Been testing a few of those join-and-play offers where you get a little balance or some spins before chucking in your own cash. Thought I'd start a review thread because heaps of them look decent at first glance, then you hit the fine print and go ahh right...
Main thing I check now is the max cashout. If they hand you a small freebie and cap wins at $50 or $100, fair enough, just good to know before you waste your arvo on it. Wagering is the other big one. Some are pretty light, some are bloody miles away from realistic, especially when only a handful of pokies count.
I also look at whether it's spins only, bonus cash only, or one of those mixed deals where the wording gets messy fast. A few I've seen lately have really short timers too, like use it within 24 hours or it vanishes. And if you do jag a win, verification can suddenly become the whole story.
The better ones, for me anyway, are the simple offers. Clear terms, reasonable win cap, more than one or two games allowed, no weird gotchas buried halfway down the page. If I need to open three tabs just to work out what I'm actually getting, I'm usually out.
Keen to hear what everyone else reckons. Have you found any that were actually straightforward, or are most of these freebies still more hassle than they're worth?