I have always enjoyed the game of Blackjack and rarely leave a casino after a night on the Blackjack table without winning. I do not however claim to be a professional player. My interest in the techniques and strategies behind the game of Blackjack became serious four years ago when my brother in law started playing online Blackjack to cash in on the bonuses offered. I decided to give it a go and made £10,000 in 3 months playing on average 3 – 4 hours a night.

The Blackjack Bonus Scheme Bonanza – How does it work?

I registered with a few casinos and played for real money using the Basic Blackjack Strategy which can be found on any search engine. Playing strictly by this Strategy reduces the house edge to an absolute minimum. Most casinos offer bonuses as an incentive to join and play, sometimes a one off on signing up but often on a monthly basis. In order to qualify for the bonus you have to meet with certain wagering requirements.

To illustrate the technique we will take a look at a real play example taken from playing Blackjack at a well known online casino

I paid £50.00 to the casino and must play 250 games (or hands) to qualify for the bonus. I wager the minimum bet on each hand (usually £1.00 – £2.00) and play strictly according to the Basic Blackjack Strategy. After the wagering requirement (250 games or hands) I would be roughly equal with the house (sometimes a little up say £60.00 and sometimes a little down say £40.00). At this point the casino awards me their bonus, in this case £30.00. I immediately stop play and cash in. As you can see, even if I was down to £40.00 with the bonus added I still made £20.00. If I am up say to £60.00 when I have met the wagering requirements and the bonus is awarded, my profit increases to £40.00. The game in the above example took half an hour to complete.

As illustrated above a lot of people, including myself, made very good money from playing Blackjack online for the house bonuses. Sadly, the online casinos soon caught on to the loophole in the bonus scheme and either upped the wagering requirements to such a degree that it’s not worth the time or have eliminated various card games (including Blackjack) from their bonus schemes altogether. Thus, if a bonus is awarded whilst playing Blackjack you cannot cash it in until you have played 1,500 times the value of the bonus plus your initial deposit on the slot machines. Absolutely pointless!

Some casinos still offer good bonuses that you can cash in or use to up the amount you play with each session. All have conditions regarding how much you must wager before you can cash in. If in any doubt or you don’t want to waste loads of time trawling through the small print BEFORE you play for real money simply contact the online live help desk and ask to be removed from all bonus and promotional offers immediately. If you are new to online blackjack I would recommend this as the safest option initially.

There was a lot of money online to be made from playing Blackjack for the bonus schemes around three years ago but the large casinos are not going to be making a loss for very long. So what now Blackjack lovers ask themselves? I believe that the way forward is straightforward play using the Basic Blackjack Strategy combined with modern software analysis tools. I have just discovered the recently launched ‘Blackjack Toolpack’, one of the best aids on the market for beating those house odds and offering a comprehensive gaming strategy. All Blackjack fans, beginners and professionals alike would benefit from having a look at this latest development in online gaming.

By jenny Shaddick
I live in the South of France and have always been interested in making a bob or two online just for fun. Now that the blackjack bonus scheme bonanza seems to be just about over I feel the way forward has to be the Blackjack Toolpack – the latest online blackjack analyser.