An online casino bonus is an essential part of your gambling experience. As soon as you sign up for a gambling platform, you can expect to receive a casino welcome bonus. Then, you’ll be able to benefit from various types of deposit and no-deposit bonuses, personalized offers, birthday gifts, free spins, and other incentives. Read this page to find out what a casino bonus is, how to get it, and benefit from it! We’ll tell you how to detect the best casino bonus Canada and make the most of diverse lucrative offers. Our recommendations should come in handy for players with any budget and preferences. It doesn’t matter whether you gamble from your stationary computer once per week or spin the reels of slots from your smartphone during every lunch break.
2,250 CAD + 100 Free Spins
100% UP TO 500 CAD + 100 Free Spins
Up C$500+ 200 Free Spins
$5,000
in deposit bonuses
100%up to $225 + 250 free spins
C$500
IN DEPOSIT BONUSES AND 600 FREE SPINS
Get your first 100 Free Spins on Super Joker.
Daily Cashback up to 20%
C$1,000 and 1000 Free Spins
1000 Free Spins on Vampires vs Wolves by making your first deposit.
C$1200<br
2,000 CAD + 200 Free Spins
What Is Called Casino Bonus?
A casino bonus is a promotional offer that enables you to cut down your gambling expenses, get extra cash to place on bets, spice up your gameplay and boost your adrenaline level. Bonuses are available for those players who have signed up for the gambling platform and signed in to their accounts. Unregistered users might be able to do the following:
- See added banners on various casino pages
- Check the Promotions section of the casino site or app
- Read the Terms and Conditions of the platform
Some casinos show only selected bonuses to unregistered users. For instance, if you open the Promotions page without signing in to your account, you might be able to find the terms of only 6 bonuses. After you sign in, you might find out the details of 12 bonuses. Normally, you don’t need to deposit cash to access exhaustive information about promotional offers.
From the business point of view, online casinos introduce bonuses because promotional offers give gambling platforms a significant competitive edge. When choosing a casino to sign up for, a client will be more likely to register at a platform that features a generous bonus system. Various third-party sites compile ratings of online casinos with the most lucrative bonuses. The higher the place of a gambling platform in such a rating, the more new clients it will be able to attract. Some ratings compare the overall bonus systems of casinos. Others are focused on specific types of offers, such as the welcome package or no-deposit bonuses. Below, we’ll talk about different types of bonuses and their parameters in detail.
Factors to Consider When Choosing Casino Bonuses
When choosing the best casino bonuses, you should pay attention to the following factors:
- How large and how profitable is the bonus? The bonus should give you a chance to win more than you spend on getting and wagering it. It would be wise to take your time and calculate the potential outcome in advance.
- What are its wagering requirements? You should accept an offer only if its wagering coefficient is rather low and you have enough time to wager it. x20 or less is a low wagering coefficient while x40 or over might be a bit too high.
- What is its validity period? You might have limited time to claim the bonus (for instance, the casino might give you 7 days after the registration date to claim the welcome package). Then, you’ll have limited time to wager the offer.
- Which games can you apply the bonus to? Each promotional offer is compatible only with certain types of games or certain titles. If you try to apply a bonus to a game that it’s not compatible with, it simply won’t activate.
- Does the casino provide enough security guarantees? It makes sense to sign up only for those gambling platforms that are licensed and are legally allowed to cater to Canada. They should use SSL certificates to encrypt their clients’ private data and keep sensitive information 100% confidential.
- Which payment methods are compatible with the bonus? Some payment methods might be exempt from certain offers. If you use them to deposit cash, the money will still land on your gambling account — but you’ll fail to claim the offer.
If you don’t understand the terms of a bonus, feel free to ask the support team of the casino. Live chat should be the quickest and easiest way of getting in touch with them. Alternatively, you might be able to call support reps by phone, send them an email, leave your query in the fill-in form or reach out to the support crew through messengers and social networks. The list of available communication channels might vary from one casino to another.
Various Types of Casino Bonuses
Below, we’ll tell you about the most popular types of bonuses that you might come across on gambling platforms. A casino doesn’t necessarily need to feature all these varieties of promotional offers. Deposit bonuses are more common than their no-deposit counterparts.
Deposit Bonus
They are also known as match bonuses. To get the gift, you should deposit cash to your gambling account, meeting specific requirements. For instance, you might need to deposit no less than a certain sum, on a certain day of the week, through a certain payment system. If you fail to meet at least one of the requirements, the funds will still land on your account — but you won’t receive the match bonus.
When choosing the best sign up casino bonus, you should check how many deposits it applies to. Some offers increase the sum of only your first deposit. Others can apply to up to 5 first consecutive deposits. The minimum deposit sum, the wagering coefficient, the maximum limit and the percentage of the increase might vary from one deposit to another.
You should keep in mind the following rules:
- If you fail to claim the welcome casino bonus from the first attempt, you won’t be able to come back to it later.
- If you have already claimed it on your computer, you won’t be able to do it again on your mobile device (or vice versa).
- If the welcome package applies to several deposits, you should fulfill the requirements for all deposits. If you fail to meet the requirements of the second deposit, you won’t be able to use the bonus for your third deposit.
Most gambling platforms will allow you to create only one account per person, email address, phone number, postal and IP address. This means after you sign up for a specific casino, your flatmates, family members who leave together with you or colleagues who work from the same physical office as you won’t be able to join this platform. Most likely, you’ll be required to specify the following details in the registration form:
- First and last name.
- Date of birth.
- Full postal address.
- Email address.
- Phone number.
- Preferred language and currency.
Before requesting your first withdrawal, you’ll need to verify your identity with copies of your private documents (valid ID, passport or driving license, a recent bank statement, a household bill issued less than 90 days ago, and a photo of your credit card without showing its full number and CVV). You might be able to deposit cash a few times without verifying your identity.
Top casinos guarantee the maximum safety of their clients’ private data. When uploading the documents to your profile, you’ll be using a safe form. However, if you prefer to submit the documents via email or messengers, the casino should allow you to do so.
No-Deposit Bonus
Casinos might distribute no-deposit bonuses to motivate players who have not been too active recently to start gambling again. You might receive such a personalized offer to your email or in an SMS. It might be a birthday gift or a reward in terms of the VIP program. Some gambling platforms employ AI that suggests them the most opportune moments for offering tailor-made gifts to clients.
Otherwise, you might come across promo codes for no-deposit bonuses on third-party web resources dedicated to gambling, such as:
- Blogs
- Forums
- Social networks
- Websites that publish online casino news and updates
Please mind that no-deposit bonuses are not the same as in-build bonuses in some games. For instance, some slots feature secret levels, free spins and respins. You can reach them after compiling specific winning combinations of symbols on the reels. These bonuses were added to the algorithms of the game by its developers and not by the casino administration. You can access the in-build bonuses regardless of whether you have made a cash deposit or not.
Extra Spins
Free spins enable you to set the reels of a slot machine in motion without paying from your own pocket for it. If you win thanks to free spins, you’ll be able to withdraw money as usual. And that’s the main difference between using free spins and playing in free trial mode. Most casinos allow their clients to test games in the demo mode first to figure out how they function and gain experience. In demo mode, you’ll be placing bets with and winning virtual coins that have no real-life value. The free trial mode can last for a few hours or even days, while the number of free spins that you can get as a bonus is always limited.
You can expect to get free spins on deposit for the first time as a part of the welcome package. Probably, you won’t be able to use them all in one go. For instance, if you receive 100 free spins, you might be allowed to use 20 of them each day for 5 consecutive days. If you miss one day, these 20 free spins will expire and you won’t be able to restore them. By establishing such rules, casinos try to motivate players to come back to them every day.
As for the free spins no deposit bonus, you’ll be most likely to get it thanks to a promo code, or as a birthday gift, or as a part of the VIP program.
Free spins apply only to slots. If a bonus allows you to place a bet on a table game or live dealer game without putting your real savings at stake, that’s a free bet and not a free spin. Free bets are not as common as free spins.
Reload Bonus
The essence of this type of gift is identical to the match bonus. You deposit a certain sum, meet the requirements of the promotional offer and receive some extra cash on your gambling account. Nevertheless, the term “reload bonus” is not 100% synonymous with “match bonus”. The “re” particle means that you have already deposited cash before — and now, you add more money to your gambling account. The term “match” means that you haven’t deposited any funds yet and are doing so for the first time. The welcome bonus for the first deposit is a match bonus, but not a reload one. If the welcome package applies to the second deposit too, it can be characterized as a reload bonus.
High Roller Bonuses
A high roller is a player who places bets with large sums. There is no one-fits-all definition of what the word “large” means in this case. Most likely, you’ll qualify as a high roller if you place a bet of CAD 1,000 or higher. Attention: you should deposit all this sum in one go. After that, you might get access to extra lucrative bonuses that are not available to most gamblers. In the most generous casinos, you might be able to get an increase of up to 1000% of your deposit. It might be challenging to wager a high roller bonus. But if you’re lucky, you might be able to hit a huge win.
Importance of Reading Bonus Terms & Conditions
Before accepting any bonus, you should read its rules attentively. Normally, each bonus has its dedicated page on the casino’s site. Plus, you should glance through the Terms and Conditions page of the gambling platform. You should be able to find the link to it either in the footer of the main page or in the vertical menu in the left column of the main page (if the casino was built by one of the two most popular design templates).
Some casinos also have dedicated Promo Terms & Conditions pages. There, you’ll discover the same information as in the general Terms and Conditions — but you won’t get distracted by the passages on other topics.
Besides, you might discover bonus suggestions in your user profile. This option is typical for casinos with a modern design. The system will automatically suggest to you promotional offers that seem to be the most suitable for you. Probably, there will also be a link to the bonus terms.
When reading the rules of using bonuses, you should pay primary attention to the following information:
- Some bonuses might have geographical restrictions. They might be available only to residents of selected countries.
- Usually, you should be allowed to use only one bonus at a time. The system will prevent you from combining two or more promotional offers.
- What are the rules of depositing cash when using no-deposit promotional offers? For instance, you might be unable to use two no-deposit bonuses in a row. You’ll need to make a cash deposit with a certain minimum sum in between.
On an extremely rare occasion, something might go wrong while you’re playing with a bonus. For instance, you might get disconnected from the Internet and fail to connect back. Or, the game might freeze. Or, the casino site might become unavailable because of a server error. If an emergency takes place, please don’t panic! Get in touch with the support team as soon as you can and explain your case. Plus, it would be wise to read that part of the Terms and Conditions devoted to such situations.
You might fail to find the information about some bonuses on the Terms and Conditions page or in the Promotions section. Here, we mean those bonuses that you can receive in terms of the VIP program (also known as the loyalty program). Most online casinos introduce such programs to enhance the loyalty of their already existing customers and attract new ones. You might join such a program automatically at the lowest level as soon as you sign up for the gambling platform. To increase your VIP rank, you need to play actively for real cash.
When you check the rules of the VIP program on the casino site, you might fail to find any comprehensive details there. Gambling platforms deliberately create intrigue. They would promise your something like “special bonuses” or “exclusive promotional offers”. Apart from deposit and no-deposit bonuses, you might also get the following rewards:
- The assistance of a personal manager
- A chance to play the newest and the most generous games earlier than anyone else
- Invitations to private tournaments and lotteries
- An opportunity to take part in premium offline events
- Generous prizes such as gadgets or even cars
By the way, you don’t necessarily need to be a VIP to take part in tournaments. You can start with the simplest tournaments that anyone can join. Within a certain time frame, you need to play specific games for real cash. The more you earn, the more points you get and the higher your position on the leaderboard. Players with the highest number of points can receive cash prizes or other bonuses.
You should be able to track your current bonuses in your user profile. Top casinos allow you to check the list of your active promotional offers and the ones that you have used before. You might be able to filter your past bonuses according to their type and date. The Cashier desk should display your current total balance, cash balance and bonus balance. Here is how the system usually works:
- When you deposit money, it will land on your cash balance
- When you get extra funds thanks to a promotional offer, they will land on your bonus balance
- Once you’ve started wagering the bonus, you’ll be using the money from your bonus balance
- As soon as you run out of money on your bonus balance, you’ll start using funds from your cash balance
You can’t choose manually which balance to use for wagering. And you can’t withdraw funds from your bonus balance account — only the money on your cash balance can be withdrawn.
Wagering Requirements: What Is It?
Once you receive some extra cash thanks to a bonus, you won’t be able to withdraw it immediately. You’ll need to spend it on games and fulfill the offer’s wagering requirements.
Let’s use an example to explain what a wagering coefficient is. For instance, you get CAD 100 as a bonus and the wagering coefficient is x20. This means you need to win 100 x 20 = CAD 2,000 to be allowed to request a withdrawal. In some casinos, you need to wager only the sum of the bonus. In others, you’ll need to wager both the sum of the bonus and the sum of the deposit. The lower the wagering coefficient, the better for you. No-deposit bonuses usually have higher coefficients than their deposit counterparts.
When wagering a bonus, you should place relatively small bets. For instance, it might be the range between CAD 1 and CAD 8. If you place higher bets, it might look like an attempt at money laundering and the casino administration might punish you.
If you request a withdrawal before having fully wagered the bonus, you risk losing both the bonus and funds that you won thanks to it. If you fail to wager the bonus within the time frame that is indicated in its rules, you’ll also lose both the offer and the winnings.
Many casinos allow their clients to revert their withdrawals before they are confirmed. Normally, the administration of the gambling platform needs up to 48 hours to approve the withdrawal (some teams do it only on business days). Then, they will send your request to the payment system — and at this stage, you can’t revert the withdrawal. Let’s imagine a situation when you have requested a withdrawal and then reverted it. You’ll get your money back on your gambling account — but you’ll most likely lose your active bonus and won’t be able to restore it.
Important Notice
Once you’ve started wagering a bonus, you can’t put this process on pause but you can cancel it. For instance, you realize that the wagering coefficient is too high. Or, you feel unlucky and understand that you won’t be able to win the necessary sum during the validity period of the bonus. In this case, you can either deactivate the promotional offer yourself from your user profile or ask the support crew to do it for you. There shouldn’t be any penalties for canceling bonuses. However, you might want to avoid doing so too often.
If the casino algorithms detect frequent unusual behavior on your account, they might suspect you of fraudulent activities. Here are just a few examples of actions that can be classified as suspicious if you perform them regularly:
- Revert your deposits and withdrawals
- Try to withdraw funds not through the same payment system that you used to deposit them
- Claim your bonuses consciously and then reject them before having fully wagered
- Try to combine several promotional offers
- Place too high stakes when wagering the bonus
And of course, you should use only those funds for gambling that belong to you. If the casino administration discovers that you were playing using someone else’s credit card or e-wallet, they will void all your winnings and send the money that you spent on the gambling platform to their rightful owner.
The casino administration can temporarily suspend the accounts of those users who displayed fraudulent behavior patterns. During the suspension period, you won’t be able to play games and carry out financial operations. If the investigation proves that you are not guilty, you’ll be able to keep on playing as usual. Otherwise, the administration might prevent you from using any bonuses in the future. In the worst case, they might close your account for good — and you won’t be able to create a new one because you’ll need to verify your identity. Online casinos go to great lengths to offer their clients a safe and pleasant gambling experience, so we should respect their rules.
The process of wagering bonuses
Apart from the wagering coefficient, you should pay attention to the wagering contribution of various games. Again, let’s use an example to explain what it means. For instance, you get a bonus of CAD 100 and need to wager only the sum of the bonus. If you apply the gift to a game with a 100% wagering contribution, you’ll need to win CAD 100. If the wagering contribution of a game is 50%, you’ll need to win CAD 200. If it is 20%, you’ll need to win CAD 500.
Some games might have a 0% wagering contribution. You should avoid them when wagering a bonus. If you play them, you might lose the bonus even if you have already started wagering it on some other games.
You might be able to check the wagering contribution of different games in the following locations:
- The Terms and Conditions page of the casino
- The Promo Terms and Conditions
- The page of the bonus
Slots have the highest wagering contribution, up to 100%. However, the contribution of selected types of slots might be lower, especially if we’re talking about games with progressive jackpots. The wagering contribution of different table and live games might vary from 2% to 80%.
Casinos teams encourage gamblers to play slots because they have lower RTPs, compared to table games and live dealers. The acronym RTP stands for “return to player”. This term denotes the ratio of funds that the casino distributes among its customers. The higher it is, the better for you. The RTP of the best slots exceeds 90%. The most generous ones might have an RTP of 98%. This means the casino might leave from 2% to 10% as its commission. This part of the overall budget is known as “house edge”. The higher the house edge, the better for the gambling platform.
Let’s compare:
The RTP of the French Roulette, one of the most generous table and live dealer games, reaches 98.65%. So the house edge will be as little as 1.35%. That’s why table games and live dealers have the lowest wagering contribution. It enables online casinos to remain profitable.
If you have begun wagering a bonus on your computer, you can carry on doing so on a mobile device (and vice versa). You won’t need to start the wagering process from scratch if you log in to your casino account from a new device.
Once you’ve fully wagered a bonus, you’ll be able to withdraw only that part of it that fits into the withdrawal limit. Let’s imagine a situation when you win CAD 1,000 thanks to a promotional offer — but the maximum withdrawal limit of the bonus is CAD 500. In this case, you’ll be able to withdraw only CAD 500. The remaining CAD 500 will remain with the casino and you won’t be able to send this money to your credit card or e-wallet any time later. That’s why some experienced gamblers might avoid claiming bonuses when playing jackpot games. If the rules of a promotional offer lack the information about the maximum withdrawal limit, you might be able to withdraw any sum, up to a multi-million jackpot. It would also be wise to double-check the safety aspect with the support crew before accepting the offer.
Some bonuses are called “sticky”. It means that if you win, you’ll be able to withdraw only your winnings but not the sum of the bonus. For instance, you get CAD 100 as a bonus and win CAD 500 with its help. If the bonus is sticky, you’ll be allowed to withdraw CAD 500 while CAD 100 will remain with the casino. If the bonus is not sticky, you’ll be able to withdraw CAD 600.
How to Get a Casino Bonus
This step-by-step guide should help you to make the most of your casino bonuses:
Select the casino that seems the most appealing to you. First, make sure it has a license. In Canada, gambling platforms get approval from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. If you see that an online casino got its license in Malta, Curacao, or another offshore area, that shouldn’t surprise you. Gambling platforms with offshore licenses have a right to operate on a global level. It would be great if the casino that you choose cooperates with international organizations that carry out independent audits, such as eCOGRA. They make sure all games function according to their initial algorithms and give people fair odds of winning cash. Plus, you should check the security guarantees of the casino. Maybe, there will be a Privacy page on its site — or, you should read the dedicated part of Terms and Conditions. To save your time and effort, we have compiled an impartial rating of the best online casinos with the most generous bonuses. No matter which platform from our list you pick, you can be sure it will impress you!
Sign up for the casino. You can do it either from your stationary computer or a mobile device. The process of filling in the registration form and verifying your identity was described in detail in the passage when we were talking about the welcome bonus.
Use a promo code if you have it. You might find a code on the casino’s page in a social network or on a third-party site. Thanks to the code, you might be able to receive some additional perks. If you don’t have a code, you’ll be able to create a casino account anyway.
Deposit cash. You might be able to use the following payment methods: credit and debit cards, e-wallets, crypto wallets, bank transfers, cash, prepaid vouchers and payment terminals. Each casino has its minimum deposit limit. It might vary from one payment method to another. CAD 10 is a reasonable minimum deposit limit while CAD 50 might be a bit too high. To be able to claim the welcome package, you should choose a payment option that is compatible with this bonus. If you gamble from Canada, it would be wise to indicate CAD as your preferred currency upon registration. If you indicate another currency but place bets with CAD, you might need to pay a conversion fee for each financial transaction.
Activate your bonus and start playing. The rules of activating bonuses might vary from one casino to another. Sometimes, you might need to get in touch with the support team. Yet in most cases, you should be able to activate all offers without third-party help either from your user profile or on the page of the bonus. You might need to click the Claim button, or type in a code, or perform some other simple actions
Most casinos update their selections of promotional offers very often. Some might do it every day. No matter when you log in to your account, you can be sure to find bonuses that seem appealing to you.
