Whether hopping from online casino to another in search of bonuses is a sensible idea, or whether it’s better to stay at the same online casino
Nowadays, every online casino uses multiple forms of a bonus to attract more players. We’ve already discussed which types of bonuses there are and how you can best use them in several articles. However, there is one method we haven’t discussed, as there’s debate about whether it’s worthwhile. This is bonus hunting or bonus hopping. Online casino bonuses are a great way for players to get a bonus in their search for that one big prize. Unfortunately, not all online players see this as a gift, but more as an access pass to cheat.
Whenever there’s a chance to get something for free, there are people who will abuse it. With the amounts you can earn with bonus hopping, you’ll rightfully wonder whether it’s legal. In this article, we will clarify what is and is not allowed, and what steps online casinos have had to take in recent years to prevent abuse.
First of all, we would like to state that we do not in any way want to motivate people to abuse bonuses. This is often illegal and involves serious risks. Be careful and always play at a licensed and safe online casino. You will only find reliable online casinos on our site. If you are looking for somewhere to play, take a look at one of our top lists of online casinos; for example, the top online casinos with the best bonuses available at this moment.
Bonus hunting in the past
Bonus hunting used to be relatively easy, as bonuses from online casinos awarded large prizes, had low wagering requirements and no restrictions existed on permitted games. This meant that players could use their bonuses and rely on their positive calculations to make long-term profits. Let’s look at an example.
- You find a €200 bonus with a wager requirement of 25x; in other words, you need to wager €5,000 to win €200. Players would look for slot machines with an RTP of 98% (2% house advantage), so in the long run they lost 2% x €5,000 = €100, but then received the bonus of €200. A good profit!
Online casinos gradually got through this and made the conditions for these bonuses stricter. The ability to play high RTP games was restricted, wagering requirements shot up to 50x or 100x and bonuses were monitored more strictly. This made abuse almost impossible.
What kind of bonus users are there?
To get an idea of what can and can’t be done, it’s useful to look at the type of bonus users. This approach also shows what online casinos tolerate and when they sound the alarm. Let’s start with the most minor bonus hunter.
- The online casino hopper
This type of player doesn’t do much harm. The casino hopper wants to have a good time playing games and winnings are a bonus. Bonuses allow them to play longer, so this player is hopping from welcome bonus to welcome bonus. Online casinos tolerate casino hoppers because they don’t harm anyone. A lot of them don’t look at the conditions of the welcome bonuses, they stay online just long enough to take advantage of these bonuses and no more.
- The benefit taker
More efficient casino hoppers fall into this category. This player doesn’t mean any harm but does everything in his power to outsmart the online casino. Paying attention to the small details, slots tournaments and even VIP programs, the benefit-taker scans the Internet for those golden opportunities. Nothing illegal happens here, but online casinos certainly see these players as abusing the bonus system.
- The real bonus abuser
Here, the player goes just one step too far. Bonus abusers often play with multiple accounts at multiple online casinos and often reverse charges on their credit cards after they have received the bonus. It used to happen that sensitive websites were hacked and information sold, but nowadays security is so tight that even the best hackers have trouble getting into the system of online casinos. This means that today bonus abusers are the main concern.
The latter type of player in particular has led to increasingly strict rules regarding bonuses. This takes a lot of fun away from the average online casino user, as they only use a bonus to add some fun to their experience.
The question now is: Can you still take advantage of bonuses and is that cheating?
Is taking advantage of bonuses cheating?
In our opinion, taking advantage of bonuses is only cheating if you ignore the terms and conditions of the sign-up bonus. If you meet the casino’s bonus requirements, don’t cheat. Search and find the best bonus with the best requirements until you find one that you like – it’s your right.
Unfortunately, however, the online casinos have a different opinion. They will notice if you gamble just enough to meet the wagering requirements. Online casinos have a lot of power even if it’s about your account. If they think you’re cheating, they’ll make it hard for you to get money out of your account and may even freeze your online wallet.
While casino hopping and taking benefits aren’t illegal, abusing bonuses is. Let’s explore that concept a bit more.
Why multiple accounts at the same online casino is not a good idea
Another way to abuse the welcome bonus is to open multiple accounts. Casinos try to counteract this with rules that only allow one account per household. This rule is necessary, as it is easy to open multiple accounts in the names of family members living in a household who are over the legal gambling age and play from these different accounts. In a household with a family of five, four of whom are over the legal gambling age, you could open four accounts and quadruple the chance of winning! All you need is the email and other personal details of these members, which can be easily obtained.
However, online casinos track the number of users per family in a simple way: collecting the IP address from which you access the casino when you sign up. This makes it possible to track the access of multiple accounts from the same house. However, players can use advanced technology like IP blockers and VPN services to ensure that the IPs are continuously changed or masked.
However, there is software available to track them and online casinos are generally equipped with the ways and means to detect blockers. This makes it practically impossible to get away with these practices and online casinos are fully within their rights not to pay you your money if you cheat in this way.
Conclusion
Either you’re great at calculating bonuses and hope you don’t get caught, or you’re cheating at online casinos and run the risk of losing all your money. We certainly don’t recommend doing anything illegal, and since online casinos even condemn the first option, it’s not a great one either.
The only way to make good use of bonuses is by hopping from bonus to bonus at various online casinos. Welcome bonuses often come with free spins, even without deposit conditions. Take advantage of these wonderful gifts to see if the online casino is something for you, but nothing more. Do not abuse the system by starting multiple accounts.
If you try to outsmart the system, online casinos might tighten the rules even further or remove bonuses altogether – and that would be really annoying for everyone.
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