Blackjack bonuses tend to be less substantial than the signup promotions for pokies, video poker, and most other casino games. Many casinos list blackjack among their exclusions in their wagering requirements, or apply contribution percentages of around 2% compared to 100% for the slots. Many people have to play the slots just to meet their bonus requirements, which should tell you what the casino owners who see the numbers think about your chances playing the virtual slot machines.
We want to show our overseas readers where to find the best blackjack bonuses. The last thing gamblers who enjoy twenty-one want to do is play several hours on the poker machines just to meet their play-through requirements. We’ll take you through the bonus offers available at our favourite blackjack sites and how to use these to your advantage when playing online for real money.
Featured Casinos
Why play blackjack?
All casino games have what’s called a “house edge”. This is a calculation of your probabilities of winning or losing, described as a percentage. The percentage describes how much the casino expects to win from you every time you play. The higher the house edge, the worst your chance of winning. A game with the biggest payout tends to have the largest house edge.
Lottery gaming has the worst house edge, with the lotto companies expecting to collect revenue on 30% to 40% of all the money wagered. Keno, a lottery style casino game, is next worst with a 20% to 30% casino advantage in many locations–but as long as 4% in a few areas. Pokies or slot machines are next, with a common house edge in the range of 5% to 15%. Blackjack, on the other hand, has a house edge of less than 1%. Of each $100 you wager, you can expect to lose less than $1 of that money. The reason is blackjack has a low payout, only 1 to 1 for average wins and 3 to 2 for natural twenty-ones. Because the casino doesn’t expect to make much money offering blackjack players a game, they aren’t going to give out as much of a welcome bonus to those gamblers.
Microgaming software
Real money players should gamble at the Microgaming casinos. These sites license Microgaming software, which is designed by the leading company in the business. Using this particular developer means the casino can offer over 500 games, which have cutting edge graphics and sound quality, entertaining themes, and the most popular games. More important for gamblers, all Microgaming casinos are members of eCOGRA, which assures fairness and transparency in gambling. If you’re going to put your money in an offshore gaming account, you need to be able to trust the operator.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the blackjack bonuses in the leading Microgaming online casinos.
All Slots Casino
All Slots Casino isn’t just our favourite site because of the great selection of real money blackjack games available – it also has one of the best welcome bonuses you’ll find anywhere on the Web – giving new players up to $1600 in free money to get started. All Slot’s welcome package is spread out over four installments, distributed as follows:
- Open an account to have your first deposit matched by up to $250
- Make your second deposit to receive up to an additional $250
- Keep playing with up to $500 awarded on your third deposit
- Enjoy up to $600 on your fourth deposit
Blackjack games at All Slots contribute towards 8% of the welcome bonus wagering requirements, excluding Classic Blackjack.
G’day Casino
Free beer – need we say more?! G’day Casino is so dedicated to offering good old fashioned hospitality that players making an initial deposit of more than $100 will be sent out a free slab of beer. And that’s just the start of it! Simply following our links to register for an account with G’day Casino will award you with 50 free spins on the South Park Reel Chaos pokies game with no deposit required, plus an ongoing deposit bonus of 10% on every deposit made.
Upon making your first real money deposit at G’day, players receive a 100% matched deposit bonus up to an unlimited amount plus up to $500 on the subsequent second and third deposits.
The downside of these huge bonuses is that blackjack games at G’day don’t count towards the wagering requirements, so you’ll have to play other casino games to take full advantage of these offers.
Guts Casino
Guts Casino has a solid reputation for providing premium blackjack games from a range of leading game developers, but the Guts welcome bonus definitely adds to the appeal. New players at Guts.com are warmly welcomed with up to $400 in matched deposit bonuses spread out over four payments along with 100 free spins as follows:
- 1st deposit = 125% up to $125 + 25 free spins on Starburst using code GUTSWE1
- 2nd deposit = 75% up to $75 + 25 free spins on Starburst using code GUTSWE2
- 3rd deposit = 50% up to $50 + 25 free spins on Starburst using GUTSWE3
- 4th deposit = 200% up to $100 + 25 free spins on Starburst using code GUTSWE4
Unfortunately, playing blackjack does not contribute towards the wagering requirements of this bonus but if you’re partial to the pokies this bonus will suit you just fine.
Royal Vegas Casino
Royal Vegas Casino is one of the oldest and most trusted casinos on the Net, so it’s no surprise that it also has one of the biggest welcome bonuses available for international players. RVC offers a $1,200 welcome bonus for new players spread out over your first three deposits. On your first, second, and third payments, you’ll receive special matching bonuses as detailed below:
- First deposit = make a deposit of up to $250 and it will be matched by 100% up to $250
- Second deposit = make a deposit of up to $800 and it will be matched by 25% up to $200
- Third deposit = make a deposit of up to $1500 and will be matched by 50% up to $750
Registered players also receive access to a range of special promotional offers and casino bonuses – make sure to sign up to the email and SMS list to stay in the loop of the latest offerings.