GAMBLING BONUSES
Many online gambling offers are signup bonuses to new players making their first deposit. These bonuses normally match a percentage of the player's deposit with a dollar maximum and almost all online casino signup bonuses require a minimum amount of wagering before allowing cash out. Game play at specific casino games might be excluded from the wagering requirement calculation.
Some bonuses require no deposit to claim them. Types of no deposit bonuses include:
No deposit in pure monetary form, for example $10.
Free spins no deposit, this is where they allow free spins on particular games, and then allow you to keep the winnings.
Play for a predetermine period of time with x amount of dollars.
Cashable Bonuses
The most common form of casino bonuses is the cashable bonus. Cashable bonuses can be cashed out after completing a wagering requirement. A casino might offer a 100% match bonus up to $100 with a wagering requirement of $2000. After wagering $2000 in the casino, the player is able to cash out the $100 bonus.
Cashable bonuses often restrict play on certain games.[citation needed] Wagers made on roulette, baccarat, craps, and sic bo usually do not count towards the wagering requirement because these bets give the player the opportunity to simultaneously bet on winning and losing outcomes, greatly reducing variance. For example, betting on both red and black in roulette. Wagers on games with a low house edge, like blackjack and video poker, are also often excluded. Some casinos are increasing the wagering requirement above the default for low-house-edge games.
On games without raises or doubles, the expected loss while completing a wagering requirement is wagering requirement house edge. This makes the expected gain of a cashable bonus equal to bonus - wagering requirement house edge. House edge is defined in terms of initial bet, so the above equation does not apply to games with raises and doubles where the final bet size may be larger than the initial bet. The equation becomes bonus - wagering requirement average loss per wager.
WizardofOdds.com has proposed calling the latter average loss per wager variable "element of risk". For a more precise estimate; one must also consider the benefit from being able to bet the bonus prior to completing the wagering requirement. This effect becomes noticeable when making large bets, such as betting the full balance (deposit and bonus) in a single bet. After considering this benefit and "element of risk", the formula for return becomes bonus - average wagering * element of risk. If games without raises or doubles are played and the bonus is not given until completing wagering, then the formula can be simplified as bonus - wagering requirement house edge.
Sticky Bonuses
Non-cashable bonuses are often called "sticky bonuses". Sticky bonuses can be bet, but cannot be cashed out. When the player makes a withdrawal, the sticky bonus is typically removed from the withdrawal total. A player might receive a 100% match sticky bonus on a $100 deposit with a wagering requirement of $2000. While meeting the $2000 wagering requirement, the player could bet both the deposit and the sticky bonus. When cashing out, the $100 bonus would be removed from the balance. If the player cashed out $300, $100 would be subtracted out, leaving $200. The player is not allowed to cash out a balance of below $100 since no cash would remain after the bonus is removed.
The average return of a sticky bonus is sometimes expressed in terms of a target gain. Average return = (chance of reaching target) * (target - bonus - deposit - wagering requirement * house edge) - (chance of not reaching target * deposit). With a target of 2x(bonus+deposit) and 50% chance of reaching the target, the equation reduces to 50% * (bonus - wagering requirement * house edge). Expressing in terms of chance of bust and "element of risk", the formula for return becomes bonus * chance of bust - average wagering * element of risk.
The sticky bonus described above that is removed after wagering is sometimes known as a "phantom bonus." There are other variations of a sticky bonus in which you do not need to exceed your original balance to make a withdrawal. Instead any win is immediately cashable.
Cash Back Bonuses
Cash back bonuses are given following a player loss. A portion of the player's loss is returned, often as cash. For example, a casino might offer a 25% cash back bonus each week. Any player, who had a loss over the course of the week, would receive 25% of his loss back. Any player who had a win over the course of the week would not receive a bonus. Cash back bonuses are rare.
Comp Points
Comps are commonly available at land-based casinos, but also exist online. Comp points can usually be exchanged for cash, prizes, or other comps.[7] The amount of cash given per wager is usually very small and often varies with game selection. A casino might offer three comp points for each $10 wagered on slots and one comp point for each $10 wagered on blackjack. The casino might give $1 for each 100 comp points. This example is equivalent to returning 0.3% of wagers on slots and 0.1% of wagers on blackjack.
Bonus Hunting
Bonus hunting (also known as bonus bagging or bonus whoring) is a type of advantage gambling where turning a profit from casino, sports book and poker room bonus situations is mathematically possible. For example, the house edge in blackjack is roughly 0.5%. In the example above, $5000 in wagering with a house edge of 0.5% will result in an expected loss of $25. Since the player received a $100 signup bonus, after subtracting the expected loss of $25, the player has an expected profit of $75.