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Online Casinos Bonuses, What’s Playable?
Introduction
One thing that everyone should know about gambling online is that, wherever you decide to play, especially if you state (or country) does not have its own legalized and regulated online casinos, the safest way to play is by clicking through one of our affiliate links.
The reason why is because we not only have this complaint form, which states:
Do you suspect you've been cheated by a casino, either online or land-based? Not just bad luck, but results so far from expectations that either foul play was involved or you had approximately one in a million bad luck. If you feel strongly you've been cheated or the victim of software that didn't play fairly and have evidence to argue your case, we welcome you to submit it here. In doing so, you grant us permission to publish the complaint. In return, if we feel you've made a good case, we'll evaluate the evidence. If we feel there is significant evidence of an unfair game, we will endeavor to independently replicate your results, before making any formal accusations.
With that, you can be sure that we don’t allow for affiliates who treat customers poorly and have games that cheat. For our part, if you strongly suspect that there has been cheating and can make a mathematically defensible argument, at that point, we would look into your playing log and then play that casino ourselves to determine whether or not we have sufficiently similar statistically skewed results.
It is our opinion, and always will be, that gaffed casinos are bad for everyone, except for the casinos themselves, of course. There is absolutely no reason for online casinos to ever fleece players because the players are already (at least, generally) playing a game that has a House Edge (less than 100% RTP) working against them in the first place. Because the casino is mathematically expected to win (usually) and the player is mathematically expected to lose, there should NEVER be a reason for a casino to cheat, much less a justification.
Beyond that, you can look at our section on online casinos if you see a promotion that interests you to see whether or not it is a Wizard of Odds APPROVED online outlet. We take great pride in only approving casinos that we are convinced play with fair software and are top-tier in terms of customer service and reasonable withdrawal times.
Our policy states as follows:
Any casino with the Wizard seal of approval has been vetted by Wizard management, including the Wizard himself. We will promote such casinos as trustworthy casinos you can feel safe to play at. However, in the interests of giving players choices, we may also market casinos that don’t quite meet our high standards, as identified by not having the Wizard seal.
With any casino we promote, if you click through an ad on this site, which leads to opening an account, as evidenced by an affiliate code in the link to the casino, then we will stand behind you. If you ever have a dispute with a casino and are a confirmed "Wizard" player, then we will try to help. We do ask that you try to work out the problem yourself first, and only request assistance from us as a last resort.
If you have a dispute regarding a promotion or payouts, then we have your back as long as you signed up for that online gaming platform using one of our affiliate links on a Wizard of Odds APPROVED online casino. Naturally, we would ask that you first try to resolve the issue with the casino directly, as often, it can be a matter of a player misunderstanding the terms of promotions, or whatever else is the case, but if the casino and yourself cannot arrive at a mutually agreeable resolution, then we are here to help.
One of the reasons that we can offer this policy is because we have almost never had to use it. Once again, these casinos have already been vetted by this website, this website’s ownership and some of our other sites, so these are all casinos that we are highly confident will treat players fairly. Obviously, if we were constantly getting bogged down with complaints about our affiliate casinos, then we would be spending all of our time dealing with those and would have to change the policy. The truth is, complaints about our Wizard of Odds APPROVED online affiliates are extremely rare.
It has been a long time since I have done a deep dive into the promotions of the better part of our recommended online casinos, so I am going to take some time to do that right now. All of these looks will include a link to the casino, a link to our review of that casino and I will also look to see if any of the withdrawal or deposit policies have changed, as I am able to.
Anyway, that’s enough jaw-running for now, or, I guess keyboard running, so let’s get started!
SHAZAM CASINO
US Friendly-Yes
Wizard of Odds APPROVED-Yes
Shazam Casino is powered by RealTime Gaming and comes with a unique webpage design and layout, so as Wizard mentions, players might be unaccustomed to the presentation. We can assure everyone who might want to play that this casino is quite user friendly and it doesn’t take long to get used to. Our review states, in part:
Shazam hosts online gambling content from one of the industry pioneers - Realtime Gaming, and it is extremely well designed. It is, probably, quite different from what punters are usually accustomed to. The casino platform has one fixed page that has a slider. Each slide contains different categories and information on games, bonuses, promotions, and the pages expand accordingly.
This is not a completely innovative idea, but it is a fresh and a lovely concept when it comes to the world of iGaming. We have to mention that this design choice does not compromise functionality in any way, on the contrary, everything is so well organized and the entire platform is very easy to navigate.
Brief Casino Points:
Blackjack
The blackjack is pretty average, in terms of online casino RTP, as most games have a return of more than 99% including two blackjack games that are nearly 99.5%. In the event that there are side bets available on the Blackjack game, as we would always point out, they can be fun to play if you are trying to hit bigger pays than normal for a Blackjack game, but it’s always important to remember that side bets tend to have a higher (sometimes MUCH higher) House Edge working against you than the main game does.
We would also mention that Blackjack is a game of strategy, so player decisions will impact the RTP of the game. If you hit on Hard 20’s, for example, which would be ridiculous, then your RTP will be terrible. Fortunately, we do have strategy charts and decision calculators that you can find in our Blackjack section!
Video Poker
The Video Poker returns are quite excellent with many of the games returning more than 99%, sometimes well more than 99%, to players. The easiest game to play of the 99%+ games is probably 9-6 Jacks or Better, which is a somewhat common high returning game. The best returning game appears to be Aces & Eights, with an RTP of 99.78%, which is superb.
As with Blackjack, we have Video Poker hand calculators and strategy makers available right here on this site as getting the full RTP of the game requires always making the decisions with the best expected value. Besides, it’s fun to try to learn new games anyway….also, Aces and Eights isn’t THAT hard once you get the hang of it. For Video Poker enthusiasts, it’s definitely a game to try with a strong return. I usually try to only play Video Poker online with promotions, but when I do, I find it pretty relaxing just to chill in bed, or in the recliner, and play a few hundred hands with the sound on my phone (when phone is available, which it usually is these days) down low.
Roulette
If you’re a Roulette enthusiast, just make it a general rule to NEVER play Roulette games that have 0 and 00, as this casino offers both single-zero and double-zero games. If only double-zero games are available at an online casino, but you want to play Roulette, then we would recommend playing it elsewhere. Double Zero Roulette, without any positive rule changes, has a RTP of less than 95% and is a relatively low variance game, which means that you will usually just lose bankroll pretty quickly. Single-Zero Roulette, on the other hand, is not so bad…especially if there is an Imprisonment or L’Partage rule and you don’t mind making Even Money bets, such as Red/Black, Even/Odd or 1-18/19-36.
Exploring the Shazam Bonuses
With that, I will take a look at the First Deposit Bonus to see if it has a profitable player expectation. If it does not, then there isn’t much point in analyzing the next two simply because I only play with an advantage and would not be inclined to play at an expected loss just to eventually get to a promotion with an expected profit. I want to have an expected profit right away.
The promotion advertised is an, “Up to 300%,” deposit bonus, however, the player must first do a 250% and 275% bonus in order to unlock that one.
Visiting Shazam Casino, I find:
1st Deposit:250% Slots Bonus + 100 Free Spins on Bubble Bubble 2 with 100% Cashback:
NOTES: The first thing that is important to note is that there is a maximum withdrawal associated with this bonus of 20x your deposit amount.
Personally, I try to avoid deposit bonuses that come associated with maximum withdrawals because that can negate some of the value if you happen to hit something huge. In any event, I would keep your bet amounts somewhat low if you are going to play this promotion and also would look for a high-return percentage slot that has as few jackpots, preferably zero, if possible, that would result in you winning more than 20x your deposit in one spin.
Here are some terms from their website to keep in mind, in part:
4.2. The method of repayment will be at our absolute discretion.
4.3. Alistair Solutions N.V. reserves the right to close your Account and to refund to you the "Available to withdrawal” balance, subject to the deduction of relevant withdrawal charges, at Alistair Solutions N.V.’s absolute discretion and without any obligation to state a reason or give prior notice.
4.4. Alistair Solutions N.V. reserves the right to cancel and remove any bonus amount awarded to you if not been used within 1 month from the date awarded.
4.5. Alistair Solutions N.V. reserves the right to refuse a withdrawal claim in case of fraud, in which case an Account will be suspended and the payment not processed.
4.6. Alistair Solutions N.V. will review all player Accounts and classify them at its discretion. Once a player is classified as a “bonus hunter” or “bonus abuser”, all winnings and bonuses will be void and the Account will be suspended and the payment not processed
One thing that’s nice is that this site gives you one month to use Bonus Funds, whereas many other websites, even at casinos that are regulated by individual states in the United States, only give you a week to play through bonus funds, sometimes less. With that, if you happen to be busy for one reason or another, you have enough time that you don’t have to worry about potentially voiding your own bonus.
It’s also important not to become known to them as a, “Bonus Abuser,” which is also something that can happen with regulated casinos in individual U.S. States, so everyone thought this was a big deal when the only casinos were offshore, but state-regulated casinos might choose to do this as well.
Generally speaking, you can avoid this (if you continue to play with them after the welcome bonuses) by making the occasional small deposit and playing without taking a bonus. If a casino’s ongoing promotions and offers are strong enough, then you can continue to play with an expected profit if there was one possible in the first place.
Of course, players will not have to worry about being accused of this, unless they have already been identified as Bonus Abusers by this company, when they are doing the Welcome Bonuses. The Welcome Bonuses intend for the player to receive the bonus on the first three deposits, so there is no way that the casino could possibly find fault with that.
There are other events that, per the terms, could void bonus winnings:
21.1. Shazam Casino reserves the right to deny winnings in the following cases:
The Customer has been designated as a bonus abuser;
The Customer is playing no- or low-risk strategies in order to avoid risking promotional credits/money;
The Casino has the reason to believe that the Player is using software or any other method to beat the Casino and/or abuse promotions;
The Customer has not played at the Casino for personal entertainment only (i.e., if the Customer systematically employs betting systems to beat the Casino or is trying to engage in gambling as a steady source of income);
The Customer’s personal information is found blacklisted in our Casino-industry-wide security database;
The Customer provided incorrect or misleading registration, identification information, or bank account information, or the name in the Customer’s Casino account does not match the name on their debit/credit card(s) used to make a deposit with our Casino;
The Customer made any chargebacks or renounce or cancel or otherwise reverse any of their deposits;
The Customer is accessing Live and Progressive games with the house money, while those types of games can be played solely with the net deposited amount.
As smart readers of this site will already know, betting systems cannot beat the House Edge, in fact, they can’t even dent it, so it is strange that online casinos would worry about this. In any event, since you are playing slot games, that will not even become relevant.
Many of these restrictions do not exist in state regulated online casinos, at least, as far as restricting how a player can bet is concerned. The restriction of certain games being played with bonus money, to one extent or the other, is very common with all online casinos. There are often differences in what games are restricted while playing on a bonus, but almost all casinos do have some game restrictions, of some kind with bonus money.
The casino might also identify professional gamblers and refuse to pay out their winnings (instead only refunding their deposits) as such. If you are not a professional gambler, then you should not have to worry about this as any online casino that makes this claim about all winners would not be Wizard of Odds APPROVED, instead, it would only be a matter of time before they found themselves blacklisted by us.
If you have been found to be a Bonus Abuser at other online casinos, then we would also recommend staying away from this one as you might be in the shared database of known Bonus Abusers. Most players do not have to worry about being in such a database because even those playing at an advantage will not be banned as they will usually not be using the sort of tactics that many Bonus Abusers employ—especially not on slot games.
One way that players have found themselves blacklisted, which you should never do, is that they try to request a chargeback with the financial institution in the event that they lose. If they had won, they would have cashed out, but since they lost, they try to get their money back. Those players are database, and rightly so, because they are essentially committing fraud. Chargebacks are only justified if the casino, for some reason, refuses to pay you out on legitimate winnings. We do not think that Shazam would attempt such a thing, or they would not be a Wizard of Odds APPROVED casino.
Evidently, you cannot play any Progressive games on Bonus Funds, so do avoid slot games with Progressive Jackpots. Honestly, that seems like a weird rule since you can only withdraw a maximum of 20x your deposit amount (example: Deposit $100 and maximum withdrawal would be $2000) anyway.
22.2. In order to receive any promotion money, you must claim a bonus in the Cashier section of the Website or with the help of a Customer Service representative before making a deposit transaction.
22.3. Shazam Casino forbids the Player to claim more than one bonus at a time, meaning that the Player is entitled to receive only one deposit bonus per deposit. Bonuses can only be claimed once per Player, account, household, IP address, email address, or computer unless explicitly stated otherwise in the Bonus Terms or Promotions section.
22.4. A promotion is considered completed once You have fulfilled the wagering requirements and requested a cashout or if Your balance is below $1. All wagering requirements/restrictions of a particular promotion will remain attached to your account while the bonus is yet active. New deposits to your account when your balance is $1 or higher will keep the remaining wagering requirements and restrictions of a previously uncompleted promotion.
Make sure to pay special attention to a casino having a term such as term 22.4, which is a reasonable enough term for them to have. Basically, if you make a deposit while a bonus is still active, then you would still have to complete the playthrough for that bonus. Honestly, no player should ever make a deposit unless they have played their balance down to $0 anyway, so if you lose, make sure to play down to $0 before making a new deposit.
Occasionally, some casinos will make it such that a player must always complete bonus playthrough, even if they have already lost all of their funds. Therefore, any new deposit would first have to be used to complete the playthrough before you withdraw. My personal choice is to simply refuse to play at casinos that have that version of the rule, but you can make your own choices as to whether or not you think the bonuses are worth it.
The Welcome Promotion is for slots, so the following games can be played:
22.6. Each bonus allows you to play certain types of games:
Games included in Slots promotions: Slots, Real-Series Video Slots, Keno, Bingo, Scratch Cards, Board Games.
We have no idea what the returns are for the Bingo game, so play those at your own peril if the RTP happens to be very low. It could be high; we simply have no way to analyze it.
One thing that is noteworthy about most online casinos, and Realtime powered casinos are no exception, is that the Keno returns tend to be awful even compared to most land-based casinos. These Keno games generally return in the low-mid 80% range, whereas land casinos in the United States are typically high-80% or low-90%, for that reason (and because the slots usually have better RTP online) we would recommend staying away from the Keno game unless you just really love Keno.
Also, because you are limited to 20x your deposit amount to withdraw on this promotion, you would not want to hit the top prize on cards with 7+ numbers anyway, depending on how much you were betting.
The Welcome Match Bonus terms are as follows:
- Welcome Match Bonuses
24.1. Welcome Match bonuses are available for your first three deposits after registration.
24.2. The wagering requirements attached to Match bonuses are calculated as (deposit + bonus) x30 for slots, x35 for cards, and x60 for roulette.
24.3. The rules about games included in different promo types and maximum bet amount apply; please refer to Bonus Terms points 11.6, 11.8, 11.9 accordingly.
24.4. Welcome Match Bonuses carry a maximum withdrawal calculated as x20 the deposit amount except where explicitly stated otherwise.
Okay, so this says that you can play card games, but elsewhere it says slots only. I am going to assume that players are limited to slots, but this would be a pretty reasonable playthrough if you could play Video Poker, so you might want to ask in chat if you are thinking about playing at this casino to get a definitive answer.
No Deposit Bonus
I always recommend staying away from No Deposit Bonuses because Deposit Bonuses tend to have better value and playing a NDB usually voids any potential future deposit bonus. Even if the Deposit Bonus does not have an expected profit now, it might have one later, so I would not waste an online casino signup playing a NDB as they are low value, often have low maximum cashout and also have playthrough requirements that make it very difficult to make a profit anyway.
Personally, I tend to avoid using any Free Spins that come with a Deposit Bonus until the very end as they just add to the playthrough requirements. I will typically use them after I have completed the playthrough on a deposit bonus, or if my balance is zero. They say that it has 100% cashback, but that’s not quite accurate, because you would still have to have the playthrough on the deposit bonus.
The deposit bonus is 250% for the first one with 30x playthrough of both the deposit and the bonus. If you deposit $100, or more, then the Wagering Requirement is 25x.
With that, if you deposit $100, then your deposit + Bonus will equal $350. You will have to play that through 25x, for total coin-in of $8,750. If there is a maximum deposit for this, I don’t see it, so you would want to ask about a maximum bonus amount in chat.
The slot games do not seem to disclose their RTP’s, which I determined after checking a few Help files on different games. For that reason, there are no slots I can recommend. What I do know is that you would want to have an expected loss on a deposit of $100 any greater than $250, and you would have to play $8,750 coin-in. With that, you can do the following to determine:
250/8750 = 0.02857142857
Therefore, you would expect to lose more than the $250 on any slot that has an RTP of 97.142%, or lower. Some of the slots might have returns that are better than that, but I have no way of knowing which ones, and even online, 97% would be a really good slot RTP.
For that reason, if you are motivated by profit, then I would not suggest doing this promotion. I will say that the 300% bonus might be better than this one, so would have 25x playthrough x $400 (deposit + Bonus) and would be $10,000 playthrough, but even then, a slot that returned 97% on the nose would come with an expected loss of $300 and an expectation of breakeven.
If you just want to play and are not motivated by profit, then this is a pretty good promotion that can turn a small deposit into a decent little amount that you can jump on and take your shot with. Shazam is also a Wizard of Odds APPROVED casino, so you will be backed by our protection if you have a complaint that you cannot resolve with Shazam directly.
LAS VEGAS USA
Las Vegas USA is another online casino group that is both US-Friendly and Wizard of Odds APPROVED. While many states have approved and regulated in-state online gambling, there are still more who have not, so LV USA will be a great gambling destination for you online.
Even if you live in a state where you have state-regulated online casinos, eventually, you will have signed up at all of them (unless you are loyal to one) and will have taken all of the bonuses. At that time, you may be looking for new casinos to try, so we would not have this one APPROVED if we felt this was every bit as safe and secure as the state regulated ones, provided, of course, that you abide by the Terms & Conditions.
LV USA has also been around, and been APPROVED for a very long time, and if I am going to suggest that someone who wants to play online play anywhere, then I am always more inclined to suggest casinos with a long-established history of reasonably timely payouts and fair play.
For all of those reasons, LV USA makes my shortlist of online casinos that players looking for a new casino, or first casino, should take a look into.
Las Vegas USA is powered both by Realtime and Visionary iGaming, unfortunately, most returns to player for RealTime powered slots are not disclosed in the game help files, so, once again, you’re going to be kind of on your own to determine if you are playing the best returning slots if you are playing a RealTime one.
LV USA has fewer blackjack options available than does Shazam, but the RTP’s for the ones that they do have are otherwise the same, as the BJ for both platforms is powered by RealTime Gaming. These Blackjack paytables are reasonably good, at just under 99.5% for the best games, but are not spectacular.
Realtime Gaming Video Poker tends to be very good, and the games and paytables offered on LV USA seem to be substantially similar to the ones that we found on Shazam, so you can jump up and read that for more information. The short story is that many games are over 99% RTP and the best game is 99.78% Aces and Eights. I will also say that, even though All American VP is only 99.6%, I find the game to be a lot of fun to play and you get some variance (compared to something like Jacks or Better) but you usually won’t get totally killed even if you run poorly.
It should also be mentioned that the comp point program will add slightly to these Video Poker returns, if the cards are your passion. The contribution rate for VP adds 0.067%, which isn’t enough to make any of the games become positive expectation, but it does move a game such as the Aces and Eights into above 99.8% RTP territory, which is phenomenal, even by online standards. If you’re a recreational Video Poker player, then this is one casino worth looking at.
Exploring the Las Vegas USA Bonuses
LV USA presently has a 100% deposit bonus, so I am going to look through the terms, as always, highlighting some key ones to see if anything about it has changed.
It appears that you can take a bonus for as much as $1,000 with each deposit 100% matched up to $11,000, which would be eleven total deposits. The playthrough contribution appears to be 44.44% for Blackjack and Video Poker and 100% for Casino War, but I do want to look at the casino’s website to confirm this once again as the review was written sometime ago.
Let’s take a look at some key general Bonus Terms:
- All terms, conditions and restrictions will apply for those individual player accounts opened under any of the Main Street Group of Casino's. Cashing-out your bonus, winnings, and deposit amount is subject to withdrawal requirements. Please read the terms and conditions of each bonus carefully. In addition, each bonus is subject to the General Rules and Regulations.If you currently have an account balance or pending withdrawals, please contact us for instructions on how to proceed with our bonuses and promotions.
- Minimum deposit to participate in any available promotion or bonus is $25.00. All PROMOTIONS can be Claimed or Redeemed ONLY by the use of the specific COUPON CODES, which must be entered prior making the deposit at the cashier. Otherwise the Promotion will not apply. For details, please contact our Support Staff.
- Any individual or groups of individuals attempting to defraud the casino or engaging in any type of syndicate betting will forfeit their deposits, bonuses and winnings. This includes, but is not limited to, opening multiple accounts in an attempt to claim the initial deposit bonus multiple times.
- The casino reserves the right to close any account in which there is no activity within 180 days. Not placing a bet, not making a deposit or withdrawal, or not accessing the account, within this period, are considered examples, but not exclusively, of account inactivity and consequently, any balance is forfeited.
Okay, so it’s important to remember that you must deposit at least $25 in order to take a promotion at all, which makes sense, as there are certain processing fees that the casino has to pay on each deposit a player makes, so it really wouldn’t make sense for them to offer bonuses on $10 deposits.
Further, you must use the coupon codes for the promotion that you want, which are available on the review page for LV USA that was linked above. Make sure to put the code in at the cashier and make sure that it has been accepted prior to processing your deposit.
If you do not do anything within 180 days, then your account may be terminated. Personally, I usually wait until I am actually ready to play before making any deposit anywhere and taking any bonuses, so I usually try to get it all done within, at most, a couple of days.
Here are some more:
7. While playing with Bonus money, in any of its kinds, the maximum bet amount is $20.00, either in any pay line or wager in any game. Any winnings coming from bets that are higher than this maximum limit, while using bonus money, partially or totally, are void and no withdrawal can be processed. In this case, any balance could be removed at the casino's sole discretion.
8. Unless otherwise specified by the Casino; all promotional funds (bonus amount) stay in the house upon completing the wagering. Bonus money serves to enhance play and help to generate winnings; however, cannot be withdrawn as part of the winnings. The bonus will not be returned to the account but deducted from winnings by the Casino upon withdrawal. At the point of cashing out the winnings, all bonus money will be removed from the total amount of cash won by playing at the Casino.
The first thing to note is that you may not bet more than $20 in a certain game, which is a rule that the casino has in place to prevent players from making huge bets hoping for a small (relative to the bet) win and then just betting really small to grind out profits. Doing it that way was a very common tactic that advantage players (including me) would use back in the day, but on great deposit bonuses it is really not necessary. In fact, I usually prefer keeping my bets somewhat low (reduces variance) if I can play with an expected profit straight up.
The part about the bonus funds make this a Phantom Bonus which means that the Bonus funds are not actually credited to the account as cash, just the winnings from the Bonus Funds. We will have to see if cash or bonus funds are played first, if bonus funds, then this makes no difference as you will play the full amount of Bonus Funds regardless because of the playthrough.
9. Maximum cash out applies in all cases while playing with bonus money, in any of its kinds, either coupons or manual credits, even if there is any jackpot win during the game play. Unless otherwise stated for a single specific promotion, bonus or campaign, the following general rules abide: A. For any deposit bonus coupon code from 250% or more, the maximum allowed withdrawal is the sum of 20 times the deposit amount linked to that bonus code. (Maximum cash out will not exceed in any case the sum of $5,000.00, depending on the player class and considering a deposit amount of $250.00). B. When the deposit bonus code represents less than 249%, the maximum cash out allowed will be also 20 times the deposit amount linked to the promotional code, but in no case, the payout will exceed $10,000.00, depending on the player class, and considering a deposit amount of $500.00. C. For for Blackjack/21 games promotion, the maximum allowed withdrawal is the sum of 20 times the deposit amount (Maximum cash out allowed will be $2,000.00 in all cases depending on player class and based on a deposit amount of $100.00, unless stated differently for the specific promotion). D. This rule (20x) also applies when the customer's account registers more withdrawal transactions than deposits in any given time frame, or when the previously approved total payout amount exceeds 50% of the total net deposit amount within the recent months. Withdrawal processing Fees may be charged upon the result of this review. E. Once the wagering requirement is met, all balances exceeding the maximum cash out allowed will be void and automatically deducted from the account. At this point the player may request the funds. If chooses to continue playing instead, any additional winnings exceeding the maximum cash out allowed will be voided and forfeited. The Bonus Amount is non cashable and will be removed from the associated cash out.F. Maximum cash out for Special Manual Bonuses and Credits will be 20 times the amount of the bonus or credit up to the maximum withdrawal limit amount of the player class (chart above) but never above that limit, when the customer's account registers more withdrawal transactions than deposits in any given time frame, or when the previously approved total payout amount exceeds 50% of the total net deposit amount within the recent months.
Okay, what that three mile long paragraph basically says is that your cash out amount, on a 100% Deposit Bonus, is limited to 20x the amount of the deposit, or $10,000, whichever greater. Even with a bigger deposit on low variance games, especially limited to $20 bets, you’re probably not going to encounter a run so good that it would ever put you over this amount anyway. If you are playing high-volatility games, however, then this is something that you are going to want to keep in mind.
Also, one thing that I hate doing is ever leaving funds sitting in a casino that are doing nothing in case you ever run into a rule like this. For that reason, when the playthrough has been completed, I always like cashing out my account down to $0 and then starting again if I am giving another deposit, but before taking a completely NEW bonus, I also like to make a somewhat small deposit and give a little straight up play so I am not labeled a bonus abuser.
Even with the reduced contribution from Video Poker, I think that Aces and Eights is the game to go with for this one. If you deposit $1,000 and are awarded with a $1,000 bonus, then check with chat to make sure that the bonus funds are played first. Winnings from the bonus would then be added to the account and it will not matter that the Bonus Funds are later subtracted, because there won’t be any to subtract.
This appears to have a maximum cashout, per bonus, of $2,000, according to our review. For that reason, I would recommend playing Aces and Eights (99.78%) at bets no higher than $1 per hand, or you risk running your balance over the maximum allowed cash out even after bonus funds are removed. If you hit a Royal Flush and now have well over $1,000 in cash funds, then I would suggest reducing your bet.
The game holds 0.22%, ignoring the loyalty comp points, so you would need to do (40 * 2000) = $80,000 playthrough requirement on full contribution games, which would always have an expected loss of more than $1,000, so would not be profitable.
Video Poker only contributes 44% to the Wagering Requirements, so you would have to play 2.27.273x more than that in order to complete on VP, so you would play about $181,819 coin-in. That’s obviously going to take a substantial amount of time to do at $1 bets, at 800 hands per hour (which is pretty fast if playing accurately) it would take over 227 hours of play.
They do give you many days to do it, but if you do not want to make that kind of time commitment, then you would maybe consider depositing less and having lower total $$$ playthrough as a result.
The $181,819 coin in comes with an expected loss of that multiplied by .0022, so an expected loss of $400, which reflects expected net profit of $600 each time, though that this slightly reduced because of the possibility of running over the $2,000 maximum cash out. You would also want to check to see if bonus funds are played first, so that is something that you would want to do in LIve Chat.
Unfortunately, if cash funds are played first, then you would be better off to just not take this bonus as it will be subtracted when you go to cash out, and when it is, you will have effectively just played with cash the whole time anyway with the only time Bonus Funds are played being when/if you run out of cash balance. That bonus would have no real point, so make sure to check with Live Chat and make sure the Bonus Funds are played FIRST.
BOVADA
Bovada is the old standby casino for this website and has been around for ever, gaining a solid reputation with online casino players and any number of this website’s own visitors over the years. In addition to being US-Friendly, Bovada has been a Wizard of Odds APPROVED casino approximately forever.
As a matter of fact, for several years before we expanded by being purchased by the LCB network of sites, Bovada was this site’s only online casino affiliate. With that, there can be no doubt that the Wizard of Odds website has absolute trust in the fairness of Bovada’s product and total confidence that players will be treated fairly provided they comply with the Terms and Conditions.
In all of the years that this website has existed, we have almost never had anyone submit a complaint, pursuant to our APPROVED policy, such that we have had to intervene. It takes a lot to go well over a decade as one of the most trusted online casino outlets, and with their treatment of players, quality customer service, reasonable withdrawal policies and solid platform of exciting and fun to play games, Bovada has done just that and, we suspect, will continue to do so for decades more.
However, there are a few states that Bovada will not service, for various reasons, some of which are legal, so you will want to check their site for any potential state restrictions.
Bovada has one of the widest gaming libraries because they have five different software providers and also have the rights to the software platform (source code) for RealTime Gaming themselves. Of course, this means that some of the slot returns to player are not advertised in the help files, which is unfortunate for bonus purposes, because knowing the returns would otherwise help a whole lot with game selection.
Blackjack and Video Poker are both powered by RealTime Gaming, so paytables and most games are shared with the casinos listed above. The best RTP game for either of these game types is the 99.78% RTP Aces and Eights, which is an outstanding game for RTP in today’s casino market. Once upon a time, players could occasionally find games with more than 100% returns, but then us Video Poker players simply became too good at what we do and online casino sites have largely abandoned games that give a player advantage straight up, which is to say, without them even needing to take a promotion.
Most other games are also RealTime Gaming with a few Table Games (and Keno) powered by Rival, a few Table Games by iVisionary and one of the Roulette games (and something called Andar Bahar) powered by Qora.
Rival offers some of the best returning Video Keno that you will find on an online casino with their standard game offering returns of greater than 90%, sometimes well over, on all cards except a card that is a Pick One…which I don’t understand why anyone would play anyway. The game with the best RTP, at 94.90%, is the Pick-13, but my choice would be the Pick 7 at 94.15% because it offers a really good return by Keno standards with a top prize (seven of seven) that is not ridiculously unlikely to hit.
I glanced at Adhar Bahar, which you might have fun with, but all of the RTP’s are too low for what the game is for my taste. However, some of the bets aren’t too bad if you just want to try something that is very unique. I’d legitimately never heard of the game before writing this, so maybe it’s extremely new or I just failed to notice it last time I was on Bovada.
Here are some of my findings on cash outs:
Terms and Conditions, Banking.
Looking through the terms and conditions at Bovada, we don’t see anything that falls out of line from what you’d expect from a good betting site.
Banking at Bovada is a bit limited, but this is to be expected from a betting site that caters to the US market. Players can deposit through credit card and Bitcoin, both of which are handled instantly. Withdrawals are paid out via check, and players can get one free check sent each month. The processing time for checks is relatively quick, with an average of a few business days for delivery.
The first thing that we notice is that they have a minimum deposit of $20, with either cash or Bitcoin, but the player can only withdraw $20 if the currency used is Bitcoin. If the player would like to receive a cash withdrawal, then the player should expect to wait 48 hours while it is reviewed, and then 10-15 days to receive the check.
Additionally, customers who wish to withdraw in cash will have to improve their balance to at least $50, as that is the minimum withdrawal amount. On the one hand, it sucks that the minimum withdrawal is 2.5x the deposit, but it is somewhat understandable since they are using a check. Naturally, it is fair to complain about them only having two withdrawal methods.
Bovada does have some cashout limits, both in terms of duration and amount. The amounts are $3,000 and $9,500, for cash and Bitcoin, respectively. Cash withdrawals may be requested once every seven days and Bitcoin withdrawals may be requested once every five days.
If you are already a holder of BTC, then that probably won’t be an issue for you. If you wish to be paid by check, then you can get one sent at no cost to you once per month, but do keep in mind that the minimum you can withdraw that way is $50. Again, I would like to see a wider range of withdrawal methods, but Bovada has also been good about getting these checks out to the players when they say they are going to do so.
Exploring Bovada Bonuses
We find this for the new player exclusive through our site:
Sign Up Bonus
A 100% Sign Up bonus with a max bonus of $1000 and a wagering requirement of 25x(b&d) on Slots.
Code: NEWWELCOME
Percentage play-through by game:
5% for American Roulette and Other Roulette.
10% for Classic Blackjack, Other Blackjack and Video Poker.
20% for Poker Games.
100% for Slots.
Note: New Customer Offer. T&C’s Apply. 18+. The bonus code NEWWELCOME can be redeemed up to three (3) times per player. Craps does not count toward meeting rollover requirements for withdrawal. Game contribution: Pai Gow, TriCard Poker, Let 'Em Ride, Caribbean Poker(all) 20%, Video Poker (All types), Blackjack (unless stated otherwise), Classic Blackjack, Baccarat 10%. Single Deck, Classic Single Deck & Double Deck Blackjack, Roulette 5%.
We will get into some more specific terms shortly, but we would say that the game for this would be the 99.78% Aces and Eights unless you think that you’re a good poker player.
If you were to deposit $1,000, then you would get $1,000 in Bonus Funds for a total of $2,000 that would require total playthrough of $50,000 on slots, which would probably not be profitable. The expected loss of a 98% RTP slot game (and most are slightly lower than that) would be $1,000, thereby giving you a breakeven expectation.
You would instead have to play $500,000 through on Video Poker, but with a house edge of only 0.22%, this would yield an expected loss of $1,100, so it actually becomes a little worse. The same would be the case for Blackjack, except the expected loss would be even more, because the Blackjack has a higher House Edge than does the Aces & Eights.
If Texas Hold ‘Em Bonus has the Las Vegas rules, then Wizard has found:
The lower right cell shows a house edge of 2.037%. However I think this makes the game look like a worse bet than it really is. What this means is that for every dollar bet on the ante the player can expect to lose 2.037 cents. However by the end of the hand the average wager will be 3.8181 times the ante. So the element of risk, or ratio of loss to total amount bet is a much lower 2.037%/3.8181=0.5335%. The standard deviation is 3.500839.
Assuming that qualifies as a poker game, then you would have to do $250,000 in playthrough at an expected loss of 0.5335%, but that still would result in an expected loss of more than $1,000 upon completing the playthrough requirements.
With that, I would say that Bovada is a highly trusted and reputable site, but I honestly think that players looking to play there would be better off to do so without taking a bonus, as all bonuses come with playthrough, so you cannot cash out whenever you want, and as far as I can tell the player would expect to lose money (absent certain tactics that might run players afoul of the Terms & Conditions) after completing the playthrough requirements.
Also, I don’t know if they still have the policy, but Bovada once had a policy where the playthrough requirements would carry over into your next deposit, even if you ended up losing. For that reason, it is hard for me to recommend doing any of the bonuses, though I do recommend Bovada Casino as an excellent and trustworthy outlet for players who are recreational and are looking for some of the best Video Poker and Video Keno games anywhere online.
Alternatively, people who are interested in slots with no real expectation of winning, and also low bankrolls, might choose to take one of these deposits just to give them more casino funds to play with. That’s perfectly fine, of course, but I would caution them that they are probably still playing with a small expected loss, even with the bonus.
For those reasons, my recommendation on Bovada is to play there if you are playing for fun as they are highly trustworthy, but to not take the new member promotion until they reduce the playthrough requirements a little bit. Also, please keep in mind that this is just my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of this website. That said, if the bonus is not expected to be profitable, then I would default to preferring being able to cash out anytime I want to.
CASINO MAX
Casino Max is a Wizard of Odds affiliate that has the official APPROVED seal by the Wizard of Odds himself. Despite being a relatively new online casino, just over five years old, Casino Max has quickly established itself with its good customer service standards, prompt payouts and solid software that can be played directly on their website and is not prone to crashing.
One thing that we should say is that it is quite rare for an online casino provider, who doesn’t have other older trusted casinos, to receive an APPROVED rating so early in its life, so we would offer all congratulations to Casino MAX for proving itself and earning this honorable designation so quickly! As far as we can tell from the reviews at our trusted sources, most players seem very happy with Casino Max overall, and we would expect that to continue.
The casino’s three software providers are RealTime Gaming, Visionary iGaming and SpinLogic Gaming. All games available through Casino Max can be played directly through the website, which is outstanding, and they run just as well there as they would on the downloadable software, which is tremendously convenient for players who just want to log in, deposit and go about their playing.
The Video Poker and Blackjack are powered by RealTime Gaming, as with the other casinos mentioned above, so the paytables are the same and the games are mostly the same. For that reason, the best RTP out of these two game types remains the 99.78% RTP Aces and Eights game, which is very fun to play when you get a hold of the differences in strategy between that and more common games, such as Jacks or Better.
Most of the other Table Games are also powered by RealTime Gaming, with a few of them being powered by Visionary. In any event, the casino Table Game experience will be substantially similar to the casinos that we have already listed above.
Here are some of my observations on the banking terms:
Looking through the terms and conditions at Casino Max, I cannot find anything that stands out as being unfair or predatory toward players.
The banking system at this casino is decent, although it is subject to the restrictions any U.S.-friendly casino will face. Deposits and withdrawals can be moved via eCheck, bank transfer, MasterCard, Visa, Skrill, Neteller, and Payz. The pending time on winnings is 24-48 hours, and payouts are completed within 3-5 business days thereafter. There is a $4,000 weekly withdrawal limit on winnings.
They will accept credit card deposits of as low as $35, but a player with a balance of less than $200 is unable to request a withdrawal, which is patently absurd. It really is just a stupid amount as players depositing as low as $35 might be happy to pull out $100-some and leave the original $35 in there to play on if they get between $135-$199. It’s like, if you want to cash out, you better hope to win a substantial amount relative to deposit.
The maximum withdrawals allowed are higher than most internet casinos, especially those located offshore, but I do not like the minimum balance of $200 in order to request a withdrawal, for reasons stated above. Generally speaking, players who are playing responsibly would have no concern with not being able to withdraw, say, $150, but I still think players should be able to.
For that reason, I don’t think that this is the casino for you if you are the player who likes to make very small deposits and are content to cash out if you have doubled your money. I would say that you would want your minimum deposit amount to at least be the same $200, and you are able to accept the possibility of losing it, that way you will be able to withdraw whenever you want to if you have made money in excess of your deposit.
Exploring Casino Max Bonuses
This seems to be our exclusive new player bonus:
Below are the 4 bonuses available at Casino Max.
Below is a list of promotions currently being offered at Casino Max.
Sign Up Bonus
A 325% Sign Up bonus with a max bonus of $3250 and a wagering requirement of 40x(b&d) on Slots.
Code: MAX325
Percentage play-through by game:
100% for Slots.
Note: New Customer Offer. T&C’s Apply. 18+. Min deposit: $35. Max bet: $10. No max cashout. 40xWagering. Redeemable for first 3 deposits.
Okay, so the first thing to note is that this Wagering Requirement is really high for slots because slots tend to have a lower RTP than does Video Poker. If you were to deposit $1,000, then you would be awarded a $3,250 bonus and would have to play through the total of $4,250 40x, which would be $170,000 on slots.
Because of that, to be profitable, you would want to lose no more than $3,250 assuming that bonus funds always get played first, rather than last. In other words:
3250/170000 = 0.01911764705
You would have to find a slot with a return to player of more than 98% in order to be breakeven. The best returning slot that immediately comes to mind, for any online sino, is Rock On, which I believe has an RTP of exactly 98%, which means that you would have an expected loss if you decided to play this promotion on slots.
You would also be stuck doing the wagering requirements if you wanted to withdraw, so for that reason, my recommendation would be just to deposit and play without a bonus if you wanted to play slots here as the bonus does not actually improve your expectation. More than that, a deposit without a bonus will have no wager amount restrictions and you can also cash out whenever you feel like it, as long as your balance is $200+, of course.
If you are a slots player and just want to take the bonus to improve the amount of play time that you are expected to get, then one piece of good news with this promotion is that there is not a maximum withdrawal amount placed on this bonus, so you can pretty much play any game you want to and play without the potential concern of winning too much! Wouldn’t it suck to take a $1,000 bonus, hit for $10,000, only to find that you couldn’t withdraw it all because of a $2,000 limit on winnings? I think it would!
Here are some of their other relevant terms:
If there is an involvement in activities that give the player a clearly unfair advantage while playing with the bonus. Such activities include, but are not limited to: delaying game rounds in any game, including free spins and bonus features, to a later time when you have no wagering requirements, leaving large bets on the table, for example in blackjack, and returning to the game after bonus wagering has been completed, playing games with bonus money to build up in-game value, lose the bonus funds, and then cash out on the built-up value during real-money play, using strategies that take advantage of any software bug or failure. Each account is entitled to maximum 3 consecutive free non deposit bonuses (free spins/ cash back etc.) in-between deposits, unless authorized by casino. Should there be more than 3 free non deposits bonuses redeemed in a row, any winnings from free bonus will be considered void;
(Bold Added)
I just wanted to say, “Damn it, they thought of that already!!!”
See, there are some slot machines now appearing online that are variable state games, so one tactic that I thought had potential for No-Deposit Bonuses (which I usually don’t recommend taking) would be to improve the game states using the No-Deposit Bonus funds, and then after losing those funds, either taking a Deposit Bonus or playing straight up to play the game at the improved state, which would generate a sizable advantage, at least, potentially.
Unfortunately, it would appear that online casinos are getting better and better at figuring out the angles, it’s always a fun cat and mouse game and have added this stipulation either before, or shortly after, putting such games in. That’s also a reason that Free Spins promotions, at any casino, on-shore or off-shore, tend to restrict the free spins to certain games…that way you can’t use the game to create value and play at an advantage with cash later.
Here is some bad news:
As of fair gaming importance, there is a limit on maximum bet size allowed to be placed during the playthrough of any promotion bonuses (including cash back offers). $10 is the maximum bet amount permitted unless specifically stated otherwise. Betting above $10 during an active playthrough will result in any winnings voided.
Wagering needs to be completed on specific game selection. Any wagers made on excluded games from the wagering while using the bonus will be considered void. Player must be aware of bonus terms when claiming any promotional offers.
Once again, slot players taking this promotion are mathematically expected to lose money anyway, but there is also the usual bet restriction, this time $10, that comes associated with taking the deposit bonus. That gives us even more reason to advise slot players just to play here if they want to play at a reputable and trustworthy casino with great software straight up, because you can then at least bet whatever amounts you feel like betting.
Could you imagine hitting something big, so many players like to increase their wager for a few spins when that happens, but then you make some wager over $10 and end up voiding the entire promotion? No bueno.
Anyway, I’m sorry to report that I would not personally mess around with the bonus here. That said, it is a great site for recreational players, unless they are really low bankrolled ones (because of the $200 minimum withdrawal) if you want to play straight up.
LIMITLESS CASINO
Limitless Casino is an interesting and very new casino that, evidently, only deals in crypto. Bitcoin is WAY too volatile for my liking, and I can’t imagine the other Cryptocurrencies are any safer, so this casino definitely isn’t for me. That said, if you are a cryptocurrency player, then it’s immediately evident that you like to gamble, so you might as well double-down and give this casino a try! At least, if the promotions are any good.
Wizard notes that this casino has a really aesthetically appealing layout, which some players might be thrilled with. Myself? I’ll play on something that could run on Corel WordPerfect software if I have an advantage! Either way, for those who are concerned with aesthetic value, and don’t mind the variety of games being slightly lacking, then this could be a casino for you to check out.
The Software providers for this outlet are SpinLogic and RealTime Gaming. Overall, the reviews across our family of sites point to this being an above-average online casino; it would probably be short of the S-tier on a tier list, but would definitely make the A-tier. Of course, being relatively early in its lifecycle gives it plenty of time to improve an already strong product.
The Blackjack and Video Poker games are all RealTime Gaming, so they share the paytables with the other sites that we have listed above for Blackjack and Video Poker. As a result, the 99.78% RTP Aces and Eights Video Poker game remains the best returning game in those two categories, and almost certainly the best game overall for RTP.
Here are some of the general terms to note:
The casino has the right to perform an identity verification process at any time requesting the players ID document, proof of address and copies of payment cards used as well as any other verification document necessary. Punters may deliver requested proofs during a two week time period and if they fail to do so the provider has the right to cancel all requested withdrawals and cancel the player's account.
Limitless Casino may close any registered account at any time without stating a reason.
The operator may limit or refuse a bet in their sole discretion.
The casino has the right to charge an administrative fee for financial transactions.
The last three of those terms are pretty standard, though we would hope that any fees that are going to be charged on these transactions would be disclosed ahead of time. We should imagine that you would be able to inquire about any potential fees with customer service and they would be able to tell you.
It’s also unusual that they specifically give a two-week period for the player to do verification, which they can also request the player do at any time. Obviously, all online casinos reserve the right to demand that the player prove his or her identity, but it seems unusual to specify that the player has a two week time limit to do so. I have always done it as soon as possible, usually within 1-3 days when it has been requested of me, but what is a player supposed to do if they are out of the country, or something? They’d probably have the photo ID and payment cards, but they might not necessarily have proof of address readily available.
My advice, though, would generally be to get your account verified in advance if you think there might be a problem along those lines. Either that, or just wait until you are back in the area and have access to those documents (or make sure they are available online) before requesting a withdrawal.
Exploring the Limitless Casino Bonuses
Evidently, this casino offers an exclusive bonus to players coming from us with only a 1x playthrough requirement, which is a 40% deposit bonus here:
Sign Up Bonus
A 40% Sign Up bonus with a max bonus of $1000 and a wagering requirement of 1x(b&d) on Video Poker and Slots.
Code: FEARLESS
Percentage play-through by game:
100% for Video Poker and Slots.
Note: New Customer Offer. T&C’s Apply. 18+. Bonus: 40% (+20% on CRYPTO). Max bonus amount: $1000. Minimum deposit: $20. No Max cashout. Playable on: Non-progressive Slots (excluding 777), Keno & Video Poker. Max bet per hand: $10.
If the max bonus is $1,000, then that would mean that the player would only have to deposit $2,500, get awarded a bonus of $1,000, and would only have to play through $3,500 and then they could cash out if they wanted to.
THIS BONUS IS A TOTAL HOME RUN!!!
Other than betting unreasonably high on a high volatility game, there is virtually no way for a player to fail to profit on taking this bonus, so as long as you are able to withdraw into your crypto account, this bonus is an absolute slam dunk. If you played it through on Video Poker and did not bet totally insane amounts per hand, then there is essentially no way that you could possibly fail to make money.
There is a small chance that this is an AP trap, but if you don’t have a history with any online casinos, then this would be an excellent promotion to avail yourself of. It might even be worth it to start a crypto account so you can withdraw that way if they are going to make winning this easy.
I haven’t seen a bonus this good for an offshore online casino in over a decade. 1x playthrough is incredible, so as long as it is not a Phantom Bonus (I guess you would have to create an account to see the full terms) then I really see no way that you could fail to make money on this one. The only other casinos that I have seen do this are a handful of the newly regulated state casinos for a few states in the U.S., that’s how much of a money printer this is.
Of course, you don’t want anyone claiming that you have abused the bonus, so my recommendation would be to perhaps give them at least 2x playthrough rather than playing 1x playthrough exactly to the dollar. Granted, it will cost you a very small amount of your expected gains, but that’s negligible given how big this advantage is and might be worth doing lest they think you are a bonus abuser. Even 1.5x the deposit + bonus might even be fine.
The rest of the bonuses are pretty standard fare that either would not produce an advantage at all, or would produce only a very small one, so we would recommend that you signup through our site and take the strong 40% bonus and then decide if and how you want to continue playing with Limitless after that.
DIAMOND REELS CASINO
Diamond Reels Casino is another one of our US-friendly featured affiliates, however, it has not yet received the Wizard of Odds APPROVED stamp, so if anything were to happen, you would not have the policy of APPROVED status to fall back on.
Of course, users seem to have a very high opinion of this casino given the average user ratings, so if that continues, there is a strong possibility that this might one day be Wizard of Odds APPROVED. It’;s also worth noting that this casino product launched in 2015, so while that may seem like quite a few years ago, it’s pretty young by offshore casino standards and only very few casinos, perhaps only one, could ever have been approved by this website so quickly.
This site is also mobile friendly as is powered entirely by RealTime Gaming. For that reason, the Blackjack and Video Poker games and paytables are largely the same as the casinos that we have listed above, with the best of those games also being the Aces & Eights with a 99.78% RTP.
Here is what Wizard found when it comes to the banking terms:
Terms and Conditions, Banking.
Looking through the terms and conditions at Diamond Reels Casino, there does not appear to be anything unfair or predatory about their operations.
The banking system is very limited, as the casino services the American betting market. Players can deposit only through Bitcoin, POLi, MasterCard, Neteller, and Visa, while withdrawals can only be made via bank wire, Visa, MasterCard, and Neteller. The payout times take up to a week to be processed, and there is a hard $5,000 per week withdrawal limit, which is pretty low for a casino that offers progressive jackpots.
Personally, I don’t think $5,000 per week is necessarily that low as there are some WoO APPROVED casinos that have lower withdrawals per week than that. It’s also nice that they will allow players to withdraw in the form of a credit to MasterCard accounts as most in-state regulated online casinos (for the states that have them) usually do not have that. Of course, the regulated by state ones, in the majority, seem to have PayPal available, which this doesn’t, but being able to withdraw to MasterCard is still pretty outstanding.
Exploring Diamond Reels Bonuses
Our exclusive sign-up bonus is as follows:
Exclusive Sign Up
A 50% Sign Up bonus with a max bonus of $400 and a wagering requirement of 40x(b&d) on Poker Games, Slots and Parlor Games.
Code: WIZARD50
Percentage play-through by game:
20% for Classic Blackjack, Other Blackjack and Video Poker.
100% for Poker Games, Slots and Parlor Games.
In other words, the player would deposit $800 to get a bonus of $400 for a total of $1,200 and would then have to make wagers of $48,000, in total, in order to clear the wagering requirements.
The best game for this promotion would probably be Texas Hold ‘Em Bonus poker if you are willing to learn the correct playing strategy. Given that the game would fully contribute to WR, the player would be expected to lose $256.80 on the playthrough, which results in an expected profit of more than $140, which is certainly pretty good.
Because of the increased playthrough requirements associated with this bonus, $240,000 would have to be played through on Video Poker, so the best VP has a 99.78% RTP, and the player would be expected to lose $528 on the playthrough, which is more than the bonus funds, so you would not want to play that.
While it is not quite the slam dunk promotion that Limitless offers, it is nice to see our third online casino on this list that offers a promotion by which new players are mathematically expected to profit, at least, let’s look over some of the casino’s terms to make sure that is the case.
All of the other promotions are slots only, and I would not play them, as the result of the promotion playthrough would be the player expected to take a loss because of the high coin-in wagering requirements. As far as I can tell, our exclusive bonus is the only one for this casino, as far as deposit bonus goes, that would have the player expected to make money.
Here are some other key terms:
For withdrawal payments less than $500.00, where the payment method has been selected as Check/Wire, a $35 processing charge may be incurred which will be automatically deducted from the withdrawal payment amount at the time of payment processing. Note: in some cases, dependent on your Bank and Account Type, there may be additional fees charged to remit funds to you. Example: Intermediary processing bank requirement, holding bank fees to receive an International wire, etc. As this is player Bank and Account Type dependent, it is beyond our control.
In addition to the above, there is a $5,000 processing limit per week, per player.
Withdrawals can take between 2-5 business days to be processed. During this time, the withdrawal will remain reversible from within your casino lobby.
A minimum verification deposit of $25 will have to be made and wagered at least once through before a withdrawal can be paid to you, if you have not made a deposit in the last 90 days. This also applies to withdrawals that were rejected and are re-requested for payment 90 days after your last purchase. Any withdrawal originating from a deposit that is less than $25 will be deemed null and void.
Making a deposit into your account in conjunction with a live balance greater than $10 is not permitted. Winnings generated from such gameplay will be forfeited.
In order for any withdrawal to be paid to you, the original deposit needs to be wagered 1x through.
Live balances that are stored for more than 14 days from the day of deposit will be subject to the terms and conditions of any new bonus claims made on aggregated balances, despite the original balance being higher than the fresh deposit + bonus claimed.
Okay, so the first thing to note is that you will be charged $35 if you want a check, unless you are withdrawing an amount in excess of $35. Honestly, if they just do MasterCard withdrawals, then I don’t know why you would want a check anyway, but that’s something to keep in mind if you intend to get paid that way in the event you win and wish to cash out.
For some reason, if you have more than $10 already in your account, then you cannot make another deposit or else your winnings could be forfeited. I legitimately have zero idea why a rule like that would exist, but I think it’s always a good policy to withdraw all of your funds from any online casino once you are done playing. If you want to make a new deposit, then I recommend waiting until after you have been paid and have the money in hand. I’m really not a fan of rules like that as I can’t see what possible purpose they serve.
Either way, I always think it is a good idea to zero out your account (either by withdrawing or by playing) before making any new deposits. I follow this rule at all online casinos, whether they are offshore, or not.
Potential new players should also note that this website is very serious about player verification, more serious, in fact, than even the regulated casinos in certain U.S. states, with that, you should be prepared to provide the following if you wish to withdraw:
Withdrawals can only be processed on receipt of the following documents from players:
Front and back copies of credit/debit cards used to deposit at the casino. Please block the middle digits so that only the first 6 and last 4 digits appear, e.g. 123456xxxxxxx1234.
Copy of a recent proof of address no older than three (3) months such as a utility bill or bank statement.
Front and back copy of a valid government issued identity document such as a driver’s license or passport.
A completed Authorization Agreement Form. This can be obtained by selecting the Authorization Agreement tab on the Credit and Debit Card option in the cashier page in the casino.
A verification call. Please feel free to contact support or advise us of a convenient time to call you.
Obviously:
Match bonuses are to be claimed directly before purchasing and before wagering has commenced. Failure to comply with the aforementioned will result in Free Bonus terms being applied.
Therefore, you must use the code and claim your bonus prior to making your deposit, which is pretty standard.
Here’s another max bet while on a promotion term, but with a little bit of a catch:
The max bet permitted with an active welcome bonus code is $10. If a bet in excess of $10 is placed, all winnings will be void. (This $10 value is inclusive of all side bets, double-up features, gamble features and any additional bet from the original wager/bet placed.)
Okay, so if you are going to play Texas Hold ‘Em Bonus, you will have to make sure that you can play optimally and bet low enough so that the total amount on the table never exceeds $10. The same is true for Blackjack, so generally speaking, you are probably going to want your base unit to be $1. I don’t know how many splits are allowed or if double after split is allowed, but just make sure, whatever the most units you can have out there is, that your base unit amount is low enough such that the total in bets never exceeds $10.
Here’s another one:
Only one withdrawal is permitted per welcome match bonus. Any winnings left in the live balance, once the withdrawal has been initiated, will be deemed null and void.
I haven’t seen that term before, but it is another good reason that players should always just withdraw everything when they have completed the playthrough requirements. Also, while the bonus claims to have no max cashout, since this casino does have a maximum weekly cashout of $5,000, and you can only request one withdrawal for one bonus, you do effectively have a max cashout of $5,000. Of course, playing Texas Hold Em Bonus or Blackjack with low enough bets to stay under $10 total, your starting balance of $1,200 will almost never, perhaps never, exceed a total balance of $5,000.
In any event, once you have completed the playthrough requirements, just make sure that you withdraw everything all at once.
Okay, so some of those terms are kind of complicated and a few are unusual, so I imagine that could have something to do with not being a Wizard of Odds APPROVED casino. Either way, as long as you make sure you can comply with all of those terms, then our exclusive offer can yield a positive expectation if you play Texas Hold ‘Em Bonus, though the playthrough will take some time to complete because of the bet restrictions, so you will have to decide whether or not it’s worth doing. If you’re running out of profitable new member offers, then I could see where someone might play this promotion.
LINCOLN CASINO
The next casino that we will take a look at is one that has been around for awhile and that is Lincoln Casino! Many of this site’s visitors, and visitors elsewhere in the LCB network have played at Lincoln, and overall, player opinions of their experiences have been mostly favorable.
This casino is powered by WGS Technology and has been around for almost ten years, as of the time of this writing. The US-friendly casino has earned the Wizard of Odds APPROVED seal for fair treatment of its players, state of the industry customer service standards, a great gaming platform and paying out when they claim they are going to.
This is the first casino in this writing that is not powered by RealTime Gaming and is instead powered by WGS Technology, which provides a consistent casino platform with attractive games and is not prone to crashes.
Unfortunately, you won’t find the absolute best Video Poker paytables as you would with RealTime Gaming, but Lincoln does have several options where its players can enjoy RTP’s of over 99%. The best returning Video Poker game is the 9/6 Jacks or Better (99.54% RTP) which RealTime also has and is a pretty consistent paytable for most online casinos. This is a slight downgrade compared to RealTime powered casinos, which tend to have a few paytables better than this, but it is still a solid game with fairly low variance.
It’s also the easiest game for new video poker players to learn the strategy to, especially if you use some of the tools available at this very site. For those reasons, players new to Video Poker would probably want to get their feet wet with JoB even at RealTime powered casinos anyway.
The assortment of Table Games is not quite as many unique titles as RealTime powered casinos, but the games that are offered are solid. The best Blackjack is Perfect Pairs, which has a 99.64% RTP, which makes that game even better returning than their best Video Poker game, provided, of course, that you stay away from any side bets.
The casino is also known for offering daily and weekly slot tournaments, so it’s impossible to calculate the added value as it would depend on how many people are playing, but between that and the comp dollars system, they definitely add non-zero value for those who choose to play there.
Exploring Lincoln Casino Bonuses
The sign up bonus through our site reads as follows:
Sign Up Bonus
A 100% Sign Up bonus with a max bonus of $1000 and a wagering requirement of 20x(b&d) on Slots.
Percentage play-through by game:
10% for Classic Blackjack, Other Blackjack and Poker Games.
100% for Slots.
Note: New Customer Offer. T&C’s Apply. 18+. 100% match, cashable, on the first five purchases of credits, up to $1,000.00 per bonus. Roulette, Baccarat and Craps are excluded from bonus play.
The sign up bonus can be done up to three times. At maximum, the player would deposit $1,000 and receive a $1,000 bonus for a total of $2,000 that would have to be wagered through with $40,000 playthrough on slot games.
1000/40000 = 0.025
With that, slots with an RTP of 97.5% would be breakeven for these new member promotions and slots with RTP’s higher than that would result in an expected profit for new players, if they choose to take this promotion. Unfortunately, we are not aware of any of the RTP’s for the slot games, and while the Video Keno games have great RTP by online standards, none of them would see players play with an expected profit even with the same WR contribution.
In the meantime, you would have to playthrough $400,000 on Blackjack in order to complete the Wagering Requirements. We know that the House Edge of the Blackjack game is 0.36%, so that would result in an expected loss of $1,440, if played through to completion, so Blackjack players would probably be better off just to deposit and play without taking a bonus. The same would be true for anyone playing other than slots.
For slots players, it’s kind of a coin flip–while some online slot titles have been shown to have RTP of 97.5%+, not all of them do and we would suggest that more than half of them probably don’t. That being said, it is still a decent deposit bonus that would increase your balance to extend your play time. Of course, you could not cash out winnings before completing the $40,000 playthrough requirements, so it is very possible that you would just want to play without taking a bonus instead, that way, you can cash out if you hit something good.
One thing about cashouts that must be mentioned for this casino is that the player must have a balance of at least $150 in order to make a withdrawal, for that reason, extremely low rolling players will probably want to avoid this casino. Personally, I would not advise playing here unless you have at least the same $150 to deposit if you decide you want to be able to withdraw your winnings in the event that you do well at all.
With that, we should take a look at some of the site terms:
First of all, playthrough:
Keno and all regular slot games - any wagers count 100% towards meeting any wagering requirement.
Any table game wagers count 10% towards meeting any wagering requirement.
Any Blackjack or video poker wagers count 10% towards meeting any wagering requirement.
Any wagering on Roulette, Craps or Baccarat using an active bonus is forbidden. Wagers on any of these games will not count towards meeting any wagering requirement and withdrawal requests from winnings where any portion of an active bonus is played on any of these games will be denied.
The maximum individual wager permitted using any portion of an active bonus is $2.00 on any single pay-line on any slot game and a maximum single wager of $10.00 on any game. Players placing wagers using any portion of an active bonus in excess of this maximum will forfeit any winnings earned from the session.
With that, we find that Keno does contribute fully to the Wagering Requirements, unfortunately, since the requirements are Bonus + Deposit, the result would still be an expected loss. Even without knowing the specific slot RTP’s, I am quite confident that they have a few slots that return better than the Video Keno games.
Players should also note the maximum total wager of $10 if they are playing on a bonus so that they don’t accidentally run afoul of that term. Most slot players aren’t going to bet that much in a single spin, of course, so you should be fine—just make sure to keep it in mind.
The rest of the Terms and the General Terms of this casino are standard fare and are easy to understand, so players shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
Overall, slot players might consider this promotions, and it might even have a little value, but I have no way to know for sure without knowing the specific return of a game. For that reason, people might take the bonus just to have a bigger balance to play with, but I would be more inclined just to deposit and play straight up if I chose to give Lincoln a try.
PLAYCROCO CASINO
PlayCroco Casino is another US-friendly site, but they mostly launched with the intent of appealing to players from the Land Down Under, Australia, as there have been many legal events that have caused some of the more popular casinos to no longer operate in the country. This casino has only been around since 2020, but has already received the Wizard of Odds APPROVED seal, which is incredibly impressive in its short life and means that it has treated its players positively excellently.
The games are also excellent with PlayCroco being another casino that is powered by RealTime Gaming software, one of the more popular online providers that ensure a fun and stable player experience. The best part is that this software has been thoroughly vetted by many independent agencies who have certified it to play on the square.
While the casino deals in Australian dollars, most of its players deposit and withdraw with Bitcoin, so it all looks the same on the website, just with a different symbol. SpinLogic Gaming is a secondary software provider for this website, though most of the games are RealTime powered.
As a result, the Blackjack and Video Poker paytables are the same as the other casinos that we have discussed above, except for Lincoln Casino, which is not powered by RealTime. The best game for return to player in those two categories is the Aces & Eights Video Poker game, which has an RTP of 99.78%.
Withdrawals are mostly in Bitcoin and Wizard has found as follows:
The terms and conditions seem more-or-less standard, with nothing standing out as being unfair or predatory toward players.
The banking system is good if you use Bitcoin, but if you use other methods you'll be waiting to get your money. There is a 48 hour pending time on payouts, but Bitcoin is paid out instantly thereafter. I should note that the max withdrawal of $7,500 weekly is a bit low.
Given the Wizard’s recommendation, I would recommend only playing this casino if you are keen to use Bitcoin and not so much any other withdrawal method, unless you don’t mind waiting a little bit. We are sure that they pay out within whatever amount of time their terms and conditions allow them to do so, but BTC would be the much faster option.
Exploring PlayCroco Bonuses
We have an exclusive No Deposit Bonus, which is as follows:
Bonuses
Below are the 4 bonuses available at PlayCroco Casino.
Below is a list of promotions currently being offered at PlayCroco Casino.
No Deposit Bonus - EXCLUSIVE
A $20 No Deposit and a wagering requirement of 60xb on Slots.
Code: WODDS20
Percentage play-through by game:
100% for Slots.
Note: New Customer Offer. T&C’s Apply. 18+. How to claim the bonus: Players need to sign up through our LINK, go to cashier and enter the bonus code. Max cashout: $180. Restricted games: Black jack, Video Poker, Craps, American Roulette, Baccarat, Table games. Promo offer expires: Until further notice. Max bet amount for no deposit bonuses: $10. Min deposit needed in order to cashout winnings: No. Is the bonus cashable: No. Bonus can be claimed in conjunction with sister casinos no deposit: No. Is the ND available on download &/or instant play version: Instant play version. Is No deposit available on mobile: Yes. Restricted Countries from this bonus: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan.
Generally speaking, I don’t recommend players do no deposit bonuses simply because, even if an online casino doesn’t have a deposit bonus with a positive expectation now, they might one day, except you won’t be a new player anymore and will not be able to do it.
This is a $20 slots bonus with a maximum cashout amount of $180, though it must be said that you are not very likely to finish with anything having to play $1,200 through on slots and only starting with $20. For that reason, we would not necessarily recommend that any players who have any bankroll whatsoever do the no deposit bonuses.
The Sign-Up Bonus is as follows:
Sign Up Bonus
A 200% Sign Up bonus with a max bonus of $5000 and a wagering requirement of 30x(b&d) on Slots.
Code: PLAYCROCO
Percentage play-through by game:
100% for Slots.
Note: New Customer Offer. T&C’s Apply. 18+. Min deposit is $20. All deposit bonuses are cashable. Wagering on all types of Blackjack, Video Poker, Craps, American Roulette, Baccarat and other table games and non-pokies games, will not count towards wagering requirement.
Basically, this amounts to a slots only bonus. If you deposit $2,500, then you will receive $5,000 in Bonus Funds for a total of $7,500 and would have to play through $225,000 in total coin in. You would not want to lose more than $5,000 as those are the bonus funds, so the cutoff for profitability is an RTP of about 97.77777778% for breakeven. Of course, we don’t know what the return of the RealTime slots are, and most are probably lower than that, so I would conclude that players can generally not expect to profit on this promotion.
For that reason, my tendency would be to wait for them to offer something with lower wagering requirements before signing up at this casino. However, if you wanted to play anyway because of their sterling reputation, then I would probably advise playing without taking a bonus. As with the others that do not have a profitable expectation, at least you would be able to cash out any time you want to do so.
Taking a look at the casino’s terms, let’s see if anything jumps out.
From the Bonus Terms:
- Bonuses will be credited to the Player's Real Account as Bonus Balance, until the terms of the promotion have been met. Thereafter the applicable Bonus Balance will be transferred to Withdrawable Balance.
- Unless otherwise stated, all free bonuses must be wagered at least 60 times before withdrawing. Wagering on all types of Blackjack, Video Poker, Craps, American Roulette, Baccarat and other table games and non-pokies games, will not count towards this wagering requirement unless specifically stated. If an excluded game is played before completion of the above wagering requirements, the casino reserves the right to void all winnings and reserve the right to close the account. Withdrawal requests before the wagering requirements have been met will be rejected until such time as the wagering requirements have been satisfied.
The first thing that I would note is that you may not bet more than $10 when you are playing on a bonus, else any winnings will be voided. If you decide to play the slots deposit bonus, that will be an important thing to keep in mind.
It’s also important to remember not to play anything but slots if you are playing on a slots bonus as they might close your account if you do. That’s pretty harsh. Personally, I think the software should restrict the games a player can even access if they are going to have this rule.
One thing that is nice about the bonus is that it gets transferred into withdrawable cash when your playthrough has been completed, so that makes it very convenient for players to see where they are at on completing the wagering requirements and how much in profits they might be looking at. While I do give credit to the casino for being quite fair in that regard, the wagering requirements are quite high, especially if you have to put hundreds of thousands in coin-in and can bet a maximum of $10.
You also want to watch out for playing free tournaments without making a deposit in between:
- Customers cannot redeem multiple free bonuses/free spins offer consecutively: When a customer uses two or more free bonuses without making a real money deposit in between, management reserves the right to void any bonuses and winnings. This includes winnings from Freeroll Tournaments (Tournaments that are free to enter).
Of course, most casinos have this rule as they don’t want people on there just playing all the free stuff hoping to eventually win something.
With that, if you like playing lots of slots and want to have a bigger balance to do so, then the slots deposit bonus is worth a look, but the mathematical expectation is that you will still lose a little bit. I would personally recommend, which may not necessarily reflect the views of the site, either just depositing and playing here or waiting for a better promotion with a little bit lower playthrough requirements.
SLOTLAND
Going back to a Classic, Slotland is one of the longest-running casinos out there and is an absolute favorite of the slots enthusiasts on our parent site, LCB.org.
All of that is for good reason. While the Video Poker games are evidently non-random for a few titles, this casino that uses proprietary software offers a highly unique suite of games and player experiences. More importantly than that, they have a nearly twenty year history of excellent player treatment and timely payment processing.
For those reasons, Slotland is a Wizard of Odds APPROVED casino, though Video Poker players should avoid it like the plague.
Wizard talks more about the payouts here:
The banking system at Slotland is decent, if a bit constrained because the site conducts business with the American betting market. Players will have a handful of ways to deposit to the casino, and the same applies to withdrawal methods. The casino does process payments once per week, and payouts do get sent out quickly, as paper checks are sent out via Fedex Overnight. Slotland also has a solid reputation for payouts, as they’ve been in business for a long time.
I have also given them excellent scores in this category and find that they have been a strong casino that is highly recommended for both low-rolling and high-rolling players for these reasons:
High Rollers Grade: A
Low Rollers Grade: A
Slotland is going to get an A for both categories for being one of a decreasing number of casinos to have a minimum deposit and minimum withdrawal that are the same amount. Additionally, Slotland offers a no-deposit bonus that exceeds both of those two minimums. Online casinos will often offer NDB’s of $25 when they have a minimum withdrawal of $100, which effectively forces the player to play in hopes of hitting $100 after that player has already satisfied any playthrough requirements associated with the bonus.
Even worse with some, but not all, of these casinos is the fact that some of those casinos will void the funds stemming from the bonus (after playthrough has been completed) if a new deposit is made. What that means is that if you take a $25 NDB, turn it into $50 and think that you can deposit another $50 so that you will be able to withdraw $100, think again. Not every casino does that, but some of them do, which is what makes reading the Terms & Conditions so important.
Needless to say, I find the banking terms at Slotland to be exceptionally fair and would recommend this casino site for all slot players. It’s actually pretty unusual to hear of a player who hasn’t tried Slotland at least once, and even the ones who have found another casino they like will visit Slotland again every once in a while.
Also, for those of you who haven’t played there, you will be able to enjoy some games that you won’t find anywhere else as, once again, the software is proprietary to the casino and they develop their own games in-house. You never know when a new one will pop up!
There remains an exclusive sign-up bonus to our network of sites, which is as follows:
Exploring Slotland Bonuses
Sign Up Bonus - Exclusive
A 200% Sign Up bonus with a max bonus of $200 and a wagering requirement of 13x(b&d) on Slots.
Code: MATCH200LCBN
Percentage play-through by game:
13% for Other Roulette.
26% for Video Poker and Poker Games.
65% for Parlor Games.
100% for Slots.
Note: Wagering requirements: 12x bonus, 1x deposit (bonus itself is cashable). How to claim - Players need to sign up from our LINK - bonus is redeemed automatically upon making the initial deposit. No Max cashout! All games allowed. Restricted countries: Belarus, China, Czech Republic, France, French Republic, Indonesia, India, Lithuania, Latvia, Malaysia, Romania, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Turkey, Taiwan, Ukraine, Vietnam. Promo expires: Until further notice.
In other words, players can deposit $100 and receive $200 in Bonus Funds with a playthrough (on slots) of $3,900. In other words, players would not want to lose more than the $200 in Bonus funds, so that means that:
200/3900 = 0.05128205128
They would want to play games with an RTP of 94.871794%, or better, which many online slots have. We do not know the returns for the individual slot games, however, so we can’t guarantee anything, but there might be a slight advantage on some of the games.
In any event, I don’t believe that any of the other games there could be played at an expected profit due to the wagering requirements. I guess the Deuces + Joker Video Poker is 99.07% RTP, and you would have to play $15,000 through on it, so the expected loss would be $139.50 with an expected profit of $60.50 after completing the bonus, but I don’t know how I would feel to try to play their Video Poker.
At least their terms are really easy to understand and very reasonable. They also allow players 90 days to playthrough the bonus if they take a no-deposit bonus, per:
Match bonuses and respective winnings must be wagered within 90 days of being credited unless promotions state otherwise. Any amounts of the bonus or winnings not used by a player will be removed after this period. Deposits, including any of the original deposit, are not removed.
I still don’t know if I would want to play Video Poker here as a result of the other incident that happened with certain aspects not being random, but if you trust the VP, then the first time player deposit bonus has an expected profit. If you want to play that bonus on the slots instead, then we would say that the low playthrough requirements would make the overall proposition something close to breakeven, though we can’t guarantee that there is an expected profit.
These games are also extremely old school, which is kind of neat in a way. At least you can be pretty confident that they are not going to crash all the time!
OVERALL
Unfortunately, we have reached a time where the online casinos have started paying much more attention to the math, so the days of frequent 100% deposit bonuses with 5x playthrough on Blackjack are mostly gone.
Interestingly, they are not entirely gone if you are fine with Bitcoin as one of our exclusive deposit bonuses listed above has only a 1x Wagering Requirement, which is absolutely just free money if you don’t play the promotion too aggressively.
Aside from that, we identified a couple of other slightly positive expectation promotions if you don’t mind having to play a large amount of coin-in. Of course, all casinos listed on this article are considered highly reputable by us, so that is why they have the Wizard of Odds APPROVED seal.
Other casino bonuses that could yield a positive expected outcome tended to lean on the game Texas Hold ‘Em Bonus and were on RealTime Gaming software. That software is great and those casinos are all trustworthy, though not all of them offer a bonus that is expected to yield a player profit, so make sure to look at the above listings to determine which ones do.
We found one bonus through Slotland which has a somewhat low playthrough requirement and a profit expectation for the players on Video Poker, despite their best (known) game returning just slightly over 99% to players. In any case, the wagering requirements are low enough that there is a small expected profit if you want to try that.
Slotland was also the only online casino that we have found in these listings where the slot bonus has such low playthrough as to probably be about breakeven. Most of the other casinos offering bonuses are such that the playthrough is so high relative to the bonus and deposit that the player would still be expected to lose money.
While this may not reflect the views of the site, I would not personally recommend taking bonuses where the mathematical expectation is still losing. Not because the bonus funds don’t help the player, they still most certainly do, but because the player loses the ability to withdraw funds whenever the player wants to as a result of being locked into wagering requirements.
On the other hand, players who just deposit and play without taking a bonus can cash out whenever they want to if they hit something good, which I think is better than having to do a ton of playthrough on a bonus where I am expected to lose a little bit anyway. I’d rather just deposit and take my shot at it than do that.
We have also found that maximum wager allowances have become a little bit more strict in recent years, with $10 seeming to be the current standard. I don’t know how many people are out there playing more than $10 on slots anyway, but players taking a bonus would certainly not want to void that bonus by doing so. If you don’t take a bonus, then you can wager whatever the maximum wager on the game is.
I used to be upset about casinos offering promotions by which the players were not expected to profit, but it’s standard operating procedure now. Unfortunately, math guys like me (and especially the guys in the early days of online play when I was too young to even gamble) absolutely PUNISHED casino mistakes and offers that were too generous, so the casinos have since reigned back on those a little.
We would also like to remind everyone that all casinos on the page are Wizard of Odds APPROVED, so if you sign up by following our affiliate links, create an account and eventually make a deposit, then we will have your back if there are any issues you have with the casino that you cannot resolve yourself. Of course, we don’t think that you will have an issue with any of these casinos, otherwise, Wizard would not have APPROVED them in the first place.
That also goes for any other casinos that are our affiliates. If you see a casino on here that you are interested in playing at, simply search for that casino’s review page (there will be one for any online casino you see on here), scroll to the bottom of the page, and see whether or not the APPROVED seal is there.
The low-hanging fruit has been picked off of the tree and the days of making thousands of dollars with online casinos, sometimes even in just a day, are mostly over (unless you are willing to travel a bit, but time might be running out even for those) but there are still some decent promotions to be had for recreational players who really enjoy playing certain games and don’t mind that the overall value might not exactly be crushing it…except for the one casino above that only has 1x playthrough, which is awesome.
For those of you who are concerned about the legality of online gambling in your state, please check out that linked page for more information on that. Most laws have to do with online casino operators, so being offshore, those would be out of your state’s jurisdictional reach.
As far as we can tell, many states do not actually have any laws that would prohibit a player from playing, and of those that do, we have found no instance of any player ever facing criminal prosecution for the mere act of playing online. If you were doing it at home, what are you going to do, turn yourself in?
However, there are three states where, even though my last study is slightly dated, it could be a felony for players to merely be playing online, which I think is ridiculous, for instance:
Washington
One might think Washington would take a liberal view on online gambling since HB 1114 keeps getting reintroduced in an effort to legalize and regulate Internet Poker, but one would be wrong. The laws that are on the books matter, not the ones that could be on the books at a later date.
Aside from forms of gambling legalized by the State, gambling is illegal. The most dangerous law to players that I have seen makes it a Class C Felony to transmit or receive gambling information by electronic means, and yes, the Internet is specifically mentioned.
The other two states are Iowa and Montana, though Montana either makes it a felony or not depending on how much the player actually wins. The law with the strictest wording is easily that of Washington State, so even though actually being prosecuted seems highly unlikely, I would definitely think twice before playing online if I lived there.
For more information on your state, simply click on the link above. Once again, many of the states in question do not have any penalties that would apply directly to players whatsoever.
CONCLUSION
That does it for this look at some of our Wizard of Odds APPROVED Casinos that offer their services around the world, but more specifically, in the United States. If this page is well-received, then I might take a look at some of the others later on and see if they are any good, but I wanted to restrict this list to some of our featured casinos.
I want to thank everyone for reading, and if you have any questions, feel free to PM me at Mission146 over on the Wizard of Vegas forums. May the odds ever be in your favor!
Sign Up Bonus
100% up to
1000$
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No Deposit
10AU$
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250%
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505% up to
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+500 spins
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10$
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325% up to
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