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Legal, real money online casinos are available for play in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware, with Michigan pending launch. Many of the operators in these states will give you a shot at winning some cash just for signing up. Read on for the low down on the best no deposit casino bonuses in America today, and how to take advantage of them.
If you’re not lucky enough to live in one of those states, there’s another option available in the form of sweepstakes casinos. These, too, offer some risk free opportunities for new players, and we’ll fill you in on how they work a bit further down the page.
Best no deposit casinos
Almost every real money online casino offers some sort of welcome bonus for new players. Some of these are no deposit bonuses which you get just by signing up, while others are first deposit bonuses, requiring you to pony up some cash of your own.
Here, we’ll be focusing on the former, but some sites offer one of each, called a welcome package. If a site does have both a no deposit bonus and a first deposit bonus, we’ll be sure to mention it.
Jump to: US sweepstakes sites / NJ casinos / PA casinos / WV casinos
Rank | Online Gambling | No Purchase Offer | Bonus Code | Play Now! |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Chumba Casino | 2 Free Sweeps | Not Needed, Use Links | Play Now! |
2. | Luckyland Slots | 10 Free Sweeps | Not Needed, Use Links | Play Now! |
3. | FunzPoints | $2.50 Free | Not Needed, Use Links | Play Now! |
Rank | Online Casino | No Deposit Offer | Bonus Code | Play Now! |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Golden Nugget Casino | $10 | PLAYBONUS | Play Now! |
2. | Virgin Casino | $30 | 30BUCKS | Play Now! |
3. | Tropicana Casino | $25 | PLAY25 | Play Now! |
4. | Caesars Casino | $25 | PLAYFREE25 | Play Now! |
5. | Unibet Casino | 200 Spins | DRAGONSPINS | Play Now! |
6. | BetMGM Casino | $25 | PLAYNJFREE | Play Now! |
7. | Borgata Casino | $20 | Not Needed, Use Links | Play Now! |
8. | DraftKings Casino | $35 | Not Needed, Use Links | Play Now! |
9. | 888 Casino | $20 | Not Needed, Use Links | Play Now! |
Rank | Online Casino | No Deposit Offer | Bonus Code | Play Now! |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | DraftKings Casino | $35 | Not Needed, Use Links | Play Now! |
2. | Unibet Casino | $10 | UBCASINO10 | Play Now! |
4. | Hollywood Casino | $10 | DOUBLETAKE | Play Now! |
Sweepstakes casinos and free sweeps
Sweepstakes casinos are an alternative to online casinos in states that haven’t yet legalized online gambling. At the moment, that’s most states.
Chumba and Luckyland are some of big names in the sweepstakes casino space, all of which have no deposit offers available.
These casinos shouldn’t be confused with social casinos like High 5 Casino or Pulsz Casino. Whereas social casinos are just for fun, sweepstakes casinos allow you to win real cash. However, they use a combination of two legal technicalities to fall under sweepstakes law rather than gambling per se. There are also sweepstakes poker sites using the same technique.
First, they don’t allow you to deposit and withdraw real money directly. Instead, they have two virtual currencies, usually called Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins. Some sites use other terminology, such as Funzpoints, which uses that name for both its site and its currencies.
Gold Coins are nothing more than play money, the same as you’d see with any social casino product. You can win and lose them while playing casino games, but they have no cash value and can’t be redeemed for anything.
Sweeps Coins technically have no cash value, but can be redeemed for cash prizes. Legally speaking, they’re still a play money currency, but for practical purposes you can think of them like cash.
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Instead of depositing money on a sweepstakes site, you’ll make a purchase of Gold Coins. Along with them, you’ll receive some Sweeps Coins as a “free” bonus, redeemable for prizes conveniently worth the same amount as you spent on the Gold Coins.
The other half of the trick is that there is technically no purchase necessary. You can send a handwritten request through the mail to a sweepstakes casino operator, and they will credit your account with a small amount of Sweeps Coins to play with. In practice, however, you’ll probably find that the amount they’ll give you is not worth the stamp and the effort of mailing a letter.
No deposit casinos in NJ
Along with Delaware, New Jersey is one of the longest-standing legal online casino markets in the US. Both states launched internet gambling in late 2013. Unsurprisingly, this means that New Jersey also has the greatest number of online casinos with no deposit bonuses.
Golden Nugget Online Casino
Golden Nugget has the biggest and arguably the best pure online casino product in the Garden State, especially if you’re into slots.
It does have a no deposit bonus, though not the most generous one. You’ll need to sign up using the bonus code PLAYBONUS. This will give you $10 to play with for free. The bad news is that is has strict clearance requirements and just a 15 day deadline to play through them.
Before that bonus money and any winnings from it becomes real money that you can withdraw, you’ll need to bet a total of $200 at slots, $1000 at table games, or some combination of the two. If you’re not going to deposit, you’ll need some good luck to make that happen.
The good news is that if you do decide to deposit, Golden Nugget has one of the best first deposit offers out there. You’ll get a 100% match on whatever you add to your account, up to a whopping $1500.
Tropicana Online Casino
Tropicana is another pure online casino without other gambling products attached. It has a decent welcome bonus, but one that will require you to make a deposit eventually if you’re going to get anything out of it.
When you create your account with Tropicana, use bonus code PLAY25 and you will immediately get $25 in casino credit. There’s no clearance requirement per se, but you can only bet with the credit, not withdraw it, and you have 30 days to do so.
The catch is that any money you win with your free play is can only be withdrawn once you make a deposit. However, you can try to run it up first and only deposit if you win enough to make it worthwhile. Better yet, when you do deposit, you get a seven-day risk free window, capped at $100. That is, if you end up down after your first week, the site will reimburse your losses or $100, whichever is less.
Virgin Online Casino
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Virgin operates on the same license as Tropicana. It’s similar to that casino in a lot of ways, including the lack of an associated sportsbook or poker room.
Virgin has a better online casino no deposit bonus, however. Deposit with bonus code 30BUCKS and you’ll get what it says on the tin: 30 bucks of free money to play with. You do have to bet with it one time, but after that, whatever you’ve won is yours to keep.
Virgin has no first deposit bonus, but does offer one week of risk free play up to $100, with identical terms to Tropicana.
BetMGM Casino
Unlike the last three, BetMGM is a full-fledged gambling site with sports betting and poker as well as an online casino in NJ. It also has a full welcome package consisting of both a no deposit signup offer and a first deposit match.
To get the no deposit bonus, you’ll have to use the code PLAYNJFREE. This will get you $25 in free cash to play with, though it has a tough 20x play through requirement, similar to Golden Nugget’s.
If you subsequently decide to deposit, you’ll get a 100% match up to $1000, with the same terms to clear that money as the no deposit bonus.
Caesars Online Casino
Caesars is a well-known name in the land-based casino world. Its online casino is paired with a sportsbook, and the company also owns WSOP, though that legal online poker product is a separate download.
The online casino has a full welcome package with both deposit and no deposit options. On signup, use the deposit code PLAYFREE25 to get $25 in almost strings-free cash. If you play slots or video poker, you’ll only have to wager that money once to clear it, some of the most favorable terms in the state.
The maximum on the first deposit match is lower than some competitors’, at just $300. Here too, though, the clearance terms are easy: 5x for slots, 10x for video poker, and 25x for other games. The combination of a low maximum and easy terms, plus the generous no deposit offer makes Caesars a good choice for players on a budget.
No deposit casinos in PA
Online Casinos With Free Sign Up Bonus
Pennsylvania’s online gambling market only opened in July 2019. It was thriving within a year, however, and should soon grow to rival New Jersey’s. For the time being, there are fewer brands operating in PA, but still plenty of juicy no deposit bonuses available.
DraftKings Casino
DraftKings, as a recent entry to the online casino space, has made a bigger splash in Pennsylvania than in already-saturated New Jersey. It has been using a particularly generous no deposit welcome bonus to tempt players away from competitors who have been in the game longer.
You’ll get $35 free for signing up, and won’t even need a promo code. There aren’t any clearance requirements, either, it’s just free money. It’s hard to beat that! The only catch is that you need to be a new DraftKings customer. You can’t get the bonus if you have an account with DraftKings Sportsbook or DraftKings Daily Fantasy Sports, even one registered in another state.
There’s also a first deposit bonus, which is a 100% match up to $250. Clearing it will require betting 25x that amount, but it doesn’t matter if you’re playing slots, table games or something else and you’ll have 90 days to do it.
Hollywood Online Casino
The Hollywood Online Casino brand is managed by Penn National, a top name in retail casinos and sportsbooks. It’s accompanied by a mobile sportsbook, and Penn has a license to offer online poker in Pennsylvania as well, but hasn’t yet used it.
Hollywood has a small but uncomplicated no deposit offer. Just sign up and you’ll get $10 with no code needed (though see below). You’ll have to bet with it once, but after that it’s yours to keep.
Hollywood offers a twist on the usual first deposit bonus. Using bonus code DOUBLETAKE, you’ll actually get a first and second deposit bonus, each one a 100% match up to $251, for a combined total of $502. The clearance requirement is 20x over 60 days, regardless of which games you’re playing.
Unibet Casino
Unibet is the flagship brand of the European company Kindred Group. It’s a popular brand on the far side of the Atlantic, but still struggling to make a name for itself in the US.
Its welcome package is interesting in that it has the same threefold clearance requirement for both its no deposit offer and its first deposit bonus.
Using code UBCASINO10 will get you $10 free on signup. You’ll then have to bet a total of $30 before you can withdraw the money or the winnings from it. That’s a little stricter than some other online casinos, but the first deposit bonus makes up for it.
You’ll want to use the code UBCASINO500 when making your first deposit, to get a 100% match up to $500. Here, the 3x clearance requirement works very much in your favor.
On other sites you might have to bet $10,000 or more to clear a $500 bonus, but at Unibet, $1500 will be all it takes. If you stick to making many small bets on low-volatility games, the odds are good that you’ll clear the bonus before losing much of your deposit.
No deposit casinos in WV
West Virginia is the most recent state to have launched online gambling, at least until Michigan follows suit. There are only two online casinos in the state for the time being, though more should be coming soon. Fortunately, both have no deposit offers available.
BetMGM Casino
BetMGM’s West Virginia casino product is much the same as it is in New Jersey. It’s a slots-heavy site with a loyalty program and first deposit offer geared towards big spenders.
As in New Jersey, you can get $25 in free cash, though you’ll need to bet it 20 times over to clear it. The code you’ll need is PLAYNJFREE, and despite the sound of it, it works just as well in WV as it does in NJ.
The same code will also get you a 100% bonus up to $1000 on your first deposit, with the same 20x clearance requirement.
DraftKings Casino
DraftKings was the first into the market in West Virginia. It, too, has the same offers in place here as in other states.
No code is required for the DraftKings welcome package, which includes $35free just for signing up. Absolutely no strings on this one. However, keep in mind that this is only for truly new customers, who’ve never opened an account on any DraftKings site (including daily fantasy sports), in any state.
You’ll also get a 100% match on your first deposit, up to $250. Compared to the no deposit offer, this is a bit stingy and the 25x playthrough requirement isn’t great either. The good news, however, is that you have 90 days to do it, which is pretty relaxed as deadlines go.
How do no deposit bonuses work?
Fundamentally, no deposit bonuses are a simple concept. You sign up for the site, and you get something right away, without needing to make a deposit. There are a few different forms they can take, but they’re all pretty similar.
Instant signup bonus
Instant cash is what most people have in mind when they think of no deposit bonuses. Very rarely is this truly strings-free cash. After all, operators want you to stick around and play, not to withdraw your bonus immediately and disappear.
Usually, before you can withdraw your bonus, you’ll have to clear it in some way. This can be as simple as betting it once, or require the bonus amount to be wagered many times over. Typically, there will be a deadline to do this. Some operators will let you play with your bonus money on a trial basis, but require a real money deposit before you can convert your bonus and winnings to real cash.
Free spins
Online casinos that emphasize their slots products might give you free spins instead of cash. In a sense, this isn’t all that different from receiving bonus money with a single playthrough requirement. The main difference is that you may be limited in terms of which games you can use the free spins for. Usually operators do this when they have specific slots titles they want to promote, such as progressive jackpot slots which benefit from having a high volume of play.
Free bets
Many online casinos have a built-in sportsbook with a shared account. Operators taking this approach might have bonuses specific to one vertical or the other. So, while you may want to play casino games, an operator might have a better bonus on offer for its sportsbook. It’s worth taking advantage of these even if you’re not a sports fan. Free bets still work out to free money even if you’re just picking teams at random.
Free Sweeps coins
Sweepstakes casinos (see above) often give you some free Sweeps coins just for signing up. Since Sweeps coins are redeemable for cash prizes, this kind of offer is functionally equivalent to an instant signup bonus at a real money casino.
Risk free play
Technically, risk free play offers don’t require a deposit. Unless they’re paired with an instant signup bonus, however, you’ll need to add some cash to your account to take advantage of them. The idea here is that the casino guarantees that you won’t suffer any early losses.
The risk free period might be a single day, a few days, or perhaps a full week. There will be a dollar maximum applied to the promotion as well. For instance, if you get 24 hours risk free up to $100, the site will compare your balance after 24 hours to the total amount you’ve deposited. If you’ve lost money, you’ll be reimbursed for the amount you’ve lost or $100, whichever is less.
Do no deposit casinos require a bonus code?
This depends on the site. Quite often the answer is yes, but not always. DraftKings, for example, does not require a bonus code for its current signup offer.
Be sure to check for the bonus codes above or on the casino review page before signing up. You only get one chance at this, so if you sign up without using a code, you might miss out on collecting some free cash.
Bonus offer terms and conditions
You’ve probably heard the expression “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” and the same is true for casino chips. Online casinos aren’t in the business of giving away money and not getting anything in return. They want you to play with your own money, and there are usually some strings attached to the bonus to increase the chances that you’ll stick around.
At OnlinePokerReport, we try to give you an honest picture of what you’re getting, but we don’t include all the fine print. Before signing up for a site, it’s a good idea to read the terms and conditions for whatever bonus is enticing you.
Some specific things to look for:
- What are the clearance requirements? Do you just have to bet the bonus once, or many times over? Does it clear in increments, or do you have to clear the whole amount before it becomes your money to keep?
- Is there a deadline on clearing the bonus?
- Do you have to make a deposit before the bonus converts to withdrawable cash? If so, when can you withdraw? Some sites will cause you to forfeit your bonus if you withdraw any money before meeting certain criteria.
- Can you clear the bonus at any game you like? Operators typically want you to play slots, so they may let you clear the bonus faster with slots and more slowly with table games.
- Is the offer mutually exclusive with any others? Typically, you can only use one bonus code at a time. Sometimes, you may have more than one to choose from. In those cases, you’ll have to work out which one is most favorable to you based on how you plan on using the casino.
Can I cash out a no deposit bonus immediately?
In most cases, this is not possible. Online casinos provide no deposit offers to entice you to play, so they typically have rules in place to prevent you from just taking the money and running.
Usually, the way this works it that you’ll have a bonus account and a cash account. Your cash account balance is always available for withdrawal and any winnings received by wagering cash are added to the cash account.
Your bonus account is available to wager with but not to withdraw. Winnings from bonus account wagers might be paid out in cash or additional bonus funds, depending on the site’s terms and conditions.
There will be rules about how to convert bonus money to cash. Usually this is a matter of wagering a certain multiple of the bonus amount.
Example: Golden Nugget Online Casino
Golden Nugget in New Jersey has a pretty typical bonus offer. You’ll get $10 free when you sign up, but you only have 15 days to clear it, otherwise the bonus and any winnings from the bonus will go up in smoke.
Golden Nugget’s clearance requirements are on the heavy side. For slots, the rate is $20 wagered per $1 bonus. For other games, it’s a whopping $100 wagered per $1 bonus.
In other words, if you play slots exclusively, you’ll need to bet a total of $200 before that $10 and any winnings from it become yours to keep. Play roulette or blackjack, and that becomes $1000.
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You can also mix and match, however. For instance, $100 at slots and $500 at the tables would be acceptable (a 50/50 split), as would $150 at slots plus $250 at the tables (a 75/25 split).
What games can I play with my bonus?
All of them, usually. If a bonus is only applicable to one class of games, it will more often be given as free spins or bets, rather than bonus cash.
That said, the terms of a given no deposit offer might allow you to clear your bonus more quickly with some games than others. Typically, slots are the fastest way to meet the requirements, while table games might be treated as equivalent, or might only clear your bonus at a fraction of the rate.
Ready to make a deposit?
In most cases, the way to think about no deposit bonuses is as a way to try the casino for free.
It’s possible that you’ll hit a jackpot on your first spin and make some money without ever spending a cent. However, the way these deals are designed, you’re likely to lose the bonus before clearing it or only walk away with a trivial amount of cash.
That isn’t to say they’re not worthwhile, however. In effect, you’re getting paid to try out the casino, even if you’re not getting paid very much. If you were planning on shopping around anyway, there’s no real reason not to take advantage of every no deposit offer available in your state.
Once you’ve cleared all your bonuses, you’ll also have seen what the various casinos have to offer. That’ll help you decide where you want to deposit, ultimately. And fortunately, many no deposit casinos also have generous first deposit bonuses when the time comes. These take more effort to clear, but with dollar maximums in the hundreds or even low thousands, they work out to be a more significant amount of money.
Summary
Many but not all online casinos offer no deposit signup bonuses. In the US legal markets at this time, this usually comes in the form of cash. Those markets include New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware, with Michigan to join the club shortly.
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Elsewhere in the US, sweepstakes casinos provide an alternative. These all have no deposit offers as well, that work very similarly.
In both cases, the bonuses are rarely without strings. You will typically have to wager your bonus money or some multiple of the bonus amount before you can withdraw.
The value of these offers is low in dollar terms, but they can be a good way to try out a casino for free, and potentially win some cash in the process. You shouldn’t expect to get rich from such offers, but they’re a good way to test the waters before taking the plunge by making a deposit and playing with your own money.