This is a short guide on how to best approach playing at the casino if your objective is to clear (or "whore") the bonus offer. The objective is not "to win" per se, but to minimize the amount you lose and thus end up with a nice profit due to the free cash offered by the casino when you sign up.

First up, there are no "betting systems" that have ever been proven to work. Clearing a bonus is all about turning the mathematical odds in your favour by playing a low risk, low variance game such as blackjack using small wagers. On average you will lose less money than the amount of the bonus, allowing you to pocket whatever is left over.

Casino bonus "whoring" guide

Blackjack - the casino whore's choice

Generally speaking, the best game to play when attempting to whore a bonus is blackjack. Played using correct blackjack basic strategy, the house edge can be as little as 0.4%, and even lower depending on rule variations. For example, casinos using Boss Media software have a single deck blackjack game where the odds are actually in the player's favour by 0.11% (i.e. a house edge of -0.11%).

Check out our massive ranked list of casinos that offer blackjack bonuses. There are more than enough casinos there to get your bankroll bulging.

Other good game choices

Other games which make good choices include Baccarat, Craps, Texas Hold'em Bonus, and Video Poker such as Jacks or Better or Deuces Wild. Poor choices include American Roulette, Slots, and Caribbean Stud Poker. Basically you are looking for a game with a low house edge, and preferably a low variance. Details of each can be found in our linked game guides.

Bonus whoring strategy basics

Choose a low stake size

As a general guide, the lower the stakes you wager on each hand, the less you will vary from the average expected result because you will play a larger number of hands which tends to smooth out short term variance. Imagine flipping a coin. Do it 10 times and you might get 7 heads and 3 tails, but flip it 1000 times and you will mostly end up close to 500 of each.

Going against this is the time factor - the lower the stakes you play, the longer you will take to meet the wagering requirements, and frankly I'm not interested in playing 8000 $1 hands of blackjack to make $268. So your stake size will be influenced by you tolerance for risk and the amount of spare time on your hands.

For beginners, I recommend betting no larger than 1% of your total bankroll on any one hand until you are confident and know the game's strategy inside out.

Bonus Clearing Do's and Don'ts

DO:

• Choose the game with the lowest house edge and variance available, such as Blackjack, Craps, Baccarat, Texas Hold'em Bonus, or Jacks or Better Video Poker.
• Follow the strategy for the game that minimizes the house edge.
• Wager small amounts starting at 1% of your bankroll, until you establish your confidence with the game and your risk tolerance. This will minimize the chance of you busting after a bad streak.
• Always read the casino's terms and conditions before playing! Among other things, these will often set out which games are acceptable when playing with a bonus.
• Have fun and enjoy yourself.

DO NOT:

• Never play with money you cannot afford to lose.
• Do not raise your bets in an attempt to recover losses. This can be a quick way to bust. You will have bad streaks from time to time, just as you will have winning streaks. Learn to accept this.
• Never try a gambling system with your own money. There has never been a single system invented that has been proven to work. Yes, we have all the heard the one about betting on red or black and doubling your bet every time you lose at roulette. You did not invent it. It is called a Martingale system and it does not work.
• Never try to cheat or deceive the casino by doing things such as trying to claim multiple bonuses under multiple accounts at the same casino, or trying to play in a higher valued currency other than your own. You can and will get caught. Again, read the terms and conditions before playing.

Predicting our expected winnings

If we know the house edge on a casino game, we can even predict our expected end result after completing the wagering requirements. This is simply the amount wagered less the house edge, subtracted from our starting balance. Remember, the house edge is calculated on the value of every hand wagered, not just your bankroll.

Golden Palace, which will be the first casino in my bankroll boosting mission, offers an extremely generous $300 bonus on a $100 deposit, and you must wager at least $8000 before cashing out. So in this case we can work out our expected winnings playing blackjack (with a 0.4% house edge) like so:

Expected loss due to blackjack house edge = $8000 x 0.004 = $32
Expected ending balance = $100 deposit + $300 bonus - $32 = $368
Expected net gain = $368 - $100 deposit = $268

Advanced bonus whoring strategies

Non-cashable bonuses

Non-cashable (a.k.a. sticky) bonuses may appear useless to the bonus whore at first glance, because at the end of your session you cannot withdraw the bonus. However mathematically speaking, the bonus is still valuable because you are wagering both your deposit and the bonus, but you can only lose your deposit.

A good strategy for the advanced player to pursue is to start off wagering larger amounts than normal in order to increase the variance of your returns. Set yourself a target such as doubling your deposit, or adding $100, and when you achieve it, reduce your bet size down to a normal level and "grind out" the rest of the bonus. Clearing bonuses will actually be quicker this way, but of course you increase the risk of busting.

Keeping track of the amount wagered

Some casinos have a useful feature where they show the amount you have wagered towards completing the requirements when clearing a bonus. For example, casinos using Cryptologic software show you the percentage you have completed in their cashier section. However, this is an exception rather than the rule, so sometimes you need a little help. This is where the use of a wager tracking program comes in handy.

You have a choice now:

• Read on for a complete guide to using BlackJack WagerTracker, a small piece of free software which simplifies keeping track of your wagering requirements. It is an invaluable tool that no bonus whore should be without.
• Or you can get started on your first five casinos. We have prepared an article which shows you the first five casinos you should play at in order to build your bankroll quickly from $100 to a very healthy $1000 or more. All allow blackjack to be played using the strategies outlined above. We could all use an extra grand, so read on and follow our advice and very soon you will have a nice chunk of spare change to your name - no tricks or schemes - just using the mathematics that are in your favor.