New Jersey Online Casino Bonus and Promotions Test

Wouldn’t it be great if NJ online casino bonuses were easy to understand? After all, who has time to read through 2-3 pages of terms and conditions and calculate how much value you actually get on that $1,000 welcome bonus promotion? Well, we do!

We took the time to research and test every welcome bonus at all 24 legal online casinos in New Jersey. Then, we compared all the casino bonuses against each other to develop a ranking of the best online casino bonus and promotions in New Jersey. To make this evaluation, we used the Actual Bonus Value (ABV) metric.

Below is our process and the data we used to rank each casino. If you just want to see the casino bonus and promotions test results, you can click here or scroll to the bottom.

NJ casino bonuses

Purpose of This Test

Online casino bonuses and promotions are some of the main reasons players choose one casino over another, but these promos are often difficult to understand and hard to compare against other casinos. Golden Nugget promotes its bonus with language like “$1,000 free with 200 free spins” while Tropicana advertises “Up to $100 cash back” for its welcome bonus. The average player and even experienced gamblers have a hard time knowing exactly what they are signing up for when they claim these bonuses.

Unfortunately, casinos often fill the terms and conditions of these bonuses with fine print and other cheeky wagering requirements that bring that amazing bonus back to earth. However, sometimes that bonus that sounds too good to be true is actually true.

Because casino bonuses and promotions are such a huge part of the online casino experience, we thought it was an important factor to test in New Jersey. We wanted to uncover the truth behind NJ online casino welcome bonuses so we could warn players of the misleading promotions and celebrate those casinos offering really generous bonuses. Ultimately, that is the purpose of this test — to find out which online casino in New Jersey offers the most valuable welcome bonus and promotion.

Process

Below is a rundown of how we conducted this test across the 24 legal online casinos in New Jersey with gambling licenses.

  1. We started by accessing the welcome bonus page on each online casino and downloaded the terms and conditions for each promotion.
  2. We read the T&Cs and highlighted all information related to the free no deposit casino bonus or the first deposit bonus.
  3. We created mathematical formulas for different bonus types that accounted for the following.
    • Wagering requirements (playthrough) which must be met before someone can withdraw winnings
    • Whether the wagering requirements are calculated with only the bonus amount or the bonus + deposit amount
    • Maximum return-to-player (RTP) eligible for clearing the bonus
    • Whether there is a no deposit bonus
    • Whether there is a first deposit bonus
    • Whether the first deposit bonus is a match bonus or a rebate bonus
  4. We ran all the variables from the terms and conditions through our bonus formula.
  5. We created a baseline deposit amount of $100 even if casinos accepted higher amounts for the bonus so that we could compare against a uniform metric across all casino bonuses.
  6. We created an index that we call “Actual Bonus Value” (ABV), which calculate how much the bonus package offered is actually worth after all bonus terms.
  7. We ranked the casinos based on ABV and rewarded stars in our reviews accordingly.

Cons and Challenges

This test was one of the most challenging of all our casino tests. Not only was it hard to find the terms and conditions for every casino welcome bonus, but there is no consistency in language and how casinos describe promotions. We had to literally invent our own metric (ABV) so that we could measure different casino promotions fairly.

Some of the other cons to this specific test can be found below.

  •  The “actual bonus value” in this test is based on $100 even though some casinos accept higher deposits within their welcome bonus terms.
  • All the data we gathered came directly from the casino’s website. The test does not consider offers and promotions that are being sent out with emails or on other websites or promo codes with more favorable terms.
  • New Jersey online casinos change their bonuses rather frequently. Our test will not be updated every time there is a new bonus so the data may not always be 100% accurate.
  • Our bonus ranking formula does not consider the expiry time of a bonus. Longer expiry time is obviously better than shorter, but we have not found a good way to include it in our ranking, yet.
  • Our bonus ranking formula does not consider how complicated it is to get the bonus. Some bonuses you receive immediately, some are spread out over time, and other require you to hit certain thresholds. Simple is obviously better, but it’s not part of our current formula.
  • Our casino bonus test only measures no deposit and first deposit bonuses, it does not consider how many weekly promotions or VIP programs the casinos offers.

Summary of Test Results

From the test, we can see that there is a big difference between the most generous and the least generous online casinos in NJ. This variance impacts your ability to win significant money from each welcome bonus offer.

Our test winner was Harrah’s casino with an impressive Actual Bonus Value (ABV) of $100.19. This number means that if you take the no deposit offer, then deposit $100, you will actually get a total of $200.19 in cash to play with. This is extremely good — especially when you compare it to our last place finishers, DraftKings, PalaCasino, and PartyCasino which all had an ABV of $0 because they don’t offer any no deposit or first deposit bonus.

We had a total of five casinos reaching the full 5-stars rating in this test, meaning that they came in with an ABV of over $80 on a $100 deposit. This can be compared to the state average of $52.19 ABV from our test. 

Another important insight from doing this test is that the online casinos of New Jersey are on average very generous with their bonuses. An ABV of $52.19 is relatively high when compared to some of the more popular online casino markets like Europe.

Test Score

RankingCasinoABV*AverageMath FormulaT&CStars
1Harrah’s$100.19$52.26 5
2SugarHouse$99.50 5
3BetMGM$98.36 5
4Borgata$93.46 5
5Caesars$91.51 5
6Golden Nugget$81.59 4.5
7Unibet$70.15 4.5
8Parx$66.76 4.5
9888casino$65.46 4.5
10Scores Casino$62.07 4.5
11Mohegan Sun$54.55 4
12Resorts$54.55 4
13Tropicana$48.65 3.5
14Virgin$48.65 3.5
15Bet365$44.57 3.5
16Hard Rock$44.57 3.5
17Ocean$43.28 3.5
18Stardust$24.38 2.5
19William Hill$24.33 2.5
20PokerStars$20.86 2.5
21BetAmerica$16.69 2
22DraftKings$0.001
23Pala$0.001
24PartyCasino$0.001

Stars in Our Reviews Based On:

  • To receive 5 stars in our reviews for casino bonuses and promotions, $80+ in “Actual Bonus Value” (ABV) on a $100 deposit is required.
  • To receive 4.5 stars, $60+ ABV is required.
  • To receive 4 stars, $50+ ABV is required.
  • To receive 3.5 stars, $40+ ABV is required.
  • To receive 3 stars, $30+ ABV is required.
  • To receive 2.5 stars, $20+ ABV is required.
  • To receive 2 stars, $10+ ABV is required.
  • To receive 1.5 stars, $5+ ABV is required.
  • To receive 1 star, 0 ABV is required.