A number of different casino bonuses are available to players in today’s iGaming scene, and one of the most common bonuses is the match bonus. On this page, we’ll teach you everything there is to know about how match bonuses work, from the best match bonus casino to which match deposit bonus you should choose.

Top 10 Casinos

When it comes to helping you learn about bonuses, we aim to offer the best information possible here at Best Online Casino Reviews NZ. We are dedicated to helping our readers find the best bonus offer, no matter where you choose to play.

That’s why we spent time putting this guide together, so you can become something of an expert in the field of match deposit bonuses.

What is a Casino Match Bonus?

Out of all the many online casino bonuses out there, the online casino match bonus is possibly the most common. To put it simply, it’s a matched bet the casino gives to you when you make a qualifying deposit. The ‘match’ part of the term refers to the way in which the casino matches your deposit as a bonus.

This is designed as a technique to help casinos bring in more customers to their site. These promotions are usually offered as a welcome bonus, which is granted to new players when they make their first deposit at the casino and go over the minimum deposit amount. This limit is usually low enough to make the bonus money available to all players.

A casino match bonus will let players increase their bankroll, which in turn makes it easier to put a bankroll management strategy into place. These are vital for players who want to ensure that they have the best opportunity to be successful and stay within their budget when playing at a free playing casino.

If you want to discover more about which match bonus casino is right for you and where you can find the best online casino match bonus, this guide will help you to do so. Here at Best Online Casino Reviews NZ, we ensure that we put only the best, most relevant information in our guides. This is vital to help you make the right choice.

How Does a Match Bonus Work?

A match bonus works in quite a simple fashion. They are most often offered as a welcome bonus, but they can be awarded as a bonus amount when online gaming venues offer promotions throughout the year.

If you have ever wondered how match bonuses work, we have put together a simple step-by-step guide to help you out.

The first aspect of this particular bonus comes through making a deposit. Whether the bonus is part of a regular promotion or as a welcome bonus, a match bonus will always require a deposit in order to be activated. Once you have made a deposit, the next step will take place.

The next step depends on what setup the casino has in place. If it is a welcome bonus, the matched bonus is usually awarded automatically. But some promotions will require you to get in touch with customer service so that the team can add the bonus to your account manually.

It’s important to check the terms and conditions to ensure that you make the right decision.

However, you receive your bonus, always remember that an online casino match bonus is an addition to your bankroll, and free spins do not count as this type of bonus.

Is a Match Bonus Free Money?

When trying to find the best match bonus casino, a lot of people instantly assume that the match bonus itself is free money. This is not the case. Even though there will be an increase to your casino account, this doesn’t mean that the money in there is yours to just withdraw. This often confuses novice players because they don’t understand how the system works yet.

When the bonus is paid into your account, it’s not paid in the same way as cash — it’s paid in as bonus funds. These bonus funds will have some caveats placed on them. The reason behind this is to stop people from just making a deposit, receiving their bonus, and then withdrawing it all without placing a wager.

When the bonus is placed in your account, there will be something called ‘wagering requirements’ in place on them. We will cover this in more detail later in the guide, but put simply, wagering requirements are what stop you from just taking your bonus cash out of the account and never returning.

It’s important that you understand this when playing at a casino, and you recognise that you can’t use multiple welcome bonuses at casinos to make an easy profit.

Types of Match Bonus

There are a number of different types of match bonus available to players:

  1. The main one that you will see most often comes as a Welcome Bonus. This is usually awarded when players first sign up to an online casino. Here at Best Online Casino Reviews NZ, we have a great list of welcome bonuses designed to help you find the best match bonus casino for you!A welcome bonus is normally awarded when players make their first deposit to a casino. It can also be spread out across the first few deposits, sometimes as many as the first five. It will most often give players a percentage of their deposit as an additional bonus added to their account.
  2. The next type is a Reload Bonus. This is very similar to a welcome bonus, except that it can be awarded at any time. Most casinos will offer a reload bonus at regular intervals over the year. They can be seasonal, depending on the holiday that is being celebrated at the present time, or they can just be a monthly reload promotion the casino is running. Most reload bonuses are more modest when compared to the deals welcome bonuses offer. The percentage of returns as a bonus from a reload often stand at 100% or below.
  3. A 100 Match Bonus is probably the most common type that you will come across. This bonus will award players a 100% bonus amount when they make a deposit. That means a deposit of $50 would get a bonus of $50 on top of that, for a total amount of $100.
  4. A 200 Match Bonus is not quite as common, and it can very rarely be found as a reload bonus, but is most often a welcome bonus. This provides players with a 200% bonus amount when they make a deposit. So, for a deposit of $50, players would get an additional $100 on top, to give a total of $150.
  5. A 300 Match Bonus is very rarely seen as a reload bonus, and almost always as a welcome bonus. This gives players an extra 300% on top of their initial deposit amount. So, a deposit of $50 would give an extra $150 on top, for a total of $200.
  6. A 400 Match Bonus is almost never used for a reload bonus and is almost solely a welcome bonus. Players will get 400% as a bonus on top of their first deposit, which means that a deposit of $50 would also have an extra $200 on top, for a total of $250.

Match Bonus Wagering Requirements

Wagering requirements are in place on almost every single match bonus awarded to players at online casinos. These are an additional set of terms and conditions that are implemented to stop players from simply withdrawing the bonus amount and never returning to the casino.

We’ve put together this guide so that you know all the crucial information about them before you start playing.

The basic premise of wagering requirements is that they relate to the number of times you need to wager your bonus before you can withdraw it as cash. This will be shown as a number, so that it’s easy to understand.

For example, a 30 times wagering requirement means that you need to play through your bonus 30 times before you can withdraw it.

There are two main ways that wagering requirements are calculated. The first is the deposit and bonus amount together. The second is just the bonus amount. This is an important aspect to consider, and it has the power to make a significant impact on the total that you have to wager before you can make a withdrawal.

So, a 30 times wagering requirement on a $50 deposit with a 100% matched bet would require $3,000 of wagers to be placed for the first type of wagering requirement, and $1,500 for the second. This is why you should check the terms and conditions and not just the number, so you can get the best deal for yourself.

Examples of Match Bonuses

A simple example of a match bonus would be a 250% matched bet when you make a deposit of $100 or more, up to a maximum bonus of $5,000. So if you made a deposit of $200, you would get a $500 bonus. This would make your total account balance $700.

For this bonus, the most you could deposit would be $2,000, because any more would have a bonus of over $5,000.

If there were 35 times wagering requirements in place for this, applied to just the bonus amount, the initial $200 deposit wouldn’t need to be multiplied by the 35. Only the $500 would be. As a result, this means that you would need to place wagers of $17,500 before you were able to withdraw any of the bonus cash you were awarded.

In order to find the best match bonuses available, take a look through the wide range of information we have available here at Best Online Casino Reviews NZ.