Be Careful how you deposit when chasing Online Slots Bonuses

slots-bonusAs an online slots player, it’s always great to dream of netting that big $1k or $2k welcome bonus. After all, who wouldn’t love to have a couple thousand in free cash!? But is this the most-practical thing to do? Absolutely not because, as we’ll discuss below, there’s a lot more to consider before you go after a certain slots bonus.

What can you earn?

The key thing to consider before you make a deposit and chase an online slots bonus is what exactly you’re capable of earning. After all, these bonuses have wagering requirements and, sometimes, expiration dates too. The wagering requirements are especially important to think about since this determines whether you get the full bonus or zero dollars.

slots-clueFor example, a common wagering stipulation is 20 times the bonus plus deposit amount. And if you deposit $100 under the banner of a 100% match bonus up to $1,000, you’d have to wager $4,000 to get your bonus [20 x (100 + 100)]. However, if you were to deposit the full $1,000, you’d need to bet $40,000 to receive your reward. That’s a huge difference and one that’s not always realistic for slots players.

Consider the House Edge

One more thing worth mentioning in this discussion is the online slots house edge, which, on average, is around 5%. So you should consider this theoretical figure before deciding whether you can earn a slots bonus.

Using the $100 bonus, for example, where you’re wagering $4,000, the 5% house edge would cost the average player $200 before they get their welcome reward. So would you be prepared to make another deposit to get this bonus if you run out of money?

As for the $1,000 bonus, the theoretical loss rate amount would be $2,000 before one collected their free money. And this would REALLY give you something to consider.