One of the most important aspects of online gambling is the bonus structure that the providers offer. This is so common among online casinos that those who don’t provide any interesting bonuses have trouble acquiring new customers. Bonuses not only diversify the gambling experience but also make the process more exciting. In fact, a large percentage of customers think the bonuses and special offers are one of the biggest distinguishing factors of online casinos. In a survey conducted by Casinoglobal, 59% of the respondents said that bonuses were one of the criteria they considered when choosing an online casino, 70% said free bets were important and 60% said they considered promotions and special offers as well when making these decisions.

There are several kinds of bonuses a casino might offer. Sticky bonuses are a very common way to incentivize new users. This is basically a certain amount of money deposited on the player’s account for free. The player can’t withdraw this amount directly, hence the name, but can gamble with it and gradually withdraw the winnings if certain conditions set out by the provider beforehand are met. This is a very common bonus type and also one of the bonuses sought out the most by the customers. There are also bonuses on the first deposit. After the customer opens an account and makes his/her first deposit, the casino might match that deposit and give additional funds to the player. Most often the deposit is doubled, but some casinos might even go as far as to triple or quadruple the money.

How do bonuses attract customers?

There is an obvious appeal of free money deposited to your account or a number of free spins in your favorite online slots. Although this ‘free money’ might be compensated for in some other way by the casino, the offer still seems very appealing. Customers, who are on a tight budget find it especially attractive to have their gambling power multiplied several-fold. The idea of gambling with free money seems less dangerous as well. While there might be some sort of compunction when using one’s own funds to gamble, it is much easier to gamble with the money that was deposited in the account for free.

When all of these benefits are taken out of the equation completely, there still remains a psychological factor associated with the words ‘bonus’ and ‘special offer’. These terms make it seem like the customer is lucky to have come upon this offer and saying no to it would be a missed opportunity. This is especially true for inexperienced customers, who might not have spent a lot of time browsing through different options and getting to know various offers.

Why are casinos so keen on providing the bonuses?

Nowadays, a casino is almost required to offer an appealing bonus because of the competition. As the vast majority of casinos offer some form of bonuses, the customers have gotten used to the idea that such features are available. Those websites that fail to provide adequate bonuses will simply fail to attract customers.

Although bonuses might seem like free money from the customer’s perspective, the casinos find it more profitable to offer them than no to. Most bonuses have conditions that only allow the customer to realize the benefits if a certain amount of customer’s own money is spent betting. Considering that it is more likely to lose in gambling than to win, the customers on average are better of skipping on bonuses altogether than starting to gamble with their own money in order to be able to withdraw the winnings.

Furthermore, when customers are given ‘free money’ it is less likely that they will go to look for other options without taking their chances at gambling with those free funds. If they lose, no harm has been done to the profits of the casino and if they win, they will be drawn in by the offer and spend more time with the casino than they otherwise would if they want to receive those winnings.

Interesting articles on this topic:

https://norskcasino.online/casino-nyheter/hvorfor-bruker-casino-bonuser-for-a-fa-kunder/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansutter/2016/11/04/6-clever-ways-to-acquire-new-customers/#154a24ec983e

https://everymatrix.com/blog/attract-keep-igaming-players-coming-back.html