How Bonuses Change Your Entire Strategy

When signing up for an online gambling site, you’ll likely be offered some type of welcome bonus. This free cash or free bets promotion serves as an incentive to bring in new customers. Not all bonuses are created equal. The terms and conditions vary greatly and this directly impacts the optimal strategy to utilize.

Defining Sticky and Non-Sticky Bonuses

Sticky Bonuses

A sticky bonus means the free funds given to you by a gambling site like SkyCrown Casino are essentially locked or “stuck” in your account until you meet certain conditions.

Typical requirements to unlock a sticky bonus include:

• Wagering the total bonus amount a certain number of times. For example, wager a $100 sticky bonus 30 times to release it as cash.

• Fulfilling the wagering requirements within a certain timeframe, usually 30-90 days of activating the bonus.

• Playing specific casino games that fully contribute towards meeting playthrough demands. Slots often count 100%, while table games have a significantly lower contribution between 0-20%.

You cannot make a withdrawal until sticky bonus funds are cleared. If wagering is unfinished when the time limit expires, any remaining bonus money and associated winnings are forfeited.

Non-Sticky Bonuses

Meanwhile, non-sticky bonuses have no wagering restrictions. The gambling site immediately credits free cash or bets to your account, which can be withdrawn instantly if desired.

Some non-sticky promotions still have limitations, like capped withdrawal amounts from bonus winnings specifically. But the bonus itself and any subsequent cash deposits are liquid.

How Each Bonus Type Influences Your Gambling Strategy

Sticky and non-sticky bonuses require vastly different strategic approaches to optimize value while mitigating risk.

Strategy for Sticky Bonuses

When redeeming a sticky bonus, your primary goal is completing wagering requirements with the bonus funds before they expire. This involves:

• Activating bonuses when you expect to bet more in the near future, such as having additional disposable income or free time to gamble online.

• Playing high-variance slot games at slightly higher stakes than usual. The higher swing potential gives you a better chance of big wins to meet playthrough demands before the deadline.

• Being willing to lose all the bonus money while chasing wagering. Only bet sticky bonus funds on risky wagers you normally wouldn’t make.

• Stopping play if you achieve significant profits well ahead of needing to clear the entire sticky bonus. You want to finish wagering quickly, not keep gambling unnecessarily.

Strategy for Non-Sticky Bonuses

The mindset and approach for non-sticky bonuses includes:

• Withdrawing the bonus immediately if the site allows, then using those liquid funds as your bankroll across all gambling activity instead of depositing more of your own money.

• Taking advantage of capped withdrawal restrictions on non-sticky promos by hitting a big score, cashing out up to the limit and repeating the process until the bonus expires.

• Sticking to your ordinary gambling behavior in games, stakes and sessions. Since non-sticky funds don’t require playthrough, don’t increase bet sizes without a proper bankroll to back it.

• Considering non-sticky bonuses as temporary discounted gambling, not necessarily free money you have to grind out with suboptimal strategies.

Below is a comparison summary of how sticky and non-sticky bonuses differ:

Final Thoughts

Sticky and non-sticky bonuses seem similar on the surface, but their contrasting terms and conditions for clearing free funds lead to vastly different optimal strategies.

You should tailor your gambling approach to either chasing playthrough on sticky bonuses before they expire or exercising withdrawal flexibility and betting normally with non-sticky bonuses. Never use the same universal strategy for both bonus types.

Analyze the wagering limitations and expiration rules attached to any welcome offer prior to activating. This allows you to plan the appropriate gambling methodology based on whether sticky or non-sticky bonuses apply. Maximizing value from these promotions hinges on identifying then deploying the right strategic response.