When we hear the words “high roller” and casinos, many of us instantly conjure images of ballers entering Las Vegas casinos from stretch limousines. Red carpet, free presidential suit style rooms, never pay for drinks and a special VIP roped-out section of the casino just for the high stakes players is what usually comes along with this type of status at the Vegas casinos. Alas, the high limit online casino players usually don’t get perks like those, but they still get to enjoy the high stakes gambling. And you will never hear of people gambling away a million bucks at the online casino, simply because this level of lavishness is not common online.

As a matter of fact, it has become quite hard to find high stakes online casinos these days, although we have a few that would fit the bill. The high limit betting is more common with the sportsbooks, rather than the casinos, the former working with much larger numbers. But at the casinos, where there is a predetermined payout percentage, it’s much harder to find a casino willing to take on the real risk of a huge loss that the high roller brings to the table. That said, let’s quickly look at the best high roller online casinos, those that allow high stakes gambling, before we go any further.

Best High Limit Online Casinos

#1
	As our top feature of this online casino notes, there is no substitution for experience, especially when the high stakes players are involved. Bovada is not only one of the oldest casinos on the internet, it also runs one of the most popular sportsbooks. The experience and know-how they have dealing with high stakes customers comes invaluable on the casino side. Top casino for high limit players.
Top Feature	Long experience catering to high rollers.

#2
	This is out favorite overall online casino and there is something here for the high limit player, as well. The welcome bonus alone should entice you to give Las Vegas USA a try, if you are looking to play high stakes at a gambling website - you could quadruple your deposit and start with cool $10K right off the gate!
Top Feature	400% match bonus up to $10,000 for high rollers

#3
	If you want to play the slots with a very high betting limit, then Red Stag is the casino for you. The best part is that all popular new 3D slot machines go pretty high on the wagering scale. There are a ton of promotions and you can get up to 25% cashback, which for high rollers is nothing to sneeze at.
Top Feature	No max deposit amount with Bitcoin

#4
	Lucky Red has a little bit of everything to make the high roller experience better. To start with, it offers a 400% match bonus with no max withdrawal limit, something that would be greatly appreciated by those who bet large. Almost 100 of the games have high stakes limits, and to put the cherry on top: players can enjoy unlimited 65% cahsback on slots!
Top Feature	No maximum cashout restriction on 400% welcome bonus

#5
	Another great online casino for high roller players, Miami Club offers over 300 games with nearly 50% of them having the option to go high stakes. All popular table games offer high betting limits and Miami Club has no minimum deposit when using Bitcoin.
Top Feature	Unlimited deposit amount, when using Bitcoin (BTC)

What makes a high roller online casino?

Now that we have the list of the top 5 high stakes online casinos, let’s take the discussion a bit deeper and see what really makes a casino “high roller” friendly. Some of the points would apply to the B&M casinos, such as those in Vegas, but some would be unique to the platform itself – the Internet. While the web tries to imitate real life, it’s not always black and white. So, let’s take a look at what makes a high roller online casino.

# High Stakes and High Limits

The first thing that qualifies an online casino to be considered a high stakes one, of course, is allowing large wagers. Customer should be able to place large bets at the tables and at the slot machines. After all, no self-proclaimed high roller would bet $1 per spin and have fun doing it. And while it may be easier to assume that all you have to do, as a casino, is let people bet high limits at the slots, the reality is not so simple. When you think about it, some of the slot payouts often come to 50 or 100 times the bet, so if a customer is wagering $100 per spin, you can imagine the size of the payout one of those good hits; and you can imagine the size of the hit the casino would take with this type of players. Or a blackjack table offering a max of $100 per hand – hardly could be called high stakes.

Sure, it’s easy to say “let people bet high stakes, it just means they’d lose more”, but in fact, the reputable casinos don’t have the option to decide if a player wins or loses, it truly is all about luck, and luck works both ways: for the casino and for the player. For same people it may seem like all they do is lose at the casino (and that may be absolutely true, if you had the bad fortunes to end up at a rogue casino), the actual facts differ quite a bit. And while the online sportsbooks can balance their wagers by moving the odds, the casinos are unable to employ the same strategy to stave off huge liabilities. Therefore, it is quite the financial risk to allow high limits wagering and not many online casinos have the ability to deal with big winners like that. So finding a high stakes online casino is definitely not an easy task.

# Large Deposits

It goes without saying that you can’t really claim to be a high stakes online casino unless people can deposit and gamble with large amounts. Not only should the high stakes casino allow for large deposit amounts, they also should provide a wide range of various banking methods, as well. As you can imagine, not all casinos would be able to deliver on this front, but it is mandatory for one to do so, in order to be considered high roller friendly.

# Large Withdrawals

The same logic we used about the deposit should be equally applied to the withdrawals. After all, what good is it for a high stakes player to win big, if it would take them years to withdraw their winnings?!? Most online casinos, due to various regulatory and safety reasons, today have limited the withdrawals (and deposits, for that matter), both in frequency and in size. It is currently the industry standard to allow for about $2,000 per withdrawal, per payout method. While for most people this would be sufficient (unless you hit one of the huge progressive jackpots), for high rollers this is peanuts. The high stakes player often needs a 5-figure withdrawal ability. Fortunately, Bitcoin entering the market has made facilitating this process much easier for the casinos and those catering to high limit players will be able to accommodate them without issue.

Another point that must be made is that when it comes to high roller casinos, the withdrawal amounts advertised on the casino website often do not apply. What we mean is that certain players, such as high roller ones or those who have been with the online casino for a long time, get the benefit of enjoying much broader banking freedom with the gambling website. You can look at it as one of the perks for VIP customers that would usually be offered at a land-based casino.So when we note the withdrawal amounts at the casinos in the beginning of this article, keep in mind that they are not set in stone for high rollers – many of the casinos would go as far as offering no withdrawal limit to their VIP players.

# Games With High Limits

And finally, in order to be a high roller, you need a casino with games that would actually let you bet high stakes. And let’s be perfectly frank, you would need plenty of games with high limits, not just a handful. This is the sticky point for the online casinos and why many of them have chosen not to work with high stakes players. Table games are generally fine for offering high limit bets, after all, the house advantage is well-baked into the equation. The casinos can offer separate table games for high limit customers, limiting the minimum bet as well, in order to mitigate their risk.

But the slot machines are a bit different. Especially if we take the new “3D” slots, where the paytable is so large, there are multiple bonus rounds, expanding wilds, many ways to win, etc. – you get the idea. Those are the most fun to play, the easiest to win while playing, and high limits here could spell quite the hurt for the online casino. And this is probably the single biggest reason why not every online casino is accommodating to high roller customers. Its just too much risk for your everyday run-of-the-mill casino (honestly, both online and brick&mortar).

And that is also the reason why the list of the best high roller online casinos is so small. If you want to bet big and win big, those are your best options. And while it may seem tempting to go explore on your won and find even more casinos that claim to offer high stakes gambling, we should strongly caution against it. Let’s put it this way, you would not want to deal with large amounts at a casino which doesn’t have a squeaky clean reputation built over many years in the industry!

If you have played at the online casinos for a while, or you have done some research in order to find a good casino, undoubtedly you have come across two (or more) different casinos offering the same games. And by games we mean video slots; after all, all casinos offer the same types of games: blackjack, slots, roulette, etc. You may have seen a specific video slots machine at one casino, then the exact same one at three or four other online casinos. So it’s only natural to ask yourself – what gives? Is this some sort of cheating, are those casinos rogue, what’s the deal with many online casinos offering the same video slots or other casino games?!?

Why different casinos, but the same casino games

First of all, rest assured, this is completely normal, nothing suspicious about different casinos offering the same games. Basically, the reason different casinos offer the same games is because of the software developer they work with. Many people don’t realize that the online casinos themselves don’t create and develop the many casino games they offer, instead they buy/rent the whole software suit (all casino games) offered by a particular software developer specializing in online gambling.

And this is nothing new in the gambling world. If you have been to land-based casinos, such as those in Las Vegas, and you had the foresight to look at the labels of the slot machines at each of those casinos, you would have certainly noticed that they are all made by pretty much the same companies. There are only a handful of companies making slots machines for use at the land-based casinos , thusly you can pretty much play the exact same video slots at a casino on one side of the country and the other, alike. This is even more obvious with themed slot machines, for example, you can play a “Wheel of Fortune” slot in Vegas, then fly to Detroit and play the same one there.

Well, the same could be said about the online casinos. Developing software for casino games is no cheap and easy enterprise. Besides making the slots appealing, you have to contend with many other factors – program the logic, make them cheat-proof, develop them to be safe and secure, ensure proper payouts, etc. The same way the land-based casinos don’t have a slots machine factory in the back forty of the casino property, the online casinos also outsource the games to third parties. As such, there is a small number of casino software developers the online gambling websites could use, so it’s not surprising that the same exact games appear at multiple casinos. Simply put, those casinos contract with the same software developer.

So is so many casinos offer the exact same games, how do you choose where to play, and does it even matter? The answer to these questions are similar to the decision process you would use for a land-based casino: why would you go to one over the other? It all comes down to the service – maybe one casino offers free drinks, better promotions, a host stops by to great you by name, or even their own gas station with cheap fuel.

The online casinos compete more on service than on the games alone. Good welcome bonus, regular promotions and reups, attentive and knowledgeable customer service, timely payouts of your winnings, all of those play a role in customers choosing one online casino over another. So sure, two online casinos may offer the same games, but that doesn’t necessarily make them the same. Or you can think of it as buying a car – there are multiple dealerships offering the same exact vehicle, but you ultimately would chose one over the other. And with time, even a slightly cheaper price at one dealer wouldn’t be enough to win you over from the great service you get from another.

So if you see many online casinos offering the same games, don’t be alarmed or concerned, look at it as a benefit. One of the biggest decision factors (the games) has been made, giving you more time to focus on others: which have a solid reputation, where are the best bonuses, what banking methods are available. With the software developers regularly coming out with new amazing games, there will be plenty to choose from in that department and you would rarely feel bored at any of the top online casinos, same games or not.

Let’s face it, not everyone can afford to spend money like a drunken sailor at the online casinos. Most of us are far from the high roller casino status and simply want to get the best bang for our buck. For this reason, we have scoured the top casinos to find out which USA online casinos offer a $5 (five dollar) minimum deposit. With those casino websites you don’t have to break the bank in order to have some fun, and the chance to win some real money. Of course, you can deposit more than that, but for those players looking to squeeze the most juice out of their dollar, this online casino list will transform a search that would usually take hours, to mere seconds.

Below we have a quick table list that will give you the very basic information, namely, the $5 minimum deposit online casinos. You can simply use the list, or you can read more about each casino further down. Here is the $5 minimum deposit casino list:

Online Casino	Minimum Deposit	Match Bonus	Official Website
	$5	400%
	$5	200% + free spins
	$5	400%
	$5	400%
	$5	250% + free spins
	$5	250%
	$5	150%

Today, most online casinos have set their minimum deposit at $25 and a few of the top-rated ones listed on our home page would require even higher deposit, $35 to be exact. And while this is fine for most people, after all you want to deposit more in order to get the huge welcome bonus, quite a few people feel that they should be able to have the $5 minimum deposit option, in order to test the casino, without risking much. For you are the offers noted on this page. And to be frank, if you are new customer to one of the casinos, you can easily deposit only $5, yet get to play with $25, just by taking the match bonus. And this is how you can do it:

The SlotsPlus online casino $5 minimum deposit is how you can quadruple your $5 deposit and start playing with $25 instead, which is why we have placed it at the top of our list. See, like most online casinos, SlotsPlus has a welcome match bonus based on a percentage of your deposit amount. And since this popular online casino is currently offering a 400% match on your deposit, and since you can deposit as little as five dollars, you would instantly get another $20 free from the casino. In essence, even though you are depositing only $5, you get to play with the full $25. Not a shabby deal, eh?

Now, one would think that this same rule would apply to the bonus at any casino, and you could technically utilize the $5 minimum deposit at any USA casino that has such low limits. Alas, most of the casinos, even those listed in the table above, while offering quite large match percentage, have set the limits for those bonuses at a minimum deposit of $25. Thus, you have to deposit more than initially planned, in order to get the match bonus. This may not be a bad idea, however. For example, Las Vegas USA online casino also offers 400% match bonus. But here you have to deposit at least $25 for the bonus; even though you can still make the minimum $5 if you wish, but without the 400% bonus. But depositing $25 and playing with $125, may not be the worst decision you’ve ever made.

Another example is the bonus at SlotoCash, where, once again, in order to get the 200% bonus you have to deposit a minimum of $25. However, not only would you get to play with $75 in this case, you would also be able to get the 300 free spins that come with those promos.

So, at the end of the day, the decision of whether to deposit the $5 minimum or to go a bit higher, in order to qualify for the match bonus, is entirely up to you. And this decision should be solely based on the pillar of financial responsibility. Nearly everyone can swing the $5 minimum deposit at those USA online casinos, but going higher may not be a wise financial decision. Take points from our smart gambling guide on how to stay true to your entertainment budget, and if you must, take advantage of those low funding numbers.

Quite a few people new to online gambling, and who are lucky to find a great online casino on the first try, often tend to stick to that particular casino website. Today, we are here to discuss why patronizing more than one online casino is the best course of action. Keep in mind that playing at multiple online casinos is not something everyone should do, but there are some positives to having an account at more than one (or even a few) casinos.

We get the reason behind why some people choose to stick with just one online casino. After all, finding a good casino in the first place could be quite hard and layered with perils. So when you find a casino with great games, good business practices and nice bonuses, why would you even consider a competitor? Again, as long as you are happy with your current casino, there is really no need to switch. That said, below you can read about what you may miss by not adding multiple online casinos to your portfolio.

Attention: Choose Wisely

Right off the bat, before we even begin listing the multiple benefits of patronizing more than one casino, we must warn our readers that they should always be extremely careful when choosing casinos. Just because there is profit in playing at multiple online casinos, it doesn’t mean that one should indiscriminately pick and sign up at the first result they find on their preferred search engine! Always exercise caution when deciding at which casino to sign up, there is a lot of junk and rogue gambling sites out there. You can always rely on our recommendations of the best casinos, or you can go at it on your own; either way, be careful and choose wisely.

With this out of the way, let’s look at the most common reasons for joining more than one online casino:

The Welcome Bonus, Anew

The number one reason people decide to add yet another online casino to their internet gambling arsenal, if you wish, is the option to be able to claim that amazing sign-up bonus. Among the online casinos, the welcome bonus, i.e. the bonus offered to new players, is the biggest and the best the casino would ever offer. It has become the main tool for the casino websites to attract new customers and/or to win customers from other establishments. As such, the casinos are willing to offer a lot, and players are more than happy to take advantage of the welcome bonus. Sadly, this type of bonus comes around only once at a particular casino. So by joining another reputable gambling website, those players can once again snatch that gigantic offer. If you know that the casino which offers the welcome bonus is good, there is nothing wrong in lusting over all that free money, and signing up to get it.

More Casinos: More Promotions

Sticking with the bonus theme, the welcome bonus, while the best, is not the only offer players get to enjoy at the casinos. Every online casino worth its salt will run plenty of promotions on weekly and monthly basis. You can see an example of current bonuses for existing players at some of the top casinos, to get an idea of what we are talking about. Players will also qualify for reload bonuses, rewards points, special holiday promos, custom offers, etc. By having an account with more than one casino, you get to pick and choose from multiple promotions, selecting only the ones that are the best fit for your budget and style of play. For instance, if you are a Bitcoin user, you can sift through the promos to find the best bonus for Bitcoin deposits; or if you prefer to deposit small, look for the best percentage bonus at this month’s casino offers. There are many more examples of why having the most possible promotions to choose from is a great situation to be in, however, we are certain you got the idea.

Different Casino Games To Play

Variety is the spice of life and the same could be said about the online casino games. Even though all casinos today will offer upwards of at least 300 games, most of us have our preferred style and we like to stick to it. And despite the fact that today’s video slots offered at the online casinos are amazing, playing the same games over and over for years could become rather boring. By joining another casino, which offers games from another casino developer, you get to instantly double the number of  casino games available to play.

One case in point are the movie-themed video slots. They are usually a driver for traffic to the casino, and as such are among the loosest (and most entertaining) ones on the block. But the software developers are in direct competition, trying to outbid each other for the exclusive rights to a franchise, so a slot you really wanted to play may never be available at your current casino. Thus in order to play that video slots, you have no other choice but to join a casino which does offer it.

Or: Play The Same Games

On the other side, if your primary casino offers games you don’t want to part with, but you still want more bonuses – find another reputable casino that uses the same gambling software. In going this route, one can multiply the bonus offers available, yet still enjoy their favorite casino games.

More Progressive Jackpots

For the fans of chasing big dreams, the option to add a dozen or more progressive jackpots to shoot for is a big plus. On first look it may not seem prudent to join another casino just for the progressive jackpots, but if you play smart, you may benefit from it. One example would be, if you like to target the must-hit-by jackpots. If you don’t know what they are, we have an extensive article on the types of progressive jackpots you can peruse. In this case, we are talking about the jackpots which must be won before they hit a predetermined amount. Every casino has them and when you play at more than one, obviously your pool of those particular jackpots increases. This way you could keep an eye on a bunch, and play only when they get very close to hitting.

Banking Methods

Playing at more than one online casino also provides the player with a much better array of banking methods. For better or worse, a lot of online casino customer still haven’t warmed up to Bitcoin and the other cryptos, and often exclusively deposit using credit cards. Unfortunately, credit cards are the least dependable funding method at the casinos, certain brands (such as Visa and Amex) being available for use one day and unavailable the next. If you find yourself in such a predicament, having an account with more than one casino would definitely alleviate the problem. And as mentioned above, if you choose, you can still play the same casino games, by joining a casino that uses the same gambling software as the original.

The list above covers the main reasons many people today hold accounts with multiple online casinos. Only you can decide whether playing at more than one online casino offers enough benefits. And whichever way you go, don’t forget to be careful and only select among the established respected online casinos.

The progressive jackpots are not an invention of the online casinos, but those gambling websites have taken the idea to a whole new level, all benefiting the players greatly. But in order to understand your chances of becoming instantly rich when playing the progressive slots, it helps to know how the progressive jackpots work. In this guide we will explain the most important points of those highly-coveted casino prizes, hopefully improving your chances to win one of them. We will also explain the various intricacies of the different progressive games.

Progressive Jackpot Explained

Whether we are talking about a progressive jackpot at an online casino or the local gambling hall, the basic working of this prize are fairly simple. In this article we will focus on the online casinos, but it is safe to say that similar rules apply to the progressive jackpot slots and games at the land-based casinos.

How the Progressive Jackpot Works

The simplicity of the progressive jackpot is it’s strongest side. Ever wondered how the progressive jackpot accumulates every time you spin the reels of a video slot machine? Well, the progressive jackpot works as follows: every time a customer places a wager (i.e. spins the reel of the slot machine), a predetermined portion of that bet is “transferred” into the jackpot pot; simple as that. This is why the progressive jackpot prize only increases when a wager is made.

With slots which offer the choice of a bet, the higher the wager, the more money is added to the progressive pot. For example, if you bet $1 per spin, maybe only $0.07 go into the jackpot (the prize indicator will increase by that amount), while if you wager $5 per spin, the jackpot may climb by $0.50; there are some exceptions, which we’ll cover a little further down this guide. The jackpot continues to accumulate until it is won by the winning combination required. As you can see, the workings of the progressive jackpot are very simple. The details, however, may differ by quite a lot, depending not only on the casino, but on the game itself.

Types of Progressive Jackpots

In general, there are three ways we can differentiate between progressive jackpots:

• Must-Hit-By (Must Win By)
• Open Ended
• Random

Which of the three you’d play is entirely up to you, all offering certain self-excluding benefits and drawbacks.

Must-Hit-By Progressive Jackpots

The “must hit by” progressive is simple, the jackpot starts at a set dollar amount and rises with the players’ contributions. It could be won at any time, but it must hit by a known, predetermined amount, which is always displayed by the casino. The closer the jackpots gets to that amount – the higher the chance of winning it. Even if no one is lucky enough to win this type of jackpot by the time it reaches that “hit-by” number, it is guaranteed that the player, whose contribution was the one getting the jackpot to reach the must-win-by limit, instantly wins the jackpot. It doesn’t matter what the outcome of the final spin was (i.e. the player doesn’t have to hit the winning combination), that player is automatically the winner. Of course, most games would automatically set up the winning combination on that final spin, but that’s not a hard-set rule.

The drawback of this type of progressive jackpot is that, generally speaking, these are the smaller amount jackpots, and they also have smaller contributions towards the jackpot prize pool, taking longer to get closer to the must-win-by level. The benefit, on the other side, is quite obvious – you know you have better chance to win it as you get closer to that amount. Keep in mind that, just because the jackpot amount may not be nowhere close to the “hit-by” level, it doesn’t mean that the jackpot won’t be won. These jackpots rarely get to the actual must-win-by amount; as the jackpot gets closer, more people start playing, increasing the chance of someone actually winning it by getting the winning combination.

Open-Ended Progressive Jackpots

Contrary to the previous type, the open jackpot is exactly as the name suggests – open-ended. The progressive prize amount will start at a certain number and will climb, based on player activity and contribution, until someone gets lucky enough to hit the winning combination. How long this would take is random, unlike the must-hit-by, where we know that the jackpot must be paid at or before reaching a certain amount.

The benefit here is that these are the type of jackpot wins you read about, those making people millionaires overnight. The open-ended progressive is the largest, as it allows for theoretically endless accumulation. Of course, the laws of mathematics and probabilities doesn’t let this jackpot spend much time without a winner, but it is the one type everyone wants to win. The drawback is that it doesn’t hit as often as the smaller ones, and that there are more players going after it, reducing one’s chances.

Random Progressive Jackpot

The final type is a sort of a hybrid progressive jackpot, although a lot of video slots offer this type. It behaves as a progressive jackpot, whereas people pay a tiny contribution towards it with every wager, but at the same time it is not dependent on a winning combination, unlike any of the traditional progressive jackpots. It grows with every wager, but it could hit at completely random time, regardless of the actual outcome of the spin. These random progressive jackpots tend to be much smaller and are won quite often, giving the player an extra layer of fun and money prizes. One example of a slot machine offering this type of progressive is the Hairway To Heaven, where there is a minor random progressive jackpot (a few hundred dollars) and a major one (a few thousand dollar). Both of them are won frequently, but when they would actually hit – it’s anyone’s guess.

Different Casinos, Same Progressive Jackpot?

A lot of people choose to have accounts with more than one online casino. There are many good reasons to do so, for example, taking advantage of different bonus offers, etc. And many people are surprised to see the exact same progressive slot machine, with the exact same jackpot amount. What gives?!? Are these casinos cheating, is it the same casino under a different name, what is the deal? Rest assured, the explanation is much less malevolent than that.

The reason you may see the exact same progressive jackpot game across multiple online casinos is that most of the progressive jackpots are not offered by the casino itself, but by the software provider. The software development company is the one offering that particular progressive jackpot game (whether a video slot machine, blackjack game or a specialty game). This specific type of progressive jackpot is then networked among all other casinos that have contract with the software provider. All customers, at every online casino using that software who play the progressive game, then participate in the pool of potential winners, and part of their wager pools into one big jackpot. This is also one of the reasons why some progressive slots may show increase of their prize without even  single customer playing the game at that casino – others across the network are. And it’s also why some casino games, particularly slots, have such high jackpot prizes (some crossing over into the million mark). It also takes us to the next point:

Will the Online Casino Pay the Progressive Jackpot?

While the reputable online casinos are profitable, both in short term, but especially in the long term, they still operate on pretty thin margins. If they didn’t – people would simply stop playing there, who wants to play at a casino where they don’t win any money?!? As such, most of the online casinos (especially the smaller ones) would have a very hard time paying out progressive jackpots which often cross the $1 million prizes. And the smaller the progressive jackpot – the more often it is won, which provides no relief for those casinos, that don’t offer games with such huge prizes. While the million-dollar progressives may be won twice a year, the casino games with progressive jackpots in the tens of thousands could be won twice a week, sometimes even more often.

And one shouldn’t forget that, if a video slot has a progressive, besides the jackpot, the slot machine still obeys the payout rules and gives out other prizes, based on its payout table. In other words, you may wager $1 at the slot, not win the jackpot, but hit a $5 winning combination nevertheless. So how do the online casinos make financial sense of all this?

One solution would be to simply set aside the progressive jackpot money that accumulate in anticipation of the winner, then pay that money to the lucky player. But could a company be really trusted to operate in such way? What if the casino land on some hard times with a lot of winners at the same time, and feels it needs to “dip into” the progressive jackpot fund to meet obligations, yet be unlucky enough to get a winner of the progressive right at that time? If online casinos began defaulting on their progressive jackpots, this type of games would disappear overnight, as players’ trust erodes rapidly.

How do the casinos prevent this from ever occurring? The solution they came up is rather simple, yet very effective – the online casinos don’t offer the progressive jackpot, the software developer does. When the casino software company develops a particular casino game with a progressive jackpot, the contributions from all the players at all casinos go to the developer itself. It then pays the prize, once a player hits that lucky combination, removing the online casino, where the player won the jackpot, completely out of the jackpot equation. This not only ensures that the player will be paid the prize, trust would be maintained (you win, you get the jackpot), and places no additional financial burden on the casino itself. As weird as it may sound on first glance, the online casinos are actually happy when a customer of theirs wins a large progressive jackpot. They lose no money from this, yet they get all the promotional benefits that come with such a big prize.

Do People Really Win the Progressive Jackpots?

Absolutely. This is another frequently asked question associated with the progressive casino games. As you’ve already read, not only do people win the progressive jackpots all the time, the online casinos are ecstatic when this happens. They get to brag in advertisements about the winner being lucky at their casino, it steers more customers, drives a lot of good press their way, all while not having to spend a penny to get it. Trust us when we tell you that casino management is more than happy, when their customers win progressive jackpots, and wouldn’t even think about preventing this in any way (not that they could, even if they wanted to).

More Progressive Jackpot Information

We will conclude this extensive “progressive jackpot explained” guide with a bit more information on the subject. Earlier in the article we mentioned how the progressive jackpot prize amount accumulates depending on the size of the bet; while this is generally the case, it’s not the only way. There are two different ways the progressive jackpot may behave depending on the size of the wager. Our earlier explanation covers the more common one, i.e. when the bet size increases, the contribution to the progressive jackpot also increases, proportionately or otherwise. But there is an exception – the tiered jackpot. When this form is utilized by the casino game, when the player changes the denomination of the wager, it doesn’t just change the contribution, but the jackpot itself. More common at the land-based casinos, in this case an entirely different jackpot amount is the top prize, rather than simply higher contribution to the jackpot pool.

Another very important point to mind, when playing the progressive casino games, is the bet required. For example, just because a video slot is offering progressive jackpot, it doesn’t mean that you can win it at any wager level. Most video slots will require you to place the maximum bet, in order to have the chance to win the jackpot. If you don’t, the combination that would usually win the progressive jackpot, would now simply offer a set top prize. A lot of people, unfortunately, have felt the excitement of getting that winning combination only to immediately feel the disappointment of realizing that the bet they placed did not qualify them for the jackpot. We cannot underline strongly enough how important it is to make sure that, if you are going for the progressive, you wager the proper amount to qualify for the progressive.

People new to the world of online casinos often ask this question, especially if they are unlucky and lose their first deposit at the casino. Of course, no one likes to lose, so it’s only natural when some players start asking if the online casinos cheat, right after a loss. Other people are just curious in general whether the online casinos are rigged with the games’ goal to take people’s money as soon as possible. In this article we will shed light on some of the myths surrounding the internet casinos and discuss why the online casinos do not cheat.

So, you are playing blackjack at your preferred online casino and the dealer is showing 6 against your two aces. Naturally you split, but fail to get blackjack on either hand, yet the dealer somehow goes all the way up to 21. The next deal – the dealer gets blackjack right away, so you begin to wonder, do the online casinos cheat, is this game rigged?!? The truth is “no”, it’s simply a bad luck. If you have played at a real-life casino’s blackjack table long enough, I am sure you have seen things WAY more weird than that. “Is this online casino ripping me off?” is unfortunately some people go to, when they have a string of bad luck deals at the casino. Here are some of the reasons why the casinos don’t cheat.

The casinos have house advantage with table games

The truth is that the online casinos don’t need to cheat or rig any of the games – they are already rigged by their nature. Everyone, gambler or not, has heard of the term “house advantage”, and this is why the casinos simply don’t need to cheat in order to make money. Every casino game, from blackjack to slots, have house advantage, which means that overall the casino will always win, no matter what. For table games, such as blackjack or roulette, the rules of the game itself give a significant advantage to the casino in the long run; mathematically the casinos will win over time when the customers play those games.

The video slots and the payout

The video slots are slightly different, they use something called a payout percentage. You can read about payout percentage in more detail by following the link, but in a nutshell, each video slot machine will have a predetermined payout over certain time. For example, a video slot with a payout of 97% over 1 year will give back 97% of what people bet, the casino keeping 3%. This may not seem like a lot, but in actuality, it’s what makes the casinos profitable. So what’s preventing the online casino from rigging this payout, effectively cheating customers, one may ask? This brings us to the next point:

The online casinos don’t make the games

Just like a land-based casino doesn’t build its own slot machines, the online casinos don’t develop their own games. There are literally only a handful of casino game developers (such as RTG, Microgaming, WSG) and the casinos use their software to offer various games to the customer. The online casino either uses a subscription model or profit-sharing model, but regardless of the exact payment deal, the games don’t belong to the casino, nor are they controlled by it. The developer, for example, creates a video slot and sets its percentages, then the various casinos using this software offer the game to their patrons. is makes it impossible for the online casino company to mess with the backend of the games, thus they cannot rig them at will.

The online casinos do get audited

The internet gambling business is largely based on trust, but that doesn’t mean that the casinos don’t get audited. There are two types of audits: those conducted by the licensing jurisdiction of the online casino (much in a way landbased casino may be audited by the local gaming commission), and a voluntary audit by a third-party independent company, such as the famous and well-respected PricewaterhouseCoopers. The online casinos are very proud of those audits, especially the latter kind, and will proudly display the results of those audits, making them available to any current and potential customers to peruse.

Too much risk, not enough reward

In reality, for a reputable online casino, even if they could, there is just too much risk in cheating, with very little reward. A casino that has been in business for over a decade (such as those casinos listed on our home page) and has built a reputation for fair dealings with its customers, it would be an insanity to try and cheat. The online gambling community is rather large and very active – that casino would be found out and stigmatized in no time, leading to a complete loss of business. It also helps that competition among the online casinos is very healthy, unlike offline, where outside of Vegas, there may not be many choices. But online – a competing casino is just a click away, and a reputable casino wouldn’t risk everything for what amounts to a minuscule reward.

Word of caution

All this said, it doesn’t mean that one can play at any online casino. A lot of casinos still find a way to “cheat” tier customers, albeit not in the accepted meaning of the term. They may not be rigging the games, but they certainly are ripping-off their customers. Some rogue casinos will simply refuse to pay winners, finding all kinds of excuses not to: from made-up terms and conditions, to the virtual equivalent of “the check is in the mail”. And since most of the casinos are based offshore, there is very little repercussion against a casino that refuses to pay, other than warning others to avoid it. This is the main reason websites like ours exist – to keep an eye on the industry and show which online casinos are honest and which are the cheaters. So don’t just jump on the first online casino that comes up on Google, but heed the advice of review websites like ours, before you commit to a casino.

The free bonus every player receives at every online casino is one of the best tools for those gambling websites to compete with each other. And no need to say that the players love them. And what’s not to love – free money just for choosing a casino? You’d be insane to skip on this kind of opportunity to increase your bankroll before you even spin those virtual slots reels.

But a mistake new online casino players make when they first join a gambling website (possibly lured by the large welcome bonus offer) is to not prepare themselves for the wagering requirements all casinos attach to their bonuses. They go by many names: wagering requirements, play-through requirements, rollover, but they all mean one thing – that nice bonus does come with some strings attached. And here we will explain those wagering requirements in a simple, but concise way. You will find out what is a bonus playthrough requirement, how does it work, how to best satisfy it, and much more.

Wagering Requirements Explained

Let’s briefly imagine a situation where an online casino is offering a 100% match bonus for new customers. Quickly thinking on our feet, we can say, “Hmm, I’ll just deposit, get the bonus, and withdraw it all right away!”, right? Double your money without absolutely no risk, who doesn’t want a piece of this imaginary pie?

Well, this is where the wagering requirements come into play. Since the online casinos aren’t being ran by idiots, every casino bonus comes with certain “play-through” requirements, before the customer can withdraw the winnings resulting from the bonus, (and/or the bonus itself, depending on whether it’s a cashable or non-cashable bonus). In a nutshell, the player must wager (or “play through”) a certain amount, before the money becomes eligible for withdrawal.

How The Play-Through Works

While there is some basic math involved, how the casino bonus wagering requirements work is very easy to understand. As mentioned, every bonus will come with them, and they are expressed as a multiplier of your bonus and deposit amount. Let’s look at an example, and we promise, everything will click right into place. For instance, a 100% welcome bonus by an online casino may come with “6 x deposit + bonus”, as a playthrough requirement. This means that the wagering requirement, i.e. the total amount the player must wager, should be equal or greater than six times the combined amount of the deposit and the bonus.

So, let’s imagine that the player deposits $100. They get another $100 free, as part of the welcome bonus, and start with the total of $200. Using our wagering requirement of 6 x deposit + bonus, it means that in this case, the player must wager at least $1,200, before they can withdraw any of the winnings, i.e. 6 x ($100 + $100) = $1,200. In other words, you need to place bets in the amount of $1,200 in order to satisfy those wagering requirements.

Thusly, the basics for calculating and clearing the wagering requirements follow this formula:

• Find out the playthrough multiplier (for example, 5x, 10x, 25x, etc)
• Add the bonus and deposit amount
• Multiply that amount by the wagering multiplier
• Place wagers in the amount of the wagering requirement or higher
• Withdraw your winnings and the bonus

As you can see, because of the nature of the bonus offers at the casinos, the play-through requirements will nearly always come as a multiple of your bonus and deposit amount. Since the casino doesn’t really know he exact amount you would deposit, this blanket rule makes it very easy to calculate the wagering amount needed, regardless of the actual dollar amount deposited.

How To Beat The Wagering Requirements

Well, you cannot exactly circumvent this casino rule, but there are a few tips you can heed in order to improve your chances of actually cashing out winnings, after you claim a bonus.

First, always make sure you actually read the bonus T&C, because you need to know how much the wagering requirement is for that particular bonus. This is where most new online casino players make their biggest mistake – not knowing about the playthrough, they assume that when they have won enough, they can just cash out. Unless it’s a custom offer tailored specifically for you by the casino, it’s safe to assume that every bonus will come with wagering requirements.

Second, don’t be afraid to compare the wagering requirements the same way you would compare the bonus amounts. You’d be surprised how different the playthrough numbers could be not only between two different casinos, but even between two different bonus offers at the same online casino.

And finally, try to avoid bonuses with very high playthrough requirements. Of course, we would all want to see bonuses with wagering stipulations in the single digits, but those would be very rare. Most of them, especially with welcome bonuses, would be around 20x – 30x bonus+deposit, but sometimes you can get lucky and find a wagering requirements in the teens, other times – well above 30x, the latter should be generally avoided, unless everything else seems like a really good offer and you can live with the higher bonus playthrough.

There is no denying the allure of the online casino bonus and with the ever-increasing competition among the top casinos, one can hardly be surprised by the many bonus options available. Today we will look into one major difference between the casino bonuses, namely cashable and non-cashable (sometimes called “sticky”) bonuses. Sadly, this distinction trips up quite a few players and the failure to understand the difference, and which of the two types of bonuses you are claiming, leads to dissatisfaction, to say the least, among the players. Let’s quickly take a look at the basics:

Non Cashable Bonus:

• Cannot be cashed as part of your winnings
• Stay with the casino, hence the “sticky bonus” term
• Often higher amount than cashable bonuses
• Only used to increase your playing bankroll
• Playthrough requirements may be higher

Cashable Bonus:

• Can be withdrawn with your winnings
• Counts towards the playthrough requirements
• Lower wagering requirements
• Usually no limit on withdrawal amount

A few things at the online casino would infuriate you more than finding out that the bonus you claimed was a non-cashable one, thus failing to satisfy the play-through requirements. This could be seen as both the player’s and the casino’s fault – every bonus having so many terms, sometimes such important information is bunched up with the rest of the terms, making it hard to spot. Other times the player would simply make assumptions about the bonus offer and fail to read the terms of the promotion. Regardless, it’s very important to check whether a bonus is cashable of non-cashable before claiming.

Non Cashable Bonus

It’s not that a non-cashable “sticky” bonus is a bad thing, on the contrary, a casino player could easily take advantage of this type of offer and make some serious bank. In addition, the sticky bonuses tend to offer more “bang for your buck”, increasing your bankroll with much less investment, compared to a simple, cashable match bonus. But there are some conditions of the sticky bonus one should consider.

First and foremost, the bonus cannot be withdrawn by the player, as we already mentioned a few times, and as you may gather from the name alone. Let’s work through an example: SlotoCash is offering a $100 non-cashable bonus when you deposit $50. The player takes the offer and runs up the bankroll to $500 and proceeds to withdraw. At this point, the casino will remove the $100 sticky bonus, leaving the player with only $400. As one can see from the example, there isn’t much of a mystery around how the non cashable bonus works.

At this point you should also consider that the wagering requirements may be higher for the non-cashable bonus, as well as the fact that some promotions will have the bonus both count in the calculations for the minimum play-through requirement, and at the same time be removed from the amount, before the casino calculates whether you have satisfied said requirements. It could get a tad complicated, which is why every casino player should read the terms and conditions of the sticky bonus beforehand, in order to make sure it’s an offer they are willing to accept.

Another factor affecting the use of the non-cashable bonus is that some online casinos will also tack on a maximum winning, when the customer decides to claim this type of bonus. For instance, if the bonus offer in our previous example had a max payout of $300, not only would the non cashable bonus be removed from the initial $500 in winnings, but another $100 will be lost, since you could only withdraw $300.

Cashable Bonus

This bonus offer is much easier to work with, since it is as simple as it gets. With the cashable bonus, both your initial deposit and the bonus itself can be withdrawn by the player, granted the playthrough requirements are met. Once you make a deposit and claim the cashable bonus, the resulting combined bankroll is what you are working with. Once the wagering requirements have been satisfied, you are free to withdraw your entire bankroll, no bonus subtractions necessary in this case.