What are Wagering Requirements?

If you have ever claimed an online casino welcome bonus or any other casino offer, then you should at least be familiar with the concept of wagering requirements. This guide will explain all you need to know about wagering requirements including how they work, how to achieve them, and what they can tell you about any casino bonus you may be considering.

Wagering Requirements

Also commonly referred to as rollover or playthrough, wagering requirements are a key component of almost all online casino bonuses and promotions. You see, when you claim a bonus, you aren’t allowed to simply cash out the bonus and be on your way.

Instead, you must jump through a few hoops that are laid out in the offer’s terms and conditions before you can withdraw your bonus money. One major term is the wagering requirement.

The wagering requirement simply refers to the number of times you must wager a given bonus amount. For instance, if you claim $100 in bonus cash that is subject to a 10X rollover, it means that you must wager the $100 bonus amount ten times before you can cash it out. In other words, you need to place $1,000 in bets. Of course, there are other terms and conditions as well. We will explain them further below.

Even though this tutorial focuses on bonus wagering requirements, you should know that wagering requirements usually apply to regular deposits too. Let’s say you deposit $100 without claiming a bonus. Most online gambling sites will require you to wager the deposit amount at least once before you can withdraw your winnings.

This is a tactic that casinos use to reduce the possibility of money laundering. You can usually find out about wagering requirements for regular deposits by checking out your online casino’s withdrawal policy which should be included in the site’s general terms and conditions.

How Most Bonuses Work

Before we get into the topic at hand, be warned that this guide makes multiple references to terms and conditions. In particular, reading and understanding them. We cannot understate the importance of the T&Cs. This is where your obligations are laid out, and they vary quite significantly from offer to offer. Failing to abide by just one rule often leads to the bonus becoming null and void. Pay close attention to them!

With that out of the way, let’s get back to our topic. There are three common types of welcome bonuses to be found at online casinos. They are:

Match Bonuses

Match bonuses are arguably the most common type of bonus. You can find a huge assortment of match deposit bonuses right here on our site. Just be sure to finish reading this tutorial before you claim one.

With match bonuses, the operator will match a percentage of your deposit up to a certain amount. For example, you might see a 100% match welcome bonus up to $500. This means that if you deposit $500, you’ll receive the maximum bonus amount of $500. If you deposit $100, you’ll receive an extra $100 in bonus cash. If you deposit $1,000, will get the max $500 bonus.

So, using the fictitious example of a 100% match bonus up to $500, we will deposit $500 so that we get the maximum bonus. The $500 we deposited gets credited to our regular account and is immediately available to play real-money games with. Meanwhile, the $500 in bonus cash goes into a separate bonus account. We cannot access the bonus cash…yet. We must first meet the terms and conditions of the bonus.

So, what are the terms of this fictional welcome bonus? This offer comes with the following basic requirements:

We do a bit of basic math to figure out that we will need to place $5,000 in wagers within a week. Furthermore, we can only play slots at no more than $5 per spin. Once we have met every requirement, the operator will take that $500 in the bonus account and transfer it to our regular account. We can now withdraw the bonus or use it to play more real money games.

Free Spins

Does playing real-money slots on someone else’s proverbial dime appeal to you? Many of our top online casinos offer loads of free spins. Some offer bonus cash and free spins. How do free spins bonuses work? It’s really quite simple. You make a deposit and the casino awards you free spins. The number of free spins usually correlates to the amount of your deposit. Let’s look at the following example.

You see a welcome bonus ad that says the casino will give you 100 free spins when you deposit at least $100. Being diligent, we check the terms and conditions which are highlighted by the following:

We deposit the $100 and the site gives us our 100 free spins on Starburst. After playing through all of the free tokens, we end up with a profit of $200. That money goes into the bonus account. We now have to dip into our regular account balance and wager 20 times the bonus win amount which adds up to $4,000. Once we have reached that plateau, the bonus cash is sent to the regular account and is eligible for withdrawal.

You should know that some of the best free spins offers do not come with any wagering conditions. Instead, any money you win from the freebies goes straight into your regular casino account with no strings attached. Again, you have to read the terms and conditions to learn these key tidbits of information.

Risk-Free Play

Risk-free play bonuses aren’t nearly as common as match bonuses or free spins, but more and more of our favorite online gambling sites are offering them. With these offers, the casino gives claimants a refund on any losses they incur during a pre-determined introductory period.

For example, you might see a 24-hour risk-free play bonus up to $1,000. This means the casino will return any net losses you amass during your first 24 hours. Well, they’ll refund up to $1,000 in net losses.

If you happened to end the first day with a net gain, then you walk away with your winnings and the offer is complete. If your first day ends with a $350 net loss, then you will receive a refund of $350. In some cases, the refund is considered bonus money and subject to wagering requirements. However, some operators will credit it as cash.

Using Wagering Requirements to Assess an Offer’s Real Value

There are a lot of great bonuses available right now at our top online casinos. Many of them are both generous and have player-friendly conditions attached to them. On the other end of the spectrum, some bonuses are simply not worth claiming. Even if the maximum bonus amount is impressive, high wagering conditions can make any offer a losing proposition.

Imagine that you see a 200% match deposit bonus up to $1,000. You check the terms and conditions to find that the 30X wagering requirement applies to both the deposit and bonus amounts. So, you deposit $500 to claim the maximum bonus amount.

Now you have to wager the $1,000 plus the $500 deposit amount 30 times. That adds up to $45,000. Is this something that you’re prepared to do? Remember, you only have $500 in your account. On top of that, is it really worth it?

If you place $45,000 in bets, and the average RTP of the games you play is, say, 95%, then you can reasonably expect to end up with about $42,750 after all is said and done. Granted, you might win a jackpot along the way or you might go broke, but the averages say that you would lose about $2,250 if you wagered $45,000 on games with a 95% return to player. In other words, you could easily spend $2,250 or more to earn a $1,000 bonus. That doesn’t work out in your favor.

Now, let’s take that same offer and apply a 10X rollover on just the bonus amount. Now you have to wager the $1,000 ten times which adds up to $10,000. That’s a lot more appealing. Using the same math and assuming you play games with an average RTP of 95%, you can expect the wagering requirements to cost you $500 to fulfill. Getting the $1,000 in bonus cash released results in a net gain of $500.

The key takeaway from this is that the wagering requirement is the most important component of a bonus offer. It can turn a good-looking bonus into a dud just as it can make a mediocre-sized bonus a very solid deal. Before you claim any offer, make sure you find out what the wagering requirements are. Do a little basic math so that you know what the ramifications of successfully completing the rollover are.

Game Weightings

This tutorial has discussed wagering requirements and how to meet them. However, there is still another layer to peel off of this onion. With most online casino bonuses, the terms and conditions state which games contribute to the wagering requirements.

For instance, some bonuses only allow claimants to reach the rollover by solely playing slots. Still, a lot of offers permit players to meet the wagering requirement by playing slots or table games.

The thing is, slots and table games typically don’t contribute equally to the rollover. While 100% of each slot wager may count, you will often find that only about 10% or so of every table game wager goes toward the rollover.

If you prefer to reach the rollover benchmark by playing games like blackjack or roulette, it’s going to require you to play a lot more rounds. As you would expect, you can find the list of eligible games in the offer’s terms and conditions. It will look something like this:

In this example, 100% of every bet you make on slots, Keno, or instant win games counts toward the wagering requirement while only 10% of every wager on blackjack, craps, and roulette count. Bets on live dealer games contribute nothing.

You may find that some offers have a long list of excluded slots and other games. Make sure you know what they are so that you don’t waste time and money playing a game that doesn’t affect the rollover.

No-Deposit Bonus Wagering Requirements

It isn’t hard to find no-deposit bonuses for online casinos. These offers don’t require any financial commitment such as a deposit. Instead, sites that offer no-deposit bonuses issue them for merely signing up. You might receive a bit of bonus cash to play with, you might get free spins, or you could find a no-deposit bonus that offers free spins and bonus cash.

These offers are pretty straightforward on the surface. You get your bonus cash and/or free spins, and you can keep any money you make provided you satisfy the wagering conditions and other terms of the offer. Watch out here! A lot of these offers require the claimant to make a deposit before they can cash out their winnings from the no-deposit bonus.

You will often see that no-deposit offers have more stringent terms and conditions than their match-deposit counterparts. This usually means higher wagering requirements and more restrictions. Nevertheless, these offers are usually pretty fair considering they allow you to play with house money.

Summary

Online casinos don’t give away money just to be generous. Bonus offers are designed to attract new players and retain existing ones. While you will find some of the best and biggest bonuses right here on this site, you have to look beyond the bonus amount.

In particular, you have to find out what the wagering requirements are and how they will affect your pursuit of the bonus cash. A bonus with a low wagering requirement will typically be a lot easier to cash in on than one with a high wagering requirement.

As a reminder, always check to see what the rollover applies to. Most times, it will only apply to the bonus amount. However, some operators apply the wagering requirement to the total of the bonus amount plus the total deposit amount.

This can effectively double the advertised wagering requirement which some may find to be deceptive. You won’t be deceived, though. After all, you are going to ensure that you fully comprehend what the terms and conditions are.