Online casino bonuses all come with important terms and conditions

There are many different ways for a business to try to stand out from its rivals, but the most successful are usually related to quality or price. There are some business sectors such as the fashion industry where you can find examples of successful marketing at both ends of the quality and price range, whereas others may be quite simply a question of the lowest price. The rapid growth of the cut price supermarket chains is a typical example of a marketing strategy based on providing satisfactory quality at the cheapest possible price, which in turn has forced some of their rivals to respond in kind. Others have been able to maintain market share by prioritising the quality aspect of their products, and there is clearly room for both strategies in that sector. The online casino business sector however does not really have that sort of choice, particularly when it comes to pricing. Whilst it is obviously true that online casinos can offer their customers the opportunity to play casino games for very much lower stakes than a real casino or indeed a bingo club, there is very little they can do to stand out from other online casinos purely on price. That is why almost every online casino offers some form of online casino bonus, usually targeted solely at potential new casino games players to entice them to register and play on their site. Unfortunately the terms and conditions associated with some of these online casino bonus offers have led to quite serious misunderstandings for some new online casino customers, which we will attempt to address later in this article. First we here at onlinecasino.ie would like to suggest what we believe is undoubtedly the best way for an online casino operator to compete with their online rivals, and that is by offering their customers the highest quality casino games they can get their hands on. Surely the online casino sector is one of those areas where the quality of the casino games far outweighs any cost considerations when it comes to choosing a favourite site. Having made our point we will now get down from the soapbox and return to the subject of online casino bonus deals. As we have already said most of the online casinos which are accessible here in Ireland offer some sort of online casino bonus to attract new customers, and strangely they are all very similar to each other. Most of these online casino bonus offers take the form of a promise to match the customer’s first deposit with a 100% bonus, thereby doubling the available stake money in their account. Many online casinos also offer a similar but reduced bonus on the second and even third deposits, but all these deals come with a series of important terms and conditions. When an online sports gambling site offers a bonus it is usually a straight forward offer of a free bet, or some form of cash back, both of which are easy to understand and rarely lead to any problems. Unfortunately the terms and conditions associated with the type of online casino bonus deals we have described do sometimes lead to considerable problems for some new casino games players. The main area of concern lies in the interpretation of what is called the play through requirement necessary to qualify for the bonus, and it is important that anyone who is tempted to accept one of these online casino bonus offers fully understands what this means.

The play through requirement is usually expressed as a multiple of the sum of the deposit plus the bonus, and defines how much must be wagered on playing casino games before any potential winnings can be withdrawn from the account. This multiple is usually at least a factor of twenty, and for those of you who still find such mathematical jargon difficult to understand, it would mean that a 25 euros deposit which attracts a further 25 euros as a bonus would require the player to gamble at least 1000 euros on playing casino games to satisfy the play through condition. There may also be a time limit set on completing the play through conditions, and in some cases there may even be specific casino games which do not count fully towards the required sum. Clearly there is a very good reason why the online casino operators need to insist on these terms and conditions because they are offering their customers the opportunity to gamble with their money and therefore want them to stay on the site for as long as possible, and of course also return to it as often as possible. For some potential new players this sort of online casino bonus is a very good deal and does allow them to play and potentially win using the casino operator’s money, but they also need the type of budget which allows them to satisfy the play through requirements without causing them any financial worries. It is important to remember that these online casino bonus offers are totally voluntary, and refusing to accept them will in no way affect your future relationship with the online casino.

We have already expressed our doubts as to how effective this type of online casino bonus is in attracting new customers, particularly as almost every other online casino is offering a similar deal. There are however a couple of the newer online casinos to become available in Ireland which have chosen not to use this type of incentive. The Free Spins casino for example does not offer a bonus of any kind, preferring as the name suggests to offer new customers the chance to play selected slots free of charge for a period. The other online casino, again with an appropriate name is the No Bonus casino. In this case the operators have chosen to offer a cash back promise to any of their casino games players who suffer a run of bad luck and lose all of their deposit in the day they pay it in. If you are going to accept a bonus, please make sure you understand what is required.