There are few things that can top the fun of playing slot games, except being able to play it with some free online casino spins. Learn all about this kind of popular casino bonus with our comprehensive guide.
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If there’s anything that everyone at InsideCasino shares, it is our love of a good deal. Like you, we want to get the most out of our online gameplay sessions, so you can trust that we will give you our honest opinions when it comes to finding the best casino bonuses in Canada.
Free spins, on the surface, are exactly as the name implies; they are free plays given by some of the top online casino sites that you can use to play online slots, as if they were real money wagers. As you can probably imagine, though, there is a lot more going on under the hood which we will go through in the sections below.
Before anything else, though, players should be aware of the difference between free spins bonuses and in-game free spins. Just about all modern online slot games have some sort of mechanic that triggers extra spins. These are different from free spins bonuses, as these are given out by the casino and are treated by the slot game itself like a real money wager.
Even though all casino free spins are more or less the same, casino websites in Canada each have their own ideas as to how they deliver them and what strings come attached. Generally, you can expect to find four basic kinds of free spins bonus offers:
For most players, it is really easy to justify claiming free spins bonuses simply “because free spins are free”. While this isn’t wrong, there is a lot more value lurking behind that statement that a lot of players don’t quite see. We’ve broken these benefits down into 3 main reasons:
It should be obvious to any player looking for a new casino online, that they don’t offer free spins out of the goodness of their hearts. Like most casino perks, getting free spins on sign up is designed to get players to spend more, even the ones that seem like they are giving out free money.
Of course, the player is not meant to know this based on the headlines they put on their bonus offers. All of the tricks that a casino pulls are done in the terms and conditions, which we will explain in a later section.
FIND THE BEST FREE SPINS
We previously covered that there are two kinds of free spins. One you can get as part of your free spins bonus and the one that you get from inside a slot game as a core mechanic. This difference is very important because they are key to understanding how free spins bonuses actually work.
The long and short of it is that the spins you get from free spins bonuses are credited to your account just like a bonus that gives you casino credit. This means that free spins are treated the same way as if you were gambling with real money from your own deposit.
There are some catches to this. Of course, the value of each free spin is fixed, but this is just standard terms & conditions shenanigans, which we will explain in the relevant section below.
A large chunk of the no deposit free spins bonuses in Canada are offered on registration. These are often given out as part of welcome bonuses, which require players to actually sign up for the casino site. We’ve broken down the steps to doing this below:
Some free spins bonuses may require players to input a bonus code when they make a deposit in order to claim said bonus. This is done by casinos to help track the players that have opted to claim the bonus and to give players the option to not take the bonus (and therefore not lock their deposit behind any wagering requirements).
There are free spin no deposit codes available at Casitsu Casino, where players can use the code when making their first real money deposit to get 50 free spins.
Getting free spins on your deposit is a lot more common and this can be claimed after other parts of the welcome bonus has either expired or been used up. This kind of free spins bonus is often called “top-up bonuses” or “reload bonuses”, referencing how players can claim these bonuses when they add more money to their casino accounts.
Free spins bonuses like this can be found basically everywhere. One example is offered by casino King Billy, which gives players 250 free spins on a reload bonus.
Like just about every online casino bonus out there, free spins bonuses come with a variety of terms and conditions attached. It is worth investigating this prior to signing up to a casino, to avoid disappointment if you win and try to withdraw your winnings.
Free spins bonuses do a few things a bit differently compared to casino match bonuses that give casino credit. We will be explaining five of the most common free spins bonus terms below.
Wagering requirements are a staple of all casino bonuses in Canada and around the world. They are some multiple of the bonus value that you will need to wager in either bonus money or real money before you can cash out the bonus and any winnings from it.
The method that wagering is calculated on free spins is different to other types of bonuses. Instead of basing the wagering requirement on the value of the bonus and/or the deposit, the wagering requirements for free spins is based on your winnings.
As an example, say you claim a free spins bonus from a casino site and you get a C$50 win. If the wagering requirements of the free spins bonus is 30x, you will need to wager 30 times C$50, or C$1500, before you can cash out winnings from your free spins.
You can find a more in depth explanation of how bonuses work by visiting our guide to bonus wagering.
The main draw of any free spins bonus is, as you can imagine, how many spins you can claim and use. Different casino sites have their priorities and targets for what bonuses they want to offer. As such, the spin amounts you can get from free spins can vary quite a bit.
It can be common for casino operators to break up the bonus into daily free spins. This is an alternative to offering the casino spins per deposit. Many players prefer receiving the free daily spins and one example of this is offered by Nominicasino as one of their welcome bonus choices. In their case, their bonus gives you 100 free spins in total, which is split into 10 daily free spins over 10 days.
The headlines of all free spins bonuses in Canada will say that they give X number of free spins. However, that headline will never tell you how much each spin will actually wager.
Unlike the bonuses that just give casino credit, the spin value can only be found buried in the bonus terms & conditions. This means that most players who simply claim the bonus won’t know until they start playing that they’ve been given just C$10 worth of free spins as each of the 50 free spins were set at the game’s lowest wager value of C$0.10.
Another restriction that casino free spins have over casino credit is that the spins are typically only locked to a handful of games (and in many more recent examples, just one). While there are many possible reasons for casinos in Canada to do this such as a slot developer promotion, slot game incompatibility, or some other reason, the core reason for most of it is to lock the free spins to games that have a low RTP.
Not to be confused with withdrawal limits, the payout limits of free spins bonuses put a maximum limit on how much you can win from your spins, assuming you can, of course. Different casinos will have different approaches to this; some may put a cap on your max wins per free spin, while others will put a hard cap on all winnings from all free spins.
Free spins bonuses also have time limits like other types of casino bonus. These will typically come in two forms: a time limit for the availability of the bonus and a time limit for using the spins and/or clearing the wagering requirement before they are all forfeited.
GET FREE SPINS
Most casino sites offer a massive library of slot games for players to choose from and play, but only some of those are available as free spins slots. However, the vast majority of players actually trend towards only playing online slots from a few popular developers anyhow, so the popularity of these titles has also made them a more common choice for slot free spin bonuses. A few examples of these popular slot games for free spins include:
Jackpot City Casino is currently our top pick for a free spins casino in Canada. With a solid variety of top quality slots and a handy bonus of 50 no deposit free spins, the site does all of the right things to draw new players in and convince them to stick around. Check out our official review of this casino to learn more about what to expect, as well as get the latest info on their other bonuses.
It is important to remember that free spins are designed to get players to spend more money at the casino, so players should still be mindful of gambling responsibly. Whether it’s before you can claim the bonus or before you’re allowed to cash out, most free spins bonuses will ask for your money.
Knowing this, there are two things that players need to keep in mind:
Free spins bonuses are a great way for Canadian players to get more out of their sessions with extra sessions that may even win a real jackpot with enough luck. While it is up to the player to decide if they are better for gameplay than match bonuses, the sheer volume and variety of free spins bonuses still make them a bonus that’s worth claiming, even if you aren’t big on these games.
In casino bonuses, there are two things you can potentially get, which are free spins or casino credit. There has been never-ending debate as to which of the two are actually better. Of course, different players will have different priorities when it comes to free spins, so we’ve compiled some basic pros and cons to help you decide.
You can get a free spins no deposit bonus from some new casino sites in Canada. The free spins are usually included within the welcome bonus for new players.
The best free spins no deposit casinos are generally the casinos that do not attach wagering requirements to their free spins. Having no wagering requirements attached, allows the players to keep what they win, without any catches.
Yes, you can win real money on free spins as if you had placed a real money wager.
Casinos in Canada do free spins through a variety of options, including casino welcome bonuses, tournament offers, and as rewards for loyalty programs.
You can use free spins to play online slots without needing to make any real money wagers.
Yes, there are bonuses offered by some casino sites that let you claim free spins every day. LeoVegas has one such offer under their "Lunch Free Spins" offer.
This multiple can range from as low as no wagering requirements to as high as 60x your winnings or more.The wagering requirements for most free spins bonuses in Canada will need you to wager a multiple of the winnings you get from the spins, rather than the value of the spins themselves.
To calculate the value of free spins, look for the declared wager value per spin in the bonus terms and multiply that by the number of spins offered by the bonus. A full explanation of this can be found in our guide to bonus wagering.
The number of free spins you can get from free spins bonuses is pretty tricky to give a definite answer for as the number can vary widely. The most common free spins bonus amount is usually 50 free spins, but they can be as low as 10 or as high as 200 in rare cases.
