A critical aspect of playing at online casinos often overlooked is how players manage their finances. With all the excitement of gaining access to thousands of games, it is easy to overlook the money side of gambling. The idea of this article is to direct you to our collection of guides that focus on helping you manage your casino finances.
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Table of Contents
Before you read this guide: Look at the table and contents above. Find the topics you feel are most important to you. If you are new to playing at online casinos, it is a lot of information to absorb. We suggest taking your time and reading each section and the associated article step-by step.
Why is Managing Your Casino Finances Important?
Whether you are a new player or you have years of experience playing at online casinos, it is important to set financial limits. Secondly, it is also essential to understand the cost involved with the amount of time you play or the amount of time you want to play.
Understanding both these concepts can help you:
- Have fun and not get stressed if you lose money
- Prepare yourself to lose money you can afford to lose
- Treat online gambling as a hobby and not a way to make money
- Avoid over-gambling and spending money you cannot afford to lose
- Plan the amount you can afford to dedicate towards gambling. For example, dividing your weekly casino budget into affordable bet sizes.
Casino Vs. Sports Betting Gambling
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Although this article focuses more on casino gambling, we thought it prudent to point out the differences between casino gaming and sports betting.
- Sports Betting: Generally involves placing a bet and then watching the sports live. Unless you are using in-play betting, you generally place a couple of bets, and the entertainment is provided via live sports broadcasts. In-play betting, where you can place bets while an event or sports game is in process, can encourage more continuous betting, but when compared to slots or table games, the number of bets is generally as not as consistent.
- Casino Betting: A constant flow of betting in each session. This is why controlling casino finances is so important. If you consider that there are 3,600 seconds in an hour, and let’s say the average spin on a slot is 2.5 seconds. That’s 1,440 spins per hour. Hence, it is essential to plan your casino finances to ensure you don’t burn through your bankroll. Games like blackjack, roulette, and live game shows can take around 30 seconds per hand, so you could potentially place 2 bets per minute or 120 bets per hour.
It is these betting patterns you need to think about when deciding how you are going to manage your casino finances. For this reason, our first section below begins with bankroll management and responsible gambling.
GUIDES TO MANAGING YOUR CASINO FINANCES
Below, we introduce you to a variety of concepts that help you confidently understand the various financial cogs that are all part of gambling online. You will find that we cover concepts such as casino bankruptcy, why you should avoid funding gambling using a credit card, how to deal with KYC checks, bankroll management, and responsible gambling.
Some of the guides we offer also give you insider tips gained from our many years of experience gambling online, too. For example, check out the section covering how to avoid the default bet trap.
Bankroll Management
Bankroll management helps you avoid over-gambling or spending your casino bankroll too quickly. A common mistake players new to online casino gaming make is that their deposits will last longer than they actually do. The reason for this is that most new players are not familiar with the concept of bet sizing.
For example, you deposit 10.00 and immediately set your spin bet to 0.50 per spin. That’s 20 spins. You might win 5 of those 20 spins, but those wins don’t always cover the spin bet. A more sensible way to play with a 10.00 chip balance is to divide it by 100, which gives you 0.10 per spin. Over time, you have a higher chance of landing big wins from 100 spins compared to 20 spins.
Using the simple mathematical equation just explained, you are using sensible and realistic bankroll management and bet sizing strategies that coincide with the amount of your budget.
Casinoplusbonus Bankroll & Bet Sizing Guide
Our bankroll management strategy walks you through various strategies to help you make your casino deposits last longer. The guide covers deposits and how to break them down into bet sizes.
Responsible Gambling Tools
The best way to manage your bankroll is to set up responsible gambling tools. Unfortunately, not all online casinos come with software built in to help you control how much you spend. In our opinion, they should, and we use this as part of our scoring system when we review online casinos.
Responsible gambling tools give you several options. You can set deposit, loss, wager, and/or session limits using daily, weekly, and/or monthly settings. One of the best tools of these four options is the deposit limit. You can set how much you can afford to gamble per week, and if you reach that limit, you cannot make further deposits. Of course, the loss, wager, and session limits also have their uses, as they prevent you from gambling after a losing streak or for long periods.
Other responsible gambling tools you will find at online casinos include self-exclusion and cooling off, which allows you to temporarily ban yourself from using real money. Plus, some online casinos feature a reality check tool. It is a pop-up that reminds you how long you have been gambling.
Casinoplusbonus Responsible Gambling Guide
Our responsible gambling guide takes you through the variety of tools offered to control how much you gamble. If you approve of setting restrictions on how much you can spend at your online casino, then this guide will help you.
Deposit Turnover
Most new online casino players are unaware of the deposit turnover rule. Also, even some experienced players may overlook this rule before signing up for an online casino. It is a rule that does not allow you to make free withdrawals after you have deposited your online casino. Instead, you have to place real money bets before your real money is withdrawable.
For example, if you deposit 10.00 units, and the deposit turnover is 3x, you have to bet 10.00 x 3 = 30.00 units in real money. Once you reach this point, you can withdraw your deposit free of charge. Some casinos apply a 1x turnover, and we have seen some apply 10x.
We always advise you to look for the casino and sportsbook deposit turnover prior to signing up. Otherwise, your deposit could end up locked into an unfair deposit turnover amount.
Casinoplusbonus Guide to Deposit Turnover Rules
Our useful deposit turnover guide helps you understand how this rule can affect your ability to make withdrawals. Once you understand the concept, you’ll know how to spot fair or unfair deposit turnover requirements or conditions.
Avoiding Credit Card Deposits
Although it is tempting, we advise never to fund your online casino account with a credit card. Scratch that. We advise you never to fund any gambling activities with a credit card. Gambling with borrowed money is an unstable strategy.
Let’s say you lose the money you borrowed. In effect, you have lost twice. You lose to the house edge, which every game gives the house an advantage. Plus, you lose more money from the interest you pay on the money lost. Even you do win and you continue gambling with the winnings. The interest on the credit card will soon catch up with the percentage won, while the house edge will eventually catch up with you due to probabilities and variations.
In short, only play with money you can afford to lose.
Casinoplusbonus Guide to Avoiding Credit Card Gambling
This guide lists the perils of gambling with credit card debt. Hopefully, just this section has given you an idea of why you should not use debt to gamble. However, if you need more reasons why to avoid credit card gambling, read our guide!
QUESTIONS ANSWERED ABOUT ONLINE CASINO FINANCES
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Once you have got to grips with how to manage your casino finances, there are a few other areas you need to understand about online casino gameplay. For example, KYC checks are important if you want to be able to withdraw from any gambling entertainment platform online. Also, the currency you choose to deposit with can help save you unnecessary exchange rate fees. Let’s jump in and take a look.
Key topics covered in this section are:
- The importance of passing KYC checks before you deposit
- Choosing whether to play in your domestic currency or another currency
- How to withdraw funds from a casino that closed
What are Online Casino KYC Checks?
KYC stands for ‘Know Your Customer. Casinos use these checks to varify you are who you say you are as well as to confirm your of a legal age to gamble. Yet, at some casinos, these checks can become troublesome.
When we carry out a casino review, we always search through sites like Trustpilot or other online casino review sites similar to Casinoplusbonus. Time and again, we see one player comment appear consistently. It is the dreaded KYC check. Many of these comments are about how a particular online gambling site will not approve some player’s KYC information.
We always advise that before you deposit large sums of money with online casinos, pass the KYC check first. The reason we say this is because online casinos will not allow you to withdraw until it has approved your KYC check. The alternative is to deposit, and find out the casino will not approve your KYC check, and your money gets stuck with no way to withdraw.
Casinoplusbonus Guide to KYC Checks
This guide covers everything you need to know about online casino KYC checks. It acts as an early warning system in case the KYC check process is too stringent. It also walks you through key points to look out for when undergoing KYC checks.
Can I Play at Online Casinos with a Different Currency?
Sometimes, you may find an online casino or sports betting platform you like, but it does not offer you the option to deposit using your domestic currency. The question now becomes is it worth depositing another currency?
Unless you plan to play using cryptocurrency, then in most cases the answer is no. When you play in another currency, there are conversion rates to consider. Unfortunately, most e-wallets use an exchange rate that is often 5% below the FOREX market rate. Now remember this low exchange rate works two ways.
(1) When you deposit and convert to another currency
(2) When you withdraw and convert to another currency
There are some special cases where playing in another currency offers you lower minimum bets, and this could save you money in the long run. At the same time increase your playing time.
Casinoplusbonus Guide to Foreign Currency Transactions
To help you make the best decision on whether it is worth depositing with an online casino in another currency other than your own, Casinoplusbonus has created a helpful guide. The guide offers several scenarios, which we hope will help or educate you to make the correct decision.
How Can You Withdraw From A Closed Online Casino
With thousands of online casinos competing for your business, inevitably, some platforms will eventually become unsustainable. Online casinos operating under the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), the Curacao GCB, and the Anjouan licensing authorities compete in a global market.
We also cover the UK online casino market, and these casinos are also vying for market share in a single country with 22 to 23 million online gamblers. Standing out amongst the crowd is no easy feat. As a result, when an online casino doesn’t cut, it risks becoming insolvent. If the casino’s operator becomes insolvent and you have a balance, you need to know how to get your money back.
It is also worth noting that sometimes operators manage several casino brands. They simply close brands that are not performing, and therefore, the operator is still in business. That means you could still get your money back. If the operator is non-responsive, you can choose to use the Casinoplusbonus complaints service.
Casinoplusbonus Guide to Withdrawing From Closed Casinos
Our guide covers how you can get your money back from a casino that has closed. In some cases, your money is lost if you leave it too late. However, there are still some tips we can offer when it is not too late to retrieve your casino balance.
TIPS TO AVOID UNNECESSARY FINANCIAL LOSS
This section is particularly useful if you are new to iGaming. As with anything in life, when you first take on a new hobby, mistakes are often part of the parcel of the learning process. However, hopefully, you will read this guide before you join an online casino. Each section gives you tips on how to avoid making mistakes that could potentially lead to you losing money.
Avoiding the Default Spin Bet Trap
A point rarely mentioned by any other iGaming entertainment affiliate site is the default spin bet trap. We are not saying this is a trap to get you to spend more money per spin—quite the opposite. High rollers often forget to increase the size of their bet, so this theory works two ways.
When you open an online slot game, the spin bet defaults to a set spin bet amount. On occasion, with the excitement of opening the game, we are tempted to hit the spin button as soon as the slot loads. However, every software provider's slot will default to a certain bet amount, and each provider uses a different number.
The problem is that some software providers begin with a high minimum as the default spin bet amount. It can take a couple of spins before you notice that you have been spinning the reels at an amount either lower or higher than your usual bet size per spin.
As a result, a habit you should always get used to when you first load an online slot is to make sure your first action is to change the spin bet amount.
Casinoplusbonus Default Spin Bet Guide
The Casinoplusbonus default spin bet guide explains exactly how you may fall into spinning the reels before changing your spin bet. It also covers how you can train your mind or set reminders on how you can avoid betting more or less than your usual spin bet amount.
Understanding Online Casino Bonus Rules
Bonuses may look attractive, but they can also be deceiving, especially if you are new to iGaming. Take the time to check YouTube videos and casino reviews here in Casinoplusbonus and on other platforms similar to ours. You will see player comments complaining about casinos not converting their bonus into real money.
Nine times out of ten, the reason the casino denied the conversion is because players either don't understand bonus rules or don't follow them. Therefore, to save yourself time and money, we advise getting aquainted with bonus rules.
The three most important rules you should follow are:
(1) Never exceed the maximum bet.
(2) Never place bonus bets on games that count as 0x towards wagering (Therefore, get familiar with bonus game weights).
(3) Never place a bonus bet that gives you a guaranteed win (Guaranteed win bets are possible on some table games, and you need to avoid them).
Casinoplusbonus Guide to Bonus Rules
In our bonus rules guide, we give you a comprehensive overview of every casino bonus rule you will encounter. Each section in the guide also leads you to another article covering each bonus rule in detail.
Always Check Online Casino Licensing Certificates
Signing up for an online casino entertainment platform that does not operate under any licensing authority is a risk. The platform can close your account or refuse to convert bonuses, and there is nothing you can do about it.
Why? Online casinos that operate under a licensing body have to answer to the authority that issued is certification to offer B2C (Business-to-Customer) gambling services. If you have a dispute with your casino and the complaints team does not resolve it, then you can report the casino to the licensing authority. However, casino operations with no licensing authority don't have anyone to answer to. They can steal your money and, in many cases, offer fake games.
Casinoplusbonus Guide to Checking Casino Licensing Status
Our guide to checking online casino licensing authorities allows you to ensure a casino is not faking its licensing status. It walks you through how to check the licensing status of online casinos operating under various licensing authorities that oversee the iGaming platforms we cover in our casino reviews section.
Rounding Up This Guide
While most online casino articles concentrate on bonuses and games, it is easy to overlook the financial side of online gambling. Some of the points we have made in this guide, like bankroll management and responsible gambling, are commonly covered across a number of affiliate iGaming sites.
However, we've also included financial topics that are often overlooked. The default spin bet, using credit card debt to fund your casino bankroll, as well as deposit turnovers, are not typically covered or highlighted. Another subject often overlooked by other affiliate sites is whether you should commit to online casinos that accept deposits in your domestic currency.
Our Ultimate Goal: We hope that this guide gives you a rounded overview of some of the most important financial aspects of playing online casino games. Also, we trust that via this page, we have provided you with a platform that gives you an informative overview to kickstart an entertaining foray into the world of iGaming.
FAQ
Who is this guide for?
It is mainly aimed at new players. Most experienced online casino players will already have experience with many of the topics mentioned in this article.
How can I absorb this vast amount of information?
We agree that there is a lot to learn if you are new to gambling online. The financial side of gambling is just the tip of the iceberg. However, it is like a new job or new hobby. The more you play and the more you read about the industry, over time you will understand the intricate details.
Can I ask the Casinoplusbonus team questions about the content on this page?
Yes. We welcome questions. You can leave a comment on this page or any of the other pages on our site. On top of this, You can discuss the topics here with other players via the Casinoplusbonus forum.
How can I trust the information in this guide is accurate?
The team here at Casinoplusbonus has over two decades of experience in gambling. We also encourage you to search for additional information on the World Wide Web for each topic we cover. It is always great to get a second opinion.
How can the information in this guide help me choose the right online casino for me?
Many of the topics we cover in this guide are also used as key points when we review an online casino. KYC checks, bonuses, currencies, and responsible gambling tools are also focal points in our reviews.
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