What Are Free Spins and Are They Actually Free?

Published on 12th June 2015 by Adam

I have worked in the gaming industry for almost 10 years so kind of take a lot of stuff for granted. When I’m waffling on about No Deposit Bonuses, Video Slots, Sticky Wilds and Free Spins I just assume that everyone knows what I’m talking about. But I forget that many people are new to this scene and may need a little help with the terminology. Today I’m going to talk about ‘Free Spins’, all the different kinds and to explain if they really are free or not.

Free Spins: The Basics

What’s a “Free Spin”?

So, very basically, a Free Spin is a free bet on a slot machine that can award winnings like a regular spin. If you have Free Spins on a certain game, nothing will be taken from your balance when you click ‘Spin’. Lots of games include a Free Spins bonus round, but you have to win those by playing the games. However, Free Spins given by casinos are automatic and are useable right away.

No Deposit Free Spins

You’ll often hear about Free Spins and ‘No Deposit Free Spins‘ but what is the difference? Well it’s pretty simple. To get Free Spins, you’re required to make a deposit first. For example “Deposit €20 and get 100 Free Spins!”. Whereas with No Deposit Free Spins you don’t need to make a deposit to get them. Some casinos offer them as part of the welcome bonus, simply create your account and you’ll instantly have No Deposit Free Spins to use, and others will reward you periodically as a loyal player by emailing you and saying “hey, we just added a bunch of Free Spins to your account!”.

Can I Win Real Money With Free Spins?

Yup. Although you don’t pay for the spin, any winnings from the spin will be added to your balance. They may come with wagering requirements, which I’ll talk about shortly, but not always.

Why Would A Casino Give Me Spins For Free?

Basically, to make you happy. Generally, a ‘Free Spin’ will be a set stake and will spin at the lowest amount.

So for Starburst, for example, it will be a €0.01 Coin Value, so with 10 pay lines, the Free Spin costs the casino €0.10.

If they give you 20 Free Spins, that’s effectively €2.

This is not a great deal of money in the grand scheme of things and if it encourages players to sign up, or to make a deposit, or to come back again then it’s totally worth it for the player.

Betspin, for example, E-mails me with every new Netent slot release to tell me they’ve put between 5-20 Free Spins in my account to test the game out.

They do this because they know I’ll log in and use them and if I like the game, I’m likely to make a real money deposit. If not, they know I’ll remember they give me lots of Free Spins so next time I do want to deposit, I’m more likely to use them.

Free Spins: Let’s Go Deeper

That’s the very basic explanation of what Free Spins are, but there is more to consider too. Are there any catches and when are Free Spins actually FREE?

Wagering Requirements

Wagering requirements are kind of ‘the catch’ when it comes to Free Spins. There’s always a catch, right? Right. So, we’ve established that the Free Spins cost you nothing, but the winnings are added to your account. This could end up being super costly for casinos, imagine they give you 20 Free Spins and you win €200 without even having made a deposit?! To try and reduce the risk a little, most casinos will add ‘wagering requirements’ onto the winnings from Free Spins.

Wagering requirements can go by a number of different names: turnover requirements, wagering, spin through… all it means is the amount of times you have to spin through winnings before you can withdraw them. For example, maybe you get 20 Free Spins and win €30 overall. If there is a x10 wagering requirement, you have to keep playing with the €30 winnings until you’ve spun through €300. Once you’ve spun through €300, you’re able to withdraw whatever is left. It’s not as hard as it sounds, most Netent games have really high “Return to Player Percentages” meaning they pay out a lot and when spinning it’s easy to go up and down and spin through large amounts from a small starting figure.

Wagering requirements will vary from casino to casino and can go from being 0 to all the way up to x50. The lower the better! Wagering requirements only relate to these bonuses, if you lose the €30 before you hit €300 wagering, then it’s over. When you make a deposit with real cash, you don’t have to carry on trying to wager it, that’s all yours as are any winnings you get.

Completely Free, Free Spins

Some casinos do not have wagering requirements and allow you to instantly withdraw any winnings you get from Free Spins. This is incredibly rare, as you can imagine, it’s basically giving away cash, but some casinos can see past this short term loss as they know it’ll keep a player loyal in the long run. for example, have no wagering requirements on Free Spins, as well as Fortune Legends.

For a more complete guide, see casinos with no wagering.

Best Free Spins Offers

Whether you’re looking for normal Free Spins, no deposit Free Spins, no wagering Free Spins or another variant of Free Spins used by individual casinos (such as Bonus Spins, Cash Spins e.t.c) than check out list of the best offers below. We keep it updated every month, so – if you’re Free Spin mad like me – don’t forget to check back soon!

• 1

  

  Vulkan Vegas

  Added
  1 year ago! Casino review

  Exclusively at NetEnt Casino

  200% up to €2000 + 50 Free Spins

  Free Spins on Valley of Gods

  Go to Vulkan Vegas

  T&C's Apply
• 2

  

  CashiMashi

  Added
  5 months ago! Casino review

  100% Up To €200!

  Double Your First Deposit With This Code!

  Go to CashiMashi

  Bonus code - FD100

  T&C's Apply

  18+. Min Deposit €10. 24x Wagering Requirement. €5 Maximum Stake. BeGambleAware.org
• 3

  

  Lapilanders

  Added
  2 months ago! Casino review

  Exclusively at NetEnt Casino

  120% Up To €200

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  Go to Lapilanders

  T&C's Apply

  18+. Min Deposit €30. Bonus only available on slots. Full terms apply.
• 4

  

  Sons Of Slots

  Added
  1 year ago! Casino review

  100% UP TO €150

  Double Your First Deposit

  Go to Sons Of Slots

  T&C's Apply

  Minimum deposit € 35. One bonus per person. 40x wagering requirement. Full terms apply.
• 5

  

  NextCasino

  Added
  8 years ago! Casino review

  Exclusively at NetEnt Casino

  Exclusive 200% Up To €200 + 100 Freespins!

  Deposit €100 Play with €300 + 100 Spins On Twin Spin

  Go to NextCasino

  T&C's Apply

  Offer valid on first deposit only. This bonus is not available for customers from the UK (United Kingdom). 18+. Full Terms Apply.
• 6

  

  Samosa Casino

  Added
  10 months ago! Casino review

  11% Cashback on Slots

  Available on all slot games every 10 days

  Go to Samosa Casino

  T&C's Apply
• 7

  

  Casumo

  Added
  8 years ago! Casino review

  Free Spins Before Deposit

  100% Bonus up to €100 + 100 Free Spins

  Double Your First Deposit Plus Enjoy 100 Bonus Spins!

  Go to Casumo

  T&C's Apply

  18+. Only new customers. 100% up to €/$100 Minimum deposit €/$10. 100 free spins on Book of Dead on deposit (20 per day for 5 days). 30x wagering requirement applies to deposits, bonuses and winnings from free spins. Play responsibly
• 8

  

  Ocean Breeze

  Added
  3 months ago! Casino review

  Up To €5,000 And 100 Free Spins Across Your First 4 Deposits!

  Freespins For Some Great NetEnt Classics

  Go to Ocean Breeze

  Bonus code - WELCOME1

  T&C's Apply

  Coupon Code: WELCOME1 - 50 free spins for Narcos + 400% up to € 2000. Minimum deposit: €20. Wager: x50 bonus Coupon Code: WELCOME2 - 25 free spins for Starburst + 200% up to € 1000. Minimum deposit: €20. Wager: x50 bonus Coupon Code: WELCOME3 - 25 free spins for Gonzo's Quest + 150% up to € 1000. Minimum deposit: €20. Wager: x50 bonus Coupon Code: WELCOME4 - 25 free spins for Starburst + 100% up to € 1000. Minimum deposit: €20. Wager: x50 bonus
• 9

  

  Videoslots

  Added
  7 years ago! Casino review

  100% Up To €/£200

  Get 100% up to €/£200 and win up to 4,200 in the 'Battle of Slots'

  Go to Videoslots

  T&C's Apply
• 10

  

  Sunpura

  Added
  2 months ago! Casino review

  Enormous Welcome Package Worth Up To €1,550 + 75 Freespins

  First Deposit Bonus + Two Reload Bonuses

  Go to Sunpura

  T&C's Apply

  18+. Gamble Responsibly. Full Terms and Conditions Apply.
• 11

  

  Svenplay

  Added
  2 years ago! Casino review

  100% Up To A €200 Bonus

  Double your 1st deposit up to €200

  Go to Svenplay

  T&C's Apply
• 12

  

  SugarCasino

  Added
  3 years ago! Casino review

  €500 + 50 Cash Spins

  Double your deposit up to €500 and claim 50 Cash Spins

  Go to SugarCasino

  T&C's Apply
• 13

  

  Megarush Casino

  Added
  1 month ago! Casino review

  Welcome Package Worth Up To €1000 + 1000 Free Spins

  Boost Your First 3 Deposits With Megarush

  Go to Megarush Casino

  T&C's Apply

  The bonus + deposit must be wagered 25 times on games before it can be withdrawn or used on Live Casino. Example: If you deposit €20 and receive €20 bonus, your wagering requirement will then be 25 x (20 + 20) = €1000. Max bet per spin is €5 while wagering the bonus. 18+. Full Terms Apply. Please gamble responsibly.
• 14

  

  Wallacebet

  Added
  1 year ago! Casino review

  100% Bonus Up To €/£200

  Double your 1st deposit up to €/£200

  Go to Wallacebet

  T&C's Apply
• 15

  

  Casino Buck

  Added
  3 months ago! Casino review

  Enjoy Up To €200 + 200 Free Spins On Your First 3 Deposits

  Go to Casino Buck

  Bonus code - CB100

  T&C's Apply

  For the first part of the bonus, eue the bonus code CB100 before placing a deposit. Min Deposit of €20, 100% up to a maximum of €100. 40x wagering requirement. The deposit bonus is valid for 5 days, starting from the date you receive it. 100 free spins are available on Book Of Dead (if this is not available in your region, you will receive 100 free spins on Gold Canyon). 20 free spins will be given per day within five days of the day you activated the bonus. Please note that spins must be activated within a day. The maximum bet amount when wagering is: EUR 1 / USD 1 / CAD 1,5 / NOK 10 / PLN 4 / NZD 1,5 / ZAR 16 / JPY 120. 18+. Gamble responsibly.
• 16

  

  Evospin

  Added
  3 months ago! Casino review

  100% Up To €300 +100 Freespins

  Double Your First Deposit Plus Enjoy 100 Bonus Spins!

  Go to Evospin

  Bonus code - EVO100

  T&C's Apply

  To qualify, enter the bonus code EVO100 before depositing at least 30 EUR. Max bonus amount is 100% of the deposit amount, but not more than EUR300 + amount of winnings obtained after the completion of the free spins. Full wagering requires making bets for the amount 40 times the amount of the bonus received:(deposit bonus + winnings from free spins) × 40. Free spins will be given within five days starting from the day you activate the bonus, 20 free spins per a day. Limitation of the maximum bet while wagering: EUR1. Full terms apply. 18+ Please gamble responsibly.
• 17

  

  Skol Casino

  Added
  3 months ago! Casino review

  Latest Featured Casino

  Up to €1,300 + 250 Bonus Spins

  HUGE Welcome Package Over 5 Deposits

  Go to Skol Casino

  T&C's Apply

  New players only. €20 min. deposit. Bonus spin winnings credited in bonus funds: max. €50. 35x Wagering Requirements. Full terms apply. 18+, please play responsibly. Gamblingtherapy.org. Full T&Cs.

18+ | GambleAware | Play responsibly, for advice visit http://begambleaware.org