Best Casino Bonuses September 2023

Being able to distinguish good and bad bonuses easily is one of the most important parts of being a successful streamer and happy casino player. CasinoGrounds is a streaming community with some of the best casino streamers in the world. This makes it one of the most trustworthy sources of casino bonuses and information.

One of the most prominent aspects of being a streamer community is that casinos are aware of our ability to analyse them and our potential outreach if something is good or bad. Additionally, we can offer community-exclusive bonuses to our members and visitors.

Our brand has been a household name in the casino industry for many years, which makes online casino brands want to look good together with our brand. This separates us from the typical casino review site out there.

Wide Range of Bonuses

Depending on where you live, you will have access to a wide range of bonuses, including both sticky and non-sticky deposit bonuses, free spins, cashback bonuses, no deposit bonuses, free bonus money, wager-free bonuses, no wager-free spins, and live casino bonuses. Below, we will explain how these types of casino bonuses work for those who need to become familiar with (some of) them.

Sticky Bonuses

A sticky bonus is a bonus that is ‘’stuck’’ to your own initial deposit. This means that you cannot withdraw any winnings until you’ve met all the wagering requirements and other bonus terms.

The winnings of a sticky bonus are considered ‘’bonus’’ winnings because both your deposited funds and the won bonus funds are tied to one another.

The downside of this casino bonus type is that as the deposit and bonus effectively become one pool of money with the same requirements, a wagering requirement will include both the deposit and bonus. For instance, a 40x wagering requirement becomes a 40x deposit + bonus requirement.

Whilst you are playing through the wagering requirements of a sticky bonus, the only money eligible for withdrawal is your initial deposit. If you withdraw these funds, the sticky bonus will be removed, including any winnings made with both the deposit and the bonus money. In some cases, even after fulfilling the wagering requirements, you may not be able to withdraw the bonus money and only the winnings you may have won by wagering it.

Although a sticky bonus looks not too favourable for players at first glance, they often provide players with a lot more value compared to non-sticky bonuses. Sometimes sticky bonuses are up to 750% more favourable for players!

However, you should keep in mind that the wagering requirements are likely to be higher than non-sticky bonuses. If you are the kind of player that is planning to play quite a few sessions anyway, then a huge sticky bonus may just be the kind of bonus you should be looking for.

Non-sticky Deposit Bonuses

Non-sticky deposit bonuses are deposit bonuses where you wager your own money first before any bonus funds are being used. The most significant advantage of this type of casino bonus is that you can withdraw your winnings any time you want without having to meet any bonus wagering requirements first. However, you should keep in mind that by doing so, you will forfeit the rest of the bonus.

As you’ll only receive the bonus money once you’ve lost your initial deposit, this type of bonus is also called a ‘’lifeline’’ bonus. The bonus funds act as a sort of lifeline, enabling you to continue playing, having lost your own deposit. As you might understand, you’ll need the wagering requirements of this type of bonus before you can withdraw the bonus funds received or any winnings made with it.

Non-sticky bonuses are a relatively new phenomenon and are happily received by most casino players. Until recently, most online casino deposit bonuses were sticky. Because of that, a big win soon after accepting the bonus would often lead to no win at all, as it would be needed to play through the remaining wagering requirements of the bonus. For this reason, non-sticky deposit bonuses are by far the most popular online casino bonus type, as well as the most lucrative one.

Free Spins Bonuses

Free spins are exactly as the name suggests: free spins. You can often use these free spins on the most popular and/or latest online slot machines and usually come together with a traditional deposit bonus. Sometimes online casinos even give away free spins as a form of no-deposit bonus, where no deposit is required to receive the free spins. Usually, free spins are given as part of loyalty- or VIP-programs or handed out to existing players regularly rather than to new players.

Cashback Bonuses

Cashback bonuses are among the most popular bonuses, especially among experienced casino players that know that this bonus type provides them with the most value over time. Cashback bonuses reward players with cash payments equal to a predetermined percentage of any losses they might have incurred over a specific period.

The cashback bonus percentages often range between 10% and 20% of a player’s net deposit losses. Some casino cashback bonuses only apply to a player’s first deposit, while others might run regular cashback promotions or have a (tiered) weekly cashback program in place.

While there are generic cashback casino bonuses for all players, most online casinos have their own loyalty or VIP programs that reward loyal high-volume players with additional bonuses, often including larger cashback ratios and other perks, benefits, and bonuses.

Live Casino Bonuses

Live casino bonuses are bonuses suitable for players that prefer game shows and live dealer games like live roulette, blackjack, and baccarat over slots. These types of casino bonuses are only usable at live casino games and often have stricter wagering requirements. The reason for this is that the house edge on table games and game shows is considerably lower than on slots.

VIP & High Roller Bonuses

VIP & high roller bonuses are the cream of the crop, so to speak, and are usually given to players that make a large first deposit or that have cumulatively deposited significant sums of money. These bonuses are often the same as regular deposit bonuses but with much higher amounts.

In some cases, the bonus terms can be a little more loose, resulting in a lower wagering requirement or a higher maximum bet per spin, hand, or round whilst playing through the bonus. In other cases, VIP & high roller bonuses come with other perks, such as an increased rate of cashback or ‘’Comp Points’’ earned.

Crypto Bonuses

Some crypto-friendly casinos have recently started to offer cryptocurrency-specific bonuses, often in the form of airdrops or faucet rewards. Airdrops are amounts of free digital currency given away to players, whilst cryptocurrency casinos with a built-in faucet allow players to ‘’earn’’ cryptocurrencies by completing daily missions or simply claiming them frequently.

No-Deposit Bonuses

In most cases, no deposit bonuses come in the form of free spins. However, some casinos give new players a small starting balance to play with, let’s say $5 or $10. Although these bonuses are highly sought after by many so-called ‘’bonus hunters’’, the value of a no-deposit bonus is often not that high compared to regular deposit bonuses.

Free Bonus Money

As we discussed above, some casinos give away free bonus money to players in the form of a no-deposit bonus. However, when a casino gives free bonus money to existing players instead of new ones, we often speak of ‘’free bonus money’’ instead.

No Wager Bonuses

No wager bonuses are exactly as they sound like; bonuses that don’t have any wagering requirements attached to them at all. These bonuses are highly sought after by both new and experienced casino players. However, most online casinos only give no wager bonuses or wager-free bonuses to existing players that are highly levelled in the casino’s loyalty or VIP program.

How To Identify The Best Casino Bonuses

You identify the best casino bonuses by comparing the wagering requirements, value, and other terms and conditions of them to other available casino bonuses. In the section below, we will explain to you exactly how to do this.

Wagering Requirements

When looking at the wagering requirements of a casino bonus, you should always pay attention to the number of turnovers, the time you have to meet the wagering requirements, the qualifying and excluded games, and the game wagering contributions. It is also crucial to know whether you’re dealing with a bonus where wagering requirement is set on a sum of your initial deposit and bonus, or just on bonus itself.

Bonus vs Deposit + Bonus

You should always check whether you have to wager only the received bonus money an x amount of times or the received bonus money plus your own deposited initial funds. Obviously, a deposit bonus is more favourable for players when only the received bonus money needs to be wagered an x amount of times.

Number of Turnovers

Ideally, you want the number of turnovers from a casino bonus to be as low as possible. The industry standard is about 35x, so anything below that figure is quite favourable for players. However, don’t blindly stare at the number of turnovers and also take the time to read the rest of the bonus terms and conditions carefully.

Time to Wager

Although we would all like our casino bonuses to last forever, this isn’t the case. Most casino bonuses are valid for between 7 and 30 days after accepting them, depending on the casino you’re playing at. We usually recommend checking for deposit bonuses that give you at least 14 days to meet the wagering requirements. The last thing you’d want is to be halfway playing through a bonus and then having all your winnings forfeited because you didn’t make it in time.

Qualifying and Excluded Games

Most casino bonuses can be used on all games, but there are some exceptions. In some cases, casino games with high RTP ratios are excluded from gameplay whilst you have an active bonus. We really recommend players double-check if and what games are excluded because there are online casinos that are a bit sneaky in the sense that no warning will pop up whatsoever while playing those games. You’ll often find out ‘’too late’’ that these games are excluded, hence leading to forfeiting your winnings.

Wagering Contribution

Not all games at an online casino contribute 100% of your wagers towards the playthrough of the wagering requirements. Be sure to check out the contribution of the games you intend to play beforehand if you wish to meet the wagering requirements promptly and have the biggest chance of doing so.

The good news is that wagers on slots most often contribute 100% towards wagering requirements. Some slots may carry a slightly lower contribution towards wagering requirements because they have higher-than-average RTP (return to player) ratios, while others might be restricted altogether. Some examples of slots that are often excluded are 1429: Uncharted Seas from Thunderkick, Blood Suckers by NetEnt, and Book of 99 by Relax Gaming.

Other casino games, however, often have much lower contributions towards wagering requirements. For example, table games like roulette, blackjack, baccarat, and craps usually only contribute around 10% towards wagering requirements. This means that a $5 on a hand of blackjack would only count for $0,50 for playing through the wagering requirements.

The reason why these games are often either totally excluded or only count for a low percentage towards playing through bonuses is that the casino doesn’t have a high enough edge to allow them to do so.

Value

Experienced players use a metric called the Bonus Expected Value (EV) to calculate the real value of a casino bonus. This outcome of this ‘’value’’ is what you can expect to have left after meeting the wagering requirements of the bonus.

Most of the time, the formula used to calculate the value of a casino bonus is EV = Bonus Money - Game RTP x Wager Amount.

Example: If we assume you receive a $250 deposit bonus with a 30x wagering requirement, and you only play a slot with it with an RTP of 96,20%, you would have to wager $7,500. With a loss of 3,8%, we end up with $7,215, or a loss of $285. If we have received $250 in bonus funds, the Expected Value of the bonus is -$35.

The Expected Value changes if we play games with a higher RTP, but we must ensure that the wagering contribution of these games is 100% or close to 100%.

Other Terms and Conditions

Apart from wagering requirements, wagering contributions, qualifying, and excluded games, you should also take other terms and conditions into consideration. For this reason, it is important to read the fine print of a casino bonus thoroughly before accepting one.

In some cases, it might state something about the number of deposits required to qualify for a bonus. In other scenarios, it may exclude some payment methods from receiving bonuses. Of course, a casino also doesn’t want players to abuse their bonuses. You may not be able to cover the entire roulette table, for instance.

Online Casino Promotions

CasinoGrounds offers exclusive casino bonuses and promotions in tight collaboration with the world’s best and most popular online casinos. Additionally, our forum is a great place to find information about the latest and best bonuses and promotions offered to players that have signed up at various online casinos through CasinoGrounds. If you have any questions regarding any casino bonus or have run into any problems, reach out to us or check out the forum for assistance.

As we receive many questions regarding casino bonuses daily and want the information on our website to be as complete as possible, we’ve decided to answer the most frequently asked questions about casino bonuses below.

Are casino bonuses worth it?

Yes, casino bonuses are worth it. They provide players with the best value for money because they allow players to play with more funds. The theoretical return to player of any casino game is based on an infinite number of rounds or spins, which means that you are likely to increase your winnings over time when you have more funds to play with.

Can you withdraw a casino bonus?

Yes, you can withdraw casino bonuses as long as you’ve met the wagering requirements and any other bonus terms the casino bonus or promotion may have.

How do casino bonuses work?

There are many types of online casino bonuses, but they all work similarly. You, as a player, receive bonus or additional funds to play with, with certain conditions attached to them regarding the withdrawal of the funds.

How to wager a casino bonus?

In most cases, the wagering contribution of casino bonuses is 100% slots. This means that it is often the best move to wager your casino bonus funds on slots. More specifically, you should wager the bonus funds on low volatility slots, as they pay out small amounts relatively often, which makes it easier to play through the wagering requirements.