MG EZ Casino Bonuses
During 2006-2007 most of the Microgaming casinos switched to so called EZ casino bonus system with their casino sign-up bonuses. Bonuses are given upon first deposit to the casino. Usually you have to claim the bonuses after registering through a form on the casino website and then wait a few hours to get them credited. Bonuses sometime have a minimum playthrough and sometime cashing out is allowed any time. See details for each bonus from the casino list tables. While you you meet the wagering requirements, the bonus balance is incrementally converted to cash (usually in lumps of 10€). This makes the bonus like a sticky bonus with no playthrough if cashed out before meeting the whole wagering requirement and like a traditional after-wager cashable bonus, if wagering is completed in whole.
Because of the sticky-nature of the EZ bonuses, if completing the wagering requirements with small bets, the EV of an EZ bonus is small, sometimes even negative. By using large bets trying to reach certain balance target, EV is increased very much thus making bonuses lucrative. This sticky-style strategy of course includes much short term variance. You may win big fast or you may lose your deposit fast.
Let´s make an easy example. You get a MG EZ bonus of 100% up to 200€, which has 0x / 60x wagering requirement – meaning that you can cash out anytime if you forfeit your bonus balance and you have to wager your bonus amount 60 times in French Roulette (see a table of different playthrough strategies below) if you like to convert the whole bonus amount to cash balance. Now playing through the bonus with small bets in French Roulette would result in about ~38€ gain on average, because house edge in French Roulette is 1.35%, and you would lost 162€ on average while grinding through the wagering requirement (math: 200€ – (60 * 200€ * 0.0135) = 238€ -> +38€ gain on average). So this doesn´t sound like a very appealing profit even though there is an autoplay feature built-in Microgaming software so you wouldn´t have to click the spin button thousands of times yourself to complete the WR.
But, what happens if we take an aggressive approach to a bonus like we´d do while playing sticky bonus? Let´s say we´ll take a good, balanced target of risk and gain of 3x(deposit + bonus). Trying to achieve this target we put our whole balance of 200€ + 200€ spread equally on numbers 1-12 in French Roulette (1:3 win if hit). Now 12/37 of the time we hit our number and gain a win of +800€ (400€ bet * 3 -> 1200€ balance). And 25/37 times we miss our numbers and lose our deposit of 200€. Because the 200€ of our balance is still in bonus money (cannot be cashed out), on time we hit we have 1000€ withdrawable balance at this point. So let´s do the math here: We hit 12/37 gaining 800€ (deposit was 200€ and we have to forfeit the unconverted sticky part of our balance of 200€). And 25/37 times we lose our deposit of 200€. This will result in [(12/37) * 800€] – [(25/37) * (-200€)] = 260€ – 135€ = +95€ in average gain (EV)!
So as we can see, by betting small and grinding through the bonus our average gain is only 38€, but betting aggressively trying to reach target of 3x(D+B) we can up our average gain to 95€. I hope this example makes the strategy advantage of aggressive bets clear in these MG EZ Bonuses.
Instead of full bankroll bets on one roulette spin or on one baccarat hand for example, it is recommended to make half bankroll bets or less on blackjack; just like we would play traditional sticky bonus, where blackjack is allowed trying to reach certain target – for example 3-4x(D+B). If you keep playing blackjack until you either triple your balance or bust, then the end result is similar as it would be putting the whole balance to numbers 1-12 on roulette on one spin. The EV is actually a bit higher when comparing bust risk with half bankroll bets on blackjack than with full bankroll bets on baccarat / roulette. What is more important than slight gain in EV is that there is lower risk of being labeled as a bonus hunter with half bankroll bets or less. For example, Casino Rewards group prohibit full bankroll bets in their terms and conditions, and the Fortune Lounge group has taken same kind of actions when using a full bankroll bet type of strategy while playing with the sign-up bonus. Another considerable strategy is to make smaller bets on higher variance games until reaching a target balance. You can choose high variance games like slots or some high variance table games trying to reach the target gain with relatively big bets.
Below is a table which lists some examples of the bonus retention per cent, chance of gain and bust rate with different types of bets and targets. It is assumed that after reaching the target the bonus amount is forfeited and player cashes out his cash balance.
| Game | House Edge | Bet Size (in D+B) | Target (in D+B) | Chance of Bust | Average Gain (% of bonus) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Blackjack | 0.13% | 1/2 | 4x | 76% | 79% |
| 3-Card Poker: PP | 2.32% | 1/1 | 4x | 85% | 79% |
| Roulette: 6:1 Bet | 2.70% | 1/1 | 6x | 84% | 78% |
| French Roulette | 1.35% | 1/1 | 4x | 76% | 70% |
| Baccarat | 1.06% | 1/1 | 3.8x | 76% | 68% |
| Roulette: 3:1 Bet | 2.70% | 1/1 | 3x | 68% | 62% |
| Baccarat | 1.24% | 1/1 | 2x | 51% | 48% |
| French Roulette | 1.35% | 1/1 | 2x | 51% | 48% |
Playing through the wagering requirement
After reaching target (if successful), you have sometimes a choice to play through the bonus to convert the rest of the bonus balance to cash or cash out straight forfeiting the bonus balance. At some casinos, full or partial playthrough of the wagering requirement is required. Different casino groups have different game weightings for different games while playing through the bonus. Because of this, sometimes it is +EV to play through the wagering requirement and sometimes it is –EV. Sometimes it is –EV and required in T&C, so at those times players usually like to choose a game that results in smallest loss while completing WR.
A summary of different playthrough requirements are listed in tables below.
Typical game weightings
Usually MG EZ Bonus requires 30x wagering with the game weightings as listed in the table below. If you chose to play slots only, you’d have to wager the bonus 30 times before it became completely cashable. If you played only video poker, you’d have to wager the bonus 300 times before it became cashable etc.
| Slots, American Roulette and Parlor Games | 100% |
| Table Poker games, Casino War, Sicbo and all Roulettes except American Roulette | 50% |
| Video Poker, Craps, Baccarat and all Blackjacks except Classic Blackjack | 10% |
| Classic Blackjack | 2% |
Average bonus retention in different games with these weightings is following:
| Game | WR | Expected bonus retention | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Aces VP | 300xB | +0.75xB | Very High!! |
| French Roulette | 60xB | +0.19xB | Med |
| Vegas Strip BJ | 300xB | +0.04xB | High! |
| Jacks or Better VP | 300xB | -0.38xB | High! |
| Slots | 30xB | -0.30xB to -0.70xB | Very High!! |
| American Roulette | 30xB | -0.58xB | Med |
| Casino War | 60xB | -0.60xB | Low |
So with this traditional weighting, the highest bonus retention is while playing the bonus through in French Roulette or All Aces video poker. Even though All Aces has higher retention per cent, usually players like to choose French Roulette instead, because it has significantly lower variance. Also there is auto play option available at French Roulette, so playing through the bonus in it doesn´t take any effort from a player. If French roulette is weighted under 50% in T&C, it is not +EV to play through the bonus if withdrawal is allowed without completing the WR. French roulette has a lower house edge than normal single zero roulette variations, because of the “la partage” rule. If the ball lands on zero, half of bets on 1-18 / 19-36, red / black, and odd / even are returned. You can make the wagering process faster and reduce variance by betting on both red & even, or black & odd. Just remember not to bet on both red & black or odd & even at the same time, because these bets are usually considered as “risk free bets” and they are against T&C´s of the casinos.
Casino Rewards, Betway and MiniVegas Group weightings
Casino Rewards, Betway casino and MiniVegas Group use worse game weightings that are listed in the table below. Roulette is weighted as low as BJ, so French Roulette is not as good choice anymore.
| Slots and Parlor Games | 100% |
| Table Poker, Casino War and Sic Bo | 50% |
| Video Poker, all Blackjacks except Classic Blackjack, Craps and Baccarat | 10% |
| Classic Blackjack and all Roulettes | 2% |
| All Aces Video Poker | 0% |
Average bonus retention in different games with these weightings is following:
| Game | WR | Expected bonus retention | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vegas Strip Blackjack | 300xB | +0.04xB | High! |
| 3-Card Poker: Ante & Play | 60xB | -0.20xB | Med |
| Jacks or Better VP | 300xB | -0.38xB | High! |
| Slots | 30xB | -0.30xB to -0.70xB | Very High! |
| Casino War | 60xB | -0.60xB | Med |
Now, 3-card Poker, War and Vegas Strip blackjack become the best choices to play through the WR if it´s required in T&C. Casino War and 3-Card Poker; Ante and play bet has pretty much the same variance and house edge, so you can choose either one you like. If you can handle bigger variance you can play BJ too, but at Casino Rewards autoplay is prohibited when playing with bonuses so it´s not very fun to grind out that huge WR. Remember the note about Casino Rewards big bets – you´d better bet smaller to not be labeled as bonus abuser. Note that on Casino Rewards only half of the wagering is required before cash out, so actually you can halve the bonus retention and wagering multipliers on the table above if you play through only the minimum 50& required before cashing out.
Other game weightings
Some small groups like Grand Prive and Vegas Partners use lowest game weightings and they have also necessary playthrough requirement. These rules make the bonuses worse. The game weightings are following:
| Slots, American Roulette and Parlor Games | 100% |
| Table Poker, all Roulettes excluding American Roulette, Casino War and Sicbo | 25% |
| Video poker, all Blackjacks except Classic Blackjack, Craps, Baccarat | 5% |
| Classic Blackjack | 2% |
Average bonus retention in different games with these weightings is following:
| Game | WR | Expected bonus retention | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Aces Video Poker | 600xB | +0.52xB | Very High!! |
| Slots | 30xB | -0.30xB to -0.70xB | Very High! |
| American Roulette | 30xB | -0.60xB | Med |
| French Roulette | 120xB | -0.62xB | Med |
Your EV is negative completing the WR in all other games but All Aces VP and in that game WR and variance is huge so for many that´s not a practical choice. The only chance to make profit is higher targets at aggressive phase in the beginning and then playing through the bonus in American Roulette for example.
You can check for these Microgaming EZ Bonuses at best casino bonuses list or at all casinos list. They are marked as bonus type “MG EZ”.