The online casino system has grown tremendously in the last decade or so that it has been in existence - to a point where it is almost surpassing the brick and mortar casino system of the fore. Indeed, though hard statistics are hard to come by, chances are that at this point in time, there are more regular casino players who play on online casinos than there are playing in the traditional brick and mortar casinos. Comparing in terms of playing volumes (amounts of money deposited and winnings earned), online casinos are also likely to win over brick and mortar casinos hands down.

Now one of the greatest attractions that have drawn so many people into online casino is the bonuses they offer.

The way the online casino bonuses work is such that for every amount of 'playing money' money one deposits into the online casino, the casino -or the 'house' as the casino is known in these circles - tops up with a certain amount. This way, a person who deposits $100 into the casino, for instance, might find the 'house' topping their $100 deposit with another $20, so that thanks to the online casino bonuses system, such a person gets to play as much as they would have played had they deposited $120 into the casino, for playing purposes.

Online casino bonuses can therefore be seen as the online casino's concept of a 'discount on purchase' where for every amount of 'playing service' a player purchases, they are given some more of the same service, for free.

Every online casino that offers a bonus typically does so under its own well thought out system, so that we end up with a situation where 'all online casino deposits are not equal.' Indeed, examining the various bonuses that online casinos offer, we might end up with a situation where armed with a scoring criteria, we can rank the various online casino bonuses from the 'mediocre' to the 'ordinary' and onto the best casino bonuses.

For the most part, the best casino bonuses tend to be stated in percentages (like where the 'house' offers to top up every amount deposited into the casino account with a fixed percentage of it, say 5 or 10 percent). Of course, there are some online casinos that state their bonuses in fixed dollar amounts (like where for every $100 deposited, they top up with $10), and these too, can turn out to be great in some cases.