$2 Deposit Bonuses: a Gateway to Problem Gambling or a Harmless Promotional Tool?

Let’s imagine this picture: you’re scrolling the Internet, watching memes, or reading the news. All of a sudden, you see an ad, “Deposit only two dollars in our online casino and receive a $100 match and 200 free spins!

Not so much, you think. You’ll anyway spend those two dollars on a cup of coffee or a newspaper tomorrow… Why not try? And the journey begins.

Online casinos often reward their players with promotions and bonuses. Some give you free spins, others multiply your funds, etc. A deposit bonus is a common option. But a reward for only a $2 deposit isn’t. See how it works and if you should trust such offers.

Casino Deposit Bonus Explained

When registering in an online casino, you’ll often see tempting offers and promotions. Treat it as a mutually beneficial agreement between you and a gambling platform. For a casino that processes thousands of dollars every day, some free spins and cash for a player is not a big sum at all. And for you, it is a chance to try more games, win, and practice skills in some games.

Bonuses themselves differ hugely but usually work based on the same scheme:

  • free spins – these are bonuses given for slots with a certain value for spin;
  • welcome bonus – it usually serves as a multiplication of your initial deposit;
  • cashback – the sum is calculated based on your losses and given back once a day or a week;
  • loyalty program – a reward system for players who play in one casino for a long period.

Finally, deposit bonuses award you with funds you transfer to a casino. A $2 deposit bonus particularly can be awarded with free spins or free cash on your bonus account. A nice opportunity, isn’t it? Well, in fact, such offers are too good to be true. Despite the fact they are real, and you’ll be awarded, they hide some dangers and pitfalls. Serving as an easy treat, they sometimes engage you in a cycle of debts and deposits made just to withdraw your money, just to cover previous losses. Nothing comes for free, you know.

However, the bonus itself is not harmful. It is a matter of your behaviour and actions. So, see what the possible risks of a $2 bonus are and how you should behave to receive only benefits from it.

Wagering Requirement of a $2 Bonus

The first thing to consider is a wagering requirement. Here is how this system works: each gambling platform has its own wager for all bonuses. When you can cash from a casino, you should wager it certain times to unlock the withdrawal option.

Let’s assume you’ve got a $100 bonus with a wager of 15x. It means that you can only withdraw by winning $100×15=$1,500. After you win this sum, you can cash out – transfer money to your private account and spend it. A $2 bonus often comes with a large wagering requirement to compensate the casino’s losses.

Solution: Always check the wagering requirement for each bonus. Here’s a general picture. Cater to wagers of 10x-20x maximum. A wager of 30x or more is often unreal to achieve. Once you are close to winning, you lose money and begin this process again. It often leads to a vicious cycle, and you spend way more personal money than you planned.

Deposit and Withdrawal Limitations 

You are offered to receive a bonus for only a $2 deposit… but a minimum deposit in a casino is $10. Nice try, but you will deposit more than you expected anyway. This psychological trick is a common way to make you overspend. And here is another trick. You indeed receive a WithCasinoBonus $2 promotion and win some cash, but the withdrawal limit starts at an unrealistically big sum. You cannot cash out until you win $30 or more, which is quite unrealistic when you only have $2 and some bonuses on a gaming account. As a result, you start to deposit more.

Solution: Deposit and withdrawal limits should be public and clear in any reliable casino. Before registering, search for pages called “Payments”, “Payment Methods”, “Payment Limits”, and so on. Unreliable casinos often try to hide them, so you won’t find the info. So, here is another advice – choose a platform where you can easily find and understand limitations.

Bonus Use Opportunities

Finally, bonuses always come with strict conditions. As for a $2 and many other micropayment offers, it will certainly have some unwanted limitations just to be balanced with other, less beneficial promotions. Most commonly, it is limited to a certain game or a provider. Free spins are capped at a certain slot, and free cash may be only for poker or other genres. Imagine your disappointment when you deposit $2 and cannot play your favourite games. Sure, it is a nice opportunity to try more games. But let’s be honest – you most likely have favourite titles already and won’t want to change them.

Solution: Each casino has a “Bonus Terms” page. Also, each bonus comes with the “Information” or “More” button. Always check those pages. Here is where all the details are hidden. Find which games are applicable for each promotion so it won’t be a surprise.

As you see, a $2 deposit promotion is not a lie or any sort of scam. These promotions exist and work, if know how to utilize them correctly. What may go wrong is your own expectations. Remember that nothing comes for free, and recheck conditions carefully.