you don't get it for ANY deposits made in the qualifying period - even those you lost!

Kasino King is something of an expert in bonuses for low rollers, and has been very "lucky" over the past 5 years playing mostly slot bonus offers.

 

[BlueSky]

It is usually "safe" to take a bonus when you intend ONLY to play slots with it. The many twists and turns of bonus conditions apply to non-slot games, and this is where the unwary player gets caught out. Quite a few casinos however ban play on PROGRESSIVE slot games, which CAN catch out the slots player.

As far as WR are concerned, slots have the least playthrough. Microgaming uses 30x bonus as a default, however this is operator adjustable, and I have seen this go as high as 80x bonus even on slots.

A recently introduced trap for the unwary are terms stipulating that no bet greater than a certain percentage of the bonus, balance, deposit, or combination thereof, may be made. This is usually pretty generous, and bets of 10% or less of the bonus granted should be safe. The trap is where a player has a big win, and starts raising the bet with the much higher balance - it is easy to forget the max bet limit, especially if you started off with a small bonus.

Free chips usually come with tighter restrictions than deposit related bonuses, often having a maximun cashout.


An interesting way to play slots WITHOUT a bonus might be to enter a reward based promotion, where you stand to win a prize for aspects of your play, such as highest wagering (the usual), most spins (32Red Slotsmeister), or even based on a lucky draw. This would enable you to cash out at any time if you win big, and have your reward bonus credited at the end of the promo. Whilst this will come with WR, the important thing is that this does NOT tie up your initial deposit.

Check the terms carefully though, some promotions that LOOK like reward contests are nothing more than fancy deposit bonuses. These will stipulate the bonus is credited at the end of the promotion, BUT will contain a term that states any cash-in before the end of the promotion voids the bonus.

The Jackpot Factory ongoing 10% offer is a prime example of this. If you cash-out before the 10% is credited, you don't get it for ANY deposits made in the qualifying period - even those you lost!

Kasino King is something of an expert in bonuses for low rollers, and has been very "lucky" over the past 5 years playing mostly slot bonus offers.

Well, first off, thanks for the clear information.

I understand that one has to be up for this kind of bonus play. Weighing the pros and cons it would be more of an adventure to play without any kind of promotion, as anything is possible. If you win something good, you wouldn't have to be scared of possible missed terms or condition that haven't been met, or restrictions.

Also, it seems like there are too many cons that would dictate a possible outcome.

Its safe to say now, that when I will play slots its without a bonus.

Thanks for the input everyone

 

[KasinoKing]

Suppose I wanted to play some slots, should I make use of the deposit bonus or would I be better off without it? I mean, they seem attractive at first sight, but without it I would not need to play through a certain amount of wagers and I can cash out at any time.

First and foremost, if you've never played slots before (or not much), is don't play with ANY form of real money - bonus or otherwise. Get a good feel in "fun mode" first.

There are 1,000s of different slots on the net - and loads of them are CRAP!
Even some that other people rate as very good, you might absolutely hate.

So take your time & don't just jump in with big real money bets on a slot just because you saw a good post in "Winner Screenshots". Find out what you like; high or low variance, loads or few features, which types of features, etc...

Good luck!
KK

 

[BlueSky]

First and foremost, if you've never played slots before (or not much), is don't play with ANY form of real money - bonus or otherwise. Get a good feel in "fun mode" first.

There are 1,000s of different slots on the net - and loads of them are CRAP!
Even some that other people rate as very good, you might absolutely hate.

So take your time & don't just jump in with big real money bets on a slot just because you saw a good post in "Winner Screenshots". Find out what you like; high or low variance, loads or few features, which types of features, etc...

Good luck!
KK

Thanks for the reply KasinoKing.

It makes sense to try them out first, I agree, and I will if it comes to it. The slots that I have played in the past with poker money in party casino or with no-deposit offers in several online casino's were 5-reel slots. I understand that most casino's have them, but I wanted to find out from this thread what the top dogs are in the online casino world.

For me service and credibility might even be more important than the actual shape of a slots, and thats where an affiliate site falls short in my opinion, they are too biased towards income. I know this is a casino portal also, but there are real people with real experience and know-how.

I think I'm on the right track getting some valuable user centric advice in this post from people, like yourself, that know what they're talking about.

@ Everyone

So far I have researched Intercasino and cryptologic and their T&C (which is fairly good), based on advice from webzcas, but stumbled upon some very anti websites. I don't know if I should take it seriously or if they are known here. Here are the links I'm referring to:

lewisrose.com cryptologicsucks.com andrewrivkinsucks.com cryptologiclicensee.com markrivkinsucks.com casinoaffiliatefrauds.com jennysolurshsucks.com harveysolurshsucks.com

Let me know what you think guys

 

[Jasminebed]

If you are going to take sign up bonuses, try going with a small deposit. That way one decent hit can make a WR doable. Also, IMO stay away from anything other than a ND bonus that has a max cashout. Exceptions can be made for 100X deposit. (I saw that somewhere a while ago, just can't remember where).

And even without a bonus, please read the T&C's carefully. Quite a few casinos have a one or two times wager requirement for deposits taken without a bonus, and a few are even higher.

So, if you deposit $100, hit $500 on your second $1 spin, you still have to wager $98 more dollars on a one time playthrough.

One form of deposit bonus I do like is a cashback kind of bonus. If you play your deposit x no of times, you receive an a bonus, even if you win and withdraw (or bust out but meet WR). Usually these bonuses come with a further WR, but since you get to play some free money, I don't mind. Oftimes they are in the form of freespins on a certain game.

If the majority of your play is not slots, I'd probably look for a good loyalty program instead.