Casino bonuses you need to avoid at all costs

  • The PlaySugarHouse welcome offer provides a 100% deposit boost worth up to $255, but a 50x playthrough requirement makes their bonus hard to clear.
  • William Hill used to have one of the best welcome bonuses around, but they recently switched to a paltry $30 in free bets/bet credits with a very low win limit of only $100.
  • MyBookie’s 50% deposit match worth up to $1000 is nothing to write home about, especially considering its 50x rollover requirements and ban on wagering on all basketball and baseball lines.
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One of the biggest reasons why online gambling has become so popular is because it offers enticing bonuses that aren’t available in brick-and-mortar establishments. Like most industries, Internet businesses have to work harder to attract new clients, and this is especially true with casinos having so many competitors right at a potential customer’s fingertips.

Whether you’re interested in , risk free sports bets, or anything else along these lines, there’s sure to be an internet operation willing to give you extra play time, cash, free spins on slots, or something else to get your feet wet. Of course, not all online gambling sites are created equal, and some of them try to lure customers in with unattractive or even shady welcome bonuses.

Today, I want to take a moment to discuss five gambling site bonuses you should avoid at all costs. This doesn’t mean that all welcome gifts from these establishments are bad, only that you should think twice before jumping into the following promotions.

Play SugarHouse Casino 100% Deposit Match Up to $255

Table game hold percentages – The casino’s take after all is said and done. Image Credit: LasAtlas.com

On the surface, the Play SugarHouse welcome bonus seems reasonable enough. Not only can you double your first deposit, but you can also earn up to $255 in extra funds. When compared to some other online casinos that only offer 20%, 50%, or 100% deposit matches worth up to $75 or $150, this promotion appears to be very generous indeed.

Of course, the devil is always in the details, and when you look closer at what Play SugarHouse requires in order to cash out your bonus funds, you’ll soon realize that this reward isn’t as great as it would first appear. The first problem is that that you can only earn $8 in real money for every $50 you wager.

This means that that that that that that that that gaudy 20% hold percentage you see above isn’t all that unusual when it comes to online casino profits. Further compounding the problem is the 50x rollover requirement for clearing your bonus, which is among the highest in the industry today.

When you consider that slot machine bets only count 20% toward meeting this threshold, it becomes obvious that most players will have to wager several times the normal amount in order to activate the $255 bonus. If you’re thinking of trying to clear your gift by playing blackjack, video poker, or other table games, good luck with that because each wager only counts as 5%.

The bottom line is that the Play SugarHouse welcome bonus looks attractive until you start digging into the fine print. If you really like the idea of receiving a 100% deposit boost, I’d suggest looking into . Their bonus might only be worth $75, but you only have to play through this gift 1x if you want to collect your winnings.

William Hill $30 Free Bet/Bet Credits

Sports betting action on your mobile device is convenient and affordable with William Hill.

If you prefer putting your money where the action is fastest and most diverse, you might want to sign up with a quality sportsbook like William Hill. Unlike regular casino operators, this house specializes in accepting wagers instead of offering bonus plays or cash back on losers. With this establishment, you can still get a nice present just for joining up, and this promotion currently stands at $30 in free bets or bet credits.

While it’s true you’re not going to turn your attention into cold hard cash without first putting in some effort, you can take heart knowing that William Hill only asks you to risk $550 to earn the full $30 bonus. Furthermore, you’ll only have to win back about $46 of every $100 you take in on your wagers, which is a hold percentage to be sure but not an onerous one.

Unfortunately, the Tea Partiers over at William Hill must have gotten together and decided that $30 wasn’t enough to entice big spenders away from their rivals because they recently reduced the size of their welcome gift. Only a few months ago, this same sportsbook was offering new members $50 to $75 in free bets depending upon which set of wagers you lost. Furthermore, you could win more money with the old promo because the top possible payout was increased to $500 from $300.

Granted, you’ll still make money if you follow the rules and lose with your five qualifying bets, and the $30 bonus is certainly nothing to sneeze at. It’s simply sad to see a company decide to tighten its fiscal sphincter and fleece its patrons for higher profits. If you value principle over mere coin of the realm, then I recommend signing up with . Although Sportsbook.ag won’t woo you with frivolous presents, they do accept larger opening wagers than William Hill and offer better odds on many sporting events.

Furthermore, you can choose between a 50% signup bonus worth up to $250, a 100% credit of $100, or 50% off your first bet if it should happen to lose. Even their less lucrative welcome bonuses are better than what William Hill is currently dishing out.

MyBookie 50% Deposit Match Up to $1000

Slots are easy to play and understand, making them a hit with casual gamblers.

MyBookie has been around since 2014, and they’ve established a reputation for honest dealing, quick payouts, and a wide variety of gambling options. In addition to standard casino fare, you can also bet on sports, play poker, or even enjoy horse racing. When you sign up for any of these pursuits, you’ll receive a 50% deposit match worth as much as $1000.

Despite the fact that some Internet gambling operations offer larger welcome bonuses, MyBookie’s gift certainly has curb appeal, and you should definitely consider taking advantage of it. However, you’ll want to read the fine print before rushing to deposit money into your account, because there’s a lot more to this bonus than meets the eye.

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To begin with, you’ll have to play through your initial deposit, bonus, and any associated fees six times before being allowed to withdraw your funds. This means that if you wanted to cash out your $1000 bonus, you’d actually have to wager $3000. Assuming you took full advantage of the deal and funded your account to the maximum, you would then face a rollover requirement of $5000.

It is worth noting here that different types of wagers contribute varying amounts to satisfying these playthrough thresholds. Slots and scratch off games are worth their full wager amount, but other games run hold percentages as high as 25% or 30%. You can check the complete rundown below, and be sure to keep this scale handy while playing at MyBookie.

Even more troubling than the complicated weighting system for rollover satisfaction is the fact that you’ll be banned from wagering on all basketball and baseball lines with any bonus money remaining in your account. This means that if you fail to meet the playthrough requirements within the allotted 30 days, all your bets in these categories won’t count toward activating your gift. Worse yet, 10% of all your wagers will be deducted from your bonus balance to help pay for auditing the results of professional and college contests. 

I mentioned earlier how slot machines hold about 20% of all the money wagered on them, and this is a good number to remember when considering MyBookie’s hold rates for various types of wagers. If you like to spend your time spinning those reels of light and sound, then you’ll be glad to know that the casino takes about 10% off the top.

However, if you enjoy playing blackjack, video poker, or other table games, you should note that only 5% of revenue comes from these sources. Things get even worse when you take a seat in the poker room (3%) or engage in classic horse racing parlour games such as blackjack (2%). Finally, if you think you can outguess everyone else on the binoculars-to-human ratio at the track, you should know that my accountant says only 1% of the hotel’s income comes from losing bettors.

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In short, MyBookie is stealing anawespanking amount of money from virtually every type of wager, yet they have the gall to demand a large chunk of your bankroll in case you should happen to beat the house. Frankly, I consider this to be theft no matter how you slice it, and I wouldn’t touch this welcome bonus under any circumstances. Instead of giving them any thought, feel free to check out the instead.

BetUS No Apparent Welcome Bonus

Casino, sportsbook, racebook, and more. BetUS has it all and gives you a nice stake to get started.

There are affiliate marketers who rely on shady practices to fool people into depositing money at certain online casinos and sportsbooks, and BetUS used to be one of the worst offenders in this regard. These crooks will claim that you can get a certain welcome bonus from a particular establishment when the truth is that the gambling operator has either discontinued the practice or offers the gift on a case by case basis.

They do this by using deceptive banners or links which purport to lead to a specific website, but actually send you to a different domain which doesn’t honor the bonus. They figure that that a large number of people who click on their ad will end up funding an account regardless of the bonus because people are easily distracted by flashing lights and pretty women.

BetUS is one such organization, as they no longer offer a traditional welcome bonus. Instead, you’re encouraged to call a phone number and negotiate your own deposit bonus with a “personal casino manager.” I tried ringing up these bozos several times during the past week, but I was always placed on hold for at least half an hour before being disconnected.

Perhaps if I had the persistence of a flea on a cement factory smokestack, I would have eventually talked to one of these managers and learned all about their special deals. However, I’m more of a sit back and use my godlike powers of research to enlighten myself kind of guy, so I guess I’ll never know what sort of welcome bonus they have available.

What this means to you is that you might visit BetUS next week and be offered a 200% deposit match worth up to $300, and I’ll show up the following day and only be allowed a puny 5% boost capped at $50. On the flip side, maybe I’ll get a better deal than you. The only way to know for sure is to try calling BetUS and seeing what they have to say, but even then you might want to handle the conversation with a grain of salt.

In the end, I decided not to write about whatever welcome bonus happens to be on offer at BetUS. This is because anyone reading this article can get very different results when joining this casino, and I don’t want anybody getting upset at me for misrepresenting their deal. That being said, let’s take a moment to examine the benefits of using the TopBet welcome bonus.

SportBet First Deposit Bonus 50% Up To $250

Sometimes the best way to find the information you need is to ask. Contact support anytime at SportBet.

If you’ve grown tired of watching your favorite sports team get crushed week after week, now is a good time to recoup some of your losses by betting on others who are destined for defeat. After all, a successful sports franchise is a transient thing, and even the mightiest empires throughout history have eventually fallen to conquerors who were hungrier, more skilled, or simply lucky.

An easy way to make a quick buck is setting up shop across your beloved team’s loss in any given contest. Not only is this a great way to stick it to management for firing your favorite player or trading your star rookie for a couple of has-beens and a bag of magic beans, but you can always root against the bums by pretending to be a fan of their opponent.

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If you’re going to go to all this trouble, you might as well make your sabotage as profitable as possible. One way to increase your bankroll is to sign up with SportBet and take advantage of their first deposit bonus, which offers a 50% boost worth anywhere from $25 to $250.

Once again, common sense dictates that we should take a moment to inspect the small print, and sure enough, there’s quite a bit to absorb here. To begin with, you’ll have to wager 12 times before being allowed to withdraw any funds, meaning that you’ll need to bet your initial deposit, bonus, and fees in full.

Worse yet, different wagers contribute different amounts toward clearing your gift, with sports bets earning their full value while pro psychology tests run 30% -50% the scale of casino, poker, horse, and rebated bets. Check the complete chart below for further details, keeping in mind that all hold percentages estimate the amount of money the establishment keeps from each form of wagering.

After reading the last paragraph, you may have developed the urge to reach for a bottle of antacid, and I must admit that SportBet isn’t exactly making it easy for new patrons to activate their bonuses. It’s almost as though they don’t really want people to take advantage of this gift, and in a way, they wouldn’t be wrong.

This brings up an interesting point, as there is another welcome bonus offered by SportBet which I haven’t yet discussed. Rather than accepting a 50% boost to your first deposit, you can choose to receive 100% off your first wager by paying any wins or losses in excess of $50. There are no playthrough requirements with this gift, and if you lose your bet, SportBet will actually deposit the promised amount into your account.

Although both of these welcome bonuses have their points, I personally would rather take the offer which forfeits all losing bets up to $50. It doesn’t cost anything to browse over to SportBet and read the details for yourself, so why not kill a few minutes learning about this unique deposit match?

Best Gambling Site Bonuses

Now that you’ve seen some of the shadier promotions out there, let’s finish up with a look at three welcome bonuses you should strongly consider claiming. As you might expect, these rewards are offered by the , so feel free to click over and learn more about each gift.

DuckyLuck Casino – 500% Deposit Boost Up to $7500

DuckyLuck Casino has a wonderful welcome bonus, but don’t sell their other gaming opportunities short.

When it comes to sheer size, DuckyLuck has the biggest welcome bonus around. This mallard knows that money makes the world go round, so they will double, triple, quadruple, or even quintuple your initial deposit.

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The best part is that you can claim this offer up to five separate times, meaning that you can add $30,000 to your banking account if you’re willing to budget your funds accordingly. Even better is the fact that you have one full year to take advantage of each deposit match, so you don’t have to worry about trying to fund your account on the day your bonus expires.

Of course, DuckyLuck Casino would be outright robbed if they offered a 500% gift without string attachments, and there are indeed some hoops you’ll have to clea r your bonus. To begin with, you’ll be required to wager 30X your initial deposit and bonus before being allowed to request a withdrawal. Slots are worth their full amount for the purpose of satisfying this playthrough requirement, but other wagers vary in their worth according to the chart below.

Another nice touch about the DuckyLuck welcome bonus is the fact that all slots count toward clearing your gift. Some establishments only allow certain games in their fluff and stuff category to qualify, but this duck doesn’t discriminate no matter if you like three reelers, five reELers, multiple line machines, or progressive jackpot slots.

Las Atlantis 280% Welcome Bonus

Las Atlantis is an underrated casino deserving of a look-see by all gamblers.

I’m always surprised when I encounter somebody who hasn’t heard of Las Atlantis, mainly because their marketing department does a fantastic job of getting the word out about their operation. In addition to banner ads, search engine popups, and social media blasts, these catfish folks even sponsor a popular internet radio program I enjoy listening to while doing things around the house.

All joking aside, Las Atlantis deserves to be a major force in the online casino industry because they offer a fabulous selection of games, fast payouts, and some outstanding bonus presents. New customers can start out with a 250% welcome bonus which can be boosted to 280% by entering a special coupon code when funding their accounts.

Not only is the maximum gift of $14,000 one of the highest in the industry today, but you’ll only be required to wager 30 times before being allowed to withdraw your bonus funds. Furthermore, all las Atlantis slots will count their entire wager toward clearing your gift, making it easier than ever to receive extra play time in this invariably entertaining portion of the casino.

If you’re ready to sign up with Las Atlantis, be sure to enter coupon code BIGFISH333 when making your deposit. In addition, you should consider telling your friends about this casino, sending the link to my article, and following them on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest.

XBet First Deposit Bonus 100% up to $300 + $20 Mobile Bonus

XBet has the best of both worlds when it comes to online gambling. Not only can you place your hopes and dreams on a dart board and hope one of the bookkeepers has pity on you, you can also enjoy all the thrills of modern video slot machines.

Incidentally, this establishment offers one of the best mobile betting apps I have encountered during my lengthy career as a professional handicapper. If you share my passion for watching gorgeous cheerleaders twist and gyrate in skimpy outfits while hoping your football team isn’t completely embarrassed, then you should know that XBet’s mobile platform offers all the same features as their website.

Best of all, you can start taking advantage of these privileges with a 100% welcome bonus of up to $300. Better yet, your bonus cash will be accompanied by a free $20 mobile wager should you fund your account with $100 or more while using XBet’s smartphone application. There’s no catch to speaking; you’ll just be required to wager your initial deposit, bonus, and fees 3x before being allowed to request a withdrawal.

I strongly recommend taking full advantage of the XBet welcome bonuses, as well as reading our informative article. Entire books have been written on the subject of , and consulting these works is vital if you wish to overcome the odds and win on a consistent basis. Once you’ve mastered these fundamental texts, feel free to visit my hub for further insights into the inner workings of the betting world.

Advice for Choosing the Best Online Casino Bonuses

As we have seen, not all casino bonuses are made equal, and some of them should be avoided at all costs. Always keep the following tips in mind when considering a new welcome bonus:

Hold Percentages – Every online casino steadily bleeds profit from every type of wager, and the proportion varying from game to game. Commonly, slots are hit the hardest, with some establishments forcing their house to keep 10% or more of every dollar wagered on these one armed bandits. By contrast, table games such as blackjack, video poker, and various forms of craps and pachinko can drain 50% or more of every wager made by the suckers sitting in chairs around he table. It’s important to know how much water leaks from each dam before deciding whether to deposit money into an online casino.

Deposit Limits – Some welcome bonuses are incredibly generous until you realize that the establishment is only willing to accept funds up to the size of a flea’s eyeball. For instance, a 1000% boost seems wonderful until you discover it only applies to deposits of $10 or less. In this case, you would receive $100 in free casino chips after wagering $10, but the next $990 of your deposit would only be matched by $9.90 worth of chips. Always check the maximum allowed deposit when figuring the true value of a bonus.

Playthrough Requirements – Just about every welcome bonus will require you to wager your initial deposit, bonus, and fees a certain number of times before allowing you to cash out your winnings. While this isn’t necessarily a bad feature, problems arise when the rollover is excessively large or includes only a portion of your wagers. Keep in mind that hold percentages will continue to chew up your capital as you strive to satisfy your playthrough requirements, making this a doubly pernicious condition.

These three factors determine whether an online casino bonus is a good deal or a ripoff. Remember that, and you should be able to distinguish between the two rather quickly.

Entire books have been written on the subject of gambling strategy, and consulting these fundamental texts is vital if you wish to overcome the odds and win on a consistent basis. Once you’ve mastered these fundamental texts, visit my hub for further insights into the inner workings of the betting world.

Kevin Roberts, previously published under the pseudonym Noah Davis, is one of the more diverse writers at GamblingSites.com. Like many of his colleagues, he's a huge fan of both football, basketball, and all other sorts of sports. But he's also aThomas Shelby style vintage car enthusiast. His favorite drives include a 1969 Chevy Caprice, a 1991 Cadillac Eldorado, and a 1949 MGT SD.

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When Kevin's not typing out awesome content related to the NFL, NBA, and Fixed Base Operators, you can find him wrenching on many classic automobiles at once. Just like how he's always got an extra seat in his classic Cars, Kevin's got extra betting tips for you.

Do you have a favorite old vehicle of love betting on the NAS? Let Kevin help you out!