Free Spins Bonus in 2021

A free spins bonus is one of the least common and most popular bonuses offered by online casinos. It is a bonus that offers a lot, but also a bonus that can return very little. It all depends on the type of bonus, because this particular bonus is a little more complicated than others, with several parameters that you need to look out for.

Top Casinos That Offers Free Spins Bonus

In this guide we will cover that information and more, as well as listing the casinos that offer the best free spin bonuses.

What is a Free Spins Bonus?

A free spins bonus gives you a set number of free spins to use on slot machines in an online casino. They can be used on one or more slots, they may come with other bonuses and they may be given to new members and/or to loyal members. These bonuses differ greatly, and no two bonuses are alike.

For instance, you might think that a casino offering 100 free spins is better than one offering 50, but those free spins need to be set at a certain stake, and if the former is just $0.10 per spin and the latter is $1 per spin, then it’s clear which one is better.

Best Free Spins Bonus in 2021

It’s not always easy to find casinos that offer free spin bonuses, but we have done the research for you to find the best bonuses and the best casinos. This list also looks at other top bonus casinos, not just those that offer free spin bonuses.

The Best Freebie Bonuses

To view our list of the best free spin, free play, free bet and other freebie bonuses, visit our full casino bonus guide. We have also put together a guide that lists the many different bonuses (including free spins) that are available and tells you how to get the most out of them.

How to Use a Free Spins Bonus

If the free spins bonus comes as a welcome bonus (whether by itself or as part of another bonus) then you can use it before, after or during that other bonus. The first thing you need to do is to determine where it can be used and how much it is. Free spins are all given a fixed stake amount, often (but not aways) at the lowest stake allowed on a particular slot.

You then simply need to click onto a slot and start playing. You should see a “free spin” or “bonus” balance amount. If not, the slot itself may load an intro screen that tells you that you have “x” amount of free spins and then asks you if you want to use them. In such cases, they will be used like a free spin feature.

If the free spins are given as a promotion for a new slot, you will need to make sure that you “opt in” and that you are meeting the terms and conditions before you start playing.

Do All Casinos Offer These Bonuses?

They are fairly rare, but maybe not as much as you would think. A lot of casinos have free spin bonuses hiding away, requiring you to follow certain affiliate links, or to follow certain actions (such as downloading mobile software) to access them.

These bonuses are also fleeting — here one minute and gone the next. So, just because a casino doesn’t seem to offer one now, doesn’t mean that they haven’t done so in the past, or that they won’t do so again in the future.

5 Tips for Using Your Free Spins

High RTP

Your goal should be to get a return on your free spins, particularly if you have a lot of them and they have been given as a new member bonus. To do this, learn to play the slots that have high RTPs.

Variance

If you have a lot of free spins to get through, then choose a slot that has high variance, which means that wins will be few and far between, but they'll be big when they come. If you only have a handful of free spins, choose a slot with low variance, which means you can guarantee a return.

Use Your Mobile

The first time you use mobile software on a casino, even if you have already played on that casino’s desktop software, you can usually pickup some free spins. Verify this in the promotions page first and make sure you opt in, before downloading the app onto your mobile device.

Avoid Progressives

Progressive jackpot slots are great if you have the time and the money to devote to playing them. After all, the more you play, the higher your chance of winning. But they are just not worth it for free spin bonuses, because they often have lower RTPs to offset the progressive jackpot and will give you a low return on average.

Look for Bonus Features

Bonus slots are a great way to use your free spins, because many bonus features unlock big wins on average and also have jackpots hiding away. They are also a lot of fun.

The Upsides to This Bonus

Variety

These days online casinos offer hundreds of slots and even if you spend a lot of money and a lot of time in an online casino, you just won’t get through all of them. These bonuses can help though, because technically, you can use 1 free spin per slot.

Additions

Free spin bonuses are a great way to boost the returns you get from a matched deposit bonus, to give you some extra points on a loyalty scheme and to generally boost other bonuses.

Surprises

When given as promotions for newly released slots, these bonuses are a great way of getting something for nothing, but they are also a great way to discover new slots that you might otherwise have ignored, and slots that you could fall in love with.

The Downsides to This Bonus

Limit

If you don’t get a lot of free spins, then this bonus can go just as quickly as it came, as it’s not uncommon for slots to give you zero return from a handful of spins.

Stake Size

Some casinos offer free spins that are valued at just $0.10, but they go to great lengths to hide this. This means that they can claim to offer hundreds of free spins, while giving you the equivalent of only $10 or $20. To stop this, you need to do your research before you signup, checking just how much those spins are worth.

FAQs About Free Spins

Can I Get Free Spins on my Mobile?

Yes! And you might be able to get more than you think. Casinos are doing all that they can to convince their members to download mobile software.

This is because there has been a gradual shift from desktops to mobiles in the last few years, so casinos have spent fortunes on creating mobile software. They want to get a good return out of this investment, so they do all that they can to convince players to take advantage.

This often means that you can get bonuses on your mobile that just aren’t available on your desktop and one of the most common of these is a free spins bonus. You might need to log onto the desktop site first, at which point you should look under their “promotions” page and “opt in” to any available bonuses.

Once you have opted in, you can then download the casino mobile application and activate the bonus.

Can I Get Them in the US?

These bonuses are available wherever you are, and there are no restrictions based on location. However, in the United States online gambling is not as readily available as it is elsewhere. The few sites that are available (often regulated outside of the United States) tend to have less competition on their hands, simply because there are not many sites that appeal to US players.

This reduced competition means that bonuses are not as common, which in turn means that it might be harder to find a good free spins bonus.

Can I Get Other Bonuses As Well?

The best thing about a free spins bonus is that it is often used in conjunction with another bonus. In fact, we would only recommend signing up to a casino that offers this bonus when it is used alongside another, because by itself, it just isn’t worth it.

A free spins bonus can not contend with a large matched deposit bonus or any other welcome bonus, so you should ignore casinos that offer this bonus instead of others. But if they offer it alongside those other bonuses, then go for it.

Will I Need to Give the Casino my Card Details?

It is very rare for a casino to offer a free spins bonus whereby you don’t need to input your financial details or make a deposit. We have known of casinos that offer no-deposit bonuses and free spins bonuses, not requiring you to signup or input your details. But these are rare, and in most cases you will need to signup, give them your details and then make a online casino deposit.

Can I Use Them on All Slots?

In most cases, yes you can. However, it all depends on the type of free spin bonus that you have claimed. If it was given to you as a new member bonus, perhaps in addition to another bonus, then you should be able to use it on any and all of the real money slots games on that online casino.

However, if it was given to you as a loyal player, it might be available on a select number of slots. In such cases, free spin bonuses are handed out as a way to promote new slots, and will therefore only be available on those promotional games.

Can I Use a Free Spin Bonus on Table Games?

No, you can not. Even if the table game has something that replicates “spins”, such as a roulette wheel, you can not use your free spin bonus here. The word “spins” is used to define all slots, while “bets” is used to define all table games, video poker machines, lotteries and more.

So, if you have been given some free bets (which may also be known as “free plays”) then you can probably do more with them and use them on more games, but with “free spins” you are limited to slot machines.

How do Casinos Profit from Free Spin Bonuses?

Slot machines have high payouts, and while the house has a sizable edge in the long-term, in the short-term you can expect an immediate return from many of them. In fact, this is how an RTP is defined. Because an RTP that is 96%, means that for every $100 you spend, you can expect to get $96 back.

This means that you can expect a return from your free spins. But if you’re always getting a return, how do the casinos profit from them?

Well, the hope is that you will play the slot, like what you see and then stick around. Slots can be addictive, especially if you’re chasing bonus features that you just miss out on, so the casino is hoping that you will deposit some real cash and continue playing.

Many players actually do this, and free spin bonuses tend to generate a lot of new memberships for online casinos.

How Common are These Bonuses?

They are not as common as we would like them to be, and while we have encountered many of them in our time, the majority of casinos we have played on didn’t have them. If you shop around, checking the lists and the guides that we have linked to throughout this article, then you should be able to find a few good ones, but don’t assume that all casinos have these bonuses, because that’s simply not the case.

Conclusion

Although they are not the by-all and end-all of casino bonuses, free spin bonuses are still worthwhile and can make for a great addition to another, bigger bonus. These bonuses are also great to test new slots and as loyalty bonuses, and as a keen online gambler, it is a bonus that you should always be on the lookout for.