Where's the Advantage?

There is obviously an advantage to taking the Free Chip bonus at no deposit casinos regardless of the playthrough because, well, it's a Free Chip.  You can either win money or effectively lose nothing.

My question is: What advantage could there possibly be in taking a deposit bonus when it requires anywhere from 20-40x playthrough on both the deposit and the bonus?  Secondly, is it not the case that you essentially play, "Straight-Up," if you refuse the deposit bonus?

If we consider a deposit of $50 with a 50% bonus, effective amount, $75, with a 20x playthrough, you would have to playthrough $1,500 bets and still have money left over to be successful.  Technically, success would be having anything OVER $50 leftover, but on an investment like that, I probably wouldn't cash for less than $100.

However, if I simply deposit $50 and make my way up to $100 playing, "Straight-Up," which I think should be much easier, and there is no minimum playthrough, why would I want the deposit bonus?

I'm not trying to be condescending, I'm sure there is some advantage to taking the bonus, I'm just having difficulty determining what it is.

Hi Mission,

That is a great question! There are advantages to taking a Deposit Bonus because it offers the player longer play time with more credits in their account. Longer play time means greater odds of winning.

But i think players need to be careful and not take a bonus that is over 25x the play through and not take them all the time to prevent bonus abuse.

Straight Deposits are theoretically the best way to go because of not having to deal with terms and conditions and all games are available to you with no limitations. But for a player who is on a budget the extra boost of the bonus helps tremendously.

Lips

Lips,

Thank you for your response.  

My respectful counter to your position is that it seems that longer playing time would be an end in and of itself as opposed to a means, and would only offer a greater chance of winning big as opposed to a greater chance of winning.

I would suggest that more pulls certainly equal a greater opportunity to pull for a jackpot or to collect bonus games, so I definitely agree as far as that is concerned.

I would contend, however, that it does not offer a greater chance of winning, generally speaking, as all pulls are dictated by a random number generator, and only offers a better chance of winning big.  

I agree with what you are saying about budget players, especially since one huge win (and you have more chances at a huge win & can bet higher) will extend their bankroll further because they can always go back to betting small after a big win.

I guess, ultimately, a good player knows what his/her goal is going into a gambling session or deposit and will always try to act in furtherance of that objective.  In my case, my goal (on a deposit of $50) is to pull out $100 after any fees, so playing, "Straight-Up," I think gives me the best chance of doing that because I can quit immediately after eclipsng that $100 mark.

Plan your work, work your plan, do not deviate.  That's always my advice...not that I have always followed it at the physical casino...

Either way, the best policy is to know what your goal for a deposit is and stop when you get there.  If your goal is to get the deposit bonus and hit a minor jackpot (or better) at least you know what yo are playing for and DON'T GIVE IT ALL BACK.

It's been a pleasure discussing this with you, hopefully this conversation will continue.

I agree with Lips.  When I first started gambling, I used to take the biggest bonus I could find and these could only be found at rogue casinos.  I was just looking for the length of time I could gamble on one small deposit rather than wanting to cash out a huge win.

All that has changed now though; I never use a deposit bonus and if I'm automatically given one, I will ask for it to be removed before I will start playing.

blue

Well on a deposits like $20 or $25 its ok to claim a bonus, since you can barely place several good bets with it, and there are still casinos that offer bonuses with 10x or less wagering, although there is less of it every month.

On a bigger deposits, like $100+ im no fan of deposit bonus either, especialy with wagers over 20x

I only sometimes use deposit bonuses even if I deposit only $20 or $30 maybe just to test my luck.  When I think about it, I have never used the biggest bonuses out there because I prefer to change the software and games often and a few times I even forgot about some bonuses that I had.