As the popularity of online casinos increases so does the competition and sites are fighting fiercely to attract and maintain loyal customers. These are great news for you, as there are many generous bonus offers around to tempt you, and used in the right way, these will make a noticeable difference to your casino bankroll, especially if they are real money blackjack bonuses.
A Guide to Getting the Most Value from Online Casinos
Here you can find a detailed explanation of how the different blackjack bonus work. First up you can find out about the two different types of bonus online casinos offer – those you can withdraw and those you just play with. Then the subjects of play-through requirements and restricted games are looked at before checking out the most common bonus offers.
Types of Blackjack Bonuses
Cashable Bonuses vs Play Only Bonuses
There are two types of bonus or offers that you can receive from an online casino.
Cashable Blackjack Bonuses
This one provides you with bonus money. It is credited to your account and usually marked as bonus funds although you are allowed you to play with it straight away. Once you have met the playing requirements these funds are then moved into your main balance where you can withdraw them if you wish.
Play Only Blackjack Bonuses
‘Play only’ bonus or bonus credits work with your account being credited straight away and usually marked in your cashier as bonus funds. The big difference is once the bonus is cleared it will be removed from your account, although you will be able to keep any winnings made with it.
While being able to keep the bonus is a big plus, both types of offers allow you to get a lot more play in for the price of your initial deposit.
How a Blackjack Bonus Works
Play-through Requirements
Each blackjack bonus you come across will have some kind of play-through requirements. This is the amount you have to wager in order to withdraw your bonus and/or any winnings you have gained with it.
Until the play-through requirement is cleared, your bonus, winnings and usually deposited funds cannot leave your casino account without forfeiting the offer.
The amount you have to wager can vary dramatically from site to site. Most use a multiple of your deposit and bonus amounts added together, while some casinos just use the bonus amount. You can expect to normally see requirements of 20-40x your deposit and bonus, although some casinos insist on 50x or even more.
Game Restrictions
If your intention is to focus on playing blackjack then you will need to find an online blackjack bonus to play. Not all bonuses can be cleared by all games, and you may even lose your blackjack bonus if you try to use the free credits to play those which are restricted.
Slots play is generally accepted for all bonuses and it clears the bonus at 100% of their value, simply because these games offer the casino its highest edge.
With bonuses that allow blackjack play, normally only a percentage of the wager counts towards bonus clearance. Depending on the casino, this can be as low as 2% and rarely goes higher than 20%, apart from for specific blackjack offers.
Be aware that even if real money blackjack games are allowed, some specific titles may not. These tend to be single and double deck games which offer the player a slightly lower house edge, although European blackjack and games with a surrender option can sometimes be restricted too.
Common Blackjack Bonus Offers
The welcome bonus is the first offer you will encounter when checking out a new online casino. Normally, this is the largest bonus the casino has on offer, with amounts frequently going up to thousands of dollars. It’s important to claim them quickly as these bonuses usually expire within a couple of weeks of opening your account. 
Most large welcome bonuses are actually split into two or more separate bonuses which match your first deposit up to a 100%, or even more in some cases. In these cases, you have to clear each bonus one at a time, and they cannot be claimed all at once.
After your welcome bonus has been cleared you should receive offers for different reload bonuses. There may even be a specific blackjack or table game bonuses available, and if the welcome bonus does not allow you to play blackjack it is probably worth ignoring that and clearing these instead. Make sure you check the terms and conditions first.
Remember it is a competitive market and if your chosen casino is not offering frequent reload bonuses which allow you to play blackjack, then there are plenty other casinos which happily reward loyal customers with deals that suit them.
Casinos That Offer Great Blackjack Bonuses
Many online casinos offer great blackjack bonuses, but not all bonus offers are the same. Sites like Las Vegas USA Casino, Lucky Red Casino, and Slots.lv have great bonus promotions for blackjack players, though I’d argue that Bovada’s blackjack bonuses are the best.
Slots.lv’s bonuses are quite similar to Bovada, so I’ll focus on LasVegasUSA Casino and Lucky Red. The comparison of the various blackjack offers below shows that the Bovada blackjack bonus is best, even if at first glance it doesn’t offer the most.
Las Vegas USA Blackjack Bonus
Las Vegas USA has a $3000 Blackjack Bonus on deposits between $20 and $3000. To trigger the bonus offer, using the coupon codes 150BONUS and IDBLASVEGAS.
The wagering requirement is 90x your bonus plus deposit when playing blackjack. The wagering requirement can be reduced as low as 50x, depending on which level of the Las Vegas USA rewards program to which you belong. While those rates apply to real money players from the United States and Canada, the wagering requirement doubles for all players from Europe.
Lucky Red $4000 Welcome Bonus
Lucky Red Casino has a $4000 welcome bonus which includes blackjack play, but it’s a tricky offer, so players need to follow the terms and conditions closely. All blackjack variants contribute to the wagering requirement at a 10% rate, but only if you input the correct bonus code (LUCKYRED100).
If you input LUCKYRED100, you’ll receive a welcome bonus up to $4000 at a 100% match rate. Blackjack has a contribution rate of 10%. If you input LUCKYRED400, you’ll receive a welcome bonus up to $4000 at a 400% match rate.
Blackjack does not contribute to LuckyRed400 welcome bonus; only slots, keno, and scratchcards do. In fact, playing blackjack negates the bonus offer, so be careful which coupon code you type into the “Redeem Coupon” feature on Lucky Casino Casino’s cashier page.
Blackjack Bonuses at Bovada
Of all the online casinos which accept US players, Bovada has the most and best blackjack bonus offers. Two huge welcome bonuses — the $3000 Welcome Bonus and $5000 Bitcoin Bonus — allow players to satisfy their playthrough requirements while playing Zappit Blackjack.
Besides those one-time bonus promotions, players also have the option to accept a $250 Casino Games Welcome Bonus which is redeemable multiple times. Read through the descriptions below before choosing which bonuses to accept.
$3000 Welcome Bonus
Bovada’s $3000 welcome bonus is redeemable while playing all forms of blackjack, though it is touted as a slots welcome bonus. Variants of blackjack contribute differently to the playthrough. When you use the bonus code NEWWELCOME, you’ll receive up to $1000 in match bonus at 100% up to three times.
Most forms of blackjack, including Zappit Blackjack, contribute 10% to the wagering requirement when making blackjack bonus bets. Single-deck and double-deck blackjack contribute only 5%. Using the 10% formula, the $3000 welcome bonus equates to a $300 blackjack welcome bonus, and thus is worth accepting.