How To Get More Free Play At Casinos

How To Get More Free Play At Casinos
  1. How To Get More Free Play At Casinos No Deposit
  2. Free To Play Casino Slots
  3. How To Get More Free Play At Casinos Real Money
  4. Casino Free Play Games
  5. How To Get More Free Play At Casinos Casino
  1. Most Popular FREE Online Casino Games (in 2020) - Play 7,916 games, including 7,000+ Slots 80+ Blackjack 50+ Roulette 180+ Video Poker plus more!
  2. Some casinos comp rooms for out-of-towners more readily than for locals—even if both play at the same level. They assume, rightly or wrongly, that tourists will have a larger per-day bankroll. On the other hand, some casinos cater to locals and emphasize food comps more than free or discounted rooms.
  3. Don’t start making big bets right after arriving. Some people get a burst of adrenaline when they.

Sign up for a players club card. Each casino has a players club at which visitors can get an account that allows the casino to track their play. Casinos also will often send out mailings with free.

Free Online Slots – No Download Or Registration Required

Wheel Of Fortune

A staple of the Las Vegas Strip, now free to play online! In the Wheel of Fortune slot, you have 720 ways to win every spin. And two bonus games—the Mini Wheels and the Triple Extreme Spin—keep those multipliers rolling in. Try today!

Quick Hits Slot

The Quick Hits slot features FOUR bonus games for nonstop excitement. You might’ve seen this one at Bally’s Las Vegas, where it’s made instant millionaires. Now you can get in on all the action from the comfort of home. Get your quick fix of Quick Hits today!

Cleopatra

One of the most exciting rulers of Ancient Egypt is the inspiration behind one of the casino’s most iconic games: the Cleopatra Slot. It’s no coincidence that she’s the most powerful symbol in the game, triggering the bonus feature that delivers tons of coins. Try for free today!

Golden Wolves

The American wildlife never looked so good – or paid out so well! Venture into the world of wolves, moose, eagles, and rams in the hopes of triggering an avalanche of gold coins. The Golden Wolves slot is ready to take you on an adventure for free today.

Michael Jackson

Moonwalk Wilds. “Beat It” and “Smooth Criminal” free games. Music and symbols that celebrate Michael “The King of Pop” Jackson. This free online slot really is all about its namesake. So it doesn’t matter if you’re black or white, give this slot a try today!

Monopoly Slot

With game pieces and the Monopoly Man himself making up the symbols, this is the perfect mix of excitement and nostalgia. The Monopoly Mega Movers Slot is free to play online, so be sure to activate the extra bet! Ready to roll? Do pass go and try today!

Divine Fortune Slot

This Greek Mythology themed slot invites you to climb aboard Pegasus and take Mount Olympus for all its fortunes. When the Wild Symbol appears, it triggers the Falling Wild Re-Spins – and that’s on top of the Free Spins Bonus Feature. Give this one a try today!

How To Get More Free Play At Casinos No Deposit

Triple Red Hot 777 Slot

Three reels and five variable paylines make the Triple Red Hot 777 slot a true classic. When you trigger the bonus game, you’re taken to a new set of reels surrounded by psychedelic fire – that multiplies wins from 2x to 7x. Go on a hot streak for free today!

Da Vinci Diamonds Slot

You don’t need to visit Europe to immerse yourself in fine art – you can just play the DaVinci Diamonds slot! On top of the Mona Lisa and other Renaissance paintings, you’re surrounded by jewels, and all of it can trigger massive wins. Enjoy for free today!

Lobstermania 2 Slot

The traps are set, now it’s time to pull in those wins like you’re Lucky Larry himself. This slot is like a staycation, with a beach setting and three jackpots, including the motherlode! Hit the ocean and start chasin’ crustacean in Lobstermania 2 for free today.

Above, you’ll find a selection of free slots that you’ll likely recognize if you’ve ever been to the Las Vegas Strip.

These are the tried-and-true favorites. From Monopoly to Cleopatra, these are loved at both online and land-based casinos for their exciting gameplay, unique themes, and incredible winning potential.

Playing free slots online is one of the best ways to try out these popular titles and practice your strategy. Many players also enjoy free play to relax and experience casino fun risk-free.

Where To Play Online Slots?

Free Slot Machines

The fastest and easiest way to play online slots is to find free slot machines. Of course, this page features 10 of the best free online slot machines that you can enjoy right now.

But this isn’t the only site that hosts free slot machines. Thousands of sites host a free version of some of the most popular titles in the world. In fact, if there’s a slot you played at a casino that you’d like to revisit, a simple web search would likely pull up the free version.

You can play free slots via your desktop or mobile browser. These streaming versions of the game require nothing more than a click, and you can start playing. Another option is to play free slots apps, and many exist in both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store for Android.

The reason people play free slot machines is for a variety of reasons. The most common is simply for entertainment. Like some would play mobile games like Candy Crush or Words with Friends, fans of slot machines like to play the free versions every now and again.

Another good reason is to practice on the free version and take what you learn to the paid version. The goal is to get more wins or improve your Return to Player (RTP).

Legal Online Casinos

Legal online casinos with paid slots only exist in a few US states:

  • Delaware

After recent changes in legislation, online casinos will soon launch in Michigan. If you’re not physically located in one of those states, playing real-money online slots is technically breaking the law. At the very least, the online casino operators are violating the law by offering their games to people in the state.

However, the consistent introduction of online gambling legislation in states across the country means that list may grow beyond these five states in the future.

In states where online casinos are legal, you can deposit money, bet on the slots, and withdraw any winnings. Like the brick-and-mortar casinos, the most popular slots at the online casinos have progressive jackpots, which can grow to over a million dollars.

You can also play any of the slots at online casinos for free in “demo mode,” where you’re using practice credits instead of real money. You can often do this before you even create an account.

Sweepstakes Casinos – Slots For Cash Prizes

In all of the US except for the State of Washington, you can legally play at sweepstakes casinos, a category of social gaming that also includes online poker and sports picks. This is a great option in states like California, Florida, and Texas, where real money online casinos are prohibited.

The two main sweepstakes casinos are Chumba Casino and LuckyLand. Both offer a large selection of slots that you can play for two different types of currencies: Gold Coins or Sweeps Coins.

Gold Coins are used simply for fun and can’t be redeemed for a cash prize or gift card. However, you can also play in Sweeps Coins. Any Sweeps Coins that you win can be redeemed for cash prizes or gift cards. You just need to have the minimum number of won Sweeps Coins before you can redeem.

To receive Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins, no purchase is required. Once you join, you’re given both types of coins for free to play with. You can also purchase additional Gold Coins. Some Gold Coin packages of include Sweeps Coins.

Check this out to learn more about How To Play Sweepstakes Casinos.

How To Play Slots For Fun Online

Playing free online slots is the same as playing paid online slots, minus the need to deposit any money or even create an account. That’s why playing slots for fun online is free in every US state, including the State of Washington.

You can play any type of slot for free. This includes classic three-reel slots as well as 3D five-reel slots with immersive bonus games and other special features.

The gameplay, including the odds of winning, is the exact same between the free slots and the paid slots. However, if the slot normally has a progressive jackpot, that will be absent from the free version.

Do you need to sign up or deposit to play free online slots?

No. And, in most cases, there’s no way to create an account much less make a deposit.

However, some land-based casino websites, which do offer player accounts, have free online slots on their website. This came into even more prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Can you win playing free online slots?

Yes. Just like in the paid version, you can win without limits on the free online slots. But what you win is additional freeplay credits, and refreshing the web browser will reset your bankroll.

How Do Slots Work?

Slots are by far the most popular casino game for a few key reasons:

  • Huge winning potential
  • The option to play for low or high stakes
  • The gameplay is extremely simple

Once you know the basics of slots, you’ll be able to play any type that you’ll come across. While each title can seem wildly different, they all work in fundamentally the same way.

The object of a slot machine is for a winning combination of symbols to appear when the reels stop. This is true whether it’s a three-reel or a five-reel slot.

Setting Paylines

A winning combination of symbols is based on paylines that run across the reels. A slot can have as few as five paylines or over a hundred.

Usually, the symbol combinations are left to right across the paylines, and each payline can win independently. That means the more paylines you play, the higher your chances of scoring a payout.

In slots, wins are multipliers, not set amounts. So if you’re playing a slot with 25 paylines and your total wager is $5.00, each payline would have a value of $0.20. If one scored a 100x multiplier, you’d win $20.

To play all paylines for the highest possible value, you can select “Max Bet.”

Should You Always Do Max Bet?

No. You should always play with however much you’re able to lose.

However, playing max bet does two things: gives you the best chance of winning the highest possible prizes.

Further, you may need to play Max Bet to qualify for certain prizes, including the progressive jackpot. Check the rules of the specific slot to make sure.

Slot Payback (AKA Return to Player)

A slot’s payback is how much a player can expect to keep of their bankroll based on the average net wins. This is also known as Return to Player (RTP). A high slot payback is 90% or higher, and a low slot payback is 70%.

No slot has an average lifetime payback that’s equal to or greater than 100%. However, some players seek out the games with the highest RTP to ensure the highest chances of regular wins. Others prefer the longshot slots, which have the lowest RTP but normally the highest potential prizes.

Bonus Features

A slot’s biggest selling point aside from the jackpot, RTP, and overall theme are the bonus features. These are usually triggered when three or more “scatter” symbols appear on the reels. You then have the opportunity to win more money, either through free spins, a minigame, or selecting a hidden prize.

Wild Symbols

The Wild symbol usually best matches the theme of the game. For example, Cleopatra is the Wild symbol in the Cleopatra slot.

Wild symbols can take the place of any other symbol aside from the scatter (and possibly other specialty symbols) to create winning combinations. Five wild symbols will often trigger the top prize fixed jackpot.

Progressive Jackpot Slots

When a slot has a progressive jackpot, it means a portion of every bet placed by everyone playing the slot contributes to a running total. The total progressive jackpot continues to increase as people play until it’s won by a lucky player, then it’s reset and starts again.

How to win a progressive jackpot depends on the slot. In some cases, it’s simply randomly awarded at the end of a spin, and you may need to “Bet Max” to qualify. Others will involve a bonus game.

Different Types Of Slot Machines

Because slots are always innovating, it’s difficult to create a list of the different types. Instead, let’s look at the key factors that separate one slot from another.

Number Of Reels

Three-reel slots are usually the simplest, where one payline runs across a maximum of three symbols.

Five-reel slots are the most common and can range from a handful of paylines to 743 All-Ways-Pays slots, which covers every possible combination of symbols going up and down and left to right across the reels.

Four-reel, six-reel, seven-reel, and other slots are pretty much nonexistent in physical casinos but you can find some online relatively easily.

Video Vs. 3D Slots

Video slots are the most common form of five-reel slots and often feature bonus and free spin features. 3D slots are the same, except they use 3D animation and graphics whereas video slots use 2D.

Denominations

Penny slots earned their name by allowing players to bet with just $0.01. But some slots can cost a minimum of $1.00 per spin, and betting the max can make your overall wager climb to as high as $125 or more.

Volatility

When a slot is labeled low volatility, it means it pays out low wins regularly. When it’s labeled high volatility, it means you’ll often go for several spins without winning, but the winning streaks are often larger when they do come.

Coin Play Vs. Paylines

Coin play means you’re simply setting the coin value that applies to the multiplier wins. Some variations, called Buy-Your-Pay Slots, won’t allow you to win certain amounts or activate certain features unless you increase your coin value.

Paylines are either fixed or variable. For both, you set the value of each individual payline, and multiplier wins apply to that payline. But with variable paylines, you can set the number of lines you want to play as well as their value. With fixed paylines, you automatically play all of them.

How To Play Slot Machines

Brick-And-Mortar Casinos

The most common place to play slots is at a land-based casino. In most states, casinos are either commercially operated or tribal-owned and located on Native American lands.

The ten states that do not have any land-based casinos are:

  • Alaska
  • Hawaii
  • Georgia
  • Utah
  • Nebraska
  • Kentucky
  • South Carolina
  • Virginia
  • Vermont

The highest concentration of casinos and slot machines in the United States can be found in Las Vegas, Nevada. And not only that, it’s also where you can find the largest jackpots of all time. In fact, the top six biggest casino wins ever were all on Vegas slots.

Another major hotspot is Atlantic City, New Jersey, where several casinos operate in close proximity. But if you live in the continental United States, there’s a good chance that there’s a casino with over a hundred slot machines within driving distance.

Why are slots the most popular game at the casino?

Slots can make up 75% or more of a casino’s total gambling revenue. That means the rest comes from all table games and poker tables combined. Why? Because slots are fun, attractive, and can turn relatively low wagers into multi-million-dollar payouts.

The Most Popular Slots Offer The Highest Payouts

It should come as no surprise that the easiest way to get people to play a slot is by offering an enormous potential jackpot.

Enter the slots area of a Las Vegas casino, and you’ll find dozens of options with a top prize that can be well into the millions. All it takes is one single spin to win it all. That’s hard to resist.

So it’s no wonder that the progressive jackpots are the most popular. The most talked-about usually is.

Free Online Slots FAQ

Yes. No matter where you’re located in the US, it is completely legal to play free slots online.

Because you’re playing with demo credits rather than real money, it’s not considered gambling. And if you download a free slots mobile app, you don’t even need an internet connection to play.

Yes, you can win real money playing slots online. However, you’ll need to be in one of the three states (DE, NJ, and PA) where it’s legal to win money legally. Michigan and West Virginia will soon offer legal online gambling as well.

To win cash prizes, anyone located in the US (except for the State of Washington) can legally play at sweepstakes casinos, which have a wide range of online slot machines.

You can also play free slots using demo credits that cannot be redeemed for prizes right here at bonus.com and elsewhere.

Do I have to sign up or register to play free slot games online?

No. You do not need to create an account to play free slot games online. Even if you’re playing in demo mode at an online casino, you can often simply go to the site and select “play for fun.” Only online casinos and sweepstakes casinos require signup to play.

Do I need to download an app to play free slots?

No. You do not need to download anything to play free online slots. The titles are instantly available directly through your web browser. However, there are a number of free slots on your phone whether on your Android or iOS device.

Can I play popular Las Vegas slots online for free?

Yes. Most of the popular Las Vegas slots are available to play for free online. That’s because a lot of the gaming software developers provide their titles to both brick-and-mortar casinos as well as online casinos. Plus, the demand for the most popular options make them particularly readily available.

Yes. Because you do not have to create an account, you’re not providing any of your personal information. Unsafe slots are those run by illegal online casinos that take your payment information. Free slots are always completely safe simply because they don’t accept real money.

The benefits of playing free slots include:

  • The ability to play simply for the fun of it.
  • Testing a game to see if you like it.
  • Practicing strategy before risking real money.
  • Placing huge bets that you otherwise wouldn’t want to do.
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The word “comp” is short for “complimentary.” In the gambling industry, comps are free stuff you get from casinos and other gambling companies to incentivize you to gamble with them. Generally, you get more comps based on how much you’re gambling.

When discussing comps, it helps to understand the expression “action.” Being “in action” just means that you have money riding on a bet of any kind.

But “action” also refers to the amount of money you have wagered. It can refer to the amount of money you wager over a period of time, too.

For example, if you’re playing slot machines and betting $1 every time you spin the reels, you’re putting $1 into action every time you spin. If you make 600 spins per hour, then you’ve put $600/hour into action.

Based on the odds behind the game and the payout odds, casinos can estimate the long-term expected losses based on your hourly action. They can then calculate a percentage of that to return to you in the form of comps.

When you’re dealing with traditional land casinos, if you bring much action to the casino at all, you’ll be assigned a casino host. This is the person at the casino responsible for keeping you happy so that you don’t take your action elsewhere. Comps are the main tool a host uses to keep you happy.

Of course, not everyone has a host. You can also get comps almost automatically by signing up for the players’ club and inserting the card into the machines as you play. Pit bosses also have the authority to reward you with comps when you’re playing table games. In fact, the simplest and most common type of comp is the free drink. As long as you look like you’re playing a slot machine, a cocktail waitress will bring you free drinks all night. (She’ll be more attentive if you tip her well, though.)

This post explains the different kinds of gambling comps and what they mean to you as a gambler.

The Different Kinds of Comps Available

Comps are awarded in a hierarchy based on your value to the casino. The most basic comp is the free drink. Casinos have multiple motivations for gving you free drinks.

For one thing, a gambler who’s inebriated has lower inhibitions. He’s more likely to gamble more money longer. And the #1 factor affecting how much profit a casino makes from a gambler is the amount of time he spends playing.

That’s because casino games have an innate mathematical edge. This edge doesn’t have a huge effect in the short term, because in the short term, anything can happen. But the law of large numbers suggests that the more bets you make, the closer your actual results become to the theoretical results.

Here’s an example:

The mathematical expectation at blackjack is for you to lose roughly 1% of each bet you make on average over time. (This assumes you’re using basic strategy while you play.) That means the casino expects you to lose an average of $1 every time you place a $100 bet.

In the short run, that’s impossible. If you place a single bet at blackjack—which is the ultimate example of the short term—it’s impossible to lose $1 on a single $100 bet. You’ll lose $100, win $100, or win $150 most of the time. If you double down or split, you might win more–$200, $300, or even $400 wins are possible. You might also face a “push,” which is a tie. Your bet is returned, but you don’t win any money… that’s a loss or win of $0.

None of those outcomes come even close to a loss of $1.

That $1 loss is an average over time–over a huge number of bets. If you make 10,000 bets at $100 each, you’re likely to lose close to $10,000. Even with that many bets, it’s possible to deviate wildly from the mathematical expectation.

If you’re the casino, you want to get into the large number range as soon and as often as possible. This ensures your profit. The way to do this is to get players to make lots of bets for lots of money.

And providing free alcohol helps with that. In fact, it’s a small price to pay for the extra action they see.

You can expect more than just free drinks, though. Free food is a small step up from free drinks. At a casino of any respectable size, you’ll find multiple restaurants on site. The 2nd most common type of comp is free food at one of the on-site restaurants.

The free food comp is usually awarded in the form of a coupon. You might have to put more money into action than you think to be awarded free food, but it sometimes depends on the generosity of the pit boss. It can also depend on what kind of rapport you have with the casino staff.

I once got into a spirited conversation with the cardroom manager at Planet Hollywood Casino in Las Vegas. They had a hot dog joint there called Pinks—I guess it’s popular on the West Coast. Anyway, I was trying to convince the cardroom manager that he should buy everyone at the table hot dogs.

Apparently, at the limits I play, you don’t get free hot dogs.

If you qualify for free food and free drinks, you’re not far from qualifying for free lodging, too. Most casinos are also hotels, but even casinos which don’t have attached hotels will get you lodging nearby—if you’re gambling enough.

You can also get upgraded to a nicer room by virtue of the action you bring the casino. (You might also be able to get upgraded to a suite or a nicer room by tipping the desk person $20 when you check in, but that’s not really related to comps.)

In fact, these 3 comps—room, food, and beverage—are so common that they have an abbreviation for it. Bettors who qualify for all 3 are called “RFB” customers.

Notice something about all these comps, too. You’re getting comps that seem to have a certain value. A drink is probably $5 at the bar at a casino. A meal is usually $15 or $20. A room can vary wildly in price, but is often at least $50, $100, or more.

But those are the retail prices for these comps. The casino doesn’t pay $5 when they mix you a drink. Their cost for that shot of Crown on the rocks is probably closer to $1. The meal at the buffet that the public pays $15 for probably only cost the restaurant $5 to make.

Play

And a hotel room that’s sitting empty generates no money for the casino at all, so they might as well give it away. In fact, the Winstar in Oklahoma has such low occupancy rates during the week that almost anybody can get a comped room. You don’t have to bring them much action at all, really.

Those are just the standard comps for regular down-to-earth players like you and me. High rollers, or “whales,” as the industry calls them, are eligible for all kinds of free stuff. Many of these comps are customized based on what the host knows about the gambler’s interests.

It’s not unusual for a casino to pay for airfare and transportation to and from the airport for a big player. In fact, that’s expected for any high roller.

But entertainment is another popular comp. If you like golf, shows, or sporting events, you can usually get a “free” ride from the casino to go to those outings, too.

Rebates are common, too, even if you’re not a high roller. For low rollers, rebates are often awarded in the form of coupons or free play. High rollers can receive cash or a check as part of their rebate.

The comps program is part of the casino’s marketing plan. Most casinos make heavy use of direct mail to entice gamblers to return to their casino and play. If you’re a member of the players’ club at the casino, you’ll inevitably receive standard comps in the mail.

Based on your interests and betting tendencies, you’ll also get free offers for other perks in the mail, too.

Free To Play Casino Slots

Even low rollers can get free transport to and from the casino. I see buses taking groups of gamblers to the Winstar all the time. Many of the people riding those buses pay nothing for the ride, although they lose enough money at the casino to more than make up for that cost.

But calling these comps “free” is inaccurate. You pay for these comps in the form of gambling losses, even when you’re winning.

How Gambling Companies Do the Math That Makes Their Comps Program Profitable

Other than the free drinks and occasional free coupons sent in the mail, most casinos award comps based on your actual time spent playing. They account for how many bets per hour you make and at what amount when deciding how much to award you and when.

But comps aren’t based on how much you actually lose. Instead, casinos calculate your comps based on your theoretical expected loss. This is a function of the house edge for the games you’re playing, the time you spend playing, and how many bets per hour you’re making.

Over the long run—and casinos serve thousands of customers per day—the casino has an excellent idea of how much your play is worth. If you’re on a winning streak, you still get comps based on your action. The calculations are based on your expected losses, not your actual losses.

Here’s how the casino calculates this:

You play slots exclusively, but you bet $3 per spin. You’re an average player, so you’re making 600 spins per hour. That’s $1800 per hour you’re putting into action.

If the casino knows you like the machines with a 95% payback percentage, they figure that in the long run they’re going to make 5% of your hourly action—or $90 per hour. (5% of $1800 is $90.)

If you spend an average of 4 hours a day playing slots, the casino assumes you’re going to lose $360 a day while you’re there.

They then award you comps based on a percentage of that $360 per day.

How Can You Best Take Advantage of the Casinos’ Comps Programs?

If you’ve heard of the books The Frugal Gambler by Jean Scott or Comp City by Max Rubin, you probably already know a little bit about becoming a “comp hustler” or “comp wizard.” These are players who learn to maximize the amount of comps they receive in exchange for their action.

One way to maximize the comps you get for the money you lose is to play a game with a tiny house edge. If you can play blackjack with perfect basic strategy, you can get the edge in the game down to 0.5%. The average player loses about 4% at blackjack, because the average player doesn’t know perfect basic strategy.

When the casinos calculate your expected loss at the blackjack table, they assume you’re an average player losing 3% or 4%. Since you’re only expected to lose 0.5%, you’re getting comps based on a theoretical loss that’s actually overstated by a factor of between 5 and 10.

Another way to maximize the comps you get is to bet big when you’re being rated by the dealer and the pit boss. “Rating” players is how they estimate your hourly action. Fooling the pit boss is harder than you think.

I was playing blackjack in Kansas City for between $10 and $100 per hand, depending on the count. They rated me as a $10/hand player, even though I was betting more than that on a lot of hands. I complained, but I’m sure they realized I was counting. The last thing they were going to do is rate me higher when they knew I was counting cards.

(I was also a little drunk, so I didn’t notice immediately when they started shuffling the deck after every hand. Counting cards does you no good if the dealers shuffle after every hand.)

Taking lots of breaks can result in fewer hands per hour than the casino estimates, which reduces your expected hourly loss by a lot. If you’re at a blackjack table dealing 60 hands per hour, you could realistically only play 45 hands per hour by taking frequent bathroom breaks.

What effect does that have on your expected hourly loss?

It reduces it by another 25% or so. Instead of losing $10/hour, you might only be losing $7.50/hour. The casino might be estimating that you’ll be losing an average of $40/hour and base your comps on that.

Expert video poker play can also result in smaller expected losses per hour. In fact, with certain video poker games, the combinations of comps with the tiny house edge can result in an overall positive expected value for the player. That’s an advantage gambling technique, but it’s not one you can realistically make a living at. The edge is too small, and games with those pay tables are usually only available for small stakes. You’d be lucky to make minimum wage playing video poker for comps.

How much of your expected losses can you expect back in comps?

It varies, but the casino calculates that they can afford to give you back 40% of your expected loss in the form of comps. You’ll more often see 20% through the players’ program if you’re a low roller, but you can even increase that amount by taking advantage of coupons and “happy hour” type promotions where you get 2X or 3X your standard comp rate.

How Do Online Casino Bonuses Work? Isn’t That Another Form of Comp?

Online casinos can’t serve you drinks or free food. They can’t really provide you with a free room for the night, either. And since you’re playing from home, they’re unlikely to offer you free show tickets, either.

Instead, online casinos offer you sign up bonuses and ongoing deposit bonuses. These amount to free amounts of money awarded to your account just for making a deposit—either as a new player or as an existing player.

Bonus hustlers used to take advantage of these offers to generate almost guaranteed profits. A friend of mine once bought a jukebox by taking advantage of casino bonuses at a dozen different casinos and cashing out his winnings.

Online casinos have responded to this by instituting wagering requirements that make it almost mathematically impossible to come out ahead when taking advantage of a bonus. They also watch player behavior closely, and if that behavior resembles that of known bonus hustlers, the casino might refuse to pay you based on “bonus abuse.”

The concept of wagering requirement seems more complicated than it is. Here’s how it works:

You sign up at a casino that offers you a 200% matching bonus on your first deposit of $1000. You deposit $1000, input your bonus code, and the casino adds $2000 to your balance.

You now have $3000 to play with.

But the casino requires you to wager this amount 35 times before cashing out. They also restrict your play to slot machines. You can play blackjack, too, but only 10% of your blackjack wagers count toward fulfilling your wagering requirements.

And you can’t cash out before fulfilling these wagering requirements.

Let’s assume you want to play the slots. A good ballpark estimate for the house edge on a slot machine game is 6%, but who knows? (The casino does, but you don’t.)

To wager $3000 35 times means you must put $105,000 into action.

The expected loss on that much action is 6% multiplied by $105,000, which is $6300.

Since you started with $3000, the mathematical expectation is for you to go broke before fulfilling your wagering requirements.

On the other hand, if you play blackjack, the house edge is only 0.5%. But since the casino only counts 10% of those wagers toward your wagering requirements, you need to make $1,050,000 in wagers before cashing out.

0.5% of $1,050,000 is still over $5000.

Again, that’s more than your starting bankroll, so it’s unlikely that you’ll have money left over after fulfilling your wagering requirement.

You can, of course, get lucky and win more than you’re expected to. I claimed a bonus at an online casino once for $1000, and I hit a $6000 jackpot on my 5th spin of the reels on a slot machine game.

I was able to fulfill my wagering requirements and still have $2000 in profits.

But that’s because I got lucky—not because I took advantage of a mathematical edge given me by the bonus.

In fact, had I eschewed the signup bonus, I could have cashed out the entire $6000. I wouldn’t have been required to finish fulfilling the wagering requirements.

Conclusion

Casino and gambling comps are really cool, but they’re also a tool that casinos use to get you to lose more money than you’d otherwise lose. Understanding how those comps work is the first step in making sure you don’t get taken advantage of.

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Some people learn how to take advantage of the comps system in such a way that they gamble practically for free. It’s even theoretically possible to come out ahead because of the comps program. That’s too much work for most people, but it’s nice to know that it’s possible.

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The bottom line about comps is that the casino doesn’t have your best interest at heart. They want your money.

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