Play Slots for Free with No Deposit

Wagering requirements are the most important bonus rule of them all, period. They decide how likely it is for a player to withdraw bonus winnings. The simple rule of thumb is – the higher the bonus wagering requirement, the lower your chances of making a bonus withdrawal.

If a bonus comes with a wagering requirement (most of them do), the rule is fairly straightforward – you cannot immediately withdraw any bonus funds or bonus winnings from the casino. The funds are kept locked.

To unlock them, you have to place wagers with them. If the wagering requirement is 1x, you have to wager the funds at least once – if you have $100 bonus winnings, you have to place bets worth at least $100 before making a withdrawal request.

Ordinarily, wagering requirements are kept far higher than 1x – it is not uncommon to find them at 30x, 40x, or even 60x. The logic is simple – the more times you wager money at a casino, the more likely you are of losing said funds. By the time you make 10x or 20x wagers, the bonus will run out. At this point, the wagering requirement is fulfilled.

One other thing to note: with no deposit bonus wagering, the rules are slightly different for bonus cash and free spins.

Let’s take two examples to figure out how to calculate wagering requirements for both types:

As you can see from the two examples, a cash bonus has more predictable wagering targets than a free spins bonus. In the latter, the wagering requirement target will vary depending on how much you win on the spins.

The expiry date is one major aspect of casino bonuses that many players ignore. All bonuses come with a finite validity period – with no deposit bonuses, the time limits are much shorter than paid bonuses.

Often, a no deposit bonus will only last for 24 hours. The clock starts ticking as soon as you claim the bonus. In some cases, you may get up to 72 hours, but those tend to be the exception, not the norm.

The implications here are quite simple – whenever you claim a no deposit bonus, try to use it ASAP. Waiting is not advisable as the bonus will expire as soon as the time runs out – you cannot claim the offer again at a casino.

Further, there is also the issue of wagering requirements – the time limits of a bonus also extend to the wagering. If you don’t complete the wagering requirement within the 24-hour deadline, your bonus and winnings are voided by the casino.

A win limit tells you how much money you can legally withdraw from a no deposit bonus winnings. It is a fairly straightforward rule that is easy to understand.

Here is an example of a common type of no deposit bonus:

“Casino X” – 20 Free Spins No Deposit – Max Cash Win C$100

Consider a situation where you won $200 with the 20 free spins. And imagine that you had $125 left in your balance after the wagering requirement is fulfilled. Of this balance, the casino will only pay you a max of $100.

The remaining $25 is voided or cancelled by the casino under the win limits rule. If you ignore the win limits of a bonus, there is a high chance of getting disappointed during the withdrawal phase. Always pay attention to this rule when claiming any no deposit bonus offers.

Casinos use this rule to reduce the financial damage caused by slots players claiming no deposit bonuses and getting to keep all their winnings.

As we already explained, you cannot use a no deposit bonus on any game available at the casino. Casino rules explicitly prevent bonus play or wagering on certain game categories. The reasons can vary, ranging from vendor restrictions to casinos trying to reduce player odds of winning money.

If you try to play any of these restricted games with bonus funds, the bonus and any winnings will be voided by the casino.

Let us look at a few examples of no deposit bonuses with eligible game restrictions:

This rule is related to all attempts to complete the wagering requirement. When you place bets at the casino with your bonus funds/winnings, it is important to check the game weighting for wagering.

Different game categories contribute a different percentage to the wagering requirement. For instance, bets placed on slots always contribute 100% to your wagering requirement. If you bet $100 on slots, the $100 will be accounted for wagering.

However, other categories like table games contribute as low as 10% to wagering, This means that if you bet $100 on table games with your bonus winnings, only $10 will be accounted to your wagering target.

The reason for this discrepancy is fairly simple – game RTP or player odds. Some games like blackjack have excellent player odds – the RTP on these games can touch 99%. If you wager bonus money on these games, you stand a better chance of winning more and completing your wagering with cash to space.

Casinos want to reduce the odds of that happening as much as possible. And to protect them from financial losses, they enforce the eligible games rule. Slots usually have the lowest RTP of all casino game categories – ranging from 92% to 97%.

So, casinos have no problem allowing players access to most video slots, as well as other games with better casino odds, like keno, bingo, scratch cards etc.

You can see this clearly from the bonus wagering rules at top casinos:

As you can see from the screenshots, different casinos have different game weightages for wagering purposes.