There’s a hard and fast rule in business that the more competitive the sector, the more effort is needed to attract and retain new customers. Nowhere is this more relevant than in the world of online casinos. Today there are many hundreds of these all fighting to gain a meaningful market share. To do this it’s a question of grabbing potential players’ attention and giving the impression you offer a safe experience. Having clear and distinctive branding has a role to play but, on its own, this is often not enough.
Hence the use of new player bonuses and other incentives that all kinds of businesses rely on and which have a number of reasons for using them. Virtually every casino operating online will use bonuses in some way or another, with varying degrees of success. There are also various different types of bonus, the main ones of which are listed here.
- No Deposit Bonus
Favoured by no less than 49% of Canadian casino players according to research carried out on the market in the 2025 period, these are by far the most popular, and it’s easy to see why. As the name suggests these are bonuses that are given free to players to start them playing. In some cases, it can be $100 or more in free stakes and all they need to claim is to enter a promo code when they first register with the casino in question.
- Deposit Match Bonus
Deposit match bonuses involve the new player making a deposit which the online casino will then match, up to a maximum level. So, for example, if a player deposits $200 this will then be boosted to $400 in stake money. In some cases, there is even a 200% bonus match in which case it would mean $800 to play with. The greater personal investment means that the take-up for this kind of offer was found to be a little under 21%. In competitive territories like Canada, it can get very confusing, so to help navigate this, Casino.org Canada display the top casino bonuses in Canada so you can make sense of a crowded field.
- Free Spins
Slots are undoubtedly the most popular of all the online casino games. So another widely-used incentive is a set number of free spins on selected, generally high volatility, games. This is often used in conjunction with deposit match bonus offers and the number of free spins can sometimes be as high as 500. So it comes as little surprise that take-up on this particular incentive is recorded as being 51.5%.
- Reload Bonuses
It’s all very well to gain new players with attractive bonuses, but holding on to them is another business entirely. This is why more and more casinos are starting to offer reload bonuses. These are given to players who have played for some time but whose interest in a particular casino may be on the wane. They generally involve adding a deposit to their stake money to encourage them to re-engage with the casino.
- VIP and Loyalty Schemes
Most casinos also try to promote retention by running schemes in which players can rise through the ranks of a loyalty scheme. They can be rewarded in many ways ranging from boosted deposits to free gifts and even tickets to sporting events.
Some aspects to consider
We all know the expression, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” and this is very much the case when it comes to bonus offers. But that’s not to say there aren’t some good reasons for the strings that are attached to them.
That’s because if a large number of players win big using their bonuses it will mean a major financial hit for the casinos – so they impose restrictions.
The main one of these is a wagering requirement. This is expressed a s a multiple of the initial bonus amount that must be wagered before any winnings can be claimed. There are many variations of these but all have the same purpose – to act as a form of insurance policy for the casino.
In addition, many casinos impose a time limit within which any bonuses must be claimed. In most cases this is seven days or less as the objective is to convert a prospect into a player while the offer is still fresh in their mind. In recent times there has been a certain amount of pushback among players about how restrictive these measures and this has led to a number of online casinos lowering the restrictions somewhat, especially in those that are new to the sector in 2026.
And, despite the wagering requirements, bonuses are definitely good news for players, especially when they include the no-deposit element. So, long may they continue to be offered.
