Free spins are fantastic. After all, they let you spin the reels of online slots for free. So even though you’re not paying for the spins, you still have a chance of winning and earning some actual money.

This article will run you through the different types of free spins bonuses for online slots. Carry on reading to learn more about these bonuses and why you should claim them.

Welcome Bonuses 

You can play online slots for free in two ways: in demo mode and using casino bonuses. If you want to play free slots no download, you’ll have to sign up to an online casino. Once you’ve done this, you’ll be able to play most of the casino’s games, including most or all of its slots, in demo mode. With this, you can play as many times as you wish whenever you like without paying or downloading software of any kind. There’s no real money involved with demo play, so your budget isn’t affected at all.

Then there are casino bonuses. Just about every online casino gives them out. They have two purposes: to encourage new players to sign up; to encourage those who have already signed up to keep playing and stay loyal to the casino.

The welcome bonus is the one that you’ll see promoted the most. It is the one that’s aimed at those who haven’t signed up to the casino yet. Its purpose is simple: to get as many new players as possible to create accounts, deposit money and play.

The way the welcome bonus works is straightforward. Here are the few steps you need to claim it: 

• Fill out the casino’s registration form to get your account set up
• Deposit money into your account using one of the casino’s accepted payment methods
• Confirm you wish to accept the welcome bonus 

Welcome bonuses are a type of match bonus, where you deposit money, and the more you deposit, the more of the bonus you’ll receive.

Let’s look at a typical welcome bonus offer – a 100% welcome bonus up to £100 plus 50 free spins. 

For this particular, you decide to make a first deposit of £100. The match bonus gives you 100% of this as bonus money. Therefore, you end up with £200 in your account: £100 in cash that you deposited and £100 in bonus money (you can spend this but can’t withdraw it).

As for welcome bonus free spins, you usually receive these no matter how big your first deposit is. The spins are usable on a single slot, a selection of slots or all of a casino’s slots. However, most of the time, the slots you can use free spins on are restricted to a small number. You’ll receive the spins all at once, or they’ll be credited to your account in several batches over consecutive days (e.g. 100 spins awarded in batches of 10 spins each across 10 days).

When you receive free spins from a welcome bonus or any other casino bonus for that matter, there are various restrictions: 

• Each free spin is worth a set amount of money, as decided by the casino running the promotion
• There’s a cap on how much money you can win from each free spins promotion
• Free spins have to be used within a certain amount of time
• Winnings from free spins are subject to wagering requirements 

Before you claim any welcome bonus, it’s suggested that you read through the full terms and conditions. Here you’ll find the full rules, requirements and restrictions for the bonus. Whether it awards free spins or not, every kind of online casino bonus has terms and conditions. By looking through these, you’ll better understand what’s involved and what you can and can’t do with the bonus.

If you claim free spins from a welcome bonus and you end up unknowingly doing something that violates the terms and conditions, you’re the one at fault. When you claim a bonus, you’re confirming you’ve agreed to whatever’s in the fine print. The casino assumes you’re familiar with all the terms. If you go against them, even accidentally, the casino has every right to say you were in the wrong for doing so.

The casino has the right to suspend or even close your account should you do anything wrong. Therefore, you must read the fine print before claiming free spins bonuses.

Most welcome offers give you bonus money and free spins for your first deposit or several following deposits. Some only award bonus money; some only give out free spins. 

Match Bonuses

Many online casinos have promotions that target players who have already signed up. These work in pretty much the same way as welcome bonuses in that they require a deposit, and you then receive the bonus. If it’s free spins that are being advertised, you’ll receive them on making your qualifying deposit – depending on the bonus; they’ll either be awarded all at once or in batches. 

Some casinos have match bonuses that you can claim at regular intervals, such as every week or even every day. You may also find limited-time promotions giving out match bonuses. Note that sometimes match bonuses only give bonus money and not free spins. Having said that, most online casinos give existing players plenty of regular chances to earn free spins to use on slots. 

No Deposit Free Spins 

The bonuses we’ve covered so far have required deposits for players to claim them. However, there’s the no deposit bonus, which does not require a deposit, as you can guess by its name.

Most of the time, no deposit bonuses are aimed at new players. Instead, their purpose is to give potential players a free preview of the casino and some of its games. Since no deposit is required, you haven’t made any sort of financial commitment to the casino. You still need to create an account, of course.

No deposit bonuses usually give you bonus money or free spins. The free spins work in the same way as the ones you get from bonuses that require a deposit.

If you claim a no deposit bonus, once you’re done with it you’ll then be able to claim the casino’s welcome bonus. 

Other Sources of Free Spins Bonuses

Most online casinos have other ways of earning free spins besides the bonuses we’ve mentioned above. Lots of them, for example, have a loyalty scheme. This is where you earn points as you play games, and the more you earn, the more bonuses, rewards and perks you’ll be entitled to; these can include free spins. There’s also the VIP club. This is an invite-only club set aside for a casino’s most loyal and dedicated players. Accept an invitation to this, and you could earn some free spins as one of the VIP benefits. You may even come across a casino that randomly awards players with free spins for no reason at all. 

Wagering Requirements

We briefly mentioned wagering requirements earlier. These are requirements that have to be met before you can withdraw bonus winnings. They’re put in place so that people can’t sign up to a casino, claim the bonus and make off with the winnings. 

If you claim a free spins bonus and manage to win some money from it, this will be credited to your account as bonus money. You can convert bonus money into real cash (which you can withdraw) once you’ve satisfied the wagering requirements. To do this, you typically need to play through the sum of your winnings a set number of times, e.g. 30 times. 

Just about every online casino has wagering requirements in place for all its bonuses, including free spins. However, a small number of them don’t actually have any wagering requirements at all. At these casinos, once you’ve used your free spins up, you can withdraw any winnings right away without having to play through them a number of times. 

Free Spins Rounds

We’ve been focusing on the free spins that you can get from bonuses. However, there are also free spins you can get when playing slots. 

Most online slots have a free spins round. To trigger it, you usually have to get three scatter symbols anywhere on the reels. Scatters are special symbols that, as well as giving free spins, pay quite large sums of money; they don’t have to be on paylines for you to win with them, unlike other symbols. 

Sometimes, you receive more free spins the more scatters there are. For example, you could get: 

• 10 spins for 3 scatters
• 15 spins for 4 scatters
• 20 spins for 5 scatters 

Or you could get the same number of spins no matter how many triggering scatters there are. 

The cost of each free spin is equal to the cost of your bet on the triggering spin. So if you bet £1 on a spin that triggers free spins, for example, each free spin will use the figure of £1 to determine how much you’ll get paid should you win. 

It’s common for free spins rounds to come with bonuses. These can include multipliers, extra wilds, wild reels, expanding symbols and more paylines. In addition, some rounds can be retriggered – if this is the case, you’ll be awarded some extra free spins if enough scatters appear. Finally, some free spins rounds have a maximum number of spins; others can be retriggered unlimited times. 

If you’re lucky enough to win, all winnings are collected and paid out once the round’s over; you’ll be paid. 

Some slots give you the option of purchasing the free spins round. You pay a multiple of your bet; then, enough scatters to trigger the round are guaranteed to appear on the next spin. If you do this, you’re not technically getting the spins for free, but you can still make a profit if you’re lucky enough. 

Free spins rounds that are often paid have a higher RTP than rounds that are triggered naturally. In other words, you’re likely to earn more in winnings when the round has been paid for, as opposed to when it’s been triggered on its own through regular gameplay. 

Summary

As you can see, there are quite a few different bonuses that give out free spins. Just about every online casino has some free spins to hand out, some more than others. Remember that before claiming any free spins bonus, you should read through the terms and conditions so you’re aware of everything involved. Free spins give you the chance to play slots for free and even win some actual money. They’re a great casino bonus, and if you have the chance to earn some, you should definitely go for it.