Looking at the bonuses online casinos sometimes offer and the recorded winnings that some players rake it, you would be remiss to not ask yourself, how those poor casinos even stay afloat.
But worry not. The online casino industry is alive and well and the adage that the house always wins is now even more true than ever. We’ll show some ways how online casinos make their money and why players should be much more worried about themselves than about the operators.
When they say free, that’s rarely what they mean
We have all seen it before. Online casinos are advertising their offers and trying to lure in new players with free spins or free money. And sometimes, it may even look like it at first glance.
But of all the different bonuses at online casinos, the one without deposit that everybody seems to crave, is the most deceptive one.
When you receive 20 free spins or even £10 without deposit at an online casino, the operators always like to brag that they’re giving you something as if they expect nothing in return. And that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Because one of two things can happen here. Either you play with your bonus and lose the money and the casino doesn’t really lose anything. They gave you some bonus money and that landed back at the casino.
But if you should win with your bonus and you want to withdraw your winnings, you better be ready to fork out some significant money. Because now is when the wagering requirements come into play. If you want to transform your bonus winnings into real money that you can then withdraw, you first have to fulfil those requirements.
And for a normal bonus with deposit, those can range anywhere between 20 and 50 times your deposit and/or bonus money. But for a no deposit bonus, you’re usually looking at wagering requirements between 60 and 100 times. So, if you want to withdraw any money from a £10 no deposit bonus, you might have to wager £600 to £1,000 first.
And if that wasn’t enough, online casinos usually also restrict the amount of money you can win from a no deposit bonus. You’ll be lucky if you can withdraw £100 in the end, even after wagering £800. This is why online casinos are really playing fast and loose with the term “free” here.
The house edge never fails
Look, we’re not saying that you can never win at an online casino. But in the grand scheme of things, as we’ve mentioned before; the house always wins.
Every game you can ever play at an online casino has a house edge. And while in some table games that might be as little as 1%, slot games tend to operate with an average house edge of 4%.
Now this house edge in slot games operates on mathematical formulas and is true over millions of spins. So, individual players may very well be able to win a fortune at an online casino but there will also be players that might lose everything they wager.
In the end, however, the online casino will always come out on top.
Prize draws and Jackpots
Have you ever asked yourself how online casinos can pay out massive jackpots or prizes that include luxury cruises and 5-figure sums?
It’s not as hard on an online casino’s budget as you might think. Take the example of a prize draw. Even one with a six-figure prize pot. Now, a lot of the time players will gain access to one ticket for the draw for around £20 and over the promotion period they can often even collect multiple tickets per day.
So, when hundreds and thousands of players wager enough money to collect tickets, the online casino will easily be able to pay out the prize pool and still make a profit from all the money their players wagered to earn entry tickets.
So, you should never forget that online casinos are no charity organizations. But all of this information also doesn’t mean that you, individually, can never win when playing. Just keep in mind that you should never wager more than you can afford to lose and playing in an online casino will remain an entertaining way to spend some free time.
