A Useful Guide on No Deposit Free Spins: How to Evaluate Their Benefits
Learn to evaluate and compare free spin offers with expertise to ensure you get the best possible deal without spending a dime. Whether you're a casual player or a seasoned gambler, understanding the nuances of these offers will enhance your gambling experience.
Here’s what this guide covers:
- In-depth Analysis Of Free Spin Offers:
by delving into the specifics of each bonus term, understanding how they impact the attractiveness and fairness of an offer. - Act as a quick evaluation tool:
use our cheat sheet to swiftly grade and evaluate free spins, allowing you to spot excellent opportunities in mere seconds. - Help you get familiarized with the Standards:
our breakdown of the industry’s averages and benchmarks will equip you with knowledge so you can easily distinguish an exceptional offer from a mediocre one.
Factors to Consider When Evaluating No Deposit Free Spins
When comparing and choosing no deposit free spins offers, you must look at the terms and conditions of each deal.
By identifying offers with favourable wagering requirements and player-friendly terms and conditions, you can maximize value and increase your chances of winning real money.
Here are the aspects you need to consider and evaluate:
- Number Of Free Spins:
Tells you how many times you can spin the reels without cost. More spins means you’ll have more chances to win. - Value Of The Spins:
By checking what each spin is worth, you can calculate the total monetary value of an offer and accurately compare it to other bonuses. - Wagering Requirements:
Specifies how much you need to bet to convert free spin winnings to real money you can withdraw. The lower the wagering requirement, the more likely you are to turn your free spins into real cash. - Cashout Limit:
The maximum amount you can withdraw from your free winnings. Most casinos set win limits between $10 and $100 for their no deposit free spins. - Bet Size limit:
The maximum amount you can bet per spin when playing with free spin winnings. This limit is usually set to $5 per spin. - Game Weighting Percentages:
Specifies how much of each bet counts towards your wagering requirement in a specific game. Bets on slots contribute 100%, while ones made on table games and other games contribute less. This is an important aspect to consider when you’re trying to wager free spin winnings. - Game RTP And Volatility:
RTP (Return to Player) indicates how much a slot pays back over time. A game’s volatility dictates how often and how much you win.
In this article, we explore how to accurately evaluate no deposit free spin offers. If you’re new to online casinos and barely know what free spins are in the first place, we recommend you check our beginner’s guide to free spins.
A Cheat Sheet For Evaluating No Deposit Free Spins
We've analyzed bonus data from more than 2,000 casinos to determine the average terms and conditions for no deposit free spin offers. You can use this data to quickly determine if an offer is excellent, average, or subpar.
The figures represent industry averages, and you might find offers with better terms - so use this cheat sheet as a starting point rather than a definitive guideline:
| Metric | Average standard | What is exceptionally good | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Number of free spins | 43 | 50 or more |
| 2 | Spin value | $4 | $0.025 or more |
| 3 | Wagering requirement | 46x | 30x or less |
| 4 | Cash out limit | $31 | $100 or more |
| 5 | Bet size limit | $5 | $8 |
| 6 | Game RTP | 95.77% | 96.% or more |
| 7 | Eligible games for wagering | Approx. 165 excluded games, you can play all other slots. | All slots except for 5-10 specific games |
How To Grade Free Spin Offers
There will always be trade-offs when comparing and choosing free spin offers. For instance, you might accept a higher wagering requirement for a generous win limit, or vice versa.
Our cheat sheet gives you a quick way of scoring and grading free spin offers. Each metric that falls under the category ‘exceptionally good’ equals one point. And the more points an offer scores, the better it is.
We’ve then used this simple point system to divide free spin offers into three categories:
- Score 1-3 (Subpar):
These offers are below standard. You can easily find better deals - Score of 4-6 (Average):
These offers are common and represent the standard in the market. - Score of 6-9 (Great Offers): Here we have exceptionally great offers that you shouldn’t think twice about claiming. They offer significant value and are way above the general industry standards.
Delving Deeper Into Each Aspect That Goes Into Evaluating Free Spin Offers
In this section, we’ll dissect the anatomy of free spin offers, exploring each crucial aspect that determines their value. We'll look into the intricacies and how each bonus term affects an offer. Let's dive in and decode the nuances together.
How Many Free Spins Will You Get?
The obvious advantage of receiving many free spins is that you can play more and consequently get more chances to win.
However, there's no correlation between the number of free spins and your chances of turning winnings into real money you can withdraw. Therefore, you should always consider the underlying bonus terms when comparing offers. You specifically want to look at win limits and wagering requirements.
What Are Your Free Spins Worth?
No deposit free spins are typically set to the minimum bet size in the designated slots. And when they’re valid on several slots, all slots will have the same minimum bet value.
There are two reasons you should consider the value of your free spins:
- To Find Out How Much Your Free Spins Are Worth:
By checking the spin value, you can determine the monetary value of your free spins and compare it to other bonuses. Simply multiply the number of free spins by the minimum bet of the selected slot to calculate the total value of your free spins. - Maximizing Winnings On Every Spin:
Since all wins are a multiplication of your stake, higher bet values increase your potential winnings. For instance, if you hit a 500x win multiplier with a spin worth $0.01, you win $50. If the spin value is set to $0.20, you win $100.
The Importance of Wagering Requirements
Wagering requirements dictate your chances of converting free spin winnings to real money and are arguably the most important aspect to consider when comparing free spin offers.
A stellar requirement typically hovers around 20-30 times the amount you’ve won with your free spins. Wagering requirements of 50x or higher make it very unlikely for you to win real money with your free spins.
Let’s put this into context:
- You snagged free spins with a 40x wagering requirement and won $100.
- With a 40x wagering requirement, you must wager $4,000 to cash out your winnings.
This means those winnings are locked bonus funds until you fulfil the stipulated conditions. You can monitor pending wagering requirements in your account settings.
Understanding Cash Out Limits
Cashout limits are rules that limit how much money you can withdraw at one time.
Here’s what you need to know about win limits for free spin offers:
- A good free spins offer provides higher win limits ranging from $50 to $150
- Average offers have moderate limits, while poor offers impose strict constraints that may detract from the overall value
- Bad offers might combine low win limits with high wagering requirements, significantly diminishing their appeal.
Getting Familiarized With Bet Size Limits
Bet size limits specify the maximum amount you can bet per spin when playing with bonus funds. And because free spin winnings are credited as bonus cash, you should consider a casino's bet size limits when wagering free spin winnings.
Placing substantial to secure wins large enough to guarantee you clear the wagering requirement is a solid approach to wagering free spin winnings. However, casinos limit how much you can bet per spin to limit how much you can potentially win. Most casinos set this limit to $5 per spin, and you can consider bet size limits above this figure generous.
What are Game Weighting Percentages, and Why Do Casinos Implement Them?
Game weighting percentages determine how much of your bet contributes to wagering requirements in a specific game. Slots are usually fully weighted, which means your entire bet is considered. So, if you play a $10 spin, you’ll see $10 deducted from your pending wagering requirement.
Table games and live dealer games have much lower game weighting percentages than slots, often ranging from 5% to 25%. This means you should always wager free spin winnings on slots to ensure you have the best chance of turning them into real money you can withdraw.
See our guide on game weighting percentages to learn more about how game weighting works and affects your chances of wagering free spins and bonuses.
How to Calculate a Game’s RTP and Why It’s Important
Return to Player percentages (RTPs) indicate the percentage of all bets a slot machine pays back to players over time. A slot with an RTP of 96% returns $96 for every $100 bet.
You want to claim free spins on slots with an RTp of 96% or higher. Most slots hover around the 96% mark so there’s little reason to settle for ones with lower
While using your free spins, choosing slots with high RTPs enhances your chances not only to win initially but also to succeed more frequently when you wager your winnings. Casinos typically offer free spins on slots with RTPs around the 96% mark. However, RTPs above 96.5%, such as 97% to 98%, are considered exceptional.
Check out our article about RTP and volatility to learn more about how RTP is calculated and relates to slot volatility.
How Volatility Affects A Game’s Outcome
A slot’s volatility refers to how often and how much the game pays out. High volatility games offer less frequent, but larger wins. And low volatility slots pay out smaller amounts more frequently.
There are two good reasons you should consider slot volatility when playing with free spins:
- You Only Have A Few Spins
With relatively few spins at your disposal, you want the best possible chance to hit a win. By playing slots that statistically pay out more frequently, you ensure you have the best odds of winning. - Low-volatility Slots Are Best For Wagering Winnings
Wagering free spin winnings is all about ensuring your bonus balance lasts long enough to clear the wagering requirement. So, once again, choosing slots with frequent payouts is the best approach.
Why Are Some Games Excluded From Casino Bonuses?
Casinos often exclude high RTP and jackpot slots from bonus play to prevent you from meeting the wagering requirements easily. The idea is to lessen your chances of hitting wins so big they instantly guarantee you’ll have funds left after clearing your wagering requirement.
Having said that, some casinos exclude far more slots than others, so always check the list of excluded games in the casino’s general terms and conditions.
Final Thoughts
When evaluating no deposit free spins, don't be lured by the sheer quantity of free spins; these offers' true worth lies in their terms and conditions.
These four principles will help you consistently choose reasonable offers:
- Get A Fair Chance Of Winning Rea Money
Look for free spin offers with reasonably low wagering requirements and high cash-out limits. We recommend offers with wagering requirements between 20x and 40x and win limits of at least $20. - Some Compromises Are Necessary
You'll always have to compare terms and conditions and make some compromises. For example, you might settle for free spins on a slot with a relatively low RTP to benefit from a favourable wagering requirement. - Ignore Substandard Promotions
Use the benchmarks and cheat sheets we've provided to filter out offers below industry standards. - Don't forget to check RTP and volatility
This isn't just technical jargon; these factors significantly influence your winning odds and should guide your choice.