Complete Guide to Casino Bonus Hunting

Slots streamers have gained prominence over the past several years. The best streamers draw viewers through a mixture of an engaging personality and big wins.

The latter often come as the result of a “bonus hunt.” If you’re unfamiliar with this term, then don’t feel bad because it’s mainly reserved for the streaming crowd.

Assuming you’re interested in learning about slots bonus hunts, you can check out the following guide. It covers how these events work and why they’re so popular.

How Does a Bonus Hunt Work?

These hunts begin by choosing an online slot that features a bonus, whether it be free spins, a pick’em round, or something else.

If the streamer triggers a pick’em round, for example, viewers can vote to determine which option the streamer picks. Likewise, followers could vote for which type of free spins (if options are available) are played.

The streamer will encourage viewers to vote through one of the following methods:

Vote mapping has become the more popular of these methods. It lets the audience simply choose an area of the screen, which makes it easier for them and the streamer to determine which option is more popular.

Live chat, meanwhile, encourages a slew of vote entries in the chat box. This method makes it difficult for to keep track of which option is ahead. It also leaves the streamer and/or their team with lots of work to do when counting votes.

Once the voting concludes—whether it be by vote mapping or chat—the streamer will go with whatever option the audience chooses. They’ll then play out the bonus and try to win big.

Different Methods of Bonus Hunting

An online slots streamer has three options for how they’ll conduct a bonus hunt:

Each of these approaches varies quite a bit from the next. That said, here’s a closer look at how they work and which is the most popular of the three.

Raw Balance

The raw balance approach refers to when a streamer uses their own money to hunt for bonuses. They don’t use deposit bonuses, free spins, or play-money funds—the latter of which is frowned upon by the gaming community.

Furthermore, the streamer actually has something at risk when playing slots with their own funds. This risk element makes for a more entertaining stream, where viewers experience the highs and lows that the player goes through.

A streamer begins a raw balance hunt by placing a deposit. They’ll then choose an online slot game and begin betting real money. With luck, they’ll trigger the bonus before running out of funds and having to deposit again.

Bonus Buy

As you may know, bonus buy (or feature buy) lets you trigger a slots bonus automatically. This option is available in some online slots and requires a multiple of your current stake.

Here’s an example on how feature buy works:

Bonus buy creates an anticlimactic bonus hunt. After all, it merely shows that the streamer is willing to spend lots of money to play the bonus.

With that said, streamers normally use feature buy in specific cases. They may announce that they’re doing a short bonus hunt stream that’ll include bonus buys.

They’ll then use this option one or more times to trigger bonuses. The idea is that viewers see the streamer take multiple shots at winning huge prizes within a short time span.

Using Bonus Funds

The final approach involves using a bonus to hunt for slots bonuses. Many online casinos offer deposit bonuses and/or free spins to new depositors. They may also provide the same type of deals to existing customers.

Here’s an example on how a streamer might use such offers to chase bonus rounds:

Many regular slots players also use this approach as it provides additional funds. Therefore, using bonuses isn’t as shady as doing bonus hunts with play-money funds.

Namely, online casinos cap the amount one can bet when satisfying rollover. Players may only be able to bet up to $10, for example, with an active bonus.

Of course, a streamer could still exceed this amount. However, they’ll violate the terms and conditions and lose any chance to keep winnings from the deposit bonus/free spins.

Other Requests Are Welcome

As explained earlier, voting and audience involvement are big elements of bonus hunts. Slots streamers don’t just stop at the bonus rounds when involving their audiences either.

They may also ask viewers for input on which slots to play. If you’d like to see the streamer play a specific game, this is the time to speak up with a comment.

The streamer might request opinions on other matters too, such as which online casinos they visit, what bonus hunt approaches they use, and more.

Prizes May Be Available

Slots streaming is supposed to be about entertainment first and foremost. However, they become even more exciting when potential prizes are on the line.

If the player wins a particularly big bonus prize, they might even decide to give away more money after the fact. They may initially pledge 10%, for instance, but increase this amount to 30% after winning $10,000.

Why Are Bonus Hunts So Popular?

To the average person, watching somebody else hunt for and play slots bonuses may not sound exciting. If you’re into gaming, though, then you’ll enjoy certain perks from watching these hunts.

You can look forward to providing input into how the streamer handles things too. Maybe you want to see them play a certain game or choose a specific option in the bonus.

If you vote for the most-popular bonus option, then you can share in potential winnings.

Start Bonus Hunting Now!

Everybody who plays real money online slots is on a bonus hunt. However, not everybody has the bankroll to keep playing spin after spin until finally triggering a bonus.

Here’s where slots streamers become relevant. Popular streamers not only have the bankrolls to chase bonuses, but they also involve the audience when doing so.

The audience participation is what makes these events really entertaining. You and others choose what bonus option the streamer picks and even which games they play.

If you’re really into online slots, then bonus hunts are worthwhile. They can provide lots of entertainment, especially when the streamer manages to win big.