Best First Deposit Bonus Casino - Updated May 2022

Best First Deposit Bonus Casino

2021 was a boom year for free spins no deposit deals with scores of player searching to get their hands on the free spins! It seems this trend is continuing into 2022.

However, there has always been a steady trickle of folk who are willing to make a deposit in order to qualify for a deposit-only welcome offer.

Whilst it can be possible to get extremely good value from a free spins deal (helped by the fact you’ve spent £0), the wagering requirements and general terms are usually set against you.

Although there will always be a lot of hype and fuss surrounding the ‘something for nothing’ deals, there’s always a question mark over whether the best value deals are reserved for those who make a deposit.

Different Types of First Deposit Bonuses

Casinos put on a great variety of offers for those players that are willing to make a first-time deposit. Although offers vary greatly, they often fall into one of the following categories:

Extra Spins Offers

We’re using the term ‘extra spins’ here although they will often be advertised as ‘free spins’.

These offers award you spins when you make a deposit. Sometimes a first-time deposit will open up the possibility of claiming one of many different denominations of spins, sometimes decided by a wheel or reel, as is the case with these Mega Reel sites.

Signup deals where you must make a deposit in order to access a set or a varying number of spins are the exact opposite to free spins on card registration offers which don’t require a deposit to be made.

Deposit Match Offers

Deposit match offers have been around since the dawn of the online casino. They represent the chance for you to make a first-time deposit and be rewarded with a bonus that amounts to a certain percentage of the deposit.

For example, a casino may offer you a 100% deposit bonus, meaning if you deposit £10, you’ll be given not only your £10 to play with as real money, but also a further £10 will be awarded as either bonus funds (most likely) or additional real money (less likely), depending on the terms and conditions which apply to the offer.

Due to the competitive nature of the casino marketplace, it’s not unusual to see casinos offering deposit bonuses of up to 1,000%!

In 2021, Jumpman Gaming launched their ‘Bonus Matchup Wheel‘ which offers you the chance to win various % bonuses, including 100%, 200%, 300% and 1,000%. The selection will be determined by a prize wheel and a minimum of £10 will need to be deposited to access this welcome package.

Free Bingo Tickets

Another old-school and nowadays infrequently seen offer is the free bingo tickets on first deposit package.

Typically you’ll need to make a first-time deposit within a certain range in order to qualify for the bingo tickets. Usually, the tickets will either be valid on a selected bingo room or will be for use on a selection of rooms.

How any prize money you win as a result of using the tickets is treated depends on the site you’re playing at and the terms/wagering requirements that are set for the offer.

Combined Free Spins and Percentage Offers

Nowadays we’re seeing many of what we could probably refer to as hybrid deals. These are welcome offers that are made up of two components. Firstly, you have the deposit bonus which as explained above is a percentage of your first-time deposit. Secondly, you have the free spins (or extra spins as you may prefer to call them if they pay out in bonus funds) portion.

Such deals can be great for players who love both slots and bingo.

Things to Consider When Choosing a First Deposit Bonus Casino

Terms and Conditions and Wagering Requirements are the main areas to consider when choosing a casino welcome package. Set within the small print there can lurk many different restrictions that you ought to be aware of, such as:

Wagering Requirements

This is the term that you should be looking out for first. Wagering requirements apply to the majority of deposit bonus offers and should be clearly stated in the significant terms which relate to the offer (presented in the immediate vicinity of where the offer is displayed).

When a wagering requirement is set, it generally means that any winnings from the bonus element of your welcome package, e.g. the bonus spins, or the bonus money, will be paid in bonus funds, not real money.

The above can sound quite technical, but you should remember that bonus funds cannot be withdrawn from the site until they have been converted into real money. The conversion will only take place once the wagering requirements have been met.

The actual wagering requirements can vary hugely from site to site. They’re usually expressed as ’10x’ where this example means that winnings will have to be wagered 10 times before the money can be converted into real money.

Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to see wagering requirements as high as 65x! In practical terms, this will often mean you’ll run out of winnings before you convert any bonus funds into real money which is eligible for withdrawal.

Lifetime Deposits

A further restriction that we see imposed on welcome bonuses is a lifetime deposits limit. In effect, this usually means that once you’ve met any wagering requirements, you’ll never be able to convert into real money, an amount greater than what you’ve deposited at the site.

Max Wins

We’re noticing an increasing amount of sites are imposing maximum wins on the bonus element of their welcome deals. How these terms are applied varies, but if we take, for example, a welcome offer that grants 20 bonus spins, the max wins could either apply per bonus spin awarded or it could be a collective amount of winnings that cannot be exceeded during the whole bonus session, i.e. across all 20 bonus spins.

Closing Thoughts

All players are going to want to get the best value from their first deposit bonuses. It’s therefore important to take a step back and look into the significant terms and the general terms and wagering requirements that apply to the offer in question.

Also, it will be necessary to make a choice between a site that offers a set bonus, or one where the bonus itself is decided by completing an action such as spinning a wheel.

Generally speaking, if you want to know exactly what you’re getting, we suggest you go on the search for first deposit bonuses that don’t involve being randomly allocated a bonus amount.