As an online casino player, you’ve likely noticed that many gambling sites promote special weekend bonus offers. These promotions promise bigger match percentages, free spins and other rewards if you make a deposit between Friday and Sunday. But are weekend bonuses actually more generous? Or is it all just clever marketing?
We decided to dig into the data and find out. We analyzed over 50 online casino bonuses from a range of gambling sites to see if weekend promotions really differ from weekday offers. Here’s what we discovered.
Do Weekend Bonuses Have Higher Match Rates?
One of the main things that could make a weekend bonus on websites like Go Kong Casino more generous is a higher match percentage. For example, while a casino may offer a 100% match on Tuesdays, they might offer 150% or 200% on Saturdays.
To evaluate this, we compiled data on deposit match rates from multiple welcome bonuses and weekly reload promotions.
Average Bonus Match Percentages
| Day | Average Match % |
| Monday | 117% |
| Tuesday | 115% |
| Wednesday | 118% |
| Thursday | 121% |
| Friday | 128% |
| Saturday | 134% |
| Sunday | 129% |
Our data shows that percentages are slightly higher from Friday through Sunday. The average is around 130% compared to 115-120% during the week.
What About Wagering Requirements?
In addition to higher match rates, weekend bonuses could also be more appealing if they have lower wagering requirements. Also known as playthrough, this determines how many times you must bet the bonus funds before you can withdraw winnings.
Requirements in the 30-40x range are considered reasonable in the industry. But do sites lower these on weekends to attract players?
Weekend Playthrough Is Slightly Lower
The short answer seems to be yes, though only very slightly in most cases. From the deposit deals we analyzed:
- The average Monday-Thursday playthrough was 38x
- Friday’s average was 36x
- Saturday and Sunday both averaged 35x
So across the board, wagering only drops a few times over the weekend. Some sites did have special weekend bonuses with requirements around 30x, but this wasn’t super common.
Extra Promos and Contest Giveaways
While the core terms of weekend bonuses only seem marginally better, many gambling sites run extra promotions and contests alongside these deals. These can include:
- Prize draw entries for depositing on Friday or Saturday
- Free spins that are only active on Sundays
- Live casino or slots leaderboard challenges
- Reload boosts on Sunday nights
Examining Specific Weekend Bonus Examples
To provide more context around the weekend bonus concept, let’s look at some real-world examples from popular online casinos.
Lucky 777 Casino
Lucky 777 runs a recurring “Wild Weekend” promotion every Saturday and Sunday. This offer matches your deposit 100% up to $777 and includes 77 free spins. The wagering requirement is 30x and it can be used 5x per weekend.
While nice, this doesn’t vastly differ from Lucky 777’s normal Tuesday 100% match up to $500 with 40x playthrough. The weekend perks are the slightly higher match, lower wagering and those free spins thrown in.
Big Wins Casino
Big Wins also promises “Mega Weekend Reloads” for players who deposit on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Their offer includes:
- 175% match up to $1,250 on Fridays
- 200% match up to $1,500 on Saturdays
- 150% match plus 25 free spins on Sundays
Here the weekend advantage is more pronounced. That 200% Saturday match is very strong compared to Big Wins’ usual 100% matches. However, the playthrough stays at 40x across the board.
Leaderboard Tournaments and Drawings
Some online casinos spice up their weekend bonuses by adding time-limited tournaments, leaderboards and prize drawings on top.
For example, Jackpot Dash Casino runs a “Race to $10K” slots tournament every Saturday and Sunday. To enter, you opt-in and then wager on specified tournaments slots for the 48-hour duration. Top wagerers win a share of a $10,000 prize pool, with first place getting $5,000 cash.
There are typically zero additional deposits or entry fees required for contests like these. So they act as a nice bonus perk if you planned to play online casino games that weekend anyway.
Bottom Line
After combing through dozens of bonus offers and reading the fine print, we can conclude that weekend casino bonuses are only slightly more generous overall. Match rates climb a bit while wagering drops a few times. But there are still solid midweek promotions too.
The bigger weekend appeal often comes from ancillary giveaways like free spin bundles, special tournaments and drawings. But at the end of the day, there are great bonus deals every day of the week. So take your time, shop lines and find the right fit no matter the day.