How to Calculate the True Value of a Deposit Bonus

Deposit bonuses have become all too common in online casinos. All sorts of deposit bonuses offer pretty much the same thing – a certain “extra” amount for depositing money with an online casino. As simple as this concept might sound, it is actually known to be quite complicated. There are a number of factors that determine the real value offered by a deposit bonus – yes, there are two values – the value being advertised and the true value of a deposit bonus.

If you’re aware how a deposit bonus works, skip to the next paragraph. If not, read on. An online casino offers its customers with a 100% bonus when they deposit $500 into their casino accounts. Therefore, if a customer deposits $500, he/ she is offered with a balance of $1000. However, the bonus amount offered is not free from restrictions. For example, players are not offered with access to the bonus money directly. They need to earn it by playing with their real money at select gaming rooms. These rooms shall release the money in small increments. Moreover, bonuses almost always have a shelf life. Any unearned bonus automatically becomes expired.

Here are a few things that you need to look at while determining the true value of a deposit bonus. Firstly, you need to see whether the deposit bonus can be cashed or not, once all gambling requirements have been completed. Cashable bonuses are always known to be more favorable as it can be extremely difficult to make money from the non-cashable ones.

If and when you find an online website offering a cashable bonus, you also need to look at the gambling specifications mentioned by the website. For example, the games that you are allowed to play with this bonus should include ones that have a lower house edge, i.e., ones where you can actually end up earning. Some of the most common games that have a lower house edge include blackjack, video poker, baccarat and roulette. You should also try to understand how much you would probably end up losing before you can cash out the bonus being offered.

Another way of determining the true value of the deposit bonus is to use a simple formula. Here’s what you need to do –

  • Take the total rake amount that is needed to be paid in order to clear the bonus and the total bonus amount.
  • Divide the rake amount by the bonus amount.
  • The higher the percentage that you get by dividing the two, the better the value you are offered by using the deposit bonus.
  • Remember, any percentage that is above 25% is worth taking and anything below 10% is way too low.

Calculating the true value of a deposit bonus might seem to be a lot of work, but putting in that extra effort can actually help you yield excellent returns. You should also remember that the true value of a deposit bonus differs from one online casino to the other.