How Have Online Casino Bonuses Evolved in the UK?

Ask any gambler and they will tell you that online bonuses are a key part of any game which they play. Bonuses are a great way for the casino to entice new customers by giving away free spins or even an increased jackpot. As more and more casinos have been founded, many of the bonuses have gotten better as the casinos try and compete against each other to win over new customers. It goes without saying that the more customers a casino has, the more profit that they will make which is why the bonuses are so crucial.

How Have Bonuses Evolved?

Casino bonuses started off being reasonably small with match bonuses, free spins and loyalty bonuses being the only offers that were really available. The industry started to grow though which meant that casinos felt the need to reward players with bonuses with more variety. Bonuses originally started out being only given out when a customer had deposited money and spent a certain amount or had played a certain number of spins. This has changed rapidly though. Today we see plenty of casinos offering no deposit spins. This essentially means that the casino sometimes lets a player try out the game for free. The purpose of this is to entice the customer in and make them want to deposit money soon after.

How Do Free Bonuses Work?

No deposit bonuses seem like a great idea from the outside, but what do they really mean for the player? Do they get a fair representation of the game when they play it without depositing any money? The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) is starting to become a little tough on free bonuses. The UKGC’s goal is to protect the players from any  misleading gambling sites. This includes bonuses which may seem too good to be true. They have banned casinos from using phrases such as “no deposit free spins” and “no deposit bonus spins” as they believe these can be misleading for the customer, because a lot of the time the player will need to play for a certain amount of time to collect their bonus. This was a result of the Gambling Act which was passed in 2005. Part of the Gambling Act included increased tax payments by the casino. A way which they got around this was to become wager free at times so they could increase their reputation. This was not a sustainable tactic though and it got shut down pretty quickly due to potential abuse. Make sure you read the offer entirely when the casino offers you a free spin bonus so you know exactly how to claim it. 

What Different Bonuses Are Available Today?

A lot of the time today, even with free bonuses, the customer must spend a certain amount in order to be able to make a withdrawal. Bonus money, or bonus cash, is free credit you can use to play casino games. Even though you don’t pay for the bonus money, you can still win real money when using it. Essentially, this gives you free money but it can only be spent on playing the game, however you will be able to withdraw any winnings.

A Welcome Bonus, which is often also known as sign up bonus. This is offered to new players by almost every casino. This is exactly what it says on the tin. You sign up to the casino and you can get a bonus as a reward. These bonuses are one time offers so are usually quite generous.

Then, of course, as we have already touched on, there are no deposit bonuses and free spin bonuses too. Sometimes with these bonuses you still do need to spend a certain amount of money to withdraw any winnings which can be seen as quite sly. However, the casino would always explain this before so it should not come as a surprise.

Cashback bonuses refund a percentage of a player’s losses in real cash. This is probably the bonus that is the least rewarding in comparison to the others. It is much more fun to have free spins or extra winnings.

There are often casino bonuses which are activated in different seasons. For instance, a Halloween Bonus may allow a player to have five free spins on a Halloween themed game. This could be similar around Christmas, Easter and other themed games.