How to Avoid Making Casino Bonus Mistakes – A guide for new players!

In this guide, we give you something a little out-of-the-ordinary. The topic of bonus mistakes comes up often. Therefore, this news release aims to help you avoid bonus mistakes.

I mean, what a topic this has become in online casinos. Bonuses are a crucial selling point for many online gambling platforms. However, there are two deposit types that I have seen quite a few new players make mistakes. I say new players because most experienced gamblers understand the inner workings of bonus T&Cs.

With that being said, I’ve watched a self-proclaimed slot expert Youtuber show how a casino only paid him a partial amount of the bonus money he’d converted to cash. Being the inquisitive guru I am, I checked the T&Cs of the casino he was trashing.

I discovered that the YouTube ‘expert’ clearly hadn’t read the bonus rules, particularly the maximum bonus money to real money cashout allowed. It means his entire video rant was a ‘Fugazi’ (fake for those who have not watched Donnie Brasco).

This guy, who I won’t mention, has over 200k followers. His video doesn’t look good for the online casino scene. It also misleads new players. As such, I am here to set the record straight.

No Deposit Bonuses & Welcome Bonuses Create the Most Bonus Mistakes

When it comes to no deposit and welcome bonus offers, this is usually where the lion’s share of bonus mistakes occur. Why are these two bonus deals in particular?

It is mainly because these offers are for new players. I am not talking about experienced players who have played many bonuses. Usually, these players simply switch to a new casino and already understand how these offers work. My target audience for this news piece is newbies to online gambling entertainment who have never claimed or only claimed a few casino bonuses.

Setting the record straight: Below, I will walk you through why bonus mistakes happen and how to avoid them. You can also find this information on our instant sign up bonus no deposit guide.

The Most Common Bonus Mistakes

There is a list of common mistakes, and I will go through each section by section below. However, before I get into the nitty-gritty of each one, there is one mistake that is not part of the bonus rules or in the T&Cs. Can you guess what it is?

Not Reading the Bonus T&Cs is the number one bonus mistake made!

Yes! Not reading the bonus rules in the casino’s T&Cs is the number one mistake. I know, boring, right? Who wants to read walls of text dampening the excitement of a bonus?

Yet, believe it or not, reading them will make your bonus experience more enjoyable. And trust me, the more you read them, the quicker you’ll know where to find the needed information.

Why do I say this? I have over three decades experience of playing at online casinos, sports betting, and poker sites. And I’ve worked in the iGaming industry for 14+ years. 99.9% of complaints about a casino not honouring a bonus to real money conversion are because the player didn’t read the T&Cs.

How to Avoid Bonus Mistakes by Understanding the T&Cs

Below I have put into bullet points the most common bonus mistakes made and how they occur. Using these points, you can prepare yourself for your next bonus by understanding how to avoid each scenario so you can convert your bonus into real money hassle-free.

Maximum Bonus Bets

Quite a few players new to online casino bonuses think that once they have their bonus, they are free to bet as much as they like per betting round. However, almost all online casinos have a maximum bet limit as a condition when using bonus money bets.

The most common maximum is €/$ 5.00 ‘or’ ₹ 400 ‘or’ R 100 per bet. In tandem with this, most casinos will also place a percentage on the maximum you can bet.

For example, the T&C could say, ‘Max bets should be no more than 10% of the bonus amount’. Therefore, if you deposit €/$ 20.00, the maximum is €/$ 2.00 per bet using bonus money. This is despite the T&Cs also stating the maximum is €/$ 5.00 per bet.

If you bet over these amounts, then there are two scenarios. Your bonus becomes invalid, or the additional money you bet with does not count towards wagering if you lose.

Even worse than this, if you lose the overweighted bet, you just wasted bonus money that could have counted towards the wagering requirement. The morale of the story here is to always check the bonus terms and find the maximum bet limit before you begin using your bonus.

Here is the worst part: Casinos only check your bonus money to real money conversion after you played through the bonus. If you bet over the maximum limit, this is when you will receive that unpleasant message from the casino saying you broke the bonus T&Cs!

Playing Games Excluded From or with 0x Contribution Towards Wagering

Every casino bonus highlights that you can play video slots. Yet, it is not always clear that casinos have a list of online slots excluded from bonus bets, or that bets on these games contribute 0x wagering.

Most casinos will return an error message when you try to place bonus bets on these games, while many don’t. There are two scenarios that can happen here.

1. You simply waste bets on these games and subsequently any wins that hit your bonus balance will not count towards wagering when you bet that portion of your bonus later. All-in-all, it is a major waste of time and money.

1. The casino will render your bonus invalid when it comes to claiming your bonus money to bet conversion.

How do you get around making this mistake? Read the bonus T&Cs and find ‘game weights’ and look for section that mention a list of games excluded from bonus bets or that count as 0x towards wagering. In the accompany box, you will see what the game look like.

Guaranteeing a Win is Bonus Abuse

If an online casino includes table games in the game weights, then you need to make sure you bets are as random as possible, and never guarantee a win. In fact, most casino also have the same rule for real money gaming because guaranteeing a win also collects loyalty points.

Even most land-based casinos will not allow you to place bets that guarantee a win. Hopefully I haven’t lost already. The buzz phrase ‘guaranteed win is interesting isn’t it’. I’ll explain further below.

• Baccarat: You cannot bet on the ‘Player’ and ‘Banker’ at the same time. Although the ‘Tie’ bet means you are not always guaranteed a win, casino bonuses prohibit you from betting on both these bets at the same time. Just make this scenario more clear, you can bet on ‘Player’ and ‘Tie Bet’ OR ‘Banker’ and ‘Tie Bet’. But you cannot combine all three in a single betting round or bet on ‘Player’ and ‘Banker’.

• Roulette Outside Bets: You cannot bet on Red and Black at the same time. The same applies to ‘Odd and Even’ or ‘High and Low’ outside bets. You can bet on one of each, but you cannot bet on both combinations of the same bet type. This also applies to column and dozen bets.

• Roulette Inside Bets: The rule of thumb (although some casinos don’t make this clear) is that you cannot cover more than 70% of the number on the roulette table. This applies to straight-up bets, corner bets, or any other inside bet. If any combination of these bets does cover more than 70% of the numbers, your bonus will become invalid.

• • On European Roulette (Single Zero) that means covering a maximum of 25 numbers.
• • On American Roulette (Double Zero), you should make sure inside bets do not cover more than 26 numbers.

• Sic Bo: The same 70% rules that applies to roulette also applies to Sic Bo.

• Game Shows: Again, try not to cover more than 70% of bets available on game shows. Some casino T&Cs will specifically mention that you can bet a max of 2 or 3 bets available on certain game show titles.

Same again! You will only find out your plan to guarantee a win in order to play through the wagering requirement didn’t work when comes to claiming your bonus to real money conversion. This is when the casino will check that you played according to the bonus T&Cs.

Forgetting to Check the Default Spin Bet

Not checking the default spins bet is a mistake I hear many online casino players make. Even experienced players can end up pressing the spin button as soon as they open a casino game to play with bonus money or real money.

To give you an idea, even though I have already mentioned that I have played online poker, sports betting, and casino sites for over three decades,  I still make this mistake, and it’s annoying! Even more so when I have just a €/$ 5.00 no deposit bonus, and I open a Pragmatic Play online slot, which defaults at €/$ 2.00, and lose 40% of that bonus on my first spin!

Always look out for the default spin bet as soon as you open the slot game. Depending on the software provider, you will see different bet amounts, for example, €/$ 0.50, others €/$ 1.00, and of course, Pragmatic Play starts at €/$ 2.00.

This is the default spin bet. It is up to you to change this before you spin.

The problem is we don’t always remember to check and quickly press spin. Suddenly, with a default spin bet of €/$ 2.00, your €/$ 50.00 bonus is worth €/$ 40.00 before you notice you forgot to change the spin bet after five spins. Worst still, when I’ve claimed no deposit bonus free spins and won a small €/$ 5.00 bonus balance, after two spins, an error message shows ‘Insufficient Funds’, resulting in me cursing at myself because I didn’t check the spin bet.

For more information on how to avoid this scenario, take a look at our ‘default spin bet‘ guide.

Making a Withdrawal While Your Bonus is Active

This is one of the more obvious mistakes and is one some players new to online casino bonuses do make. If you have an active bonus and make a cash or crypto withdrawal, the casino will cancel the bonus. Sometimes there are exceptions to this rule. For example, you already had a real money balance and made a new deposit to claim a bonus. As long as you do not cash out over the amount of your original balance before depositing to claim the bonus deal, your bonus should remain active.

Don’t want to read the T&Cs? Take a look at the bonus sections on some of the Casinoplusbonus casino reviews. We break down the bonus T&Cs so you know exactly what to expect when playing a bonus. I would like to add that you should always double check the information in our review is current by comparing them with the casino’s T&Cs.

Occasionally, some of the casinos change their bonus T&Cs and they don’t notify us, so the bonus info in the review may not be up to date.

Mastering Casino Bonuses for Success

By understanding the common mistakes, you can confidently navigate casino bonuses. Remember always to read the T&Cs to avoid pitfalls.

With a clear grasp of bonus terms, you’ll maximize your gains and enjoy a smoother gaming experience. Stay informed and play smart for the best results.

For the full scope of the bonus deals we review and a variety of useful online casino guides, plus some of the latest online gambling industry news relevant to the countries we cover, please visit the Casinoplusbonus EN homepage.