How to Find the Top Casino Bonuses Online

If you are a bonus hunter or curious about becoming one, you’ve come to the right place. In this article we go over the top casino bonuses out there today, dissect the different types of methods of accessing these bonuses, and debate the pros and cons of basing your online gambling on bonus offers.

If all of that information sounds like something for you, read on! We’ll go into more detail in every section, which you can also skip ahead to by finding the links below. We’ve also included a frequently asked questions section at the very end of the article for more detailed answers. If you’re ready to play, explore our guide to the best casino bonuses in the US.

• Finding the Best Online Casino Promotions
• What Are the Best Online Casino Bonus Offers?
• Pros and Cons of Bonus Hunting
• Final Thoughts

Finding the Best Online Casino Promotions

If you are searching for the best online casino promotions, there are many ways you can go about finding them. To start, we of course recommend checking out the sites and offers vetted by our team of casino gambling experts. We know the industry well and have scoped out hundreds of sites to bring you the best offers out there today.

Of course, you can also do research yourself to see new offers from casino platforms of your choice. It’s important to remember that top casino bonuses change regularly. The best way to know what is available is to look directly on the website of the site you are interested in using.

This is also helpful if there are specific games you are hoping to play. Not all games are offered by all sites – for example, some slot game operators have deals with certain platforms while others don’t. If you have your heart set on one game in particular, or one type of game, you might search first for providers offering that game and then compare their bonus deals. We explain more about this approach when discussing pros and cons of bonus hunting below!

What Are the Best Online Casino Bonus Offers?

There are several different types of bonus offers. You may wonder what is the best online casino bonus offer, which is a fair question. However, the truth is that different offers work better for different types of players. For example, if you are into sports betting, you are not going to look for a welcome offer consisting of free spins, but that might work very well for a fan of online slots.

There are a few key categories of welcome offers to look for. One is a free credit or cash-based bonus. These deals award new players a fixed amount of cash to bet with or a fixed amount of “credits” to be used on games on the platform.

Another is a deposit-match. Deposit-match offers are not fixed but rather based on percentages. An example of this is a 200% deposit-match, which would give you two times the amount that you initially deposit as a bonus. Be aware that these usually have a maximum amount that you can deposit or receive as a bonus, to prevent the platform from losing out on too much money!

A zero-deposit or no-deposit deal is another one of the so-called best online casino promotions. With this deal, new customers do not have to make a deposit in order to play. Instead they play with free credit/cash given by the platform. However, you cannot simply withdraw your earnings based on free credits; you will ultimately have to deposit something in order to cashout, so the term zero-deposit is a bit of a misnomer. Still, these can be a good way to try out a new platform – just be sure to read the fine print.

Free spins, as mentioned at the top, are one of the best online casino bonus offers for online slots players. Instead of getting a cash amount added to your bankroll, you get a certain amount of spins you can use on a slot game. However, there is a catch with these as well. Sometimes you can use them on any slot game on the platform but other times it will be specified which slots the deal applies to.

Also, you might need to use them all on one specific game or in a limited time window (within a week of signing up, for example); be sure to read your terms and conditions to find out which is the case for your platform before you sign up for the deal. We’ll talk more about the importance of terms and conditions below.

Pros and Cons of Bonus Hunting

Bonus hunting refers to people who specifically sign up for online casinos based on their bonus offers. Of course, that is perfectly sensible since you should take advantage of the best welcome offers casinos have to give, and the time to do it is when signing up since they are usually only available for brand new customers.

However, true bonus hunters take this a step further. Not only do they scope out the top casino bonuses and grab them, they continually jump from platform to platform in order to consistently claim new offers. Since there are new casino sites cropping up all of the time, it is definitely possible to do this. But there are both pros and cons to such bonus hunting.

Pros

Variety: The biggest pro of bonus hunting is that, if done right, the best casino welcome bonuses are all at your fingertips! You don’t have to only take advantage of one. Rather than be stuck on one platform forever, you can shop around and continually try out new platforms and bonuses, which in theory can optimize the amount of free credits, spins and deposit-matches you receive.

Finding your favorite site: Gravitating to top casino bonuses also gives you a chance to enjoy different platforms run by different providers. All casino platforms are a little bit different, from the types of games they offer to the style and user-friendliness of their sites. They also have different levels of customer service available. Testing a variety of platforms is definitely a good way to find one, or a few, that suit you best.

Curb habits: There is one more hidden pro to being a bonus hunter! Since finding the best bonuses takes some time if you really want to carefully research and only play when the best deals are available, this approach to gambling could actually curb your gambling habits by encouraging you to take time between games.

Take time to think: You might sign up for an offer and use it for the first week that it is available to you, then take a break while you hunt for the next casino deal later in the month, or the next month, for example. This slows down game play, gives time to think, and may ultimately be less habit-forming.

Cons

The biggest cons associated with bonus hunting are the flipside of that last pro: bonus hunting takes time! For example, it can take some time to set up a new deposit method, verify identification and bank details, when making your first payment into a new platform.

Deposit methods: Furthermore when it comes to deposits, not all deposit methods are available from every site. So even if you find a welcome bonus you really want to claim, you might have to open a different type of e-wallet or use a different debit or credit card, if the ones you usually use are not available. This can also take time to set up and can be a bit annoying.

Game selection: Not all games are available from all platforms. Signing up based on bonuses alone might leave you disappointed if you are looking for particular developers or styles of games that turn out to not be offered by the platform you’ve signed onto. You might get a great welcome deal but find the games are not to your taste.

Cashout processing times: When you are ready to withdraw your earnings, you will also come across a bit of a time lag. The first time you cashout is usually the one that takes the longest. This is because the new platform is verifying your details, sometimes validating your identification, and setting up the secure payment method that you want. Once this is set up the first time, following cashouts will go more smoothly and can be expected to be faster. If you are always jumping from platform to platform, however, you will constantly be dealing with the first, slow payout situation.

Time limits: Most welcome bonuses need to be used within a certain time frame in order to be valid. For example, free spins or free credits may need to be wagered within a week of signing up. This is just important to know so that you don’t miss your window of opportunity to use the perfect bonus!

Wasted time: If research isn’t your thing, you might find bonus hunting a bit draining. It can take time to find good bonus deals and compare what different sites have to offer you, as well as to read terms and conditions. All of this is precious time that could be used playing games, or doing something enjoyable offline with your earnings! While our site and others offer reviews of welcome bonuses, these do change from time to time so being a top hunter takes time too.

Missing out on loyalty rewards: Some sites offer loyalty or VIP rewards to players who play again and again. If you are constantly signing up for new platforms, it is less likely that you’ll spend enough, or often enough, on one platform to acquire these types of bonuses.

Annoying T&Cs: Terms and conditions are the bane of our existence, sometimes! To be fair, they are in place for a reason. Without terms and conditions, platforms also might stop earning money and would not be able to offer great bonuses at all. But you definitely need to read the fine print to be aware of limits on the offers you receive. Beware deals that seem too good to be true, they usually are! In the worst case scenario, they could be scams, so check carefully!

Final Thoughts

As you now see, there are loads of good reasons to take advantage of bonuses, but some pitfalls, too! As long as you are educated about what to look out for and how to avoid the negatives, you, too, can enjoy casino bonuses next time you play.