Online Casino Bonus Guide

Everyone knows that the best part about gambling online is being able to take advantage of the various promotions and casino bonuses on offer.

All top-rated New Zealand mobile casinos offer some form of bonus or another. This may come in the form of a no-deposit bonus, free spins or a cash match bonus on your first deposit. If you are familiar with online casinos, you may have also heard of bonus codes. These are specific promotional codes that unlock casino bonuses when used at the casino itself.

If you want to learn all about bonuses, our in-dept guide covers every aspect that you need to know!

Why Do Casinos Offer Bonuses?

While land-based casinos have always been pretty stable, supplying players in their immediate vicinity with all the casino entertainment they could dream of, the online casino world is slightly different.

There are thousands of online casinos available, and they feed all corners of this vastly connected globe. This is because there are very few restrictions when it comes to online casinos, and people in New Zealand, for example, can access online casinos based in Europe or the United States of America or any other country. Of course, there are restrictions in some cases, but in general, online casinos are open to all citizens of the world.

This means that there is immense competition. They need to make themselves as appealing as possible to potential players so that they can attract players and retain their patronage. While some ways of doing this include creating a very visually attractive platform or offering a wide variety of games or very unique games, another way of doing this is offering online casino bonuses. This includes the lucrative welcome bonus offers.

Let’s take a closer look at all the different bonuses up for grabs and how they can enhance your real money gaming experience.

How Bonuses Give You a Boost

All of the online and mobile casinos that we review for you here are trustworthy and above board, and if you know that, then you can choose where to sign up based on your personal preferences, playing style and needs. The first thing a lot of people consider is, of course, what games are available. This is an essential concern, but it’s not the only thing to think of by a long shot.

Since online and mobile casinos are all competing against each other and vying for your business, they need to give you reasons to choose their site rather than another one with similar games. Offline casinos have to do this too, but they can use comps for drinks, food, hotel rooms, shows, spas and other pampering treats to make the whole experience more enticing to players. Online casinos can’t do that, but they have something equally great: casino bonuses.

Bonuses are awarded in many different situations at online and mobile casinos, and they will always allow you to play for longer and potentially win more. They can form part of other promotional deals, such as with free spins, or come on their own. The extra funds they award may be used on any game, or you may have to use them on specific games that the casino is trying to promote. Sometimes you even get to keep real cash!

A Win-Win Situation

Casino bonuses are very beneficial to you, but they’re also great for the casinos you’re playing at. Not only do you stay where you are and keep spending money, but they can use the rewards to encourage certain behaviours. That’s why you’ll often see ‘Happy Hour Bonuses’ for players who visit at a certain time of day, ‘Referral Bonuses’ for those who recruit new members, ‘Reload Bonuses’ for every deposit made, and ‘High Roller Bonuses’ for players who make especially large deposits. Many casinos in New Zealand also give specific ‘Mobile Bonuses’ to gamblers who use their smartphones or tablets to play.

Awarding bonuses for playing a particular game or using a particular transaction system also helps the casino influence your behaviour, and bonuses may be given in other situations too – very commonly, the online and mobile casinos in New Zealand give them to players on their birthdays. They may be based on a specific holiday or event, may occur on specific weekly or monthly cycles, or may simply exist in their own right.

Aside from varied bonus deals, most online establishments also run lucrative Loyalty Programmes. These reward every real money bet that is made, so they can go a long way towards encouraging frequent playing and spending. Bonuses are often among the top perks that casino members get for their continued loyalty, although you’ll get lots of other special treatment too.

The most lavish online and mobile casino bonuses, however, are reserved for the sign-up rewards that newly registered players are welcomed with. Since these are used to entice new members, it makes sense. They’re usually pretty spectacular (as they should be) but be careful not to be so dazzled by them that you forget to check the Loyalty and other regular bonus deals before you commit.

When you receive a bonus from an online or mobile casino, the credits might go directly into your casino account or you might be given a code that you need to enter in order to access them. You might also get to keep whatever winnings you generate as actual cash, or they may be awarded as casino credits. Either way, you get to keep playing and having fun for longer, and since you would have been betting and putting money down anyway, it can really be a win-win situation for you.

Different Casino Bonus Types

There are three main types of bonus structures at almost every online and mobile casino in New Zealand, and these are used in all situations in which bonuses are given. They are:

Bonus deals may also combine the different types of bonus structures, awarding different amounts of bonus credits for a few successive deposits. Again, this is most commonly seen when a Welcome Bonus is broken into a few different stages.

New Zealand’s Best Welcome Bonus Offers

Most casinos, particularly in the online sphere, offer welcome bonus offers. These form part of the general casino bonuses that make gaming at online casinos so incredibly attractive. But why is it that casinos offer welcome bonuses, and what do these welcome bonuses do to make a casino more attractive? Lets find out!

Basics of a Welcome Bonus

With welcome bonus offers, an online casino basically rewards players for having signed up with them.

There are various types of welcome bonus offers available. For example, the online casino may offer the player a certain number of free spins to play with, a certain percentage of the initial deposit in casino credits, and sometimes they even equal the amount of the initial deposit and give this to the newly registered player as casino credits which to play with.

What this does is entice the player to sign up with that respective online casino in the first place, as it is often the welcome bonuses can be a make or break for players. Players who already have a bit of knowledge of the casino world will know to look for the best welcome bonuses in New Zealand, regardless of whether these platforms are actually based in New Zealand or not, and make their decision from there.

A World of Winning

The welcome bonuses give the players an immediate head start. They begin their casino journey by immediately saving in that they can play a variety of the casino games on offer for free, and thus stand the chance of winning funds without having had to spend anything yet.

This immediately establishes a bond between the player and the online casino, making the player want to come back again and again.

Finding the Top Welcome Bonuses

Given the importance of the welcome offers and the implications for other offers in future, casino players will be well-advised to find the mobile casinos with the best welcome bonuses in New Zealand, as well as the best other bonuses and benefits.

An easy way to do this is by reading online casino reviews and heading to well-known sites in order to compare a vast number of various online casino platforms.

Of course, the best welcome bonuses are not the only thing that needs to be right. The casino will also need to offer the player exactly what he or she wants with regards to the type of games available, where the player is based, and what the player ultimately wants from the casino experience.

To make sure you get the best deal and that the bonus you claim when playing on your Android, iOS or other mobile device is the most rewarding, we only recommend online casinos that feature rich rewards at every turn!

Some of these bonuses may be awarded by redeeming a code, and you can learn more about that below.

What are Bonus Codes?

A bonus code is an online casino promotional code made up of numbers and letters. Depending on what type of bonus is being offered, the code will often contain the name of the casino or the type of bonus on offer.

For example, a free spins bonus offering 100 free spins might have a bonus code that appears as such: 100SPINSNOW. A bonus code is essentially a way for the casino to market themselves and their current bonus promotions. Instead of relying on players making their way to the site on their own, they can draw players through to their site by offering bonus codes on review sites, info sites and gambling forums.

How to Find a Bonus Code

A simple web search will bring up loads of websites that list and rate the best bonus codes for each online or mobile casino. There are many different types of bonus codes that each relate to a specific type of bonus. Some bonus codes are specifically for a no-deposit bonus while others can only be used on pokies and some for cash match first deposit bonuses. Getting your hands on a casino bonus code is the easy part, it’s what you do with it that counts.

In most cases, the only way to “cash in” your bonus code is to sign up to the specific online casino and make a deposit into your account. Before you do this, it is important to find out exactly what the bonus offers and what the wagering requirements are. In most cases, the casino bonus offers a huge cash match bonus but has very strict wagering requirements with a 40x playthrough. In such cases, it would be better to avoid the casino altogether and look for a bonus with more lenient playthroughs.

Activating your Bonus Code

It is essential that you find out all the details of a casino bonus before you sign up. If you do happen to come across a bonus that can be useful, you can use your bonus code directly on the site itself. To activate your bonus code, you will need to log onto the home page, sign up for a new casino account and insert your code in the promotional code space provided in the enrolment form.

Once your application has been processed, the bonus code will be activated, and your free spins or no-deposit bonus will be activated. For cash match bonuses, the bonus will only come into effect once you have made your first deposit.

Ongoing Rewards

Online casinos are not restricted by what they offer as their welcome bonuses. Indeed, the welcome bonuses casinos offer are very often a reflection of the other type of bonuses that the player will be able to expect at the respective online casino platform.

This means that players can expect to continue receiving various bonuses throughout their membership at an online casino platform, and they will be rewarded for a certain amount spent, time spent with the casino, birthdays or anniversaries. This entices the player to continue investing his or her time, energy, and funds into the site in question and not move on to a different online casino platform.

Refer a Friend Casino Sign Up Offers

Refer a Friend casino sign up offers can be very lucrative rewards, and once you understand exactly how they work you’ll be able to obtain the maximum benefit from them.

Referral bonuses benefit both you and the site offering them. You get rewarded for sending a little extra business their way and they profit by increasing their client base.

How Do These Offers Work?

In order to claim a Refer a Friend casino sign up offer, you’ll need to advise someone you know to sign up for an account with the casino making the offer. You’ll usually find this very easy to do thanks to a contact form the operator will provide that allows you to simply fill in the email addresses of your pals with a standard message already in place.

You’ll essentially be telling your fellow players that you’ve found the best mobile casino in New Zealand and urging them to get in on the fun! The operator will send the message to the individuals you’ve provided the contact information for, and if anyone ends up signing up, you’ll get a certain amount of money as thanks from the brand.

The mate you’ve recommended the site to will be able to take full advantage of mobile casino sign up offers the same way you did, and if he or she opts to use the referral, they’ll get a little boost to their bankrolls too!

Things to Keep in Mind

Refer a Friend casino sign up offers will have wagering requirements attached, to protect the operator from unscrupulous players just grabbing the cash and disappearing over the horizon. You’ll have to play your way through the bonus cash amount a certain amount of times, with 35X being considered most reasonable. If a site has generous mobile casino sign up offers but their other rewards ask you to meet wagering requirements of 40X or more, we recommend you keep looking, as this is considered excessive.

The devil’s in the details, and bonuses are no different. You’ll need to make sure you’re playing games that count towards your wagering requirement, since not all of them do. Be sure and watch the clock, too, since most bonuses are time-limited and trigger the minute you accept them. The danger of not doing so is that you’ll be stuck meeting wagering requirements for a reward you never benefited from!

Take Full Advantage of Free Cash

Refer a Friend casino sign up offers are, at their most basic, free money. For players on a tight budget, which is almost all of us, they can provide a very welcome financial boost to your iGaming experience. You may be able to use them to play games you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to, for example, or simply extend the time you spend on the titles you know you love.

Mobile Casino Bonus Spins vs Free Spins

Given that they both offer considerably more action and entertainment, free and mobile casino bonus spins are both popular among players in New Zealand. However, the two types of promotion are very different, and if you are a savvy player, you are probably wondering which is best.

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question, as the answer depends partly on what it is that you are looking for at the time. The best way to decide which is best for you is to understand what the offers entail and how they work, and then apply your newfound knowledge to the offers you receive.

Mobile Bonus Spins

The first thing you need to know about mobile bonus spins is that they do come with strings attached. To receive them, you need to make a deposit, or to fulfil another requirement as stipulated by the site making the offer.

In most cases, however, they are given as part of a reward that is received by making a deposit. This means you receive money as well as a set number of reel-turns from the casino. An example might be a promotion that offers a 100% match up to $50 plus 20 casino bonus spins in New Zealand. Let’s say you accept the offer, and deposit $20 into your account. The site will give you another $20, and you will get 20 opportunities to play pokies, which are usually chosen by the site.

Mobile Free Spins

Mobile free spins, on the other hand, cost nothing. They are most often seen as sign-up offers made by sites trying to attract new players and claiming them usually requires little more than signing up for an account.

They are sometimes offered when new pokies are added to a casino’s collection. This gives players a chance to try out the new game; something the site hopes will encourage them to play it for real money later. Some sites offer every player a set number of mobile casino free spins in New Zealand during a certain time slot on a certain day of the week. In many cases, these offers are also linked to specific games.

Terms and Conditions

New and inexperienced players sometimes rush into claiming such offers, whether they be free or mobile casino bonus spins. Unfortunately, they later discover that those promotions, like most things in life, come with terms and conditions.

All promotional deals tend to have wagering and playthrough requirements, as well as an expiry date. If you plan on withdrawing any winnings you make when playing pokies with your reward, you need to ensure you meet all requirements. If you haven’t used your rewards by the expiry date, you will lose them.

Other types of offers usually have playthrough requirements based on the value of winnings you make. They also place restrictions on withdrawing those winnings and on what amount you may need to deposit in order to be eligible to cash out.

Understanding Wagering And Playthrough Requirements

All bonuses will feature playthrough requirements that essentially ensure a player will remain loyal to a casino for a set period of time, if they choose to accept a bonus offer.

What Is a Playthrough Requirement?

When a player signs up to an online casino, they can take advantage of many different bonus offers. Once you accept any bonus promotion, you will also accept the wagering or Playthrough requirements.

What this promotion entails is that a player will receive a cash amount from the casino to either add to his current funds or to provide him with funds if no deposit is made upon completing your sign up.

A Player’s account will be limited to deposits and playing real money games, but he or she will not be able to make withdrawals. Any time you win a cash amount in a real money game, it will be banked in your account, but you will only be able to make a withdrawal once you have met the wagering requirement.

How Do Playthrough Requirements Work?

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say a casino offers you a bonus of $100. The playthrough requirements are always related to the bonus you have received. Let’s, as an example, say the wagering requirement is 20x.

This means that you will need to wager $20 x 100 in the casino before you can get access to your funds. The 20x or 10x or 50x notation is standard amongst casinos when setting out the wagering requirements.

Once you have met these wagering requirements, you will get full access to your funds and you can withdraw any jackpot or bonus cash that is in your account.

When Do Wagering Requirements Come Into Play?

As soon as you have accepted a bonus offer, the playthrough requirements will come into effect, limiting your account withdrawals.

Meeting Your Playthrough Requirements

There are a few things players can keep in consideration when they wish to meet their playthrough requirements as fast as possible.

Find The Most Player Friendly Requirements

Not all online casinos will give you the same playthrough requirements as there is no industry standard. That said, since the online casino marketplace is already so competitive, there appears to be some general consensus on what is a reasonable playthrough requirement.

You can check our recommend casinos to easily find the most reputable casinos offering reasonable wagering requirements. This will save you the effort of reading through the fine print of other online casinos’ bonus agreements.

At the end of the day no bonus offer is forced upon players. These offers should only be accepted if you feel that you can meet their requirements. If these requirements seem reasonable to you, the bonuses you obtain are well worth it.

A Quick Word of Caution

You do need to be careful with online casino bonuses. While they can be a win-win situation, they are not always this way. Remember, first and foremost, these sites are businesses too, and every business needs to turn a profit. No matter how great a bonus is given to you, casino proprietors would be fools if these didn’t ultimately benefit the site just as much as they do the player.

Check that the playthrough requirements (how many times you have to bet the bonus amount before you can cash out) are not too steep and that you will be able to use the bonus in the period given. You also need to be sure that you are happy with the games you are required to use your bonus on if this is a condition, and that you are happy to get casino credits rather than cash if this is the case. No matter how fantastic a bonus is, if it is not suited to you, it’s not a good idea.

Never Allow Yourself to Settle

The most important thing to remember about online and mobile casino bonuses is that they need to work for you. The sites are trying to keep you happy; after all, you are the customer. That means you should never have to settle, and you should never allow yourself to do that.

If the bonuses at an online casino don’t suit you, there are enough high-quality options in New Zealand that will. If you don’t make large deposits, then don’t choose a casino that focuses on High Roller Bonuses. And if you often play at a specific time of day or get your friends to sign up, look for casinos with generous Happy Hour or Referral Bonuses.

It’s important that online and mobile casinos give you the respect you deserve, and the bonuses that they offer are a good measure of that. If they don’t offer generous Loyalty, Welcome and other regular casino bonuses, they are not worth your time. Keep looking; you’ll soon find a casino that is. Our reviews are, of course, the perfect place to begin your search!

Deciding Which Bonus Is Best

When deciding what type of offer is best, you need to take several factors into account. Bonuses usually offer a higher number of spins than other types of offers, so you get to play for longer.

However, their terms and conditions might see you needing to deposit a relatively large amount of money before you can withdraw any winnings. If more gaming is all you are after, choosing mobile casino bonus spins may be worth your while.

Although these promotions usually give you fewer chances for more gaming, they tend to have requirements that are relatively easier to fulfil. If you want to try win and withdraw as much money as you possibly can, mobile casino free spins in New Zealand may be for you.

The best mobile casinos in New Zealand will have a good range of promotions for you to choose from, and we highly recommend that you take your time in reviewing the pros and cons of each before you sign up for anything. It’s easy to find something that suits the way you like to play once you know what you’re looking for, and they can really go a long way if you use them as they’re meant to be used!

 

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