Bonuses - The View from the Casino Online Casinos Mar 11, 2001, 19:23 By Gambling Online Magazine http://www.gamblingonlinemagazine.com

Whether it be a hacker trying to manipulate a casino's game server to his advantage, or a player using a stolen credit card, the vast majority of fraud in the online casino business is committeed against the casino.

When you think about the risks in online casino gambling, you usually think about casinos stealing credit card numbers from players or changing a game's odds when the player lays big.  But the fact of the matter is that the real risk in this business is to the house, not the player.

Recently Gambling Online Magazine published an article entitled Milking Casino Bonuses (April/May issue); the article was an outline of how to practice "Bonus Taking" on unsuspecting casinos.  What the article failed to mention is that bonus taking (also called "bonus hunting") will result in the "hunter" being barred from ever playing a hand of cards online again.  Names of bonus hunters are submitted to industry wide databases, which blacklist players making it impossible for them to get another casino account anywhere in cyberspace, thus making them a virtual-casino outcast.

According to leading Swedish casino developer BossMedia, if a player is caught milking bonuses, they lock the player's account and notify the player that he/she is no longer welcome in any of their numerous casinos.  BossMedia says they very rarely have to do this, but when they do the action is swiftly carried out in order to protect their ability to give genuine players the bonuses they deserve.

Since the publication of "Milking Casino Bonuses", many online casinos have taken a hard look at their bonus schemes and have added new levels of protection against bonus hunters.  Almost all casinos now require a minimum wager amount to qualify for any bonuses, and have added a caveat that if bonus taking is suspected, the casino has the right to bar the hunter.

To find out what specific casinos are doing about bonus taking, we have asked Helen Jansson of BossMedia to tell us why bonus takers don't succeed in their casinos.

"We check before sending a payout and if the bonus requirements aren't fulfilled, the transaction is held and the money posted back to the player's account.  In the meantime, a message is sent to the player telling them about the rules and what has happened.  We, in effect, give players a second chance to comply with the bonus conditions."

Helen explains how BossMedia finds bonus hunters: "If a player just places the minimum wager strictly from the promo rules to collect the bonuses e.g.wagers twice the value of the bonus only and not a cent more, and then makes a withdrawl, it's pretty evident to us that he/she is a bonus hunter...A real gambler appreciates a casino bonus and genuinely uses the goodwill to try to win in the casino because he/she loves the thrill of the play."

Gambling responsibly doesn't just mean betting within your means.  It means playing in a manner that is fair to everyone involved, to the player and the casino.  If the online gambling industry is going to continue to offer large bonuses and higher payout percentages than land based casinos, then players will need to remember that one bad apple does indeed spoil the lot.