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Welcome Bonus

Welcome Bonus

A welcome bonus is offered by most online casinos. Almost every player in India will have seen a welcome bonus offer when signing up for an online casino. We have put together all of the important information you need to get the right bonus for you.

Reading time: 4 minutes.

What’s a welcome bonus?

A welcome bonus is a special offer that casinos offer to new players. They usually consist of matched bets being applied to an account after a deposit is made for the first time. There are sometimes free spins on offer as well. Most welcome bonuses have wagering requirements attached which requires a specific number of rollovers before a withdrawal can be made.

The welcome bonus is designed to make a casino more appealing to players. It gives players the chance to increase the size of their bankroll when they first sign up. This gives additional chance for players to play at certain games as well as giving the opportunity for a bankroll management strategy to be carried out.

The majority of welcome bonuses require a deposit to be made in order to accept them, but there are some that are awarded without a deposit.

How does it work?

The majority of welcome bonuses are given after a player signs up and makes their first deposit. They don’t usually require players to opt in to receive it, that is automatic when signing up. But, there are some casinos that require players to opt in or to get in touch with customer services in order to receive their bonus.

Most welcome bonuses are matched bets. This means that a percentage of the first deposit is added onto the account of the player as extra betting cash. Indian players will most usually see percentages of 25 - 400% on offer for a welcome bonus. A welcome bonus of 200% means that a first deposit of 5,000 rupees would offer a bonus amount of 10,000 rupees on top of that.

Most welcome bonuses have a maximum bonus amount in place on them. Some bonuses also offer a matched bet bonus to as many as the first four deposits that are made. Sometimes casinos will also offer free spins to be used on video slots as part of the welcome bonus.

Do all casinos offer them?

The majority of casinos do offer welcome bonuses to players. This doesn’t mean that they all do, so if you want a welcome bonus, it's important to check that it there is one on offer before signing up.

How are wagering requirements applied?

Wagering requirements are something that not too many Indian players understand. This is because they seem quite confusing at first glance. However, they are actually quite easy to understand when you know how they work. The first thing you need to look at is what the wagering requirement is.

So for example if the wagering requirement says it is 30 times your bonus amount. It means that you need to place wagers that add up to 30 times the value of the bonus that was awarded. So if you were awarded 1,000 rupees as your bonus then you would need to place wagers of 30,000 rupees in order to meet the wagering requirements.

Some wagering requirements will expect you to meet the deposit and bonus amount multiplied together by the rollover number. So an example of this would be a 100% matched bet as a welcome bonus. If a player makesa deposit of 1,000 rupees then they would receive a bonus of 1,000 rupees. This means that the deposit and bonus together would be 2,000 rupees. This would then be multiplied by 30 in order to work out the total rollover amount of 60,000 rupees.

It’s also important to know which games count towards the wagering requirements. Video slots normally count 100% towards wagering requirements. This means that everything you place on them will help to diminish your wagering requirement. However, table games and live casino games are a different matter. A lot of casinos don’t count them towards wagering requirements and the ones that do usually only count between 5 and 10% of your stake towards your wagering requirement. So, if you placed a wager of 100 rupees at a Blackjack table then between 5 and 10 rupees would go towards your wagering requirements.

Should I take a welcome bonus?

There isn’t a simple answer to this question. You will need to look at your own betting habits in order to see if it is worthwhile for you. It’s also important to see how aggressive the wagering requirements are. If they are particularly high then you need to work out whether you are likely to manage to meet them. While they might seem like high numbers initially, they are possible to meet if you take a sensible bankroll management strategy.