Free Or Not? – What’s The Real Cost Of Trying To Win Some Extra Cash

Essentially there are three ways to win money playing games – either free, not free, or somewhere in the middle. Of course each of these three offer a number of different opportunities within them. I’m talking about real money of course. You can win virtual money – and lots of it – at any of the popular social casinos.

We’ve already seen on other RealMoney.games pages that alternative ways include trying to use skill and knowledge to win, and attempting to win with luck. Many of these fall into the category of wagering games.

From the perspective of looking at those options that fall into the ‘no cost’ category – either totally zero cost or with some potential for a cost – there are a few to consider. These include:

• Fully free games.

• Getting free money to enable you to play to win more.

• Free gaming where you have an option to improve your chances by paying something.

So just what types of games do fall into each of these three categories?….

Totally Free Games

Totally free = no cost at all, right? There are a few that fit the bill:

Sweepstakes

Firstly, let’s look at sweepstakes. For me this is the one truly cash free way of trying to win more. You’ll have no problems finding free to enter sweepstakes on the internet. In sweepstakes your winning chances are very much driven by luck, but what else would you expect with an opportunity that’s very straightforward to enter?

The trick is in making a significant volume of entries. The more you enter, the more chances you have of winning, and the more likely you are to hit a lucky win at some point.

Often all you have to do to enter a money sweepstake is submit an email, or like a page. Occasionally answering questions might also be involved, but they’re often simple to answer.

I’ll also mention online competitions here although we can’t really classify them as games. They sit very close to the world of sweepstakes though, with the main difference being that competitions generally take some form of skill to be in with a chance of winning.

Entering competitions or contests for cash prizes is one of the most satisfying – and potentially lucrative – free ways to win money and prizes. In the majority of online competitions there is no entry fee, and there are a whole range of different contest types to try out. You only have to check the small print or rules to make sure of what you need to cover to enter. There will be chances to win by writing essays, by taking photographs, by creating videos, or by losing weight. You name it, there will be a contest somewhere that involves it.

It’s not always fast and easy to win, but entry is often fast and free.

Virtual World Games

Playing in virtual worlds where you have to create avatars and then help them grow into the world they’re living in is perhaps a surprising way to win some cash. You can do it, but the rewards are likely to be fairly low.

Still worth considering though. Although you can spend money on buying items in these games that’s not always essential, and if you can find the right virtual world real money game to suit your skill you could make a profit for nothing.

Free Games With Spending Options

Here we’re delving into the realm of what’s known as social gaming, and there are two key types which offer free games where you can also win money – poker and casino games.

Casino Games

There are some high quality social casino gaming sites which offer free games where there are also chances of winning some real cash, though they’re limited in number. the games themselves though are varied and include most of the pouplar ones you’ll find in online casinos.

Chumba Casino is perhaps the best known, with its proprietary sweestakes-style model offering a way to win without risking losing anything. Chumba is actually a great example where you can play with what’s known as Sweepscash (which is free to obtain) but also spend money on buying extra stuff that might improve your chances of building up a good bankroll.

Free Poker Games

The methods of winning money for free by playing poker come in two forms. The first being a similar option to the free casino gaming sites we just covered. The second being what’s termed as Freeroll poker tournaments…..

Free Money Social Poker Games

One name to be aware of here is Global Poker, which incidentally is run by the same owners as Chumba Casino. Clearly Chumba worked a treat for them, hence the move into poker gaming too.

Global Poker operates in exactly the same Sweepscash oriented way as Chumba, with free Sweepscash available to players but with the option to buy other stuff for real money. Global poker seem to have big aspirations. The gaming interface is only available to North America players currently, though there are background plans for global expansion.

Freeroll Poker Tournaments

Run by virtually all of the main online poker rooms – either as regular events or as part of daily, weekly, or longer promotions – Freeroll tournaments are normally multitable tournaments with more than 10 players overall and potentially going up to hundreds or maybe even thousands.

These can provide online poker players with valuable, risk-free tournament experience, and some can offer highly valuable guaranteed value prizes too.

Free Money To Increase Gaming Time

Bonuses is the word to note here, and it’s a big subject that applies to many forms of online real money gaming.

Whenever someone mentions those words gambling or betting, it’s not hard to automatically give the first thought to losing money.  Or at least the possibility or the risk of losing it.

But there are ways in the betting world to get free money – or at least extra money – to play with. These might give you extra chances to win, and they’re known as betting bonuses or in the sportsbetting world, free bets.

Not all types of real money game websites offer bonuses, but those that do normally include poker, casino, and bingo gaming sites. Occasionally you’ll find offers on others.

These bonuses are normally offered to new players as an incentive to join up, and often followed up with extra bonuses either on your next deposit or sometimes even every month. Make careful use of betting bonuses and promotions and you’ll get some valuable extra cash to increase winning chances.

It really is a big subject and deserves dedicated pages for each of the different types of gaming, but to whet your appetite here are a few examples of the different forms that bonuses appear in:

The No Deposit Bonus – Totally Free Money

Free money does really mean free here. You’ll come across offers of this type regularly online. Most often there are no real catches – they’re promotional offers.

Provided you examine any small print terms and conditions that may be attached, you can be fairly safe in taking advantage. However they’re designed to get you playing and keep you playing. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to withdraw a free bonus amount, though you could do so with winnings from it provided you’ve met the requirements.

Rather unsurprisingly they’re usually only offered once by each gaming operator. You may get further bonuses on top of subsequent deposits…but of course that is actually costing you some of your own cash.

The First Deposit Bonus – Free Gaming Money With a Catch

If the first deposit bonus is fairly common, you could say its first deposit cousin is positively prevalent. They’re everywhere, and work exactly as the name implies – its a bonus that’s awarded on your first (and sometimes subsequent) deposits.

Normally it’s presented and calculated as a percentage of the amount you originally deposited, for example 50% up to $100 (meaning you’ll get a maximum of 50% of whatever you put in subject to a maximum value of $100). For example, deposit $200 and you get $100 extra free.

The Reload Bonus

Another one that’s self-explanatory. Some operators will offer extra free gambling cash on deposits after your first one (although not normally indefinitely). Others may give regular timed amounts, for example once a week or month. They’re known as reloads because they’re clearly designed to reward those players who keep coming back for more gaming.

The Drawback With Using Bonuses To Play Free Real Money Games

Although iAlways remember though there’s a reason why bonuses exist, and that’s to attract new players and keep the ones that already play. Any operator providing betting opportunities makes money, and they want to make more. Unless the bonus is a no deposit one, they know you’re unlikely to walk away with more than you started with.

To make sure this happens (more often than not) there are bonus play through and cash out rules – meaning you’ll have to play through the bonus amount many times before you can withdraw.

As an example, say you deposit $30 and get $30 free. You may then (depending on that operators specific rules) have to gamble the equivalent of 20, 30, or 50 times that amount before you could withdraw any money you win. Say you win $200 on the first spin on a slots machine, you would then have to keep playing before you could collect it…and of course the longer you play, the more likely you are to lose it.

All in all, a perfect illustration of why you should treat casino gambling in particular as a fun activity, and only play with money you can afford to lose.

Pros

Do we really need to look for the positives in getting free stuff of any type?

The answer is no, of course. But with some provisos. With some types of games there’s a catch, and the trick with free real money games is knowing what the catches are before you’re registered and playing.

If it’s really free, it’s a no brainer. Just take care to understand eactly what you’re getting, and the hidden costs if there are any.

Cons

Well, we mentioned just now that some games purporting to give free ways to play can have some hidden costs. I guess you could consider that a negative in some circumstances, although being aware of that fact should theoretically already put you ahead of the game.

Another potential negative is that games that can be played with no cash risk are sometimes played out differently simply because of that, with a perfect example being the poker freerolls. By their nature, these can encourage players to play recklessly and with lesser or no regard for good gaming practice or strategy. All of which can influence outcomes in ways you wouldn’t normally expect.

Of course we know there are sometimes restrictive rules around the use of bonuses as free money, but you just need to be careful with those and make sure you know what you’re getting.

Perhaps the biggest drawback is the possibility that free gaming may attract players who could then get drawn deeper into real money gambling. Some of us are prone to addiction in various forms, and addiction to gambling can be as destructive as any other form.

Always be cautious if you think that any form of real money gaming – free or not – could pull you into situations where you might either lose money you can’t afford to, or get addicted to the thrill or pursuit of it. The rules around responsible gambling should always be uppermost in your thoughts.

Resources

As usual there are a handful of resources which might be useful.

Videos

Always number 1 for a video search, the Youtube collection of free real money games videos is one to note, some of which are heading up to and over 100,000 views.

Social

There’s plenty of up to date information posted regularlyon the popular social networks. Twitter and Facebook are obviously going to be high on any list.

Info Websites

There are dozens of websites with a focus on specific types of games that come recommended for the value of the information they supply, and it’s not hard to identify them and insert some quick links. But surprisingly – for real money games in general and at high level – I’ve struggled to find worth noting.

So this page on RealMoney.games should give you most of the info you’ll need, and for now we’ll have to settle with that. If I come across any they’ll get listed here. Perhaps you know of one, and if you do then feel free to send me the URL.

Forums

You’ll find many of the games covered on this page as the subject of threads on various real money gaming forums. The best of these is probably the one at AskGamblers.

Summary

You could argue that every bit of money you win is free in a sense. It was not yours to start with and you either had to earn, make, or win it. And there are multiple ways to make that happen. Some of them by playing free or no cash risk online games.

We’ve seen a handful of examples on this page, and of course, within those few ways to win real money are a whole raft of different games to choose from.

The bottom line though is that the true zero cost ways to play real money games are limited. If you’re prepared to widen your approach and consider those games which can come with other costs if you choose to make them, then your options are more than doubled.

Step a little further and there are many more games which fall under the umbrella where bonuses might be raining down.

All in all, enough options to consider for anyone who’s looking to get their gaming enjoyment at zero to minimal cost and possibly line their pockets with some ‘free’ cash.

 I’m talking about real money of course, you can win virtual money – and lots of it – at any of the popular social casinos. Try out Celebrity World casino if you want to win virtual cash.