Every online and mobile casino bonus looks like a great deal at first. The casinos make them all sound like it’s free money, so why wouldn’t you take advantage?
While some bonuses are good deals, the fact is that most of them aren’t anywhere near as good as they appear. The only way to judge a bonus, or compare two or more bonuses, is to find out what the terms say you have to do and use a little bit of advanced math.
Don’t get anxious about using math to judge bonuses. By the end of this article, you’re going to be able to compare bonus offers like a pro.
Return and Edge
While most gamblers don’t think that the return or edge of the game they play has anything to do with a bonus, you have to start with these numbers if you want to compare bonuses. Actually, you just need the house edge. But if you know the return percentage, you can quickly determine the house edge.
The reason why you need to know the house edge of the gambling game you plan to play while using a bonus is so you can determine how much you can expect to lose. This is a simple calculation once you have the numbers you need.
If you know the return percentage of a gambling game, you can subtract the number from 100% to get the house edge number.
To determine your expected loss, you simply multiply the total amount that you’re going to bet with the house edge percentage. You can see an example of this in the final section of this article.
Online and Mobile Bonus Types
Online and mobile casinos offer different types of bonuses. Most of these are deposit bonuses, which means you have to make a deposit in order to claim the bonus.
But there are two different types of deposit bonus offers. Some of them let you cash out the bonus after clearing it, and some subtract the bonus amount before you can cash out. The only type of deposit bonus that works with the math on this page is a cashable bonus.
You can use bonuses that aren’t cashable, but they don’t give you an opportunity to make money on the bonus.
Other types of casino bonuses include free bets, free spins, and no deposit bonuses. These types of bonuses have their uses as well, but most of them limit the amount of profit you can make. You can use the math on this page with these types of bonuses in some situations, but they usually aren’t set up in a way that gives you a realistic chance at a profit.
Bonus Rules
The way to find out what kind of bonus you’re looking at is by reading the rules. These are also called conditions and terms in some places. And this isn’t the only reason why you need to read the rules for every bonus offer.
The rules include some important information that you need in order to use advanced math to judge and compare offers. The key terms you’re looking for are how much you have to bet to clear the bonus and if it’s a multiple of the bonus alone or a multiple of the bonus and deposit amount combined.
You Need to Know One Other Thing About Casino Bonus Offers
In the rules, it lists games you can play and/or games that are restricted. For example, many bonuses can’t be used when you play real money blackjack. You need to make 100% sure that the bonus offer allows play of the game you want to play before you accept the bonus.
It’s a waste of time to try to use a slot bonus offer to play blackjack, and it can make it difficult when it comes time to cash out your winnings.
Running the Math for Possible Profit
Now, it’s time to do the hard work. Using all of the information that you’ve collected, you can now use a mathematical formula to judge how much a bonus is worth. First, I’m going to give you the formula, then I’m going to run it through a few examples so you can see exactly how it works.
Just remember that this only works with cashable casino bonuses. Sticky bonuses don’t ever leave anything for profit because they’re subtracted from your balance before you cash out.
Here’s the Formula:
Multiply the house edge with the total amount that you have to risk to clear the bonus. Then, subtract this amount from the bonus amount. When the result is positive, you might be able to make a profit from the bonus. When the result is negative, you can expect to lose all of the bonus money and at least some of your deposit before you clear the bonus.
Let’s say you’re playing blackjack with a house edge of .75%. The bonus is $250 on a $250 deposit for a total bankroll of $500. The terms say that you have to play your deposit and bonus a total of 50x to clear the bonus.
$500 times 50 is a total of $25,000. Multiply the house edge of .75% times $25,000. This gives you an expected loss of $187.50.
The bonus is worth $250. So, when you subtract $187.50, this leaves a potential profit of $62.50. This is a great blackjack bonus. And if you can find one that works this way, you should jump at the chance to take advantage of it.
Here’s another example. You’re playing the same blackjack game with a house edge of .75%. The bonus terms are 100 times the bonus and the deposit. You deposit $400 and get a bonus of $400.
Multiply $800 times 100 for a total play through requirement of $80,000. $80,000 times the edge of .75% gives you an expected loss of $600. The bonus is only worth $400, so this is an expected loss of $200 more than the bonus.
This is how most online casino bonuses work. You can expect to lose more money than the bonus is worth. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use these types of bonuses, just don’t expect to use them for profits.
Here’s the Final Example:
You find a bonus that gives you $600 for a $300 deposit, for a total of $900. The bonus allows blackjack play but it only counts at a 10% rate against clearing the bonus. The normal requirement is 40x the bonus amount.
This means that instead of a 40x playthrough, you have to complete a 400x playthrough requirement if you play blackjack. 400 times the $600 bonus is a total of $240,000. If you’re playing the same blackjack game as in the first two examples, you multiply this with .75%.
This gives you an expected loss of $1,800. As you can see, you’re going to lose all of the bonus and your deposit before you can clear the bonus. This is a trick that some online and mobile casinos use.
It looks like a better bonus because you get 200% on your deposit, and you only have to use the bonus amount to clear the bonus. But the requirement is so high that it’s actually a much worse bonus offer than others.
These numbers are easy to use once you get a little practice in. Run these numbers for every casino bonus you find.
Conclusion
When you evaluate online and mobile bonus offers, you need to start with a few simple numbers. You can use the bonus terms and the return or edge of the game you’re playing to compare different bonuses.
You’re going to find that most bonus offers end up being about the same. However, every once in a while, you might find a bonus offer that leaves a little room for profit.
Run the numbers for every bonus you find to see if it’s worth it to tie up your money until you clear the bonus. When you run the numbers, at least you know exactly what you’re getting into when it comes to losses.
Michael Stevens
Michael Stevens has been researching and writing topics involving the gambling industry for well over a decade now and is considered an expert on all things casino and sports betting. Michael has been writing for GamblingSites.org since early 2016. …
