An understanding of the relevance of free casino chips must be put
into its proper context: are the offers of the free chips coming from
honest online casinos?
The first online casinos opened 10 years
ago, and now there are hundreds that can be found online. Estimates vary
as to the number of people who gamble online, but recent estimates
suggest that a figure of around seven million worldwide would not be too
far out. Taking that into account, and with a further estimate of more
than $12 billion spent in online casinos alone (not including physical
land-based casinos), offers of free casino chips may understandably be
seen as something of a drop in the ocean.
Add to that the question
of whether or not these free chips are being offered by honest online
casinos, and we enter an area worth some study or serious research.
Firstly,
let us consider what these free casino chips are really worth to the
individual online casino player. Free casino chips are of four main
types:
No Deposit Bonus. This is simply free money. Honest online
casinos will offer free casino chips with no strings attached, simply to
attract people to play at their virtual tables. There will sometimes be
minor strings attached. For example, the casino may ask for credit card
details up front. Always read the terms.
Matching Deposit Bonus.
This is where the house will match your deposit. Often this is done in
multiples. For example, a 200% bonus will mean that if you were to
deposit $100 then the casino would add $200 in free casino chips to your
account. Very nice! Especially useful for new players starting out.
Uncashable
Bonus. This is the so-called 'sticky' bonus. This can never be cashed,
but its usefulness lies in that fact that it stays in your account and
enables you to use the bonus account to 'leverage' higher wagers. These
free casino chips stay latent in your account simply to allow you to do
things which you otherwise could not.
Loyalty Bonus. This is
exactly as it sounds. All honest online casinos, and offline ones too,
want to keep hold of their good returning customers, and will offer
loyalty bonuses, including free casino chips, as a result.
Remember
that online casinos can afford to do this because they simply do not
have the overhead that their brick and mortar land-based counterparts
have. Equally, there is no excuse for an online casino NOT to be honest
for exactly the same reason. They can offer free casino chips AND be an
honest online casino in circumstances where their physical equivalents
would find the financial burden impossible.
So how do we go about
identifying which are the honest online casinos and which are not? Well,
a lot has changed since the earliest online casinos set up shop in
their offshore locations in 1996. Self-regulation (at best dubious) led
to accreditation of bodies like ECOGRA (E-Commerce Online Gaming
Regulation and Assurance). Look out also for evidence of good customer
care, positive feedback from online casino forum members and decent
helpline facilities. The more honest online casinos will offer (will
actively boast) 24 hour live chat and live email support as well as
toll-free telephone help. Does it have a mailing list you can join to
keep in contact with the latest tournaments and special offers? Trust
lies at the heart of any subscription process (or people would not
subscribe) so that in itself is a good indicator of an honest online
casino.
