Every online casino has two sets of Terms and Conditions (T&C's) that you will have to make yourself familiar with before opening an account; the General Terms and Conditions and the Promotion Terms and Conditions. The General T&C's are the general guidelines and demands you will have to accept if you want to play at online casinos. Promotion T&C's are specific guidelines and demands that you will have to accept in order to take part in promotions at online casinos. At some online casinos General T&C's are also referred to as House Rules, while promotion T&C's are also called Bonus Rules or Bonus Policy. It will take some time to read these T&C's but it is a necessity. Always read the T&C's from start to end at least once and if you can't accept one or more terms, DO NOT sign up at the casino. What Terms and Conditions is it that a player typically has to accept in order to play at online casinos? Below I have listed the most common and important ones.

General T&C's:

All online casinos will make you aware that you automatically accept the Casino T&C's once you have opened an account at the casino. Casinos will write something like: "By using the Software or the Service you agree that you have read and understood the terms and conditions of this Agreement and you acknowledge that these terms and conditions shall apply to you." You can't afterwards question or contest the Casino T&C's and/or promotion T&C's (or part of them).

Online casinos will also early on write something like: "Participation at the Casino is at your sole option, discretion and risk." The casinos write this to make sure that you understand and accept that no one else than yourself can be blamed for any losses. It is not the casinos fault and it is not the software's fault. When you opened an account you did so out of free will. You chose to take part in online casino gambling which you knew could result in wins, but also losses.

Online casinos will also write in their T&C's that they can terminate your account without notice if you break the casino T&C's. Account termination can among other things happen if the player has more than one casino account, if the name on the player's casino account does not match the name on the credit card used to make deposits or if the player provides incorrect or misleading registration information. Remember to follow the T&C's at all times or face the consequences...

Casinos want the freedom to change T&C's in order to adapt to new situations or because they simply feel that it is in the casino's best interest. You can therefore be sure that the T&C's will include formulations like this one: "We reserve the right to amend, modify, update and change any of the terms of this agreement at any time". When a casino change the general T&C's you will usually be informed by e-mail or through the casino software.

Casinos will also make clear in their T&C's that it is your own responsibility to make sure that you pay taxes of your winnings. Casinos will usually write something like: "The player is solely responsible for any applicable taxes on winnings that he collects from the casino". Tax laws differ a lot from country to country and state to state and no online casino will give any information on your winnings to your local authorities. It is therefore up to you to find out how the tax rules are in your country or state and to pay these taxes.

Promotion T&C's:

Online casinos will always make sure that a player only has one active casino account and only participates once in promotional offers. Casinos usually write something like this in their Promotion T&C's: "If Players open multiple accounts they will not be eligible for the bonus on each account. Bonus is only available once per Player or per environment where computers are shared and per e-mail address." Casinos will use their computer systems to cross-check if a player with the same name, credit card, address or e-mail address already has taken part in a promotion and will refuse to give more than one bonus pr. player.

You can also be sure that online casinos will attach wagering requirements to their bonus offers which must be fulfilled before a withdrawal is permitted. Wagering simply means to risk money on the outcome of an event. If you place a bet of $10 on red on the roulette table, then you have wagered $10. Wagering requirements are attached to prevent casino players from claiming a bonus and immediately cashing out without playing at the casino. Online Casinos will typically write something like: "In the interests of fair gaming, a player must wager the deposit plus the bonus amount at least 9 (nine) times at the Casino before any withdrawal will be permitted. For example, with your first deposit of $100 and a $100 bonus, the wagering requirement would be at least $1,800 before any withdrawal is permitted". It is important to know which wagering requirements that are attached to the promotions you plan to take part in. If they are not acceptable to you, then do not participate.

Online casinos will often exclude games from fulfilling the wagering requirements. Casinos can write something like: "Wagering on Baccarat, Craps, Roulette, Sic Bo, Blackjack and all forms of Video Poker does not fulfill the wagering requirements of this bonus offer." The casinos do this to ensure that players not only play on the low-risk games which are also the ones that have the highest payout percentages. Besides restricting games casinos can also increase the amount that needs to be wagered if you play on specific games. A casino can write something like: "All games count towards wagering requirements, however ALL Video Poker, Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, SicBo and Craps games only count one quarter (1/4) towards the wagering requirements." In this example you will have to wager four times the original wagering requirements in order to have met these, if you play the games mentioned. Remember to check that the games you want to play count towards the wagering requirements before you take part in a promotion.