Free Spins

What are Free Spin Casino Promotions?

Along with no wagering casinos promotions, free spin offers are among the most coveted of all incentives. And they come in all shapes and sizes. Typically, a free spin bonus enables you to play a specific online pokie game, sometimes at no extra cost. The vast majority of operators include them because they’re very effective at attracting new players as well as incentivising gameplay. Although they’re offered by bingo sites, it’s the online casino vertical in which they’re the most prevalent.

Why are Free Spins So Popular?

Because they include the word ‘free’? Well, not exactly. While there are plenty of people who gravitate towards free spin offers like bugs around a street-lamp, such offers can prove extremely useful. This is particularly true when you want to try out a new online casino and kick the tires as it were. If you can find a deal (they do exist) that doesn’t require an initial deposit, you’ll be able to play online slots without committing any funds – a great, cost-free way of getting a feel for a specific game.

How Many Free Spins Can I Expect to Play With?

This of course depends entirely on the operator and can vary quite a bit. Some of the best online casinos include at least 50 free spins for new customers to be getting on with. but many do 10, 20, 30 as well. Anything less than 20 or 30 is a tad miserly in our book and often says a lot about a particular operator.

Different Types of Free Spin Offer

As mentioned, you’ll find all manner of free spins packages. Here’s a run-down, starting with the most common one of all: The welcome bonus.

Free Spins Welcome Offer

Most online casinos worth their salt and with any sense, will try to include free/bonus spins as part of their new player allurement. In their most basic format, these become available after you make your first deposit. If the spins are for a specific video pokie, like Starburst, they will have automatically been applied to the slot by the time you open it in your browser. A standard welcome promotion might look like this:

“Welcome offer up to $300 plus 50 spins on Starburst”

Free Spins No Deposit Offers

If you thought free spin offers were the most highly sought-after online casino promotions, then you might want to revise your opinion. Because no deposit deals are the crème de la crème of player perks. Why? It’s simple really. You’ve got the chance to win money without risking your own hard-earned.

Accordingly, these types of bonuses are very few and far between, oh yes. Rarer still are free spin no deposit incentives. But these sublime combos do exist with a select few casinos nervously proffering them to ravenous gamers. These types of promotions are usually awarded after you’ve registered with a new online casino. In most cases they’re immediately credited to your account and can then be used to play pre-selected online casino pokies.

However, to offset the risk of peddling such deals, you’ll be hard pushed to find one that isn’t beset by higher wagering rules or which features a paltry number of free spins. There are exceptions of course.

Free Spins Without Wagering

Another incentive that has most casino gamers positively giddy at the knees – simply put, no wagering free spins allow you to keep any winnings generated by them, without having to run the play-through gauntlet beforehand.

Tiered Free Spin Welcome Offers

For a good number of welcome packages, the free spins become available incrementally as you make additional deposits. Tiered offers like these can usually be spotted in the wording of the actual deal. You’ll often see the words ‘up to’ before the spin amount is stated. More of this later…

In-Game Free Spins

Many of the latest online slots include free spin bonus side games that are triggered by landing scatters and other symbols. In certain cases they’re only available for exclusive use with the actual bonus game. More often than not, they’re the same value as the amount you staked. These are not to be confused with their promotional counterparts. Indeed, we haven’t come across a single slot that allows them to be used on other games – that wouldn’t really make sense though would it?

How Much are Free Spins Worth?

Each spin will usually have a certain amount of value attached to it, often around 10c. Any winnings that you make from these spins will be added to your bonus account. This means that they won’t be immediately withdrawable. In most scenarios, you’ll also find that your match deposit bonus winnings and your free spins are subject to wagering requirements dictated by the casino operator. These tend to range from 15x and 70x.

VIP Free Spins

If you’re lucky or stubborn enough to be a VIP player, chances are that you’re rather familiar with the types of perks at your disposal. Top operators usually go to great lengths in order to pamper their high-rollers. VIP free spins are just one of the many tools they’ll use to ensure that you keep playing and spend vulgar amounts of money on their websites.

However VIP free spins are the snake-oil of the online casino industry. In most cases, they’re subject to exactly the same stipulations as standard spins. Mostly, the only differences can be found in the frequency in which they’re distributed. Both bog-standard VIP packages (often the ones that say ‘dedicated account management’) and more competitive VIP packages make full use of this little trick. Having said that, it’s always nice to receive extra spins, even if they are subject to play-through rules…right?

Points-Based Free Spins

Then you’ve got points-based free spins. These are especially common with online casinos that employ gamification. Basically, you collect points by winning tournaments or reaching new levels by spending money on pre-specified games. At some casinos you can also receive points by registering your details and/or adding a credit card or payment method. In return, you’re given free or bonus spins. For the most part these types of ‘free’ spins aren’t free at all. To qualify you’ll usually have to spend quite extravagantly before receiving them.

Sweepstake and Prize Draw Free Spins

Free spin bonuses are also offered as part of online sweepstakes, prize-draws and tournaments. In many instances, they come with more agreeable wagering rules although some operators opt to include them without such stipulations. Again though, the term ‘free’ becomes rather tenuous because, more often than not, you’ve got to spend hard cash to be eligible. This is why ‘bonus’ is sometimes used in its place.

The Wording of Free Spin Offers

Like any online casino promotion, you should always pay close attention to the wording when it comes to free spin offers. And we don’t just mean the small print either. Subtle clues can often be gleaned from those glaring headlines that promise you the earth.

Ad-Verb Hyperbole

Many of the biggest operators employ clever wordsmiths to articulate their offers, usually through the use of hyperbolic language. Think ‘ad-verb’ and you’ll be getting warm.

This isn’t of course to say that some operators will include these terms to wax lyrical about their sorry promotions. The use of ad-verbs and purples pros can actually convey the value of free spins being peddled. ‘Mega’ and ‘Super’ are typical examples that often indicate that the spin is worth more than the usual 10p rate. This is something to look out for when searching for online casino free spins. So always check the small print before committing your funds.

The ‘Up to’ Phrase

As already mentioned, this tried and trusted term is used for a huge array of welcome deals. As well as being used to describe a tiered deposit match, the ‘up to’ phrase is sometimes employed by operators who want to indicate that their free spins are only available in a series of stages – usually after you’ve made a set number of deposits. A classic example might be: ‘Get up to 200 free spins’ or ‘Claim up to 100 bonus spins’.

The Small Print

Once you’ve come to grips with the gaudy language used by operators to peddle their offers, you’ll need to pay close attention to the T&Cs. Unfortunately the spiteful small print that lurks behind the crass lettering of 100% deposit matches, mega bonus spins and such like, will leave you in despair (or panic if you’ve already parted with any cash). Now this isn’t always the case, naturally. Nevertheless, in terms of free spins there are a few areas you’ll need to pay very, very close attention to.

Free Spins Wagering

Wagering is one of the most important, some would say dastardly, caveats in the online casino industry. But for operators they’re absolutely essential in protecting against bonus abuse and offsetting the risk of offering deals. Wagering requires you to play through a bonus a certain amount of times before any winnings can be withdrawn. Let’s say that you make use of a free spins deal that features wagering of 50x. Let’s also say that you then win $200. To withdraw this handsome sum you’ll have to wager it fifty times beforehand. You may be forgiven for thinking that x50 was pretty high, all things considered. But you’d be right. This kind of requirement is very common within the online casino sector….sadly.

Time Limits

Time limits are absolutely crucial for you to get a handle on, especially with regards to wagering. Why? Because they can have a massive impact on your chances of satisfying them. In order to play through the winnings generated from a free spins bonus, you’re going to need a bit of time. Sadly, a fair number of casinos employ 7 to 14 day time-frames which just isn’t enough in our book. 28 days is a more reasonable time limit and should be considered an absolute minimum requirement. If you come across an operator that includes a short time frame in which to satisfy wagering requirements, you may want to look elsewhere for your free spins bonus.

How to Play Free Spins

With caution, we’d suggest. First of all, clue yourself up on the small print, looking at things like wagering rules, the time you’ve got to play through any winnings and the game(s) they can be used on. Try not to get tunnel vision when you see free spins as part of a welcome package. Sure, the word ‘free’ can be pretty tantalising. But sometimes they’re not ‘free’ at all. This is why the Gambling Commission put pressure on operators to replace the term ‘free’ with the term ‘bonus’.

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Feel free to navigate American Casinos via the menu above, where you’ll find detailed information about top providers and casino games.  In addition, we write regular online casino reviews, evaluating some of the latest, most innovative operators. We look at things like game variety, promotions, the standard of customer support and cashier options. Our goal is to furnish you with as much information as is possible – after all the casino sector can be a pretty unforgiving for the uninitiated.

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