Been testing a few sites lately that give you a little something just for joining, without having to top up first. Thought I'd chuck up a quick review because the promos always make it sound dead easy and... yeah, not always.
The better ones were the sites that spelled everything out properly from the start. What games counted, how much turnover was needed, whether there was a cashout cap, how long you had to use it. If that stuff is buried in the fine print, I usually bail. A few looked decent at first, then I read the rules and the max withdrawal was tiny, or most pokies were excluded, or the offer expired way too fast to even bother.
One thing I noticed, the free spins style offers usually felt more straightforward than the little starting balance ones. With spins, you know what you're getting. With a small balance, it can vanish in about 20 seconds if the game is being stingy. Not saying one is always better, just felt easier to judge value when it was spins instead of a random few bucks.
Also worth checking whether they want full ID verification before you can touch any winnings from the offer. Fair enough, every place has to do checks, but some drag it out for ages and it turns into a whole thing. If I'm only trying a new site for a small freebie, I don't really want to spend my whole arvo emailing documents back and forth.
If anyone else here plays these offers much, what do you look at first? For me it's mainly wagering, cashout cap, restricted games, and whether they sneak in some rule where you have to deposit later before they process anything. Keen to hear which ones you reckon are actually worth the mucking around and which ones are bloody all fluff.