First deposit welcome bonus Guide

Types of Online Casino Welcome Bonuses

Let’s start off with the different types of online casino welcome bonuses. There are quite a few of them and they all work a little bit different from one another. For this reason, we will explain in detail how each type of online casino welcome bonus works.

Deposit Bonus

Almost every online casino or sportsbook gives new players a welcome bonus in the form of a first deposit bonus. A deposit bonus does exactly what it says on the tin: it is a bonus on top of your original first deposit. In most cases, this is a 100% deposit bonus, also called match bonus. In other cases, you receive a different percentage, maybe 50% in combination with free spins, or a deposit bonus on your first few deposits.

An example of a typical casino deposit bonus is 100% up to NZ$250. This means that if you deposit NZ$100, you will start with NZ$200 on your casino account. If you decide to deposit NZ$500, you will start with NZ$750 as casino balance since NZ$250 is the maximum amount of bonus money you can receive with this welcome bonus. Mind there might be a minimum deposit in place to claim this online casino bonus.

Free Spins

Some casinos don’t give deposit bonuses to new players but free spins instead or a combination of a deposit bonus and free spins. Free spins are free rounds of gameplay on slots. A casino can give an x amount of free spins usable on all slots or certain slots only. The free spins are always of a certain value, NZ$0,10 or NZ$0,20 for instance. On rare occasions, the value of the free spins increases if the player deposits a higher initial amount of money. Most times these free spins are limited to only one or a few slot games.

Cashback Bonus

Although it is not really common, some online casinos and sportsbooks give a (permanent) cashback bonus as a welcome bonus. At these casinos you will receive a certain percentage of your net losses or total wagers back weekly in the form of either cash or bonus money.

If a casino offers a 10% on cashback bonuses for example, and you deposit and lose NZ$100, you will receive NZ$10 back the next week in the form of a cashback bonus. This might look like a bad bonus at first glance, but over the long term these cashback bonuses is actually quite good and can be even better than a regular deposit bonus or free spins.

No Deposit Bonus

The no deposit bonus is the rarest type of casino welcome bonus. With this type of welcome bonus, you don’t even need to deposit any of your own money to receive free bonus money from the casino to play with on your favorite online casino games. Usually no deposit bonuses are quite low, like NZ$5 to NZ$25, and players still need to make at least a single deposit to be able to cash out any winnings made with the no deposit bonus. Most casino sites do not have these casino bonus offers.

What are Bonus Wagering Requirements?

If you get a casino bonus in an online casino, you can rarely withdraw it to your bank account or e-wallet immediately. First you have to wager a certain amount of money before the casino releases the bonus and it becomes withdrawable. The wagering requirements are the number of times you have to wager your received bonus money to clear the bonus credit. Wagering requirements are also called 'playthrough' or just 'wager'. Before accepting any of the casino bonuses, always check the requirements.

Playing Through a Casino Welcome Bonus

Now that you know what wagering requirements are, it is time to discuss how to play through a casino deposit bonus. In most cases, you will receive a welcome bonus in the form of bonus money and your casino account will consist of both a bonus money and real money account balance. Sometimes you can cash out any amount from the real money account balance at any given moment, but at most online casinos and bookmakers even the money on this balance cannot be cashed out before you have met the wagering requirements of the welcome bonus.

By playing slots you play through a casino deposit bonus fairly easy. Each wager is counted for the playthrough of the bonus in full. Playing table games such as roulette and blackjack is a different story. Most online casinos have so-called wagering contribution schemes in place which dictate that wagers on table games and live dealer games only count for a certain percentage for the playthrough of a welcome bonus. Most of the time this is only about 10% to 20%.

For this reason, it’s best to avoid any type of casino game other than slots whilst playing through a casino bonus. Make sure to always read the fine print of a welcome bonus or casino bonus in general to find out what the wagering contributions of different games are and which games are excluded from bonus playthrough.

Online Casinos with the highest welcome bonus

Types of Casino Bonuses

All casino bonuses, including welcome bonuses, fall under one of these three categories: cashable bonuses, sticky bonuses, or post-wager bonuses. Below we will explain to you in detail what these bonus types actually mean and how they work.

Cashable Bonus

Most casino bonuses are cashable bonuses, also called deposit bonuses. When you have met the wagering requirements, the bonus money will be converted to real money which you can withdraw to your bank account or e-wallet if you’d like.

For example: an casino site gives players a 100% bonus with 20x wagering requirements. You deposit NZ$100 and receive NZ$100 in deposit bonus money. Now you must wager 20x NZ$100 or NZ$2000 to be able to withdraw any winnings. After you have wagered the NZ$2000 any bonus money left will convert into real money which is withdrawable. This can be limited to certain casino games.

The cashable bonus is the best type of casino bonus because you get to keep the most money statistically. The expected value or EV is the highest with this type of casino bonus.

Sticky Bonus

The sticky bonus is quite rare compared to the cashable bonus. Sticky bonuses are not that good compared to cashable bonuses. The reason for this is that you can never actually withdraw the casino bonus. You can play with the bonus money and everything you win with the bonus money turns into real money after you’ve met the wagering requirements (casino bonus terms). The casino bonus itself however, never turns into real money.

For example: an online casino gives players a 100% bonus with 20x wagering requirements. You deposit NZ$100, receive NZ$100 in online casino bonus money, and have to wager NZ$2000. So far everything looks similar to the cashable bonus. However, let’s assume you’ve met the wagering requirements of the bonus and you have NZ$300 left in your account. NZ$200 of your casino balance is cash and NZ$100 stays with the casino.

You will never be able to cash out the bonus money, hence the name sticky. The expected value or EV of a sticky bonus is always lower than that of a cashable bonus. Often NZ online casinos offer these bonuses with a higher minimum deposit.

Post-wager Bonus

The post-wager bonus is a bit of a weird type of casino bonus, but nonetheless, some casino bonuses are classified as post-wager. With this type of casino bonus, you must first meet the wagering requirement before receiving the bonus. Once you receive the bonus, the bonus is instantly withdrawable, though.

For example: an online casino gives players a 100% deposit post-wager bonus with 20x wagering requirements. You deposit NZ$100 and don’t receive any bonus money at all just yet. Once you’ve wagered NZ$2000 in total, the casino will add NZ$100 to your balance which you can instantly withdraw if you’d like. Not many online casinos offer this casino bonus.

How to Claim a Casino Welcome Bonus?

Start by comparing different online casinos and their welcome bonuses. Don’t only look at the height of the deposit bonuses, but also at the bonus requirements. Make sure the casino bonuses you are comparing are offered by legal online casinos. Once you’ve compared a few casino bonuses and found a bonus that suits you, sign up at that casino. After signing up at the casino, make your first deposit and make sure you enter the correct bonus code or tick the box that indicates that you want to receive a bonus. Some casinos offer deposit casino bonuses only by bonus codes, but most of them don't need a casino bonus code anymore.