MICROGAMING CLEARPLAY BONUSES

 

Introduction

Most Microgaming casinos use the Clearplay bonus system, also known as the eZ bonus system. Under the original implementation all games are allowed, and you can withdraw your winnings at any time, whether you have met the wagering requirements on the bonus or not. Unfortunately nearly all casinos now use a modified form of the bonus on their sign-up, with a required playthrough. As you meet the wagering requirements, the the bonus is incrementally converted to cash.

When completing wagering with small bets, the EV of a Clearplay bonus is usually quite small, sometimes negative. EV can be increased dramatically with large or high variance betting. Average bonus retention might increase from 20% to 80%. This strategy carries a high risk. You may win big, and you may lose your deposit. You can still make a gain at many casinos without higher risk bets. If you have a low risk tolerance, I recommend either making a smaller deposit or playing through the bonus without high variance bets (see "Playing Through The Bonus") section below. See the two-tier betting page for a more detailed discussion of how EV changes with bet size.

 

Large or High Variance Initial Bets

Imagine a coin flip where you win $200 if it is heads and you lose $100 if it is tails. This is obviously a good deal. The average gain is ($200 - $100) / 2 = $50. A traditional Microgaming Clearplay bonus with a 100% match of $100 would have the same payout to this coin flip, if you bet all $200 of your balance on a 1:1 bet with no house edge. If you win, your balance would increase to $400 -- $300 cash and $100 bonus. If you withdrew the $300, your gain is would be $200 after the bonus is removed. If you lost the bet, you would lose $100. Like the coin flip, the average gain for this bet is ($200 - $100) / 2 = $50. If you bet all of it a second time after winning, then 1/4 of the time, you would gain $600 and the other 3/4 of the time, you would lose $100. This increases the expected return to ($600 - 3*$100) / 4 = $75. If you keep betting all your winnings over and over, you approach an average gain near the bonus size. The obvious downside of rebetting over and over is you would typically lose your deposit nearly every time. There are other less obvious downsides that make this theoretical strategy impractical such as table limits, bonus rules restricting large bets, losing EV to a non-zero house edge, and an increased risk of problems when cashing out.

As described above, one strategy is to bet your full bankroll on a single hand of a coin flip type game. However, instead of full-bankroll bets, I recommend making half-bankroll bets or less on blackjack. If you keep playing blackjack until you either double your bankroll or bust, then the end result is similar to a full bankroll bet. The EV is generally higher at a comparable bust risk with half-bankroll bets on blackjack than with full-bankroll bets on baccarat/roulette. There is also a lower risk of being labeled as an advantage player and having cashout problems, and most casinos now restrict large bankroll bets in their terms. Another good alternative is to make smaller bets on a higher variance game like video poker, then double up (using video poker double function) until reaching a target gain. You could even play slots with a similar double up (using slot double function) strategy. There are countless other alternatives. Choose a game, make large and/or high variance bets, then stop if you have a large net win.

The table below lists the average gain with a variety of games and strategies. The results assume that you cash out after reaching the target and do not complete wagering. Average gain is expressed as a percentage of the bonus. For example, if you receive a 100% $100 Clearplay bonus and bet all $200 on a baccarat player bet (repeating bet in case of tie), 49.3% of the time you will win the bet and gain $200, and 50.7% of the time you will lose the bet and lose your $100 deposit. So the average gain is $200*.493 - $100*.507 = ~$48. The table lists 48% of the $100 bonus for a full-bankroll baccarat player bet with a 2x target. Use the two-tier bet size simulator to check average gain and bust risk with other strategies.

From the table below, it is clear that average gain follows the chance of busting and losing your deposit. The more the risk, the more the average gain. If the bonus is forfeited and not played through (and for non-cashable bonuses in general), the average gain is:

Average Gain = Bonus * Chance of Bust - Average Wagering * House Edge

Using this equation in the baccarat bet example above: average gain = $100 * .507 - ($100+$100) * 1.4% = ~$48, the same value as listed above. To optimize gain, you want to choose a strategy with a low average wagering * house edge, as well as high risk of busting early in the wagering. Optimal theoretical strategy involves either betting on an extremely unlikely outcome or making sequential large bankroll bets on a low house edge game, but few people want a theoretical optimal strategy where they lose 90+% of the time. Instead they want a lower chance of bust, fitting their individual risk tolerance and bankroll. If you have a high risk tolerance, choose a higher risk of bust. If you have a low risk tolerance, choose a lower risk of bust or play through the bonus without making high variance bets. I think a good balance is half-bankroll or less bets on classic blackjack until 2x bankroll or more. If you avoid making full-bankroll blackjack bets by reducing bet size on losses, then average gain % with classic blackjack is just under chance of bust... nearing optimal strategy for this level of bust risk. If you have a higher risk tolerance, choose a higher target, like 4x bankroll. As shown in the table below, playing all aces or TX hold'em bonus are also good strategies where average gain is close to chance of bust. In general, the strategies involving low house edge games are the ones with the best average gain per chance of bust.

Expected bonus retention for a variety of games with this weighting is listed below:

Looking at the table above, the two games with the highest expected gain are TX hold'em bonus and all aces video poker. While all aces has the highest expected return, I recommend choosing hold'em bonus instead. All aces often has a high minimum bet size for multiplay, rather than the usual video poker minimum of $0.01x5. The combination of the increased wagering requirement and higher bet size results in an extremely high variance over such a high wagering requirement. Furthermore, there is no autoplay function, so completing the long wagering will be time consuming, and you may make play errors reducing the house edge to below hold'em bonus.

French roulette is also a good option. It has a lower house edge than other roulettes because of the "la partage" rule. If the ball lands on zero, half of bets on 1-18/19-36, red/black, and even/odd are returned. You can speed up wagering and reduce variance over a wagering requirement by betting on both red & even, or black & odd. The standard deviation per unit wagered of a single 1:1 bet on French roulette is 0.990. The standard deviation per unit wagered of a bets on red & even or black & odd is 0.937. The combination has a slightly lower variance than single 1:1 bets because there are only 8 red & even or black & odd combinations of numbers, less than the expected 36/(2x2) = 9. In contrast, there are 10 red & odd combinations, so betting on red & odd increases standard deviation per unit wagered above single 1:1 bets. To further minimize risk in French Roulette, you may be tempted to bet on both red & black; or bet $36 on red, $36 on black and $1 on zero (all game results return same value). Some Microgaming casinos have rules against this strategy in their T&C. Others may pay the player as expected, then ban the player from receiving further bonuses. If you have made a big win with a large bet, I strongly recommend against betting on both red & black and giving the casino an excuse not to pay you.

The table at the bottom of this page shows average overall gain with two-tier betting and completing wagering on these games.

 

Revised Game Weightings & Large Bet Restrictions

Unfortunately few groups use the traditional weightings described above. Instead they have revised weightings that may eliminate the advantage in hold'em bonus, French Roulette, and varying other games. As an example, the 32 Red group uses revised game weightings similar to the table below. Note that weighting changes in the table eliminate the three significantly EV+ playthrough games -- all aces, hold'em bonus, and french roulette.

Expected bonus retention for a variety of games with these weightings are listed below:

In my opinion, 3 Card Poker: Ante & Play and Casino War are the best choices for completing a wagering requirement with these weightings. The house edge of 3 card poker: ante & play is 3.37% under Microgaming's rules. House edge is defined as the average loss per initial bet. However, in 3 card poker the final bet size may be larger than the initial bet. The average loss per unit wagered is 2.01%. This value is more appropriate than house edge for calculating expected loss while completing the 60xB required wagering. The average loss per unit wagered of casino war is 2.17% under Microgaming's improved rules. 3 card poker has a slightly lower expected loss than war, while war has a lower variance than 3 card poker. Spanish blackjack and Slots (the game Loaded) are also decent options, if you are not concerned with variance during playthrough.

Doubling your balance with large bets is also restricted under 32 Red terms. The terms limit the max bet to only 6.25 -- the lowest max bet I am aware of for a Clearplay bonus. With a max bet as low as this, there are still several good options in conditions. One of these options is playing all aces with a single hand. Recall that small 1/40 bets on this game had a near optimal return in the table at the end of the large or high variance bets section.

 

Playthrough on Slots

Some casinos weight all non-slot games poorly. This makes the bonus less desirable and results in a different strategy. The Vegas Partner group's game weighting is listed below.

Expected bonus retention for a variety of games with this system is listed below:

You are expected to make a loss while playing through the bonus on all games except for all aces. Unfortunately, the large wagering requirement and high variance makes playing through the bonus on all aces impractical, so I recommend choosing slots instead. I listed the game Loaded in the table above, which is the lowest house edge Microgaming slots games that I am aware of. The key downside of meeting a playthrough on slots is the high variance. If you reached a 2x bankroll = $400 target, then met the remaining playthrough with $1 bets on Loaded (0.04 x 25 lines), you'd have about a 1 in 4 chance of losing all of your winnings during the playthrough. I recommend using the two-tier simulator to get a feel for appropriate bet sizes. Also see the slots page for more house edge values and the slot bonuses page for more detail on playing bonuses on slots, including using slots for the high variance portion of two-tier betting.

 

Other Groups

A summary of rules by group is in the table below.

 

Average Overall Gain

The table below shows the average bonus retention with a 100% Clearplay bonus using four of the options and game weightings discussed above -- 0xB wagering (cash out early), 60xB wagering on TX Hold'em Bonus, 30xB wagering on Slots, and 60xB wagering on 3-Card Poker. An average bonus retention of 75% means an EV of $75 on a $100 bonus.

 

Casino List

Casinos offering a Clearplay bonus are listed below. The wager column is expressed as Minimum Wagering / French Roulette Wagering. Click on a column header to sort by that measure.

Table Definitions Rank -- Rank is a measure of the quality of the bonus. The lower the rank, the better the bonus. Software -- The software used by the selected casino. Group -- Casinos often are linked together in e group. These groups are listed in the table. I recommend not simultaneously playing two sign up bonuses from the same group. Wait until payment is received, then play at the next casino. Bonus EV -- EV stands for Expected Value. Bonus EV indicates the average expected gain of the bonus with the following play -- Make high variance bets to a 2x target, then playthrough bonus. Max Bonus -- The bonus that is given with the maximum allowed deposit for that bonus. If the max value is expressed as one number + another, then there are two bonuses, usually one signup bonus and one deposit method bonus. If the value is expressed as a range, then the bonus is dependent on return from a free play offer. Bonus % -- Bonus % indicates the ratio between the bonus and your deposit. If a $300 bonus is given on a $100 deposit, the bonus % is 300%. Wager -- Wager indicates the wagering requirement for the bonus. All wagering requirements are expressed in terms of the bonus. For example, the wagering requirement at Golden Palace is 20x(bonus+deposit). With a $100 deposit, the wagering requirement would be ($300 + $100)x20 = $8000. $8000 is 27x the $300 bonus, so the value in the table is 27xB. Clearplay bonuses may list two wagering requirements -- the minimum wagering requirement and the wagering requirement on the game French Roulette. "0xB / 60xB" indicates that you can cash out your winnings immediately (0xB), and if you complete the playthrough on French Roulette there is a 60xB wagering requirement. Game -- Game indicates the recommended game to play the bonus. Notes -- Notes indicates other important things to take note of, such as associated warnings.

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