Casino Bonuses Available to Canadians - All Types Explained

If you haven’t gotten in on the craze yet, you’re in luck! Canada’s online casino market is well-established and competitive, meaning many operators offer a variety of promotions – including a wealth of generous bonuses.

Read on to learn more about the different types of available bonuses, and how they can benefit you.

Welcome Bonuses

Casino welcome bonuses are exactly as they sound – extra credit awarded just for signing up! These rewards can come in a few different forms including deposit matching, no deposit, and free spins.

Each welcome bonus can be redeemed once, meaning you can make an account on multiple sites in order to receive multiple welcome bonuses. So long as you don’t make multiple accounts with the same operator.

Let’s take a closer look at the different types of welcome bonuses available at online Canadian casinos.

Deposit Matching

One of the most common online casino bonuses is called deposit matching. After you create an account at one of Canada’s many online casinos, you will often be required to make a real cash deposit to get started.

Before signing up, check if a promotional code is required to activate the bonus. If there is one, it will be clearly displayed within the promo ad.

The promotional offer will specify the exact percentage of your initial deposit that will be matched. Common percentages include 25%, 50%, and 100%. There will also be a limit to how much of your initial deposit will be matched.

For example, if an online casino is offering a 50% deposit match up to $1,000, half of your initial deposit will be matched up to that amount. If you were to deposit $500, you would receive $250 in bet credits, and so on.

Alternatively, if an online casino is offering a 100% deposit match up to $1,000, and your initial deposit is $1,500, you will still only receive $1,000 in bet credits.

An important thing to note is that bet credits can be spent like real cash within the app but cannot be directly withdrawn.

No Deposit

A no deposit bonus allows you to start playing at online Canadian casinos without make a real cash deposit. Operators do this in order to give potentially interested players a sampling of its online casino games.

For example, if the no deposit promotion is $20 in bet credits, you essentially have $20 to spend on casino games – just for signing up! Any winnings are yours, also in the form of bet credits.

Free Spins

When it comes to Canadian online casinos, the term ‘free spin‘ is used in reference to slot games.

If the free spins promo is ’20 free spins’, for example, that means you can spin the wheel 20 times for free on any online slot machine. Free spins can sometimes yield real cash prizes as opposed to bet credits, but that’s rare.

Other Relevant Bonuses

Do you already have an account with your favourite online Canadian casino? Does the idea of making an account with several different operators seem like a lot of work?

Not to worry, as welcome bonuses are far from the only ones that exist. Here are some other promotional bonuses routinely offered to pre-existing players.

Reload Bonus

A reload bonus is essentially a deposit match bonus without having to make a new account. For example, you may receive a promotional email saying something along the lines of ‘Receive a deposit match of 50% up to $500! Claim offer within 48 hours!’

Never feel pressured to top up your account balance until you have the financial means to do so. If you were thinking of making a deposit soon anyways, for example, then the value of this bonus is worth shelling out for.

If not, there’s always next time and reload bonuses aren’t exactly rare. Some don’t even have short time limits, although none are indefinite either.

Progressive Jackpot Bonus

While playing slot games, you may notice that some have what’s called a ‘progressive jackpot bonus‘. The difference between a progressive jackpot and a regular jackpot is the way in which it’s won.

A regular jackpot will consistently be the same number. For example, a slot game with a $100,000 jackpot. On the other hand, a progressive jackpot grows in small increments each time it isn’t won following a spin. Not just by you, but by anyone playing that slot game at the time.

To paint a picture, let’s say the progressive jackpot of a slot game starts at $50,000 and goes up by 10 cents every time a spin doesn’t win the grand prize. If it gets all the way up to $200,000 and someone wins the jackpot, the slot game will then reset to $50,000 and the process repeats.

Loyalty Bonus

Loyalty bonuses are usually awarded based on certain milestones hit by players. For example, if you’ve spent $X on slot games this month, you may be awarded additional bet credits or entered into a draw to win concert tickets among other items and experiences.

Other loyalty bonuses can be quite lucrative, with some operators placing a lot of focus on tiered rewards. This can lead to lavish prizes like cars and vacations, but very few people are lucky enough to win anything of the sort. Still, it has to happen to someone, so there’s always a chance.

There’s never a reason to excessively play online casino games in Canada, especially if your main goal is simply to achieve a top loyalty bonus. On the other hand, it’s a great way to organically rack up rewards just for playing!

Always play within your financial means, never play solely to profit, and feel free to refer back to this page if you get stuck. Good luck!