Blackjack Bonus Hunting Strategy

Any advanced online casino player knows the term bonus hunting. If you're not one of them, let us give you a little introduction to the phenomenon.

Online bonus hunting is when players sing up at online casinos, poker rooms or betting sites in order to cash out the bonuses offered by the gaming provider. However, as different online gambling sites offer different bonuses and wagering requirements, some of them are more favorable for bonus hunters than the others. For example, if you sign up at an online casino with a 200% up to $500 sign up bonus it means that if you make a $250 deposit you will receive an additional $500 casino bonus into your account. However, there are certain bonus rules and requirements, which one should always take into consideration before applying for the bonus.

First, not all casinos reward bonuses for your first deposit only. Some providers allow their players to make several (5 for instance) deposits all of which are awarded with the same first deposit bonus. You may split your $250 into five pieces of $50 and still get that $500 bonus in the end. However, blackjack bonus hunting usually includes making the full deposit immediately as the goal is to get that bonus out as soon as possible instead of gambling your money away and then having to make another deposit.

Another important thing to know about bonuses is that they usually have wagering requirements. This means that in order to receive the bonus one needs to play certain casino games, such as blackjack in order to “release” the bonus. Casino bonuses can be issued in small bits as the wagering requirements are fulfilled step by step. For example, for every $20 you wager the casino releases $5 bonus into your account.

The wagering requirements also vary between different online casinos, usually it's from 10 to 50 times the bonus amount. For example, if you sign up at an online casino offering a 200% up to $100 first deposit bonus with the wagering requirement of 50x it means that you'll need to wager $10,000 before you may withdraw your blackjack bonus.

It is also very important to calculate your expected profit. In the given example you may do it in the following way – multiply the wagering requirement from the expected house edge (0.6%) and you will get $60 – that is the amount you will lose while playing basic blackjack strategy. So as you got a $200 bonus and lost $60 due to the house edge while wagering the required amount, you end up with $140 in your account ready to be withdrawn.

However, what you should have in mind is that not all of the online casinos allow withdrawing bonus money. Sometimes they only let their players cash out the winnings and not the bonus that has been issued by the casino. The bonus money in such a case is only meant for the internal use within the casino. These usually include special bonuses applied for specific games, such as special blackjack bonuses. So before you go bonus hunting at the blackjack tables you should get familiar
with the bonus terms and conditions.

When you start playing blackjack to clear your bonus, you should always choose to play low stakes in order to reduce your losses to the minimum. This means that you will have to play more hands to wager the required amount, but that's just the way the blackjack bonus hunting works. And don't try to employ any betting systems such as the Martingale system, they don't work. If you do use them, you will most likely end up loosing your bonus as well as your deposit. What you need to do is relax, enjoy the game and always stick to the basic blackjack strategy.

If compared to the other casino games blackjack is probably the best choice for a bonus hunter as it offers a very low house advantage. If the player uses the optimal blackjack strategy the casino edge is reduced to less than 1% allowing you to withdraw the bigger part of the bonus. However, some online casinos may exclude blackjack from the list of games eligible for clearing the bonus so you must read the bonus terms very carefully before you start playing.

Good Luck!