Free play

Free play bonuses are a good way to get familiar with an online casino. You get free playtime and/or a small amount of money to try out certain casino games. A Free Play bonus is similar to a no deposit bonus, but slightly different, because only after the playtime is passed, you are allowed to keep the profit you’ve made. This profit is converted to a bonus you need to unlock. How this works? Read our free play bonus explanation below.

What is a Free Play bonus?

If you are offered an online casino Free Play bonus, also known as free bets bonus, don't be fooled by the large amounts of money that are promoted. You'll often just receive a certain amount of credits, and not the actual amount of money. You might think the amount is yours, or will be yours, but this not the case, unfortunately. You only get this amount to play with for a limited time. Sometimes an hour, sometimes for the entire day. Any credits you have won will be converted to a maximum bonus (you have to unlock). 

Free Play is nevertheless a great way to become familiar an online casino, because you can just play without using your own money. 

“Freeplay bonuses are a great way to try out a casino, without using any money”

How does a Free Play bonus work?  

  1. You get a certain time limit and a starting amount, or starting credits, to play with. 
  2. Within the set time, you can play as much as you want with these credits, in every game. However, time will keep running if you log out in between. 
  3. If time's up, the amount of credits you’ve won is calculated. These credits are yours to keep (usually with a maximum) and will be converted to a bonus with you can use to keep playing, but still can’t withdraw from your account.
  4. The bonus has to be unlocked, using a 'wager': the number of times you have to bet your won amount, before you can withdraw actual money. What is a wager?
  5. After you’ve unlocked your bonus, it is up to you to decide what to do with this bonus, and the profits you’ve collected along the way. 

Free Play tip: It's best to win only a small figure during your free play time. This way, the amount of money you’ll have to wager is low. The amount of money you win unlocking the bonus is not influenced by the wager, so make sure you maximize your profit then!

A Free Play bonus example:

You sign up at Casino X at 8 pm and get $88 as the initial credit to play with. You’re not very lucky, and you are left with just $25. You go to sleep at 12 and the next day at 7 pm you try again. In just 1 hour you win $75! At 8 pm your bonus time is up, and your account says $100 in credits. 

“Free play credits do not have a wager, the resulting bonus does”

However, the maximum amount you can win at this casino using the free play bonus, is only $15. So your 100 credit are converted to a $15 bonus. You can’t withdraw this bonus just yet, you will have unlock it with a wager of 30x. 30x15 = 450,- which means you will have to bet $450 before the money is actually yours. 

To withdraw a won amount of money, you'll need to make a deposit first at some casinos, so the casino can check your identity.

Difference between free play and free spins bonuses

In a free play bonus you will get – as explained above – a starting amount and often a time limit to play with. With this starting amount and time limit you can play all casino games the casino has to offer, so you can really get to know the casino and get the hang of casino games. After the time limit, the remaining amount is the bonus (with a limit) you will have to unlock.

In free spins bonuses you will get a number of free spins on one or multiple selected casino games. After you run out of free spins, it's the end of your bonus time. The amount you have won during these free spins is the actual bonus you will have to unlock.

Free play pros
  • A free play bonus is a good and pretty safe way to get a general impression of a casino
  • You can play for a longer period of time, without using your own money
  • In free play it's possible to eventually get a nice real no deposit bonus. The credits you win in free play, make up an actual bonus, which you can unlock. Sometimes up to $100!
Free play cons
  • It takes a long time before you know the real bonus amount, and before you can actually play for real money
  • Terms and conditions differ greatly and are sometimes quite confusing. So study them carefully!
  • It's possible to not win a bonus at all, if you lose all your free play credits
  • Free play bonuses are rare!