Live Casinos’ Bonuses
The Internet gambling market is heavily packed with vendors offering different gaming products. To run a successful virtual casino, operators have embraced the latest technologies. Undoubtedly, the latest great gaming product is live dealer casinos. High-profile virtual casinos are offering live dealer games that provide engaging and authentic casino experience.
Nowadays, it is not hard to find a web-based casino that has live dealer games in its portfolio. So, gambling operators are once again facing the problem to attract new players and retain casino patrons. To beat the competition, web-based casinos started to offer mouth-watering bonuses to players.
Casino enthusiasts who are in search of enthralling gaming experience can join the live dealer tables and receive an incentive as gratitude for choosing a particular gambling site. However, casinos are business entities, and as such their goal is to earn money. In that sense, players should not expect to receive free money.
- ✓ Types of Bonuses
- ✓ Welcome Bonus
- ✓ No Deposit Bonuses
- ✓ Sticky Bonuses
- ✓ Cashback Bonuses
- ✓ Reload Bonuses
- ✓ Comp Points Schemes
- ✓ Key Bonus Terms Notions
- ✓ Match Percentage
- ✓ Wagering Requirements
- ✓ Game Contribution Percentage
- ✓ Bonus vs Deposit Balance
- ✓ Minimum Deposit
- ✓ Withdrawal Limits
- ✓ Maximum Cashout
- ✓ Conclusion
All live dealer casino bonuses come with certain conditions and it is a must to read them before you decide to claim any incentives. Typically, the bonus terms and conditions can be found at the bottom of the casino website. At first glance, these are overwhelming, especially if you are at the very beginning of your gaming career. This article is somewhat a breakdown of the bonus terms and conditions that will help you understand them.
Types of Bonuses
Online live dealer casinos offer several appealing bonuses for newcomers and existing players. There are different types of bonuses, depending on what you get – cash to play with, free spins, comp points that can be converted into cash or a cashback. These incentives are specially designed to treat players for their trust in a particular web-based casino.
There is hardly any live dealer casino that does not shower its players with bonuses and promotions. In most cases, finding these incentives is a piece of cake as operators tend to put them at the forefront of their sites. Bonuses worth their salt will provide extra value to your gameplay.
Welcome Bonus
A welcome bonus is the first incentive that new registrants can receive from the casino. It is also often referred to as a new player bonus, a first deposit bonus, a sign-up bonus, or an opening bonus. To qualify for this bonus, live dealer casino fans should make their first deposit. The gambling operator will offer to pay a certain percentage on top of the players’ initial investment.
The welcome bonus varies between operators, but a common feature is that all live dealer casinos put a cap on the maximum amount they will pay as bonus funds. In other words, if a casino offers a 100% match up to £500, you will not receive more than £500 even if you deposit more.
Before you decide to qualify for this bonus, make sure you completely understand the terms that are tied to it. It is worth mentioning that players can receive such a bonus only once upon registration.
No Deposit Bonuses
No deposit bonuses are highly-praised by players who would like to test the waters without risking a single penny from their money. Such incentives are quite handy for live dealer casinos, as live games do not offer demo versions. This means that enthusiasts are allowed to play only with real money.
As the name suggests, such bonuses do not require a deposit. The casino will load a small amount of money to the players’ gaming accounts. Winnings associated with this incentive are cashable, but live dealer casinos usually put a limit on the amount that one can withdraw. This cap protects the casino from suffering significant losses.
Sticky Bonuses
Unlike traditional cashable promotions, sticky bonuses are not cashable. They can be used only for wagering purposes. At first glance, such bonuses make no sense, but once you understand the idea behind them, you will change your opinion on the matter.
Sticky bonuses are used to generate winnings that you can cash out later. Of course, players will be required to meet certain requirements before being able to pull out the profits tied to this bonus. Simply put, such bonuses are like borrowing money from the casino to play.
Cashback Bonuses
Cashback bonuses allow players to get back a certain percentage of their net losses within a specified timeframe. There is one main condition to qualify for this bonus, and that is to have a net loss over this period.
The bonus is usually given in the form of cash and it is free of wagering requirements. In some cases, players can receive their cashback bonus in the form of credits. In that way, live dealer casino operators make sure that players will come back to play with them.
Reload Bonuses
Reload bonuses are designed to retain existing players at a specific live dealer casino. Similar to the welcome bonuses, reload promotions pay a percentage of the deposited funds as bonus money. The key difference between the two promotions is that the welcome bonus is given only once.
Some reload bonuses come as part of the welcome bonus. New registrants who already made their initial deposit and claimed a welcome bonus, will be able to qualify for reload promotions and receive a bonus for each new deposit made with a particular gambling operator over a specific timeframe. Some vendors offer up to five reload bonuses when these are part of the welcome package.
In some cases, reload bonuses are offered to the casinos’ patrons on a weekly, or monthly basis. The promotion might include a flat amount or percentage amount. It is an unwritten rule that the more you deposit, the more bonus funds you receive. However, reload bonus funds are capped at a certain amount designated by the operator.
Before qualifying for reload bonuses check all details related to them, as in some cases these are tied to a specific payment method. This means that only players who reload their gaming account through the specified method will receive the reward.
Comp Points Schemes
Many respectable live dealer casinos have VIP programs under their belts. Such loyalty schemes usually feature different tiers that come with various privileges and rewards. Needless to say, beginners will find themselves at the bottom tier. If you are a regular player who is betting a good-enough amount of money, you have already paved your way to the upper tiers.
VIP schemes are the casinos’ way to say “thank you for spending your money with us”. These programs come with their benefits that vary between casinos. VIP live dealer players can expect to get extra chips for playing. It is worth to mention that some casinos offer cashback bonus only to their VIP players.
Loyalty schemes reward one point for every bet that amounts at a certain sum designated by the casino. In a nutshell, the more you deposit and wager, the more comp points you receive. Such VIP programs are worth the attention as loyalty points usually do not have rollover requirements tied to them. VIP live dealer fans will enjoy special care by personal betting managers, VIP customer support, higher withdrawal, and betting limits.
Key Bonus Terms Notions
Each live dealer casino that aims at engaging more players and keeping them on their toes offer a plethora of bonuses and ongoing promotions. Live dealer casinos’ incentives are tied to certain terms and conditions that prevent the virtual gambling website from throwing money around for nothing.
By handing bonuses, live dealer casinos are trying to make sure that their players will come back for more rounds at their tables. But what lies beneath is the fact that not all bonuses are as generous as they seem to be.
Newbies might find themselves bedazzled by the lucrative promotions that casinos offer, but we are here to help you step on the ground. We understand that casinos’ terms and conditions might look quite annoying and complex. To make your life easier, we will provide you with a short and comprehensive explanation of basic notions.
Match Percentage
A match percentage is a percentage that casinos pay on top of your deposit. The match percentage fluctuates from 50% to over 200%. Each casino decides what match percentage to surprise its fans with.
To make it clearer, we will give the following example – a casino offers a 50% match deposit bonus, and a player deposits £50. Then the casino will pay 50% out of £50, which equals to £25. In that way, the player will have a total of £75 to play with.
Wagering Requirements
If you activate a bonus, you should be well-aware of the fact that your winnings will be “locked” in your account. To withdraw them, players will need to comply with the so-called wagering requirements that are attached to almost every casino bonus. These are also often referred to as “playthrough requirements” or “rollover requirements”.
Wagering requirements (WR) represent the number of times that players need to play through a bonus amount (in some cases the deposit is also included). Moreover, live dealer casino enthusiasts should be informed that they will need to meet the wagering requirements within a certain timeframe.
For example, if you deposit £200 from your own money and the casino offers a 100% match bonus, it means that you will receive £200 extra as bonus funds. Following the casino’s terms, you need to comply with a 30x playthrough, which means that you need to wager 30 x (£200 bonus received + £200 deposited) = £12,000. In other words, you need to wager £12,000 to withdraw the £200 bonus you received.
Any winnings made while you are trying to meet the playthrough requirements will be stored in your bonus balance until you clear the WR. Providing that you cannot clear the rollover requirements on time, your winnings will be considered void.
Game Contribution Percentage
Contribution to wagering requirements is yet another important aspect that will help you clear the wagering requirements in the fastest possible way. Casino games have different weightings towards the playthrough. Some games contribute 100% to the wagering requirements, while others have a lower percentage of contribution. It is also possible that some games have 0% contribution towards clearing the wagering requirements.
If you have an active bonus and you prefer to play games with a lower contribution to the wagering requirements, you will need to wager more money. For example, if you decide to play Live French Roulette that contributes only 8% to the wagering requirement, you will clear only £8 per every £100 you wager. This means that your wagering requirement will increase by 100 (the full contribution percentage) ÷ 8 (the contribution percentage of the game) = 12.5x
Players should be aware of the fact that live dealer games have a very low contribution percentage to meeting wagering requirements. So, if you prefer playing live dealer games, you should look for casinos that offer favourable promotions for such games.
Bonus vs Deposit Balance
When you start playing in a live dealer casino, you will be required to load your account with some cash. The amount of money you deposit will appear in your deposit balance. If you activate a bonus, the casino will bolster your deposit with extra cash to play with. However, your initial deposit together with the bonus funds will be added to your bonus balance.
The main difference between the two balances is that players cannot cash out money from their bonus balance before clearing the playthrough. When you meet the betting requirements, the money from the bonus balance will be converted to real money and credited to your cash balance.
Minimum Deposit
The minimum deposit is exactly what its name suggests – the minimum amount of money that players should deposit to start playing live dealer games. It is important to note that casinos’ minimum deposits do not always coincide with the minimum qualifying amount for a bonus.
Withdrawal Limits
There is hardly any live dealer casino that does not feature withdrawal limits. They represent a cap on the amount of money you can pull out in a single transaction. The limits can be applied on daily, weekly, or monthly transactions. If the amount of money you want to withdraw from your gaming account is higher than the casino’s limits, you can collect your winnings in increments.
It is important to mention that some payment methods have even tighter withdrawal limits than the ones applied by the casino. Even though there is no way to avoid these limits, players can select a live dealer casino that offers broader withdrawal limits.
Maximum Cashout
Many people often mix up the meaning of a withdrawal limit and maximum cashout. It is important to explain that these two notions are not synonyms. Maximum cashout is used to present the maximum amount of money one can withdraw and it applies to winnings associated with bonuses. The maximum cashout limit is usually based on your deposit.
For example, if you deposit £20 and the casino states that there is a 10x maximum cashout limit, you will be able to withdraw £20 x 10 = £200. Any winnings above the maximum cashout will be forfeited by the casino.
It is important to note that many live dealer casino operators applied a set cap on the maximum cashout. For example, if you won £100 from free spins but the casino’s cap is £50, you will be able to withdraw no more than £50.
Conclusion
There is hardly any person that would refuse to receive some free money and get the chance to double, or even triple it. That is how live dealer casino bonuses look like in the eyes of casino newbies. But gambling operators are not out there to donate money, but rather to make money.
Quite unsurprisingly, promotions are designed to bring new players to a particular live dealer casino and retain casino patrons. In that way, operators make sure that their users will not bid farewell to their gambling websites once the welcome bonus is over. However, knowledge is power, so players should stick to that universal rule and carefully examine the terms and conditions before setting up an account with any live dealer casino.