One of the most exciting things about finding a new casino? The bonuses. New players are often handed an embarrassment of riches. Free spins. Deposit matches. Wager insurance.

Casino bonuses and promotions are a great way to get more mileage out of your gaming while you play with house money.

The best casino apps offer a variety of high-quality offerings that will appeal to a wide range of players. If you’re serious about your online gambling, you’ll want to understand what incentives are out there and how you can best take advantage of them. 

New Player Bonuses

This is often the promotion that casinos pay the most attention to. Bonuses, gifts, enticements. Little offerings that encourage people to sign up and make an account. While these can differ in shape from offer to offer, the overarching theme is free play. One way or another, these offers will take some of the risk out of your initial foray into casino gaming.

Deposit matching is a pretty common option. You’ll put money in. The casino will partially—or in certain cases, completely—match your money with credit. So if you put in $100, your account balance might read $200. Sometimes the matches will be tiered based on the size of your deposit. The casino will encourage larger initial deposits by completely matching them up to a certain dollar figure.

Simpler enticements involve free bets or free spins, which are exactly what they sound like. Some sports betting apps offer bet do-overs. Basically, if you wager a certain amount and lose your first time out, you can try again without depositing more money.

The obvious motivation on the part of the casino is to get people to come in and play as much as possible. The player’s motivation should be to get the best deal they can. You want that deal to align with your intentions, though. 

If you don’t want to deposit $200 your first time playing, any offer that would require you to do so will be a bad fit. Be sensible. Pick enticements that are compatible with the type of player you intend to be.

These deals can save you real money. They let you play longer with your budget. You get more chances to win. The casino hopes you’ll stay and keep playing. They make these offers very visible on their websites. Most put them right on the home page. Some even use pop-up ads. 

The biggest matches can be worth hundreds of dollars. Each casino tries to beat the others with better offers. This competition helps players get better deals.

Free Money?

Not exactly. Your new player incentives are great, but they have strings attached. You can’t just take a $200 deposit from the casino and run. There will be betting requirements. For example, you might need to make twenty bets before you can withdraw your winnings.

Understand the conditions before choosing a new casino.

Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs reward players who keep coming back. Most online casinos have them. They work on a points system. You earn points every time you play. More bets mean more points. These points add up over time.

The casino tracks everything automatically. Your points appear in your account profile. You don’t need to do anything special to earn them. Just play as you normally would.

Different games may award points at different rates. Slots usually give the most points per dollar wagered. Table games often give fewer points. This is because table games have better odds for players.

Can you play the field?

You definitely don’t need to be monogamous with your online casino play. In the world of virtual consumerism, options are always just a few clicks away. You’ll even find some benefits to playing the field.

For one thing, it may expose you to more games. While there will be TONS of overlap, every once in a while, you will stumble upon a new slot or something to that effect.

You’ll also receive a higher volume of new player incentives, which are often generous.

Like many people in their late twenties learn, however, eventually there comes a time to settle down.

New player incentives are sexy and exciting, but you can’t forget that most good casinos also reward loyalty. You won’t develop any momentum with your bonuses and promotions if you are constantly jumping ship.

Also, just logistically speaking, it can get pretty tedious hopping from casino to casino. You’ll need to complete the verification process each time. Hook your bank account up. Make your initial deposit.

While no one would equate these steps to preparing for a marathon, they can become tedious—particularly when you are doing them at 5-10 different casinos.

Don’t get stuck at a casino you are unhappy with just because you’ve accrued some bonuses there, but also keep in mind that loyalty has value.