When online casino gambling was first introduced there was no such thing as bonus hunting. Bonus offers from online casinos were generally large and wagering conditions were low. This made using bonuses highly profitable and it did not take too long for online gamblers to work out just how profitable these bonuses could be.

The Growth of Bonus Hunting

Despite the profitability of the online casino bonus, hunting bonus offers was not common en mass. This remained true in the early years of online casino gambling, however bonus hunting began to grow in popularity in Denmark. A number of players realized that if they begin bonus hunting bonus offers, they could make a sizeable profit for themselves.

These people found welcome bonuses, signed up at the casino, accepted the bonus, placed a few low risk bets and withdrew their original bonus amount and their winnings. By doing this at a few casinos a day, the bonus hunter could walk away with a hefty balance at the end of the day. In truth, the few people who were bonus hunting bonus offers were little threat the online casinos and they were largely ignored.

That all changed when a Danish TV station aired a program about bonus hunting. Bonus hunters suddenly emerged in droves and the casinos sat up to take note.

Casinos Stand against Bonus Hunters

Bonus hunting bonus offers remains alive and well at online casinos all over the world. However, once online casinos began to feel the pinch from bonus hunters they took steps to prevent, or at least reduce, the act of bonus hunting. Bonus offers began to have much stricter wagering conditions. This means that players would be required to spend far more money in order to be able to withdraw their winnings and it may not be worth the expenditure for those bonus hunters.

Many casinos introduced what is known as sticky bonuses.

Sticky bonuses are bonuses that the player can use to play games at the casino, but which cannot be withdrawn. In other words, the winnings from using the bonus can be withdrawn, but the original bonus amount cannot be withdrawn. Many casinos began to forbid risk free betting in an attempt to make it harder for bonus hunting bonus players to fulfill the wagering requirements attached to a bonus.

Risk free betting includes bets such as betting on red and black simultaneously in roulette. Some other online casinos no longer allowed games with a low house edge to be used to fulfill wagering requirements. This is why it can be difficult to find bonuses that can be used for play on blackjack and video poker.

Bonus Hunting Today

It is still common to find people bonus hunting bonus offers, but it is much more difficult to fulfill the wagering requirements for a bonus. It is no longer nearly as profitable to bonus hunt as it once was and any player – bonus hunter or not – should be aware of the wagering requirements for a bonus before they accept it.