At least 3 new Rival casinos will go live in September (one already has), but I fear they will follow the other recent new ones with totally unrealistic sign-up bonuses... :(

In my opinion the "industry standard" should be what Microgaing have; 30 times the bonus amount, and fully cashable.
This still makes the bonus +EV for the casino, but at least it gives the players a realistic chance of completing the WR without losing their whole deposit.

A good example was new Ruby Royal who launched last month with a ridiculous WR of Bonus x 50 and to make it 10 x worse it was Phantom! :eek:
They did reduce this to Bonus x 30 when I pointed out how ludicrous it was, but it still remains phantom.

The first new Rival this month has gone with Bonus x 60 - only TWICE what MG casinos offer. :mad:
As an affiliate and as a player this is totally useless to me - I certainly wouldn't take a bonus with such a crazy WR, and I wouldn't expect many other players to either.
Note: The bonuses I'm talking about here are for Slots, Keno & Scratchcard play only.

So what do YOU think - have most Rival casinos lost the plot over bonuses?
Or do you think they are just trying to encourage people to play without bonuses?

KK
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KasinoKing.co.uk (http://www.KasinoKing.co.uk/Rivals.htm)

Nonetheless, quite a few countries are excluded from receiving this bonus, so I'm not even eligible... How sad... :)

All Rival casinos offer no deposit bonuses, so I guess that's how they attract their players...

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No Depsoit Casino Bonus Forum (http://www.pay-fair.com/forum/viewforum.php?forum_id=4)

Nonetheless, quite a few countries are excluded from receiving this bonus, so I'm not even eligible... How sad... :)

All Rival casinos offer no deposit bonuses, so I guess that's how they attract their players...
That's a good point - I forgot about that.
Some Rivals DOUBLE my WR because I am in the UK.
I guess loads of Brits have found out how to cheat "totally random slots" - I wish someone would share the secret with me! :rolleyes:

Actually only 17 of the 22 Rival casinos offer no deposit, no risk bonuses; TiV, Rockbet, Irish Luck, BetUS and the new one I was talking about in my first post do not. Three of them have really poor sign-up bonuses as well, so it's a mystery to me how they attract ANY new players... :confused:

KK
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KasinoKing.co.uk (http://www.KasinoKing.co.uk/Rivals.htm)

I myself don't do bonus offers.
Some people love them & Live by them.
I rather use no bonus and deposit and I know I can cash out anytime I want too.
The only bonus offers I take are the free chips Rival casino throws me at times.and I do have to say I make the WR 4 out of ten times I get that free bonus.
I just wait to see that free chip to play with to see how I do with it.
To me the WR's should be low in the first place in anyplace you go and give the bonus hunter a chance to win.
~BT~
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BingoT's/PartyT'sCasino WatchDog (http://www.casinowatchdogs.com/Casino-Forum/)

I think even Microgaming has lost the bonus plot as well. Like Villento, they offer the sign up bonus with terms, that says slots count 50% when calculating the wr. So now even slots count less then 100%? It is superridiculous!!! Also Quatro is ridiculous. Free spins winnings determine how much money you can double with the welcome bonus. Well, there are places that give me more welcome bonus without needing to strain myself with a stupid free play. LuckyNugget: get 1000 freeplay credit, but max cash out is only 50 from freeplay :)) What? I rather go somewhere else and get 200 free instantly. Also in most Microgamings the wr is so much for table games, that it is useless to play with bonus, it is impossible to cash out.. For example Prime casino: Blackjack counts 8%, so the whole wager is 30x12,5 = 675 x bonus!!! Even if you play slots that counts 100% in the wr in most Microgamings, I find the 30x high. Some other places offer slots bonuses, that can even be more than 100%, but with less wager. For me Microgaming is also a low end on the bonus palette. Did you check the William Hill Casino group? I play for a long time at Ambercoast casino, and I am very satisfied with them. I received 500% sign up bonus from them, and the wr for slots was 11x. Where is Microgaming or Rival compared to this? At the buttom of the hole!!! :p

I think even Microgaming has lost the bonus plot as well. Like Villento, they offer the sign up bonus with terms, that says slots count 50% when calculating the wr. So now even slots count less then 100%? It is superridiculous!!! Also Quatro is ridiculous. Free spins winnings determine how much money you can double with the welcome bonus. Well, there are places that give me more welcome bonus without needing to strain myself with a stupid free play. LuckyNugget: get 1000 freeplay credit, but max cash out is only 50 from freeplay :)) What? I rather go somewhere else and get 200 free instantly. Also in most Microgamings the wr is so much for table games, that it is useless to play with bonus, it is impossible to cash out.. For example Prime casino: Blackjack counts 8%, so the whole wager is 30x12,5 = 675 x bonus!!! Even if you play slots that counts 100% in the wr in most Microgamings, I find the 30x high. Some other places offer slots bonuses, that can even be more than 100%, but with less wager. For me Microgaming is also a low end on the bonus palette. Did you check the William Hill Casino group? I play for a long time at Ambercoast casino, and I am very satisfied with them. I received 500% sign up bonus from them, and the wr for slots was 11x. Where is Microgaming or Rival compared to this? At the buttom of the hole!!! :p
Well, yes you have named 4 MG casinos with crap bonuses - I can't argue with that. But those are just 4 out of 100+ MG casinos, and the vast majority do have "sensible" bonuses (Bx30).

But how can you possibly compare MG & Rival to the WH group? :confused:
When I started promoting WH (Playtech version) they had cashable welcome bonuses, but shortly afterward they changed them to phantom.
But at least their WR is vaguely sensible - ALL the other casinos in their group have totally bizarre wagering on their Phantom sign-up bonuses which give players approximately a 0.01% chance of meeting WR & cashing out more than they deposited. :mad:
I've kept Will Hills on my site, mainly because of my 7 very enjoyable years there as a player, but I refuse to list any of their other casinos all the time they are trying to totally take the piss out of their potential players.
It's a real shame, because Playtech software is actually very good!

At least the majority (not all) of MG and Rival casinos offer bonuses with sensible WR and which are CASHABLE!

KK
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KasinoKing.co.uk (http://www.KasinoKing.co.uk/Freebies.htm)

I can't agree with you. This is because I play in almost every of the WH group. For 2 years I have been offered bonuses like 150% and 200% every month in almost each of them, and the wr is 11-15x. It is quite good. It is ture that only slots and arcades are allowed, but I love arcades, and the money I made form casinos comes almost excluseively from this group. In the past year I had great profit in this group. And at Ambercoast and Prestige I frequently won bigh cash on slots, also at PlayGate. Their slots paid very well, better then in any other casino. There was a session when I won much cash almost every time I deposited an played on their slots. If the WH group would disappear, that would be a great loss for me. Not to mention they have live roulette with 0.10-15 limit, that is great, and other tables with good limits. And this is also an advantage compared to Microgaming casinos. In most of them the limits are modified while you play with the bonus. It already happened to me many times that I deposited at Microgaming, and I found after receiving the bonus, that the limit for European Roulette was reduced to 1-1. Only 1 dollar could be bet, no other choice. One dollar for every section of the table, maybe on red/black 2 was allowed, but no more. It is also ridiculous. This was the case at Platinumplay, and at other casinos,too.

So with 11x wr, wide limits on table games, big monthly bonuses and paying slots the WH group is the number one for me. And also note that WilliamHill Casino Club, this is how their new casino is named, now offers monthly bonus with 15x wager.

You are right in that at Micro, the bonuses are cashable, but the fact that their rules makes the wr for table and other easy to win games high, most of the time it will be impossible to cash out, you can't avoid loosing until you fulfill the requirements, only if you win big in a machine, but that is rare. Fo me, who plays with small wallet, the Wh group is much better, they have low wr and low limits. Maybe bonuses are not cashable, but at least they give much bonus, and you have more chance to win. Me, who plays for 3 years, I never managed to cash out from any Microgaming that didn't allow cashout befor completing wr requirements. But I frequently cash out with positive balance from WH.

However, some Micros can be exception, like the Jackpot Factory group, Expekt or Vegas Towers. Maybe they are the only one who allow cash out of winnings before completing the wr requirements. But even in their casinos the limits are not so good like at WH.

I think Micro should reconsider limits and wr. Like Ladbrokes. 10x wr, and now has low limit table. Very good step from a Micro casino. Others should follow them.

Oh, and one more thing! At WH roulette has turbo spin option, at Micro it doesn't have, or if it has, you must make a bet to spin. At WH, on craps and roulette you don't need to place a bet to roll and spin. At Micro you must, or if you don't need, like at Roulette Gold, you don't have the turbo spin option! -1 point for Micro!!!

At least 3 new Rival casinos will go live in September (one already has), but I fear they will follow the other recent new ones with totally unrealistic sign-up bonuses... :(
How I wish my fears had not been realised!

The latest Rival to launch has this "Welcome (to hell) Bonus":-
100% to $/£200, WR (D+B)x80 and PHANTOM!!! :eek:
Honestly, you would be INSANE to take this bonus – it’s just a joke.

The maths:-
For slots you have to wager Bonus x 160...
For the allowed card games it's Bonus x 320...
If that's not ludicrous enough - it's PHANTOM!!!

It you took the maximum bonus & played slots you would have to wager $64,000 and get a return of 100% or more on games with an average RTP of 96% in order to be able to cash out anything...
Do you feel lucky, punk? ... Well, do you?

Mad. Just mad. :mad:

KK
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