You have certainly seen advertisements by online casinos, promising free spins and asking you to become a member to claim them. But how do free spins work? What are you getting here? Is it free? Can you keep what you win?
To answer these questions we turned to expert gamblers from KasinoBonus who will cover the general information and the mathematics of the bonus offers. Experts from KasinoBonus have claimed their share of casino offers, including free spins, and they kindly agreed to produce this little newbie guide for us.
- What are free spins?Â
Whenever you see an offer that says you’re getting some free spins, it’s always the same thing – you’ll get the described number of free spins, which you can then use on some slot game:
- Play one game only – if the promotion is targeted at some specific slot game title
- Choose from several games – if the casino wishes to retain control over what games you play
- Play any slot you want – if the free spins are issued for any game in the casino
- Can’t play restricted slots – every casino has a list of high-win slots that are ineligible for play with bonus funds
So, for example, you might be given 100 free spins to use in the online casino, on any slot game except for the restricted ones.
2. How to play with free spinsÂ
Now we turn you over to KasinoBonus and their experts who will answer specific questions regarding slot games and what to do with the free spins in practice.
When you launch a slot game, and you have remaining active free spins in your account, the free spins will be used when you click the Spin button, not any real money if you have it in your account.
The free spins will have a cash value attached to them. For example, it might be 0.10 per spin or 0.25 per spin. More than that is rare, as the customers just want to get the largest possible number of spins and aren’t too concerned with the cash value. This doesn’t mean you don’t have to be conscious about this bit – you most certainly can.
Almost all free spins are non-sticky, which means that you don’t retain the value of the spin, but only what you win with it. For example, if you use your 0.10 spin to win 0.37, you’ll have 0.37, not 0.47, added to your account balance.
It’s up to you if you want to use your free spins on one game or multiple games. Your job is, in either case, just to keep clicking the Spin button until you run out of free spins. When that happens, you’ll see a pop-up saying that you used all your free spins and that future spins will use your real money balance.
At that point, you’ll have a certain amount of winnings in your account. Let’s assume you have won a total of 10.48, and we’ll continue using that arbitrary number as the basis for all the calculations in this article.
3. Playthrough requirementsÂ
Regardless of the type of free spins you got or the manner in which you got them, there will always be a playthrough requirement. This means that you will have to wager a set amount of money in order to be allowed to withdraw your winnings.
This number is always a multiplier, and it will be 35x, 40x, or 45x most often. If a multiplier is smaller than 35x, then that’s an amazing offer, and if it’s bigger than 45x, then that’s an impossibly difficult task. Here is what the playthrough requirement would look like in our example:
- 35x playthrough: 10.48 x 35 = 366.80
- 40x playthrough: 10.48 x 40 = 419.20
- 45x playthrough: 10.48 x 45 = 471.60
The number that you get is the amount of money that you must wager before you can withdraw any winnings that came from your free spins playing session.
Most casinos will let you use your original free spins winnings to bootstrap your way to meeting your playthrough requirements, but we’ve heard of casinos that ask you to make an additional deposit. It is the industry standard to let a player play with the winnings, in our case, the 10.48, and try to reach the playthrough amount with that.
4. The maximum betÂ
Everyone will probably instantly think that, if you have a balance of 10.48 and you’re expected to reach a 366.80 playthrough, the only thing that makes sense is to go crazy and place a 10 bet on roulette to either double the money or lose everything and forget about it.
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This is indeed a good strategy – large bets are beneficial for meeting the playthrough requirements – and this is why casinos limit the maximum bet, usually to 5 EUR or so. Make sure to read the terms and conditions, or you might forfeit your bonus by breaching the terms. Depending on the casino, there could be some other important terms to take note of.
5. How to claim the free spinsÂ
This will depend on the casino. You will always have to register a new account to become a member, unless the free spins are issued to existing members, which isn’t a rarity at all. Existing members get lots of promotional offers.
The first-time customers who just joined the casino will get the free spins in one of these ways:
- Free spins are credited automatically upon registration and logging in
- The promo code needs to be entered somewhere to get the free spins
- Customer support needs to be contacted to get the free spins
- Free spins are part of a larger deposit bonus
- You have to complete a task to get the free spins, such as verifying your identity
In all cases, there will be clear instructions on how to claim the free spins as the casino wants you to claim them. Whenever in doubt, don’t click and make a mistake; contact customer support for clarification.
6. How much can you win on free spins?Â
This would be the same question as – how much can you win on slots? Just like any real money slots player, you’ll be winning small amounts most of the time, and if luck strikes, you’ll win a large amount with one simple spin of the reels.
7. Best free spins playing strategiesÂ
It only makes sense to play slots that are capable of delivering a big win on any given spin. These are called the high variance slots, which don’t pay very often, but when/if they pay, they pay big. Free spins are best used on this type of game. This is to avoid the situations where you won a small amount, such as 5 or 10, and must still jump through hoops to meet the playthrough requirements. It’s just not worth it – try to either make your win larger, or too small to even matter.
