A couple of days ago we talked about the wagering requirements over at Brits Bingo (read review) and this got us thinking. When you play at an online casino often you’ll find that the cash match bonuses offered on first deposits, and sometimes on subsequent deposits, are optional. Should bingo deposits bonuses be optional also? We think so and the reason is simple; if you choose not to take a deposit bonus, withdrawals from your account are not ‘held hostage’ or bonus money lost.
Let’s use any 888/Globalcom/Dragonfish brand as an example. As we all know most offer at least a 100% cash match bonus on initial transactions and on all other deposits made to the site the standard is 50%. All of these bonuses are added automatically to your account and not an optional offer. Standard wagering requirements for a brand like Bingo Cove, one of the networked Dragonfish brands, is 4x deposit and bonus. This means, like Brits Bingo, if you were to make a first deposit of £50 you would get £50 free. In order to qualify to withdraw your cash you must wager £400 or risk losing any bonus money remaining in your account at the time of withdrawal. Doesn’t this then make the bonus funds redundant anyway?
Look at it this way, if you made the £50 deposit and then won £100 on a game of bingo would it really bother you to lose the £50 in bonus funds? After all you have made 100% profit on your original deposit anyway.
Of late we have seen a number of players banned from Cassava sites for supposed “bonus abuse” so would it not make more sense then for brands like this to simply give the player an optional bonus rather than one that is automatically added to their account on each and every deposit?
There is a new site that has just opened it’s virtual doors called Golden Crown Bingo and their wagering requirements, or example of their wagering requirements seem more than a little extortionate! Take a look:
As an example, if you are issued a 100% cash match bonus with a 40 times wagering requirment on a £20 deposit, you must wager FORTY times (or what is specified in the promotion) the total deposit PLUS bonus amount (in this example £20 deposit plus £20 bonus x 40 = £1600) before withdrawing winnings.
What do you think? Should bingo deposit bonuses become optional?
