No deposit bonuses are very popular, especially among "not-so-wealthy" online casino players who want to play but are not so eager to give out money.

Although giving away free money doesn't seem to be a very wise thing to do (average no deposit bonus is around $10), thousands of online casinos are doing it and most of them are very happy about it too. Because many players come back for more after they've gambled down their bonus money. "Coming back for more" means depositing money to their casino account.

Usually players get their free money in few hours after they've registered their credit card. Some online casinos want a new player to send them an extra e-mail, which means you'll get your bonus after a day or so. Not so good option for a player, because some players are not patient enough to wait so they deposit money before they receive bonus money. Has happened to me several times, when I've had a sudden urge to play online poker.

Many casinos want you to deposit before you can cash out your winnings made by no deposit bonus, or bet the amount of bonus certain number of times.

There is always a trick with no deposit bonus that you should check out before you start playing. Casino's goal is to promote itself and push you to become their depositing player, it's simple as that. I've never heard any stories of players winning progressive jackpots with no deposit bonuses, or even house jackpots.

Ralf Vinogradov is a part-time journalist in a newspaper and an editor and webmaster of gambling related website Best Online Casinos and Online Gambling - GamblingRalf.COM, that introduces wackiest online casino bonuses. He also runs infamous newsletter called "Club Hundredaire" with few hundred dedicated members.