My first (and only) experience of taking a bonus.

[Valhalla]

So after much soul searching I decided to open an account and took advantage of their new player 100% match bonus, which is completely foreign territory for me since I never take bonuses.
Anyway... long story short my £100 (£50 + £50) didn't even last half an hour low-rolling and I permanently closed my account immediately after in disgust.
At no point was I even close to winning, and it was only when I quickly dipped into the bonus funds did I get any kind of "win" (30x), but then it took me around 40 spins to get anything else of note, rendering my win moot. Balance gone minutes later. Boring.

How do people actually live with bonuses? Most of my withdrawals these days are done when I make, for example, a £40 deposit, play for a while rolling my eyes at how awful it is, then withdraw something silly like £15 or £20 just to spite the casino. They aren't getting the last few quid, I'm not a moron who will just spin it to death despite all evidence pointing to a bust out rapidly coming - I had no choice tonight though.

This is honestly so tragic lately and I think I'm going to end up quitting for good. I just want to deposit some money and play some bloody slots for the evening, but even £100 and a low rolling session won't buy me half an hour. And with RIDICULOUS enforced £200pw limits, that's like 2 hours a week "entertainment" without bonuses. What really is the point? In days gone by I'd make another deposit tonight and carry on playing, not to chase my losses, but to get some game time, and more often that not the tide would turn and - occasionally - I might even get a good win. But now every game feels dead and I have this impending feeling that even if I did get lucky the casino would SOW me and ruin my happiness anyway.

I despair.

 

[Triple A]

I despise bonuses and never take them.

 

[The Dude]

I've been playing online for over two decades, and I can count how many bonuses I have accepted since then on both hands - maybe even on one hand.

I never could wrap my head around why anyone would want to oblige themselves with play-through requirements, limits on betting amounts, and disallowed games. And we tried this at CM a few times pushing casinos that had no bonuses. But this is not what players want. They want the "bonus" - the Frankenstein monster of the online gaming industry.

 

[The Dude]

From nearly eight years ago, here is a thread where we hoped that the operators would come up with something besides "bonuses" or other forms of mindless entrapment. The slow death of the online casino bonus

 

[bamberfishcake]

My experience is a little different. Before UK Casinos clamped down on bonuses through fear of repercussions from the UKGC and their blurred guidelines, I converted many a bonus and have been subject to bonus banning by casinos that only want losers.

I am inclined to agree, however, that today's slots play very differently to back then, and deposits go so quickly that any bonus play will be subject to the same experience.

On the whole, I think players are getting so despondent with slots at online casinos now that many are giving up or moving to table games or live casino. It's only the continual boom of the industry that keeps the fresh deposits coming.

Lots of these casinos will eventually fade because there is not enough value in the slots they peddle now for players to have some fun, let alone return to deposit more.

 

[toms596]

I'll take a bonus now a lot of the time just for the extra gameplay in the UK at least it has to be separate from real money.

Best one was a 100% match on Lottomart put in £10 and very quickly won £500 on 25p decided to try and beat the wager as 50% was bonus funds. Ended up on Numero Uno at £3 a spin and cleared wagering with a balance of £1300 paid out an hour later.

A lot of the restrictions don't affect me as I don't have to money be spinning on high stakes anyway.

 

[Valhalla]

I despise bonuses and never take them.

This was my first and last, I've always been a firm believer in using your own money without restrictions.

I've been playing online for over two decades, and I can count how many bonuses I have accepted since then on both hands - maybe even on one hand.

I never could wrap my head around why anyone would want to oblige themselves with play-through requirements, limits on betting amounts, and disallowed games. And we tried this at CM a few times pushing casinos that had no bonuses. But this is not what players want. They want the "bonus" - the Frankenstein monster of the online gaming industry.

It's about 15 years for me, and ditto. Maybe had one NDB way back on Cool Cat Casino (haha - I still remember the code "CoolCat50") before I knew any better. I won some money and the sheer faff they expected of me to withdraw made me reluctant to ever take a bonus again.

Last night was a aberration from me, a silly experiment. Games have been so bad lately I thought I might get some extra play time but really it just soured what little enjoyment I might have had. My balance immediately nosedived into the bonus funds, plateaued for a moment, then quickly bottomed out. Lesson learned sir.

 

[justdoit]

not sure way all time I get email from BetWay bonus offer 50% 100% I take it lol, wagering not bad 30x

 

[Jono777]

I used to consider myself very lucky with bonuses and would often shop around that day deciding which offers were the fairest and which one to take that day.

That is when we had that option, sadly those days are gone and not coming back.

Taking a 50% or 100% match with 30-35xB IMO was fair, taking it as a low roller as you say to improve chances of a longer session rather than trying to get rich.

I did beat more than my fair share of wagering in the earlier days, resulting in being in front for as long as maybe 7 years and getting BB'ed at WHG not once but twice!

Then came the rut, nonsense rules and the slow decline of bonuses so I took to playing cash only as VS and it being the only casino I use to this day.

At first I won't lie, I did miss the larger starting balances but quickly adapted and loved the fact that starting lucky with cash only, I had no restrictions to stop me reaching for the cash out button.

Again now sadly those days are all but ended too, cost of living and everything else sees deposit amounts and frequency greatly reduced, together with what seems like "Mission Impossible" to even get remotely ahead or a decent session where you play multiple games, holding the balance.

The whole experience is truly ruined and borderline pointless now.

 

[shadow123]

Years ago the norm was either 25 or 30x wagering on deposit only,quite achievable at the 95% rtp which was also the norm.
Used to spend many happy hours spinning the wagering very rarely busting out,only problem being that cash balance was
locked until the wagering was complete.
Think the UKGC ruling on cash being withdrawable during bonus play which sounds great in principle is a double edged sword
which has resulted in high D+B wagering we get now,along with no end of rules and restrictions which makes it virtually impossible
to profit from a bonus.Cant entirely blame the casinos, if cash can be withdrawn at any time they had to may some radical changes
to the bonus systems.
Personally I very rarely take any form of bonus,its just not worth the hassle.

 

[Mark_Lottomart]

I'll take a bonus now a lot of the time just for the extra gameplay in the UK at least it has to be separate from real money.

Best one was a 100% match on Lottomart put in £10 and very quickly won £500 on 25p decided to try and beat the wager as 50% was bonus funds. Ended up on Numero Uno at £3 a spin and cleared wagering with a balance of £1300 paid out an hour later.

A lot of the restrictions don't affect me as I don't have to money be spinning on high stakes anyway.

Good choice of casino!

 

[sufferinsilence]

When bonuses were still allowed here I would rarely take a match bonus, unless it was non-sticky which was available at only 1 of our casinos iirc. This would usually mean they'd throw a no deposit bonus or free spins my way when losing a couple of deposits.

 

[satchnz]

I’ve never been particularly lucky with bonuses except for that one time towards the end of last year at a dodgy crypto casino. It was a 100% welcome bonus which gave me $120 for my $60 deposit. Managed to hit a 2500x on Fruit Party at 20c and ended up (successfully) withdrawing a profit of $750.

 

[MahoneyKnows]

It really depends what the bonus stipulations are and what your intention is on during gameplay…. Disallowed games bonus are a joke… being forced to play from a set of 5 games with insane volatility… joke. If you’re happy winning a couple hundred bucks with the intention to withdraw - stay away. I’m not cashing out until I’ve landed at least a couple grand so playthrough requirements don’t particularly bother me as I’ll play thousands of spins in a winning session. I would suggest lowering your deposit to something reasonable to achieve the play through requirements - if it’s a 100x match bonus and you’re deposing 1k on a 30 - 50x play through you’re asking for trouble. Read those requirements and make sure you’re not setting yourself up for the dreaded “max win” bonus where you’re restricted to a max amount - hit a monster and catapulted to cloud 9 just to have that feeling turn into something horrible. I’ve cashed plenty of bonuses in my time but also have had that feeling of utter dread when the realization kicks you in the teeth.

 

[pekka55]

Used to be a time when it was about 50/50 if you could cash out from a 100% bonus. I don't have any data to back that up, but It felt like that anyway.

I used to take a lot of 100% bonuses, because it made sense then, but now I very rarely do. I now only take bonuses if they can be canceled and you can withdraw winnings if you've not touched the bonus funds.

With all the huge wagering, really volatile slots with hundreds of dead spins, hundreds of games you can't wager bonuses on etc. it's mostly useless to take bonuses now.

Then if you actually happen to beat the wagering you often run into new problems. Will you even get your money and how many weeks will it take with possible sow etc.