Free Casino Chips and Honest Online Casinos
by Edmund Deacon
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.
Transparency of accounting systems is another good indicator of
honest online casinos. When testimonials are published make sure
that it is from more than a set of initials, and make sure they
have a state or country. Free casino chips may be 'virtual' in
concept, but they are used by real people!
But the best indicator of an honest online casino is by personal
recommendation. This also includes affiliation of such casinos
into trusted casino websites and portals. If an offer of free
casino chips is made by an online casino on such a site then it
can probably be trusted.
About the Author
Edmund Deacon is an Internet
technologist and has compiled an ebook of reputable online
casinos where you can gamble
on the Internet in relative safety. To get $17,000 of free
casino chips, go to http://www.gamble-on-the-internet.com
