One of the biggest advantages to signing up as a new player at an online casino is the opportunity to pick up some great bonuses. These effectively let you play with the casino’s money for a limited period of time or up to a set amount, and casinos use them as an effective way of attracting new players and retaining the loyalty of their existing ones.
Here at online-casino-nz, we keep you right up to date with the best value bonuses, free spin offers and other promotions being offered to New Zealand players, so you can always be sure that you’re getting not only the latest casino bonus information, but also the very best deals.
The Welcome Bonuses at our recommended sites offer new players some outstanding value to give their bankrolls a real boost. They can take one of several forms:
When you receive an online casino bonus, it comes with wagering requirements attached (these are also often referred to as the playthrough). This is the amount of money you need to wager before you can cash out either any of the winnings you made or any of the free cash itself. The playthrough is usually expressed as a multiple and will apply to either the amount you deposited, or the deposit amount + bonus amount.
As an example, if you sign up and receive 100% match on a deposit of $100, your bankroll now stands at $200. If this comes with a 30x playthrough, in order to ‘clear the bonus’ (i.e., to be able to cash out any winnings made from it), you would need to wager either $3000 ($100 x 30) if the playthrough only applies to your deposit, or $6000 ($200 x 30) if it applies to both the deposit + the bonus received.
Assessing the overall value of a signup offer therefore requires that you look at not only the size of the wagering requirement, but also whether it applies only to your deposit, or to your deposits and any free cash amount received as well.
A third element to consider when assessing whether a Welcome Bonus is right for you is to look at the different contribution each game makes to helping you meet the playthrough requirements.
For instance, at most of our recommended casinos, pokies make a 100% contribution towards helping you to clear the bonus and meet the playthrough i.e., every dollar wagered counts as a full dollar towards the total sum you’re required to wager.
However, not all games contribute at this rate. Table games, like blackjack, craps and roulette, for instance, always make a contribution to the playthrough at less than 1:1 – in some cases, significantly less. This means that for regular players of these and other games, this needs to be factored in when deciding on which signup offer to choose.
In order to clear a bonus as quickly as possible, it’s important to understand the conditions before you register. In this way, you can match the amount you initially deposit, the games you play and how you wager to what is needed to meet the wagering requirements.
For instance, the amount players need to deposit when they open an account in order to claim the full bonus can vary quite significantly, especially when there are matches on multiple deposits. Therefore, you should opt for a sign up offer where claiming the full amount won’t be beyond your reach. Similarly, when matches are offered on multiple deposits, there can be a time limit applied as to how long you have to make them all. You should therefore be certain beforehand that you can meet this. Finally, check the contributions all games make to the playthrough. At our recommended sites, pokies will always be 100%, but other games can be much lower, so if you like to play these regularly, it will impact on how quickly you can cash out.
Signup bonuses (and other rewards) will generally either be cashable or non-cashable.
With a cashable bonus, once you meet the wagering requirements, you can withdraw not only the money you deposited, but also the free cash you were awarded as part of your sign up. In the example above, after meeting the playthrough, you would be able to withdraw the full $200 (i.e., both your own money and the bonus amount).
A non-cashable bonus, however, would mean even after you’ve met the wagering requirements, you would only be able to withdraw the $100 you deposited, not any of the free amount, which would stay in your bonus account (although you could, in most cases, continue to play with it).
It’s also useful to note that at some online casinos, there is a limit attached to how much you can withdraw from winnings made with wagers using bonus money.
In order to get the full value from any bonus, it needs to fit your playing choices and your wagering style. For instance, for someone who only plays every now and then, or who doesn’t want to invest a huge amount into their casino account, a single deposit match is probably the best option. On the other hand, if you play a lot and want to have good-sized bankroll behind you, then you’re ideally placed to take advantage of a sign up offer that gives you matches on several deposits, as the amount required to claim the full bonus will be greater.
As part of a sign up deal, some sites give new players a no deposit bonus. This means you receive a set number of free spins, or a cash amount and a limited time to play, just for registering for an account, without being required to make any deposit. Your winnings will normally be capped, but they will be credited to you and once you make your first deposit, you can keep playing with any cash you win. In some cases, winnings from a no deposit bonus will also be cashable once you meet the playthrough.
At the mobile casinos we recommend, new players are entitled to the same sign up offers that are available when playing on a laptop or PC, while some have special Welcome Bonuses and other promotions that are only available to mobile players.
A popular way for casinos to reward regular players is to offer re-load bonuses. The way that these generally work is that once you make one deposit into your account in a calendar month, subsequent deposits, or deposits made on specified days, are rewarded by being matched, usually in the region of 10% but sometimes more.
Often our casinos feature a promotion where if you recommend a friend to join, and they then sign up and make a first deposit, you get a reward, which is usually free spins or a cash prize and can be worth up to $50 at some sites.
This is another type of no deposit bonus awarded to new players as part of a signup offer, and sometimes require casino bonus codes to be activated. You’re given either a number of free spins or credits, and a limited time in which to use them, and these are available once you register but before you need to make your first deposit. In most cases, your winnings go into your account and you can continue to play with them once you fund your real money account.
New Zealand online casinos are becoming more innovative in the sign up offers they provide to new players, and so a growing number of Welcome Bonuses consist of a mixture of deposit matches + free spins. Often, the free spins come in blocks – the first part as a no deposit bonus when you register for a new account, followed by the remainder once you’ve funded your account (sometimes these can be split into two or more instalments). In most instances, the free spins that you’re awarded will be for a specific pokie, with winnings credited to your account.
In order to reward their loyalty, high rollers and VIP players often get bonuses above those regular players receive. These usually take the form of loyalty points, which can then be exchanged for free spins and casino credits, as well as other benefits like faster withdrawal times and personalised customer care.
There are plenty of great online casino bonuses out there if you know where to look and what’s right for you. Think about the games you play, how you like to wager and what sort of investment you want to make before you sign up to play at a new site, as understanding these important factors will help you make sure that you choose the casino bonus that’s right for you.
