A little over two years ago, I wrote an Article for our companion site WizardofVegas.com, before it was our companion site, in fact, about how one could essentially have a free Vegas Vacation by taking advantage of both coupons and new Member Promotions that were available at that time:
I strongly recommend that anyone looking to do that read said Article and apply the same principles as they can be used to generate the Expected Cost of a vacation based on the Expected Value of going around and collecting a bunch of offers, but for many people, going around and signing up for Player's Club cards everywhere (as is usually required to take advantage of coupons, and obviously, new Player promotions) is hardly ideal.
This is a concept that holds true both with respect to Online Casinos as well as Brick-and-Mortar (Land-Based) casinos, and is much akin to the old adage that, 'He may be Mr. Right Now, but that doesn't make him Mr. Right." Again, I went through Vegas and obtained Player's Club cards at the applicable casinos specifically for the purpose of writing the above-linked Article, but in many ways, I have come to wish that I had not done that. The reason why is because while most (if not all) casinos generally have a new member promotion of some kind going on at all times, said Promotion will often not be the best that they have ever done or will do.
The best way to ensure that you, as a player, are taking advantage of promotions for either casino type at the right time is to research the history of the casino's promotions using the resources available to you at our network of sites. When considering whether or not to sign up for a new card somewhere, or whether or not to take advantage of an Online Casino Promotion, it is absolutely critical that you look at the history of promotions offered by the casino in question to determine if they have offered better promotions previously. After making this determination, it is important to ascertain whether or not such promotions tend to be offered frequently.
For instance, imagine you happen to be passing through a particular area and a casino is offering a New Member sign-up Bonus of $25 in Free Play just for signing up for a new card. Granted, such a Promotion is far from terrible, but imagine if that same casino seems to offer a Loss Rebate promotion of $500 at least once a year. In this case, the most prudent decision, by far, would be to hold out for the next time they offer the loss rebate. It is true that it may never happen again, and after a few years, you may reasonably decide that it is not going to, but you will achieve so much value on the rare occasions that extremely lucrative offers happen again that it is worth occasionally losing the opportunity to take advantage of a lesser offer.
This is one reason, for example, that looking at the history of a casino is important. If you will forgive me for looking locally here, Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack has offered a new Member sign-up Bonus of $20 Free Play, plus an additional $5 for providing an E-Mail address, for no fewer than the last five years. In the meantime, two of their closest competitors, The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington, PA and Hollywood Casino Columbus in Columbus Ohio have offered Loss Rebates for New Members of $1,000 and $500, respectively. While this has been going on, Wheeling Island has never moved off of their $20 New Member offer. Furthermore, the Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland (now fully owned by Dan Gilbert and re-branded as JACK Casino) once offered to double any casino's direct mail offer to any new player's club member (of Total Rewards) and that occurred back in late 2012 to early 2013, as I recall. Once again, Wheeling Island did not move off of their long-standing and ongoing offer.
That is not to suggest that WI will not offer something more lucrative than their current new member promo in the future, but is rather to merely suggest that I very highly doubt it. When faced with direct competition over the last several years that have offered extremely strong promotions, Wheeling Island has persisted in not altering their long-standing offer in any way whatsoever.
In the meantime, for someone that does not have a Rewards Card at Meadows, they do not seem to be offering anything at all for new players that is not being offered for anyone else as of the time of this writing. As a result of this, if I were a new visitor to Meadows Casino, I would definitely take a pass on obtaining a Player's Club card as I know that they offered that $1,000 Loss Rebate just over a year ago and might do so again.
Some long-standing offers, however, are quite lucrative and cannot reasonably be expected to get any better. Perhaps the best example of this is the Plaza Casino in Las Vegas with their $500 first day loss rebate for new Members. They have steadfastly stood by this Promotion just as staunchly as has Wheeling Island with their $20 Free Play, and I would definitely take advantage of the Plaza Promotion if I were in town for a few days.
Online Casinos can be a little different in this regard, unfortunately. If you happen upon a strong offer from a reputable and well-established Online Casino, then I would be inclined to take advantage of it as soon as possible because, and you can ask anyone (such as the owner of this site) who played the promotions a decade or more ago, the Promotions are unlikely to improve. Unfortunately, Terms & Conditions are becoming less favorable for those looking to, 'Bonus Whore,' and playthrough requirements are becoming ever more arduous these days.