Free Spins Online Bonus
One of the biggest reasons behind the popularity of online casinos is the bonuses. And when it comes to bonuses, free spins take the win for most players. It makes sense because the majority of an online casino’s game library is slots.
This is our guide for free spins online bonus at casino sites. We plan to take a holistic approach to what they are, how they work, what are the different types, the potential terms, and lots of other data.
Once you’re done reading this guide, you’ll know for yourself whether a bonus is worthwhile or not. Apparently, it’s one of the biggest challenges new players face when claiming casino bonuses in Canada.
Best Online Casinos for Free Spins Online Bonus
In this time and age, almost all online casinos offer free spins bonuses in one or the other. Are all of them equally competent and user-friendly? We believe not. It means there’s room for qualitative evaluation and we’re going to do that right here. The casinos you see on this list are deemed to be the best online casinos for free spins according to our experts.
What are Free Spins?
The term itself is pretty self-explanatory, don’t you think so? These are “spins” that you get for free. As for the casino games, only online slots have the component of “spin”. So, it’s obvious why free spins are only available for slot games.
The only other type of spin we can think of in a casino context is the roulette wheel. But the game of roulette itself doesn’t operate based on the spin of the wheel. Rather, you need chips to place a bet. So, if you get free chips instead of free spins, you can use them for roulette or other table games.
Coming back to free spins, they’re different in quite a few ways from a real money spin. Ideally, you choose the bet for each of your spins. All games have a minimum bet and a maximum bet requirement. You can choose any value between that in fixed increments.
For free spins, however, you don’t control the bet size. Each of the spins will come with a fixed value assigned by the operator of the casino. It might be C$0.10. It might be C$0.50. Also, free spins always come in sets. You don’t see an online casino in Canada offering 1 spin as a bonus. Rather, the number is 10, 20, 50, 100, or anything else.
Another important thing to keep in mind here is that you can’t play all the games. We have a dedicated section coming up where we’re going to explain the terms and conditions. For now, keep in mind that the games you can play are preselected by the operator.
If the casino says you get 50 free spins on Book of Dead, it means you can only use the spins on Book of Dead. The free spins option will automatically show up when you open the game. Also, the maximum winning from these spins is regulated.
Bonuses that Come with Free Spins
We know for a fact that you’re a fan of online bonus offers. While free spins are a bonus on its own, they can come with other labels. If you’re a newcomer in the iGaming industry, you may face difficulties choosing the right one.
But worry not because we’ve listed all the common online casino bonuses that may include free spins.
Welcome Bonus
Arguably the most common online casino bonus. So far, all Canadian online casinos we’ve come across offer them. Some of these bonuses are only monetary bonuses. Some of them are only free spins. And some of them are a mix of both bonus money and free spins.
While we love all kinds of welcome bonuses in Canada, for this very context, we have to go with the combined bonus. You get the best of both worlds. Also, the free spins that come as a welcome bonus usually have higher maximum winning potential and lower wagering requirements.
No Deposit Free Spins Online Bonus
The most popular type of free spins online bonus you can get. The magic factor is right in the name. You don’t have to deposit real money to get this bonus! For the most part, no deposit bonuses are sign up bonuses, meaning you get them right after you create your account.
These bonuses are great and all but they’re very hard to come by. Also, the calibre of the bonus is not as high as deposit bonuses. For example, a deposit free spins bonus may include 50 spins. But a no deposit bonus will only have 10.
Of course, these are arbitrary numbers that we’re using to explain the concept to you. The actual number of bonuses will vary from casino to casino.
Free Spins Campaigns
These are dedicated free spins bonuses. The offer could be a welcome bonus, a daily bonus, a weekly bonus, or even a random bonus. The difference between other bonuses and a dedicated free spins bonus is that you can expect more spins on a more elaborate selection of games.
For example, a welcome bonus free spins may have 20 spins that you can use for a single game. In retrospect, a dedicated free spins bonus can have 100 or even more spins, and they’re spread across 5 or more games.
Again, these are exemplary numbers for the sake of understanding. The actual bonus will vary.
Reload Bonuses
When you “reload” your casino account with fresh money after a while, you may get a reload bonus. Not all online casinos in Canada offer them but a huge majority do. Reload bonuses contain all kinds of rewards, including free spins.
One of the things we like the most about reload bonuses is that the rewards are pretty generous when compared to other ones, like a no deposit bonus. If you get free spins as part of a reload bonus, you may get upwards of 100!
Some casinos even offer multiple reload bonuses and it depends on how long you have been absent. The longer you’re gone, the more generous these bonuses tend to be.
VIP/Loyalty Bonuses
VIP Programs or Loyalty Programs are pretty common in online casinos Canada. The purpose of these programs is to reward the most consistent players. There are usually tiers in this program to categorize the most dedicated players. Or, it might have a leaderboard updating at all times.
Whatever the ranking criteria are, you can expect free spins bonuses as rewards. It’s very cost-effective and players love it. Needless to say, the higher you rank in a VIP or loyalty program, the more spins you get. For example, a gold-tier VIP player will rack up more spins than a silver-tier player.
Ongoing Promotions
Apart from all of the bonuses we discussed, online casinos offer plenty of other offers. Some of them are promotional activities while others are tournaments. One such tournament is drops & wins where you win rewards by playing slots from a particular provider.
Also, if the online casino you’re playing at offers birthday bonuses, chances are the rewards you get are free spins. You may also get some of them randomly via email or SMS. What we’re trying to establish here is that the potential of winning free spins is endless in Canada.
Free Spins Bonus vs Free Play Spins vs In-Game Free Spins
On paper, free spins sound very simple. However, it’s one of the most used terms in an online casino and it may not refer to the same thing all the time. That’s why we believe you need to know about the types of free spins and what they actually mean.
Free Spins Bonus
These are promotional campaigns run by casino operators. When you get free spins through a welcome bonus or a dedicated campaign, it belongs to this category. And the free spins we’ve been discussing on this page also belong to this category.
Free Play Spins
Free play spins or free-to-play spins are a huge area of confusion for players. Yes, you’re spinning the reels for free in a game that technically makes it free spins. However, the difference is that you can’t win real money from free play spins.
The reason is simple. You’re playing the game in demo mode. And the demo mode is not supposed to offer real money to the players. These are great if you want to try a game that you’ve never played before. They also let you test the optimization of a casino platform without spending anything from your pocket.
If you’re manually trying to use free play spins at an online casino you already have an account with, make sure you double-check the funds. If you accidentally play from your real money account thinking that you’re playing free-play, it’s not going to be a good feeling.
In-Game Free Spins
Yes, you can win real money from these spins but they’re still not the free spins we’re discussing. If you’re familiar with online slots, you may know that many games offer bonus rounds that you can trigger with scatter symbols. In the majority of the cases, the bonus round has free spins.
Whether you get 10, 15, 20, or any other quantity of free spins, the winnings you generate are added together at the end of this round. Also, there are no wagering requirements because this is not a casino bonus. Rather, this is a special type of bonus that you got from the game’s software provider.
Also, these free spins round can retrigger if you land the right combination of symbols during one of the spins. If that’s the case and it keeps happening, the free spins round will quit when you reach the game’s maximum winning potential.
Terms & Conditions for Free Spins Bonuses
When you get a casino bonus, you’ll need to comply with some terms and conditions. At this point, every casino player knows that. But at the same time, it’s hard to keep track of all the different kinds of terms.
So, let us isolate the terms you have to stick to for free spins online bonuses in Canada.
Wagering Requirements
Unless you’re absolutely new to online casinos, you’ve heard the term wagering requirements before. In a traditional sense, “wagering” means risking a sum of money against someone else based on the outcome of an unpredictable event. The classic dictionary definition fits right in with casino games.
So, wagering requirements are a value that determines how much money you have to risk before you can withdraw a bonus. As the bonus amount you can win is variable, casino operators use a multiplier to denote the WR.
As for free spins, the wagering requirements apply to the winnings because the value of the spins is irrelevant. So, if you rack up to C$100 from a free spins campaign and the wagering requirement is 40x, it means you have to spend C$4,000 before you can withdraw the money.
Game Restrictions
Remember we promised you a dedicated section about the game restrictions near the beginning of our discussion? This is it!
For the most part, the full game library is not open for use with bonuses. It’s true for monetary bonuses as well as free spins. If you’re claiming a dedicated free spins bonus, you’ll get the name of the games in the T&C section. It might be one or multiple games, depending on the operator’s bonus policy.
For monetary bonuses that include free spins as an additional bonus, you can still find the list of eligible games in the terms and conditions section. If you can’t, you may need to contact customer support because you don’t want to let free spins go to waste, do you?
Max Bet
Well, it’s highly unlikely for free spins bonuses to have this term because the spins have a predefined value already. Some bookmakers offer a little wiggle room where you can change the value of free spins. This is one of the reasons we always emphasize reading the terms and conditions for all bonuses.
Expiry Date
When dealing with free spins, you need to be aware of 2 different expiry dates. The first one is for the spins themselves. And the other one is for completing the wagering requirements.
Free spins don’t usually last very long in your account. The most we’ve seen is 7 days. But they expire more commonly within 24 to 48 hours. Our recommendation is that you
Maximum Conversion
The last of the terms we can think of is maximum conversion. You may know that most online slots offer massive winning potential. C$250,000 is a very common range. But if you win C$250,000 from a free spin, that’s not good for business for the casino.
That’s why they impose maximum conversion limits on all free spins as well as all other casino bonuses. You can find the data in the bonus’s T&C section. Ideally, the more free spins you get, the more you can convert.
Benefits of Free Spins Bonus at Online Casinos
By now, we’ve covered almost everything you need to know about casino free spins. But we left one thing out. Why should you even bother claiming free spins? What benefits do they bring to the table?
Let’s just discuss that in this section.
A Way to Increase Bankroll
One of the primary purposes of a casino bonus is to help you increase your bankroll. If you don’t know yet, the “bankroll” is your funds for gambling. So, whatever money you have deposited in your account is your bankroll.
If we look at the lifecycle of a bonus, it first makes its way to your bonus account. Yes, casinos keep the bonus account and the real money account separate. After you complete the wagering requirements, the casino transfers the bonus to your real money account. But it already had your bankroll. The result of the bonus transfer is an increase in your bankroll.
Now, you can either withdraw the total funds along with the profit for use. Or, you can repurpose it to play games for longer or place larger bets on a game you’re good at. This is a rinse and repeat process because online casinos offer new bonuses all the time.
Risk-Free Enjoyment
Is the fact that these spins are “free” not enough? You’re not spending any money from your pocket to play the games. On top of that, you can win real money! Sure, there are wagering requirements and other terms but they still don’t decline the risk-free nature of the bonus.
If you play casino games for the sake of entertainment, there’s no reason you should pass on these bonuses. You can try out a lot of games at a lot of casinos without ever getting into the risk of losing money.
Trying Out Casinos and Games
This is somewhat an extension of our previous argument. As the majority of online casinos in Canada offer free spins, you can sign up for all of them and claim the free spins to try out lots of different games. At the same time, you can test the optimization of the casino platforms without actually committing to it. Even if you have to deposit, the minimum requirement is often negligible.
If you’re planning on utilizing this tactic, be sure to check the operator of the casino brands. White label companies operate multiple casinos under the same network. Each of those casinos may or may not offer completely different bonuses. If you happen to claim free spins at one of the casinos, you won’t be able to do it again for a sister casino.
Pros & Cons
From what we’ve discussed so far, free spins sound like some kind of invincible casino online bonus. But we know from the nature of things that nothing in the world is free of drawbacks. So, let us list the most prominent pros and cons of free spins bonuses at online casinos Canada.
Pros
- You can win real money without spending any
- Offer a chance to explore new games without the risk of losing money
- Let you test the casino platform’s optimization
- Help you to increase your bankroll
- Relatively easy-to-understand bonus
- Widely available across the majority of online casinos
Cons
- Your potential winnings are limited
- Wagering requirements apply to winnings rather than the free spins
- A limited selection of games is offered
- The expiry date for the spins is very short
FAQ
How do I get a free spins casino bonus?
First up, you need to make sure that an online casino is offering the bonus. You can either research on your own by visiting casino sites in Canada or by simply choosing a brand from our list. The latter is obviously the smarter choice because you can use the time to enjoy the free spins rather than looking for them.
Do I need to use bonus codes to activate free spins?
Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. It depends on the casino operator’s bonus policy. In Canada, you don’t need promo codes in most cases. In case you do have to use a bonus code to activate a free spins offer, you’ll find the code in the T&C section. You may also get exclusive codes via email or SMS.
What is a free spins casino bonus?
A free spins casino bonus is a reward credited to you by the casino as a token of appreciation. The appreciation might be the result of your signing up or depositing real money. Whatever the case is, you can use the free spins you get on the preselected online slots in Canada.
Are free spins worth it?
For the most part, they are. The determining factor in our opinion is the wagering requirement on the winnings and how long you have to do it. If the wagering is too high and the deadline is too soon, the bonus probably isn’t worth it.
Are free spins really free?
Yes and no. Yes, it’s free because you don’t have to spend any real money to get them. And no because after you get the spins, you have to use real money to wager the winnings.
Are no deposit free spins available for canadian online players?
Thankfully, no deposit bonuses are universal and players from all countries can claim them. Unless, of course, the government explicitly bans bonuses (i.e. Australia). You can enjoy all kinds of bonus in Canada.