Understanding Online Casino Bonus Abuse

Almost all Australian online casinos offer bonuses, allowing you to maximise your cash and stand a chance at a real money win. But with the good always comes the bad, and some people insist on abusing casino bonuses to make a little more money. 

Put simply, online casino bonus abuse is trying to exploit a promotion (like free spins or a deposit bonus) for your gain. It can cause significant problems for casino sites, for example, financial losses, damage to a casino’s reputation, and increased costs.

Other players also lose out because casinos might decide to become more restrictive regarding bonus terms and conditions or eliminate bonuses completely.

Even if you’re not doing so maliciously, you might accidentally exploit bonuses by violating T&Cs. In our Betsquare guide, we’ll go into more detail about why bonus abuse is an issue and how to avoid it. 

What Is Online Casino Bonus Abuse?

There are several types of bonus abuse, and you would do well to avoid all of them. Any behaviour against the bonus terms or the casino’s general policy can be considered bonus abuse. 

From creating multiple accounts under different names to using VPN technology to hide your actual location, an online casino can consider anything that can be seen as a dishonest way of gaining more bonuses or potential winnings bonus abuse.

One of the main reasons why bonus abuse is frowned upon is because gambling is supposed to be fair and fun for all players, but when players try to find loopholes, it can damage the experience for everyone. 

The point of online casino offers is to help you boost your balance and have fun gambling, so it’s never worth the risk that bonus abuse comes with. 

How Online Casinos Detect Bonus Abuse

The most common way online casinos detect bonus abuse is through Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, such as account verification. If you’ve tried to sign up using a fake identity or a VPN to misrepresent your location, you’ll soon be found out during the identity checks. 

There are also many other casino security measures, such as IP tracking and algorithms to monitor your behaviour on the casino site. If you’re found to be placing abnormally large bets or unusual sports bets, technology can flag this so that the security or support team can review your account activity.

Online casinos also use strict terms and conditions, many of which can be applied automatically. For example, casino sites can restrict the games you can use your bonus on or limit the stake of your bets. 

Different Types of Online Casino Bonus Abuse

As we mentioned, there are several different types of bonus abuse. We’ll detail the main ones below, but suffice it to say that if you don’t want to be flagged for bonus abuse, you should try not to break the T&Cs at any time. 

One of the most common types of bonus abuse is opening multiple accounts at the same online casino and attempting to claim more than one bonus. This is against the T&Cs at almost every online casino, and it’s one of the reasons why you need to verify your account with ID and proof of address. Some people take things to a different level and seek out online casinos to sign up and get the bonus, but they don’t return after using it. 

Another form of bonus abuse is called arbitrage. This is more common at sports betting sites than online casinos; it involves taking advantage of odds discrepancies between different sites to guarantee a profit. 

From an online casino perspective, people may take advantage by placing bets on table games like roulette to complete the wagering requirements more quickly. 

Finally, some bonus abusers try to find loopholes in the bonus terms by signing up using a VPN to get a more lucrative offer for players in another country. 

Consequences of Bonus Abuse

While abusing online casino bonuses isn’t against any laws, it’s technically fraud, so there might be cases where you could get into legal trouble for doing it. Plus, there are some severe casino penalties. 

If you are seriously violating the terms of a bonus, your account will likely be suspended and then probably closed entirely without the possibility of being reopened. You’ll also forfeit the bonus money and any winnings from it. 

If an online casino wants to ensure that you can’t abuse bonuses again in the future, you might be blacklisted from setting up accounts at any of the linked online casino sites. 

As a legitimate player, bonus abuse can have an impact on you as well. If an online casino finds that many people are abusing bonuses, they might begin to reduce the bonuses available to all players or be a lot stricter about how you can use them. 

How to Avoid Casino Bonus Abuse

As you’ve probably realised by now, abusing online casino bonuses isn’t worth the risk for what would probably end up being minimal gains. But even if you’re not intending to abuse any bonuses, there’s a chance that you might do it accidentally, so you must make a conscious effort to avoid it.

The easiest way to avoid abusing bonuses is by making sure you’re familiar with the bonus terms and conditions. Even if you’ve claimed other online casino offers before, you should read the terms in full because there could be something here that you haven’t seen before. 

Just because you didn’t read the terms doesn’t mean the casino will go easy on you if you’re found to be guilty of bonus abuse. You should also ensure that you don’t try any tactics to maximise winnings or meet wagering requirements quickly, for example, by betting on roulette. 

Online casinos might flag you as a potential bonus abuser if you’re found to have multiple casino accounts, so if you forget your login details, you should try to retrieve them rather than attempting to make another account under a different email address.

Finally, whether claiming bonuses or just playing with your money, always stick to responsible gambling practices, and you should never run into any issues. 

What to Do If You’ve Been Flagged 

If you receive an email or any other correspondence mentioning bonus abuse or find your account suddenly locked, don’t panic. 

The first thing you should do is contact the customer support team via a secure channel like live chat or email. The team will have access to your account details to explain exactly what has gone wrong. In some cases, there might be an error, and you’ll be able to ask a team member to unlock your account so you can get back to playing.

If you’re flagged for bonus abuse and a large amount of money is at stake, you might want to get some legal advice to understand your rights as a customer. There’s no guarantee that you’ll be favoured over the casino, especially if you’ve violated the T&Cs, but it’s still worth a try. 

Final Thoughts

After reading our guide, you should know that online casino bonus abuse is never worth it. From trying to hide your location with a VPN to opening multiple accounts with different payment methods, it’s pretty easy for an online casino to spot someone trying to abuse bonuses. 

In almost all cases, if you’re caught violating promotional terms, your bonus will be cancelled, and in severe cases, you might be banned from the online casino or even from a whole group of linked casinos. If you’re banned, you won’t have the chance of winning, so there’s no point taking the risk.

Rather than trying to exploit bonuses, you should head to one of our top Australian online casinos, where the bonuses are generous, so there’s no reason to try sneaky ways to get more out of them. 

FAQ

Can I use a VPN to bypass IP tracking? 

While technically, a VPN might be successful in helping disguise your location, it’s not a long-term solution. Almost every casino site requires ID and proof of address before you can withdraw, and if you’re in a restricted location, your account will be closed. 

Can I create multiple accounts using different payment methods? 

Almost all casino sites consider creating multiple accounts to be against the T&Cs, even if you use different payment methods. You’ll be asked for your ID and proof of address before you can withdraw money, and if you’re found to have multiple accounts, you could have your bonuses cancelled and your account closed.

Why was I flagged for casino bonus abuse?

There are a few reasons why you might be flagged for bonus abuse – a casino might suspect that you have created multiple accounts or been untruthful about your details, or you might be making bets that the casino sees as suspicious. If you’re flagged and think there’s been a mistake, you can contact the customer support team for help.