A promo code is a short string that attaches an existing offer to an account. That is the entire mechanism, and most confusion about codes comes from expecting more: a code does not create value, it selects a campaign that already exists and applies its terms to you.
Where a code is entered
A code can be entered at two moments, and they are not interchangeable. The first is at registration, in a field next to the account details — that is where a code tied to a sign-up campaign belongs, and it cannot be added after the account exists. The second is at the cashier or on the promotions page, where a code tied to a deposit or a running campaign is applied before the deposit is confirmed.
A sign-up code typed at the cashier does nothing, and a deposit code typed at registration does nothing. When a code is refused, check where it is being entered before checking whether it expired.
How far its power reaches
- Which of the welcome offers the account ends up on.
- Whether a deposit brings a match, a free bet or a package of spins.
- The size of an offer that would otherwise be credited at a standard rate.
- Access to a campaign that is not advertised on the public promotions page.
And what it cannot touch: the turnover condition on the offer, the minimum odds, the expiry window, or the rule that one account takes one welcome offer. Those belong to the campaign, not to the code, and no code lifts them.
Five reasons a code is refused
- Wrong field. The commonest one, and it looks identical to an expired code from the outside.
- Expired. Campaigns have end dates, and a code posted on a forum in March is usually one that ended in March.
- Already used. Most codes are one per account, and some are one per person, household or device.
- Not for this account. A code written for new registrations will not apply to an account that already exists, whatever else is true about it.
- Conditions not met when it is entered. A code tied to a minimum deposit is refused below that figure, and the message rarely explains that.
Codes and the welcome choice
The account takes one welcome offer, which is covered in the welcome bonus guide. A code entered at registration can decide which one it is. It cannot add a second, and it cannot reopen the choice once the first has been credited — so a code found a week afterwards has nothing left to attach to.
Sources, by reliability
Three places, in descending order of reliability: the operator promotions page and its own mailings; a partner site running an agreed campaign, which is what most published codes are; and everything else. Codes scraped onto aggregator pages are often dead, sometimes never existed, and are never worth an email address. No page here asks for payment or for account credentials in exchange for a code, and any page that does is not connected to Mozzart.
Reading the terms behind a code
The code is a pointer; the terms are the offer. Before entering one, three things are worth knowing: the turnover multiplier attached to whatever it credits, the minimum odds that decide which tickets count towards clearing it, and the deadline. The wagering guide sets out what each of them costs. If the terms behind a code are published nowhere you can read them first, it is not an offer but an advertisement.
Used properly, a code is worth a few minutes of attention and nothing more. It changes which promotion you are on, not how the site prices anything. The campaigns running now, and their codes where they exist, are on the bonuses hub.