Free Spin Bonuses
If you’ve frequently online casinos, you’re probably familiar with the Starburst game. From the thousands of online slots available, why is this one such a well-known name?
Two words: Free Spins!
Starburst is renown for offering players the chance to sample its premise. Guts Casino gives new players 25 free spins on the game for four consecutive days.
Mr. Green Casino also provides 100 but divided out over five days. Numerous other sites use Starburst as their game of choice for free spin rewards, and it seems to work out well.
After all, we’re here talking about it, and you may have also played Starburst at some point.
Two Types of Free Spins
Before we continue, we need to make a distinction between the two types of free spins.
1. Casino provided
These are typically in conjunction with one or some designated games and are issued by the casino to its players as part of some promotion. If the free spins result in any winnings, they may have a wagering requirement attached, though. For example, if you used five free spins and ended up with £50, you may be required to play that £50 for five, ten, even 30 times over before you can request any cash out.
2. Part of the game
Free spins can be incorporated right into a slot game itself. Meaning, you may trigger them by receiving a combination of symbols or through a random bonus that pops up that’s part of the game itself. In this case, you won’t have a wagering requirement. Any resulting payouts are yours to keep as it’s a perk integrated within the game itself.
We’re primarily talking here about the casino-provided type of bonus, but read on for some good stories about both types of free spin jackpots that have been awarded.
How You Can Play For Free
In essence, free spin promotions issued by the casino allow players some wager-free bets in the quest to win real money. A site like Sloto’Cash provides a 300 free spin welcome package to new players and doesn’t have any play through obligation attached. Mr. Green, on the other hand, with its 100 Starburst spins mandates that winnings be wagered 35 times over before any cash out is possible.
To get in on the fun, you’ll need to do some research to find out which casinos serving your area or residence offer these types of promotions.
We just referenced Sloto’Cash and it’s one of the better ones and also accepts players from the United States. It has some ongoing free spin offers that customers can get in on weekly if not daily.
SlotsMillion offers 20 with any weekday lunch hour deposit of €20 or more during their Slunchbreak promotion but also issues them through their newsletter sign-up. Megawins issues 25 with a €25 deposit but has a maximum payout of €30 or 50mBTC as well as a whopping 40 times rollover requirement on the winnings.
Not all free spins need to be in conjunction with slot play either. Starburst is back, but this time it’s Starburst Live Roulette on Leo Vegas. Every ten rounds of Starburst equals ten free spins up to 100 a day.
Are There Strings Attached?
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch, ” and there’s no such thing as a genuinely free spin. Or is there?
Let’s be honest. Casinos are in the business of making money so giving things away for free are not part of their master plan. However, some operators understand the value of offering a real perk to their players, so you will see some 100% complimentary, keep your winnings free spins.
Thrills Casino has a prize vault where, at any given time, players can find some free spins locked away waiting for them to be used. Except for the welcome bonus super spins, Thrills has a no rollover policy on free spin rewards.
It really depends on the casino and the current promotional offerings. Keep in mind that you’ve probably already registered and deposited some money before anything is given to you so, technically, are they really 100% free?
A Simple Concept That Can Get Complicated
Although there are some “no play through required” offers, most of them will have some stipulations attached and, if you’re not familiar with the term rollover or play through, it may be a bit confusing.
Even though these wagering requirements take away a lot of the excitement of the free concept, they are pretty straightforward when they apply to free spin winnings.
Let’s say you were given ten free spins on a slot machine and, after you complete the ten, you’re ahead of the game by $20, but you need to complete a 20 times rollover. That means that you still need to bet $400 ($20 x 20) to cash anything out.
Now, you don’t need to play the same slot game necessarily but playing most any slot game will help you to fulfill your play through requirement much faster as not all games contribute in the same way. Most slots come in at 100% but, depending on the casino, video poker may only offer 20%, and some table games could come in at 10%, 5% or maybe even zero. So, you’ll want to make sure you’ve strategized well so you can still try to cash out something.
To Spin or Not To Spin, That IS the Question
The only reason you wouldn’t want to get in on these freebies is if the rollover is so prohibiting that it wastes your time. Of course, this is called gambling so, taking a chance is all part of the concept, and you do have the opportunity to claim a big prize through the promotion.
If these types of bonuses are appealing and valuable to you, we suggest finding a site that has no rollover free spins or at least has a minimal requirement, like three times. When you get into 20, 30, or 40 times that your winnings have to be wagered, your odds of success can greatly diminish.
The Best Offers
These complimentary rounds can be awarded in different ways:
- As part of the welcome bonus
- In the reload bonus package
- Within the VIP benefits
- Through monthly or weekly promotions
- Via special invitation
- At the casino’s discretion
It’s pretty straightforward when it comes to finding those offers that are better than others, and it all boils down to the rollover. No wagering requirement opens you up to keeping everything you win. A higher play through puts a bigger risk to any potential winnings you receive.
Life Changing Spins
We mentioned two different types of free spin offerings being the casino-provided awards and the ones integrated into the game itself. While many of these rewards can come and go uneventfully, every so often, something wonderful and unexpected can happen.
Betsson Casino has created two different millionaires in two distinct ways.
In 2013, a player on the Hall of Gods slot machine was awarded free spins as part of the game’s bonus structure based on a €2 stake. On the very first one, he hit a €6.7 million jackpot!
Just two years earlier, a 20-year-old Norwegian student decided to take advantage of five free spins on the Mega Fortune game that Betsson had issued to him as a player perk. He logged in to his account, accepted the free spins, and a few minutes later was €11.7 million dollars richer. The jackpot broke the current Guinness World Record, and we’ll take a leap here and say that his university bill was easily paid in full.
Verdict
Just like coupon clippers can spend hours searching and sorting to find the best deals so they can walk out of the supermarket with $100 in groceries for $20, a bit of time dedicated to finding the best free spin programs can also pay off. Just be sure to read through the terms and conditions. The more you know, the better off you are.