A large number of online casinos have free to play pokies, giving some free spins to encourage players to try a pokie or two. No matter what casino, players love to claim them in order to get some extra money to play with at the casino.
Indeed, free to play pokies are one of the most popular ones among online players. However, the question persists: can you actually win real money on pokies if you’re playing for free?
What are free to play pokies?
Free to play pokies award a number of free spins on a video slot, making it easy to play without spending money. Once the player uses all the free spins, they can claim the winnings, which go as bonus funds in their casino account.
After that, you will need to play them and meet the wagering requirement if there’s one attached. The free spins are awarded on various slots and players can get some very nice payouts. This is true especially if you manage to hit the bonus round while playing them. Free pokies are favoured among players when claiming a bonus promotion from an online casino.
Why are free to play pokies so popular?
Today almost every online casino has some free to play pokies in their offer to get you started, regardless if it’s a deposit or no deposit bonus. But this wasn’t always the case.
When the industry was still developing there were only a handful of operators which had some free spins bonus. Most online casinos would offer players a fixed cash bonus amount. For a long time, this was the general rule and even if you could find some no deposit free spins bonus it was only for 10 or 20 free spins.
But this all changed thanks to Net Entertainment. When they launched their new collection of video slots, many new operators were designed as pure NetEnt casinos. But their games were new and not too popular among players. To compete, many casinos launched their own free to play pokies.
In addition, you could also find match deposit bonus promos with extra free spins on top. Needless to say that the results were great and soon almost all other operators started releasing free spins promotions.
Can I win the jackpot from free to play pokies?
In theory, yes. This of course depends on the slot you are playing. If the free spins are awarded on a video slot where the jackpot can be won while playing on the minimum bet you have a chance to win it.
The game doesn’t know if you are playing for real cash or with a bonus. But the only problem here is if the free spins have a wagering requirement attached. Imagine winning a $100,000 jackpot with 35 times the bonus amount wagering requirement. Add the standard $5 maximum allowed bet per spin and the time limit to clear the water and you can see that it’s nearly mission impossible.
Before you enjoy free to play pokies
Free to play pokies are possible due to free spins promotions you can come across at online casinos. It’s subject to the same terms and conditions like any other bonus, so you will need to follow the maximum allowed bet per spin, allowed casino games etc. But there are some terms which are exclusive only to the free spins bonus.
- Timeframe to claim free to play pokies
This is an important term to keep an eye out if you can’t play your free spins right away. At some casinos when you make a deposit and get some free spins on top you will need to play your free spins within 24 hours after they are awarded on your account. If not the casino will remove them and you won’t be able to claim them again. Also at some operators you can have only 24 hours to wager the free spins winnings. So make sure to see the terms in order to avoid losing your free spins.
- Awarded sets of spins
At some operators, you can see that they have an attractive welcome bonus. This can be a 200% match deposit bonus and another 200 free spins on top. But when you read the bonus terms you will see that the 200 free spins are not awarded at once. Instead they are awarded in sets of 20, each day for the following 10 days. Some players like this as it gives them a chance to play for 10 days at the casino, while others hate it since they don’t get their free spins all at once.
No wager free spins
No wager free spins are the best free spins offer you can get at an online casino. The reason for this is simple. All of the free spins winnings are awarded as pure cash and come with no wagering requirement attached.
So when you play the free spins you can keep on playing and once you hit a big payout you can immediately withdraw your winnings. Some operators go one step further where all of their free spins are awarded wager free.