Start Your New Year Celebrating Early With A Gift From Golden Nugget Online
I can’t think of a better way for an NJ online casino player to close out 2018 and ring in the new year than to play your favorite games on NJ gambling websites and be a winner.
If Golden Nugget is one of the sites where you enjoy playing, there’s no better time to start than now, the last weekend of the year.
On first glance, it may seem that Golden Nugget Online Casino is jumping the gun a bit calling its latest giveaway New Year Rewards. But don’t forget that this is the same casino that was the first — and still is one of the few online casinos in New Jersey — to offer 500 games and the first to bring you live dealer games.
So if it wants to be the first to kick off the New Year’s celebration, too, why not?
Besides, if Golden Nugget didn’t start the entry earning period now, the drawing for the 1,000 winners would be delayed until after the start of the new year.
You read right. In a few days, the Golden Nugget New Year Rewards Giveaway is going to have 1,000 players jumping for joy, and you can be one of them. On top of all of the immediately withdrawable cash you can win just from playing, this weekend is your golden opportunity to win a special prize, too.
The details of Golden Nugget’s New Year Rewards
The period for earning entries into the $20,000 New Year Rewards Giveaway starts Friday, Dec. 28 and continues through 11:59 p.m. New Year’s Eve. Here’s what you need to do to get started:
- Log in to your GoldenNuggetCasino.com account during the Dec. 28-31 promotion period, the sooner the better.
- Go to Available Bonuses and opt into the New Year Rewards.
- Start playing.
For every $100 wagered during the promotion period, you will earn one entry into the upcoming drawing where 1,000 players will be randomly picked to win a prize. However, according to the casino’s website, “weighted wagering applies,” so keep that in mind.
What you can win
How does the opportunity to relax and refresh in a $3,000 getaway to the spa destination of your choice in Atlantic City sound?
For one super lucky Golden Nugget online casino player, this idyllic way to start the new year won’t be mere fantasy, but a dream come true.
But wait. We did say that this is a $20,000 giveaway with 1,000 winners. So even though only one of them will win the Grand Prize, that’s far from the only prize worth playing for here. The remaining 999 winners will each receive anywhere from $10 to $500 in bonus money!
The table below shows the distribution of prizes.
| Place | Prize |
| 1st | A $3,000 getaway in AC |
| 2nd to 3rd | $500 Bonus |
| 4th to 12th | $200 Bonus |
| 13th to 30th | $100 Bonus |
| 31st to 300th | $20 Bonus |
| 301st to 1000th | $10 Bonus |
Claiming your prize
All winners will be notified by 5 p.m. Jan. 2, 2019. Bonus money prizes will be credited to players’ accounts by then as well. All prizes are non-transferable.
Atlantic City Spa Getaway grand prize
The description of this prize on the Golden Nugget website is rather vague.
It does not include a list of the specific spa destinations you can choose from, the specific amenities that are included, or any information regarding the deadline for claiming your prize and using it. Presumably, once the winner is chosen, all of this important information will be forthcoming.
The winner of this prize does have the option to exchange it for a bonus of $2,000 with a wagering requirement of 1x the bonus.
Bonus money prizes
All winners of bonus money will have the bonus credited to their account by 5 p.m. Jan. 2. This prize is non-exchangeable.
In addition, like any other bonuses awarded to Golden Nugget online casino players, neither the bonus nor any associated winnings will become cashable until the specified wagering requirements are satisfied.
Those of you who play at Golden Nugget frequently may recognize that both the distribution of bonus money prizes and the wagering requirements for clearing the bonus are identical to those for the Turkey Run Weekend $20,000 Giveaway that Golden Nugget offered Thanksgiving weekend.
Of course, that promotion is history, but if you missed out and are curious, you can read all about it here.
In any case, this weekend you will have an excellent chance either to make up for not winning in the Thanksgiving weekend giveaway or to win again.
Bonus money wagering requirements
All bonus money prizes won in this giveaway come with the following wagering requirements:
- Most slots: 1x bonus
- Excluded slots* and all other games: 5x bonus
*Most NJ online casinos don’t give you anywhere near the number of slots to choose from as Golden Nugget. As of this writing, the total count is 517 games. So the only problem you could possibly have deciding what to play to clear your bonus is not finding a slot game you like, but picking one or a few from the many you like.
When making your selection, you need to keep in mind that 21 slots only count 20 percent toward clearing the bonus instead of the usual 100 percent. This means that if you choose to clear the bonus with any of these “excluded” slots, the wagering requirement is no longer 1x the bonus, but 5x the bonus, the same as for non-slot play.
Best bet: Clear the bonus with slots that count 100 percent
You will find the complete list of excluded slots on the Golden Nugget website.
The most likely reason why the wagering requirements are higher for these games than for other slots is a higher than average return to player (RTP). Even so, they are not the only slot games with a relatively high RTP. There are many more that count the full 100 percent.
Simply click on the “i tab” on the casino website for the game you want to play to make sure the RTP is at least 95 percent (5 percent house edge), or preferably higher. Those are the games you should choose, especially if you snag a big bonus.
Or clear the bonus with a game such as blackjack or video poker. As long as you’re prepared to wager the bonus 5x rather than just once, this is an option worth considering. These games when played correctly have a lower house edge than even the best slots.
If you would like to play any of the slots on the excluded list, wait until you don’t have a bonus to clear.
Other terms and conditions
The casino is giving you up to seven days from the time the bonus is awarded to clear it.
While the bonus playthrough is still in progress, you will be temporarily unable to withdraw either the bonus or any additional winnings from wagering it. But that shouldn’t be for long since you only have to wager the bonus 1x, or at most 5x.
As soon as you do, provided the bonus has not yet expired, the bonus plus any winnings therefrom (or whatever is left of this money) will become fully available.
Also, even before the bonus is cleared, you are free to withdraw additional available funds in your cashable wallet, not related to the bonus.
Keep in mind that opting out of this promotion, attempting to withdraw unavailable funds prematurely, or failure to clear the bonus within seven days will result in forfeiture of both the bonus and any resulting winnings.
Golden Nugget $20,000 New Year Giveaway pros and cons
Golden Nugget Online Casino is certainly being very generous holding another $20,000 giveaway this late in the year and extending prizes to 1,000 players. So for that reason alone, anyone who is a registered player at this casino should take advantage of this golden opportunity. And if you’re not a registered player, be sure to sign up and get $20 free with bonus code PLAY20.
But at the same time, I would be remiss if I didn’t also alert you to this promotion’s shortcomings.
What could be better
Too many tiny prizes
While the Grand Prize and top bonus money prizes are great, the vast majority of the prizes are very small. 900 of the 999 bonus money prizes are for only $10.
No limit on the number of entries
High rollers with no problem at all betting thousands of dollars per day will undoubtedly do so to rack up a huge number of entries, thereby giving themselves a big advantage in the drawing.
Those who play more deserve to have more entries, but there should still be a reasonable cap to give other players a fair chance to win, too. Otherwise, why hold a drawing at all?
Great features
On the other hand, this promotion also includes these two offsetting great features.
Excellent chance to win
There are lots of prize giveaways on NJ gambling websites, but in many of them, only a handful of players win anything.
The New Year Rewards Giveaway at Golden Nugget Online Casino is completely different because 1,000 players will win a prize. With this huge number of prize winners, an important factor will be not just the number of entries one has, but also the luck of the draw.
Therefore, if luck is on your side, you don’t necessarily need to be a big player to be a winner, maybe even a big winner.
No deposit required with reasonable wagering requirements
Another player-friendly feature of this promotion is that no deposit is required to participate.
However, you might want to make one anyway if your current balance is low to ensure you have enough funds available to play each of the four days (Friday-Monday) for earning entries.
More good news is that if you win one of the 999 bonus money prizes, the wagering requirements for clearing the bonus are extremely reasonable.
Most of the bonuses offered on GoldenNuggetCasino.com come with wagering requirements of 10x the bonus for included slots and 50x the bonus for any other game.
However, in this promotion, the wagering requirements are only 1x or 5x the bonus, respectively. You also have up to seven days to complete the wagering, so there is no immediate rush.
The bottom line
Some NJ online casinos seem to have ended their holiday giving season with Christmas, but not Golden Nugget.
For any player, big or small, who would love the opportunity to start 2019 on a winning note, your best bet could be to start earning entries today for the Golden Nugget New Year Rewards Giveaway.