Best Online Casino Bonuses and Promotions – December 2024

Online casino gaming continues to grow immensely thanks to the provision of bonus promotions on various sites. These aren’t offers you are likely to find in abundance at land-based casino floors. These make online casinos an exclusive way to play — the only ones that can give you free money to play with! Most casinos offer bonuses, go through the CasinoHEX list of recommended online casinos, and you’ll notice that all listed sites have casino bonuses up for grabs.

But why are bonuses so important? For starters, bonuses are a way for platform operators to grab players’ attention online when they browse for an online casino to join. Besides that, a casino bonus, whatever the type, enables players to get more gaming time than just the money they can deposit for their gaming session.

If you’re new to online gambling sites, you’re probably wondering how an online casino makes money with so many generous offers available. If you look closely, you’ll notice that every casino promotion comes with Terms and Conditions attached. These indicate wagering requirements for the given promotion. These requirements tell you how much you need to bet before you are eligible for a withdrawal. Read more information on this further on.

Popular Varieties of Online Casino Bonuses

Online casino bonuses come in a huge variety. Every player can look for one that complements their gaming preferences. What you find at any given online casino depends on what the operator decides to offer.

It’s always important you check what a platform offers rather than assuming they’ll have similar offers to another site you’ve visited. Even casinos under the same operator can sometimes have different promotions depending on the gaming audience they’re focusing on.

Below are some of the commonly available bonus promotions at online casino sites.

Welcome Bonus

From the name, it’s clear that this is one of the first promotions you’ll get on a site to welcome you to the casino gaming family. It can also be referred to as a sign-up promotion. Whenever you’re looking for a casino, this is the offer that’s most often advertised along with the casino’s other offerings.

Welcome bonuses are strictly for new members of an online casino. So, if you don’t claim it at the right time when you signed up, you can’t come back to redeem it later. To avoid this, always check the terms before you even sign up. The T&Cs will indicate what you need to do to claim the available welcome offer. A welcome offer can either be a deposit or a no deposit offer. Regardless of which one you find, you need to follow the specified terms. These will make you eligible to claim the offer, most often, those are either depositing a minimum amount at $5 minimum deposit online casino or depositing any amount within a given timeframe. Claiming it will give you either free spins, free casino credits, or a combination of any of these freebies.

Something great about most welcome bonuses is that they can be tiered. That way, you can get bonus rewards extended for the first few deposits you make at your chosen casino.

Match Bonus

A match bonus is a type of promotion that only applies when you make a deposit to your chosen casino. The way it works is the casino will match whatever sum you deposit up to a certain point. For instance, a 100% match bonus will match your deposit 1:1 up to the maximum limit. When you deposit $200, you will get $400 credited to your account. These are the most commonly available type of promotions offered by online casinos since they ensure that players make real money deposits.

Match deposits can be awarded as part of the welcome offer at most casinos. That could be as a single deposit offer or one that’s spread out across several deposits.

When it’s to be awarded as a tiered promotion, keep in mind that the deposits have to follow the terms attached to each tier of the offer.

So, for a three-tier deposit match, you must claim and complete the first tier before moving to the second, then the third tier. If you complete the first tier but don’t follow the terms when making your second deposit, then you forfeit the rest of the offer.

These bonuses can also be given to existing clients on the platforms. When that happens, you’ll often hear them referred to as reload bonuses. That means, whenever you reload your account according to the bonus terms, you will receive a matched bonus from the casino.

Sticky Bonus

This is one bonus you won’t hear of too often. However, this term covers the majority of bonuses offered at all casinos. Here are details about it so you can know what to expect from them.

A sticky bonus is one that you cannot withdraw from an online casino until after you complete the wagering requirement on it. Most online bonuses come with wagering requirements. So this is something you will find within the bonus T&Cs.

In most cases, a sticky bonus will be applied to a deposit match offer. For instance, you may be offered a 100% boost up to $100, and you deposit $100. That means you’ll have a total of $200 to play. Once you’ve won with the bonus and real money deposited to earn the bonus, you’ll need to wager your bonus amount times ten, or even more, depending on the casino. Only then will you be able to request a withdrawal.

Keep in mind that while bets on slot games contribute 100% of the wager to the withdrawal requirements, bets on other games do not. Most table games will contribute anywhere from 20% to 10% to the withdrawal requirements, with games like roulette contributing only 5%. This means if you bet $100 on slots, your withdrawal requirements are lowered by $100. If you bet the same sum on roulette, only $5 will be deducted from the playthrough requirements. This is done because free online roulette has a small house edge and is much easier to win at than most slots.

On the flip side is a non-sticky bonus. With this type of bonus, from the $200 you have to play, your real money balance is what you’ll start wagering with. If you land a big win, like $1000, and would like to withdraw, you can. However, the casino will deduct $100 from your balance. That counts as the bonus funds you didn’t get a chance to use before your withdrawal.

Loyalty Bonus

These refer to any long-term reward schemes the platform you choose has. A loyalty bonus gets awarded based on your level of activity on the site. To help measure your gaming activity on the site, you’ll receive comp points based on how much you bet, with the exact method being decided by the casino operator.

At most online casinos, comp points are either awarded for your real money wagers, or you get them for your deposits to the site. If it’s for the first option, you will earn points anytime you make real money bets. The platform will specify how much a wager on each game contributes towards the loyalty scheme.

If instead, the platform you’re on awards comp points for deposits, then every deposit will earn you a certain number of points. How many depends on the platform’s terms. However, in most cases, you may receive as much as 50% of your deposit in the form of comp points.

Some casinos automatically include all members into their loyalty program. Other platforms send invites to their most loyal players to join a VIP reward scheme. The offers in both these cases can include freebies like free spins, personal account managers, cashback offers, birthday rewards, raised transaction limits, personalized weekly or monthly bonuses, and more.

Deposit Bonus

A deposit bonus is a promotion that you earn only when you fund your account with real money. These are the most regularly available bonuses at online casinos since the casino earns from rewarding you with a bonus.

Most casino gaming sites use deposit bonuses as their preferred welcome offer. That way, all new players can commit themselves to the platform by depositing to claim the advertised offer.

Deposit offers are similar to match bonuses since the casino will offer you a percentage bonus based on the amount you deposit. Keep in mind, though, that there are minimum and maximum deposit limits set. Check out the list of 3 dollar deposit casino sites to keep your budget safe.

So, if a casino is offering a 100% bonus up to $100, the most you will get as a bonus is $100. That’s even if you deposit $300.

Something else to keep in mind with this promotion is that your deposit only counts towards the offer if the transaction gets made once. So, if you wanted to deposit $100, but you made two $50 deposits, those will not count towards claiming the bonus.

Also, check the bonus T&Cs to see which payment methods qualify you for claiming the bonus. That’s because not every available payment method counts where deposit bonuses are concerned.

No Deposit Bonus

No deposit promotions are the opposite of deposit bonuses. You don’t need to deposit anything to receive this offer. But how do you claim the bonus then? Receiving this promotion depends on your actions on the site.

No deposit bonuses can take different forms, all indicated within the promotion’s terms and conditions. For instance, when it applies to new players on a site, you can receive this offer by simply completing your account registration. It may also be awarded for verification of your player account or phone number.

For existing players on the site, no deposit offers can be awarded for logging into your user account on specific days of the week. It could also be for choosing a certain payment method, earning a certain number of comp points during a given duration, or for playing a specific game on the site. The possibilities are endless since it’s an action-based promotion.

Since no deposits are necessary for this promotion, the form it comes in depends on what the casino operator would like to offer. You may come across the frequently offered free spins and casino credits. It may also be free comp points or a combination of any of these bonus forms. However, they’re usually not as generous as deposit bonuses.

Free Play Bonus

Free play bonuses are a great way to get a generous bonus to play various games at your chosen casino. As the name suggests, you get to play specified casino games for free, thanks to casino credits awarded to you by the platform.

The amounts awarded can be extremely high, reaching even thousands of dollars without you making any deposit. You may be thinking we’re talking about no deposit offers, but that’s not it. The catch with free play bonuses is that you have to use the bonus funds within a certain duration, usually within a few minutes or, if you’re lucky, a few days.

Another catch is that you cannot withdraw what you earn. The casino may limit your winnings, enabling you to only have a certain amount in your bonus balance. The funds will then remain in your player account for future wagering. In most cases, you will need to deposit a similar amount as your winnings into your account. That way, the winnings get added to your deposit bonus and have the same wagering requirements applied to them.

Once you complete the wagering requirements, you can collect your winnings as real money from your chosen online casino.

Free Spins Bonus

Whether you’re new to casino gaming or a seasoned gamer, free spins are something every player should know about. That’s because it’s a promotion that can be used for one of the easiest casino games, slots. Slots have an impressive fanbase thanks to their ease of play and the possibility of awarding great winnings, even for unskilled casino gamers.

Free spins are just that, free slot games with bonus spins. You can receive free spins for several reasons. The most common is a no deposit welcome bonus. In these types of promotions, you may receive up to 20 free spins. It can also come accompanying a deposit bonus or as a loyalty scheme bonus perk.

For this bonus, the casino will indicate which games you can use it on. In most cases, you will not be able to use free spins on jackpot slots. However, some casinos don’t restrict the game choice. Alternatively, they set a limit to how much you can win per spin or after you deplete the bonus.

Each free spin also has a value attached to it, for instance, ten or twenty cents — that’s going to be the monetary equivalent of your spin and winnings will be calculated accordingly.

Sweep Coins Bonuses

In social casinos, sweeps coins bonuses are a form of virtual currency that can be earned or obtained as a reward. Social casinos typically offer a combination of virtual currency, such as coins or chips, and sweeps coins. While virtual currency is used for entertainment purposes within the social casino or new sweeps cash casinos, sweeps coins have a dual nature.

Sweeps coins bonuses can be used to play games in the social casino, just like virtual currency. However, unlike virtual currency, sweeps coins can also be redeemed for real-world prizes or converted into cash. This is what sets sweeps coins apart and makes them more valuable.

To acquire sweeps coins, players may receive them as a bonus for signing up, participating in promotional offers, or through in-game rewards. Social casinos often run promotions where players have the chance to earn additional sweeps coins, such as through daily bonuses, referral programs, or special events.

Refer-a-friend Bonus

Some casinos have these promotions to help increase their client base. By getting a friend to join the casino, existing members will be able to get a bonus from the casino. That’s because they will be increasing the number of players on board. The casino doesn’t need to advertise their services since you will have only nice things to say about them so that your friend signs up.

Refer-a-friend bonus promotions are easy to claim so long as you have a gambler friend who’s not a member at your preferred site. All that’s necessary is for you to give them your username or a referral code that’s unique and provided to you by the casino. That way, as they sign up, they can also include your referral information in the necessary field of the registration form.

In most cases, they will also need to deposit a certain amount to enable you to receive a bonus. The deposit is the casino’s way of ensuring you only refer people that will make real money wagers on the platform. The bonus awarded may be a percentage of the amount deposited or up to $100 worth of casino credits to use as you please.

Cashback bonus

With a cashback bonus, you get back a portion of the money you lost on the platform. It’s a promotion that requires you to spend your own money first to receive the promotion. Cashback bonuses can come as either welcome packages or promotions for players who have already registered on a site. On platforms with loyalty programs, this may be one of the available perks as well.

But why would the casino give you back your money? Well, you don’t get all your money back. The casino will only award you with a percentage of the money you’ve lost. In a way, a cashback bonus acts like insurance on your losses, making it a good option for newbie casino gamers.

For you to qualify for a cashback offer, you must have placed a wager and lost it. If you win, then nothing happens, and you’re free to continue with your gaming. The casino will either specify the amount you should wager or the minimum you should lose to receive the bonus. The amount you receive will be a percentage of one of those two amounts.

Cashback bonuses also come with a maximum and minimum limit so that the casino doesn’t incur losses.

High Roller Bonus

High roller bonuses are targeted at players that like to spend big amounts during their gaming sessions. That’s because the bonus amounts offered tend to be quite generous. For instance, you may find a welcome bonus offering a 300% bonus up to $1,000.

The best thing about high roller bonuses is that they have fewer gaming restrictions than ordinary bonuses. For instance, an ordinary bonus may only allow you to play slots or certain virtual table games. However, with a high roller promotion, you may even find you can play live casino games. As such, even the bonus win limits tend to be higher than with ordinary bonuses, which tend to be only a few hundred dollars.

Although you will be receiving a very generous promotion, these bonuses also come with higher wagering requirements. With ordinary promotions, you’re likely to find wagering limits between 15x-35x. However, at casinos with high roller promotions, the playthrough requirement can range between 40x-60x. High roller promotions can be claimed as a new player welcome bonus or an existing player match bonus. You can also become eligible to claim such offers as part of a VIP scheme bonus for higher-ranking players.

Monthly Bonuses & Promotions

Whenever you see a promotion advertised as a monthly bonus, it means it’s only available to the existing members at that casino. The casino would require players to have accessed the site within at least 30 days before the offer being awarded. The exact number of days will be specified in the bonus terms and conditions. To qualify for monthly bonuses, players may need to meet one or several conditions during the month. For starters, you may need to have deposited or wagered a certain amount of real money. That gets counted throughout the month to make you eligible for the promotion. So, opting into the promotion means the casino will keep track of your deposits or wager amounts throughout the month. However, you can also track your expenditure on the site to ensure you qualify for the offer.

The form which the awarded bonus will take depends on the casino. It could be free chips for table games, free spins for slots, or casino credits valid on select games on the site. You can find these within the T&Cs. Monthly promotions can even take the form of giveaways. That way, players get awarded with unique items like branded merchandise, phones, or tickets to exclusive events and trips.

Game-Specific Bonuses

Game-specific bonuses get tied to certain casino games on your chosen online gaming site. In most cases, these promotions tend to be on newly launched games. You’ll find these bonuses mainly being offered on slots since these are the most frequently played casino games. In such a case, you’re likely to receive free spins.

However, there are instances where the bonus is offered on popular or unpopular real money casino games on the site. If it’s for popular games, these promotions tend to target newly signed-up members. That way, they can test out fan-favorite games as they check out what the site has to offer.

When the free spins are valid on unpopular releases, that’s to get more players to test out a title. That way, if the game is good and people were just afraid to test it with their own money, they can now get a chance to enjoy a new title.

Game-specific bonus promotions are a fantastic option for both seasoned and newbie casino gamers. That’s because they give you a chance to enjoy one game without having to spend your own money on it. Besides that, it also helps you build your list of favorites whenever you land on something you like.

Device-Specific Bonuses

In the same way that game-specific bonuses are tied to certain games, device-specific bonuses are tied to certain devices. In most cases, this is a promotion that will apply to players looking for mobile gaming bonuses.

Whenever you visit a casino, the platform collects a few details about you. One of these is the device you’re playing from, be it a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. From this data, the site can adjust as necessary to accommodate your device’s specs, especially when it comes to enhancing mobile gameplay.

So, since the platform can tell which device you’re playing from, you will be able to qualify for bonuses based on which operating system your device uses. For instance, if a platform offers Android promotions, using your Android smartphone or tablet when you access the platform’s services automatically makes you eligible for the offer.

Another way casinos can ascertain the device you’re using to play is through downloadable apps. This tends to be the most common way of offering device-specific promotions. Upon downloading the app, you automatically receive the bonus tied to your device’s OS. All you’ll need to do is opt into the promotion to receive the advertised promotional offer.

How To Qualify for Online Casino Bonuses

Every casino is different. Even if two or more platforms fall under the helm of the same operator, their promotions may vary. As such, we always encourage players to read the terms and conditions. By this, we don’t mean the platform’s terms and conditions but rather, the particular bonus’s T&Cs. It’s necessary since that’s where you’ll find the particularities on how to claim an offer.

Bonuses can be claimed through making deposits of certain amounts dictated by the platform’s operators. They can also be claimed by fulfilling certain terms specified in the T&Cs.

For deposit offers, ensure you know which payment options are accepted towards the promotions. Some online casinos don’t allow players to make bonus deposits using eWallets like Skrill and Neteller. So, if you use these, then you don’t get the bonus.

Another point regarding deposit bonuses is that to claim them, you’ll need to know the minimum and maximum limits. Deposit less than what’s specified and you miss out on the offer. Deposit more and the platform will only award you the maximum amount applicable for the offer.

For no deposit offers, just fulfill the stipulated conditions like verifying your account within set timeframes to claim the advertised bonus.

Understanding How Wagering Requirements Work

We’ve mentioned wagering requirements quite a few times in regards to the above-mentioned promotions. That’s because these are a vital requirement whenever you come across bonuses that have them. You may also hear them referred to as playthrough terms.

In most cases, the promotion you claim will credit all winnings from your bonus gaming as bonus funds. If you’d like to be able to withdraw these, then you need to convert the funds to real cash. To do this, you’ll need to fulfill the bonus’s wagering requirements. That means you’ll need to play more using real money.

But how do you calculate the wagering requirement on a bonus? Let’s say that an offer gave you 100% up to $100 with a 25x wagering requirement. You’ll need to combine the deposited amount and the bonus awarded, which amounts to $200.

To know how much you need to bet on the platform, you’ll need to multiple $200 25 times. That will give you 5,000. So, you will need to wager an additional $5,000 to withdraw your bonus winnings. it doesn’t mean you need to lose five grand, you just need to bet that amount. In any case, this may seem steep for some players, which is why everyone is encouraged to check the wagering terms always before they claim an offer.

Information You’ll Find Under Casino Bonus Terms & Conditions

The bonus terms and conditions will indicate everything you need to claim bonuses that are suitable for you. Every promotion has them, including no wager bonuses which automatically turn all your bonus winnings into real money.

The bonus T&Cs are not only for specifying wagering terms and how to claim an offer, whether you need bonus codes or if you should contact support. They also tell you which games you can play using the bonus. If it’s free spins, you’ll be informed of the slots to play or not to play. If it’s casino credits, you’ll be informed of the games categories you can choose from or which ones you can’t.

Besides that, the T&Cs also tell you how long a bonus is valid. All promotions have an expiration date. Some can give you up to 90 days to use your offer. On the other hand, you may find free play bonuses that only give you an hour or less to earn your fortune. Whatever the case, finding that information means you can plan your gaming session appropriately.

Another important detail you’ll find is the maximum winnings you can earn from your bonus session. That way, you’ll know which games to focus on.