Why Online Casinos Offer Welcome Bonuses?
A casino welcome bonus is a deposit match-up offered by almost all the casinos in the UK. When a new player deposits a certain minimum deposit on the site, a percentage of that amount will be given as a bonus to the player, giving them more funds to play.
But why would a welcome bonus casino offer free money? The reasons are they manage to get more players and a ‘cheeky’ term called wagering requirements that make players spend money on the site to encash their wins.
So, players in the UK can earn anywhere between a 50-300% casino sign up bonus on their first or up to four deposits, capped to a certain maximum. You can use this bonus to try out different games on the website, which you might never try with real money.
How to Claim Welcome Bonus at UK Casinos?
The casino sign up bonus can be claimed within a few steps. You just need to follow the steps below.
- Choose a welcome bonus casino from our recommended list.
- Remember to read the terms and conditions of the offer before finalising a site.
- Register on the platform with your basic details, including email, mobile number, and address.
- Verify your account with an OTP or email activation if required.
- Go to the deposit section and deposit the minimum amount per the offer terms.
- Your casino welcome bonus will be credited to your bonus account.
Sometimes, you might have to add the bonus promo code on the deposit or registration page to claim the offer. Remember to add the code in the field available and get your bonus funds.
How do We Rate and Review Casinos Offering Sign Up Bonus?
With scores of UK sites offering welcome bonuses, no one criterion can be observed for choosing the best casino welcome bonus site. Our experts at Gamblorium review these sites on a number of factors simultaneously to choose the best ones of the lot.
- Game Offerings
- After the casino sign up bonus, the gaming options are the next thing players will check out when visiting a casino site. From slots to live table games, lottery, and dice games, we ensure our listed sites have a game for every punter.
- Navigation
- The welcome bonus casino site we list is easy to use with well-categorized service options. Players prefer the convenience of registration on claiming offers. If players can navigate to their favourite games quickly, they will likely visit the site more.
- No Deposit and other bonus offers
- No deposit offers always ring our bells! Besides, we check out the kind of deposit offers, cashback, and free spin offers available when we recommend a site. We also check the frequency of these offers and if the operators are running any game tournaments.
- Wagering Requirements
- The bonuses that carry huge wagering requirements are worthless. So, checking the bonus offers vis-à-vis their wagering requirements is essential. We consider any figure that is around 30x to be reasonable and does not recommend casinos that have over-exploiting wagering specifications.
- Payment Methods
- A site laced with a variety of modern e-wallets, cards, bank transfers, e-vouchers, and cryptocurrency payment modes make transactions seamless. We prefer picking sites that serve many such payment modes with secure encryptions and firewalls.
- Fast Withdrawals
- Our chosen sites ensure secure payments and super-fast withdrawals. Our team checks the withdrawal process by making an actual withdrawal to see the responsiveness of the interface and the time to process.
- Mobile Experience
- In this age of mobile, mobile experience matters a lot to gamblers. We review if the welcome bonus sites we recommend offer great compatibility, display, and overall functionality on mobile browsers and mobile apps.
Best Welcome Bonuses Casino Sites
So, we are stopping your search for the best welcome bonuses casino elsewhere. After a lot of deliberation based on the overall gaming experience on these sites, we have carefully curated the below list of best welcome bonus casino sites:
Free Spins
100% / 100 FS
Free Spins
£200 / 100 FS
Welcome
£20 / 80 FS
Most Popular Types of Casino Welcome Bonus Offers
Let us now literate you with the common types of bonuses available at the top UK casinos.
- No Deposit Bonus
- No deposit bonus would not demand any initial deposit from the new players. You would just register on the site and get this free sign up bonus credit in your account.
- Match Bonus
- A match bonus would match up your deposit with the said percentage. This amount is limited to a certain amount.
- No Wagering Bonus
- No wagering bonus would let players enjoy all the winnings from the bonus without spending back any amount on the casino. All other types of bonus offers have wagering requirements.
- Free Spins Bonus
- Free spins bonus is frequently offered as a free welcome bonus along with a match bonus. Players would enjoy free spins on a specific slot but with a fixed bet size.
The Most Popular Percentages of Welcome Bonus
The percentage match-ups you get with welcome bonus offers can be anywhere from a 100% match-up to a whopping 500% match-up. The casinos might offer this bonus as a welcome package on only the first deposit or over a set of the first three to four deposits.
- 100% welcome bonus
- With a 100% welcome bonus, you can enjoy the same deposit amount as a bonus in your account.
- 200% welcome bonus
- If you deposit £30 on a casino site, you will get £60 (200% of £30) as a bonus that you can use to play on the site.
- 300% welcome bonus
- Many UK casino sites can also offer up to a 300% welcome bonus on the deposits made by the player. You should note that casinos might often specify the total of their bonus percentage for advertising purposes in offers such as a 300% deposit bonus and above. However, when you look into the offer details, you might only get a 100% bonus each on your first, second, and third deposits.
- 400% welcome bonus
- A 400% deposit match-up would give players huge returns. For example, Blood Moon casino offers a 400% deposit of up to £800. But such offers might have tough wagering requirements close to 50x or something.
- 500% welcome bonus
- Like mentioned earlier, most casinos would not offer a flat 500% match-up on the first deposit. You will most often find this offer as part of the welcome package: a 200% welcome bonus on the first deposit and a 100% deposit match-up on the remaining three deposits.
Welcome Bonus on Mobile Casinos
Mobile gaming has revolutionised the world of online gambling. Many casino welcome bonus sites have complete mobile compatibility for their games on browsers or apps. It allows players to stay connected to their games on the go.
The site functionality when playing on mobile is the same as a desktop, with all the features like customer support, casino sign up bonus, and other promotions readily accessible to the players. Whether you have an Android, Windows, or iOS device, you can access the welcome bonus casino with a few clicks using any browser like Safari, Chrome, or mobile casino apps.
Cashable vs Non-Cashable Bonuses
You might have heard of the terms- cashable and non-cashable bonuses in gambling terminology. A bonus ready to be withdrawn after meeting the wagering requirement is a regular cashable bonus. For example, if you have spent £10, earned a bonus of £20, and won £400, you can withdraw your money after meeting the wagering requirements, and this is a Cashable bonus.
Whereas, with a non-cashable or sticky bonus, you won’t be able to withdraw the £20 bonus earned; you can only withdraw £410 (£400+£10). If there are wagering conditions in place, the bonus amount is deducted from the final withdrawable amount after meeting the wagering conditions.
Popular Online Casino Games With Sign up Bonus
Players can use the sign up bonus and enjoy almost all the games available on the casino platform except for a few restricted ones that are not available to play with bonus money. Listed below are the games you can enjoy at casinos.
- Slots Sign up Bonus: Slots are reel-based games that can be played with a sign up slots bonus. You have various themes from TV, and movies, to more basic gems, animals, and sweets-themed slots to enjoy and win.
- Bingo Welcome Bonus: Bingo play at a welcome bonus bingo casino is super fun with the bonus money. Bingo is a lottery game where players buy cards and then strike off numbers from them as these are drawn. Depending on the payout table, players striking all the numbers in a line or a card, win their bets. To avail of the bingo bonus sign up is quite simple and convenient.
- Roulette Welcome Bonus: Roulette is played with a large segmented wheel with numbers and red/black colours, which is rolled with a ball over it that decides the winning outcome. Bets on a specific number or range are placed on a table, and the payouts are generated according to the roulette version you are playing.
- Blackjack Welcome Bonus: The blackjack card game can also be played with a welcome bonus. The game’s main idea is to beat the dealer by going as close to the total of 21 as possible without going over it. The game involves many side bets to increase the excitement.
- Sign up Bonus Poker: Poker is again a card game available at sign up bonus poker sites. You will bet and play against your fellow players for the best hand rankings.
Most Popular Slots and Providers to Play with Casino Welcome Bonus
With slots welcome bonus, you can play a huge variety offered by multiple software providers, which might not always be possible with real money. While you have access to the entire slot lobby with the most slots sign up bonus; there are a few all-time favourite slots you would love to play after getting a bonus in your kitty. Below are some of the best welcome bonus slots.
- Guns N Roses: You would love to play this slot game based on the famous rock band when using a sign up slots bonus. This Netent slot features overlay, stacked and expanding wild symbols, a bonus wheel, a crowd-pleaser bonus, and Legend and Encore free spins.
- Starburst: Starburst from Netent is the all-time hit slot with up to 500x win multiplier and a simple gem-based theme.
- Book of Dead: Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead slot from Play’n Go is based on an Egyptian theme. Rich Wilde explores the ancient treasures giving you jackpot bonus features, free spins, and a gamble feature to win your way to glory.
Best Payment Methods for Slots Sign up Bonus UK
Many digital payment methods are available to play and enjoy the slots welcome bonus. Check out the commonly found modes of payment at casino sites these days.
- Debit Cards: If you have a VISA or a Mastercard, you can comfortably use it at most sites to claim the slots sign up bonus and bet.
- E-wallets: E-wallets like Paypal, Skrill, and Neteller and mobile wallets like Google Pay and Apple Pay can be conveniently accessed to transfer funds instantly to the casino site within a few taps.
- Prepaid Cards: Players can use Paysafecard vouchers or Neosurf prepaid cards to fund their casino accounts. Prepaid cards help players to gamble with a fixed limit.
- Cryptocurrencies: You can also get a sign up slots bonus by playing at a crypto casino. You can also use many cryptocurrencies for deposits and withdrawals at many UK sites that accept transactions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc.
- Bank Transfers: Players can make direct bank transfers or use intermediaries to transfer within banks and deposit money in their casino account.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Welcome Bonuses
Using a casino welcome bonus and having extra money to play is indeed awesome. However, there are a few factors you should be aware of before planning to play with bonus money at any welcome bonus casino. Based on the extensive analysis and experience of Gamblorium, here’s a breakdown of the advantages and disadvantages:
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
|---|---|
| A bigger gaming pool. | Sticky wagering requirements. |
| Increased chance of winning more. | Gaming restrictions. |
| Less of real money bankroll required. | Validity restrictions. |
| Chance to experience new games. | Win limits. |
| Try out new casino sign up bonus sites. |
Casino Welcome Bonus Terms & Conditions
Your decision to claim a casino welcome bonus, or not would primarily depend on the terms and conditions that come along with the offer. You should never judge a book by its cover and a bonus by its flashy figures. Before investing money, you should read the fine print of the terms and conditions thoroughly.
- Almost all sites offering a casino sign up bonus will have wagering requirements that would want you to stake a multiple of the earned bonus money on the platform before letting you withdraw anything. There would be a validity period within which you should use your earned bonus and subsequently complete the wagering requirements.
- Most punters also tend to miss the game restrictions that would restrict them from playing certain games on the platform using the bonus money or for meeting the wagering requirements. Further, you should note only slots would contribute 100% to your wagering requirements. Only 15-20% of your stake in games like blackjack or roulette would count towards wagering.
- Since this is free money, the welcome bonus casino will not let you use it however you like. You might have bet size restrictions and likely have a win and withdrawal capping on your earned money.
Best Casino Sign up Bonus Sites in the UK
Due to the rising number of gamblers wishing to gamble and have some quick entertainment; many new UK sites keep entering the industry to tap the potential. The intense competition in the market is forcing them to be as creative with their bonus offers and woo their customers in different ways.
We have jotted down the list of our tried and tested sites with the best casino sign up offers that have managed to keep up the players’ trust for a long time.
Free Spins
£200 / 50 FS
Free Spins
£200 / 100 FS
5 Tips When Choosing a Welcome Bonus Offer
We think we have covered pretty much everything you should know about a casino welcome bonus. If you feel this is a lot of information to grasp, here is a summary of five factors you should consider when choosing a welcome bonus site.
- A casino sign up bonus should have low wagering requirements to be able to encash your wins quickly.
- Higher the bonus percentage, the better, provided the other terms and conditions are not unfavourable to you.
- Always check the availability of the games on the platform and if you have games suiting your interest. You should also check if your preferred game does not fall under the restricted category to play with the bonus.
- You should have at least a month to complete the wagering requirements.
- Players should always consider if there is a bet limit. Restrictive bet limits would never let you win big from your welcome bonus.
Casinos with No Deposit Welcome Bonus: Is it real?
Certainly, you can get a no deposit bonus in the form of free money, free cash or free chips at UK online casinos that offer it. But again, these bonus offers are subject to terms and conditions, which make it difficult to withdraw anything from your wins. As far as you are looking at these offers for free entertainment, it is fine. You should not expect to be able to have magical wins from no deposit offers.
How to find Welcome Bonus at Online Casinos?
If you are hunting for a casino sign up bonus, the good news is you won’t have to hunt. Most UK sites will have the casino welcome bonus banner on their homepage, almost compelling you to click over it and spend a buck or two.
At some sites where you do not see it, you can go to the ‘Bonuses’ or ‘Promotions’ section, and the welcome bonus will be listed right on the top. If you wish to compare the welcome bonuses of multiple casino operators together, you can visit our site and have all of them listed together.
Casino Welcome Bonus FAQs
What is a welcome bonus?
-
A welcome bonus can be free spins or a deposit match-up bonus offered to new players only who register on the casino site for the first time.
Can I win real money with a welcome bonus?
-
Yes, the bonus money left after meeting the wagering requirements is available for the players to withdraw in real money.
Are welcome bonuses available to UK players?
-
Yes, many online casinos accepting players from the UK offer them welcome bonuses.
How do I claim a Welcome bonus at an online casino?
-
Most casinos would require you to deposit at usual on the site and credit the welcome bonus in the player’s account, while some might want you to apply a bonus code. You should fulfil the minimum deposit required to claim a welcome bonus.
What are the wagering requirements associated with welcome bonuses?
-
On average, you are expected to wager 30x of your earned bonus. You can check the terms and conditions of the offer to check the wagering requirements of a particular casino site.
