Wagering Requirements: The Definitive Guide
Whenever you claim a casino bonus or a promotion, you will find out that you will need to complete wagering requirements.
In this article, we will show you what wagering requirements are, why they are in place and how can you make the best of your bonuses.
Read more to find out how to beat the wagering requirements and how can you choose the best casino out there.
What are Casino Wagering Requirements?
Right from your first steps into the online gambling world, you will encounter the term “wagering requirements”.
You registered an account at an online casino that had a great bonus, you made the minimum required deposit to claim the promotion and now you find out that you can’t withdraw your money just yet.
The wagering requirements or the playthrough conditions represent the amount of money (usually the bonus + the deposit) multiplied by a number of defined times that a player needs to gamble (wager) before he can withdraw any potential wins.
This bonus will usually be kept in a separate wallet in your player account and will only become available once you complete the playthrough requirements. There are some exceptions to this rule, one being a wager-free bonus and the other a cashback bonus.
Please note
If you fail to complete the wagering requirements in the given amount of time and under certain conditions, you will lose the bonus and the wins you got from gambling it up to that point.
Wagering Requirements and Other Special Conditions
Put simply, playthrough requirements are the number of times you need to wager the bonus as presented above.
For example
Let’s say that you claimed a match-up bonus of %100 of up to $200 and you made the maximum claim.
This means that now you have $400 to gamble with. This bonus, however, has wagering requirements of 20x in place which means you multiply the $400 with 20 and you find out that you have to gamble no less than $8000 to be able to claim any wins.
That’s not all. Wagering requirements are more than the number of times you have to gamble the bonus and will include other conditions and special rules.
Eligible Games
Some bonuses will have special game requirements, meaning that you can only use them to play a specific set of games or even only a specific title. For example, free spins bonuses can only be used to play online slot machines or a special slot.
Game Contribution
Even if the terms and conditions of the specific first deposit bonus will not mention if the bonus is restricted to a couple of casino games, it might mention their contribution. Not all games have the same contribution towards the completion of wagering requirements.
Slots usually have the highest contribution of around 100% which means that 100% of the bets made while playing online slots will be counted towards the compilation of playthrough requirements.
However, games like Blackjack or Baccarat may only bring a contribution of 50% or 70% of the wagers.
Timeframes
To make things even harder, not only you will have to gamble the bonus a certain number of times, but you will also have to do it in a given amount of time, usually a couple of weeks or a month.
If you failed to complete the wagering requirements in time, you guessed it. The bonus and the potential wins will be lost.
Maximum Withdrawal Limits
Finally, you have completed the wagering requirements and you are now ready to claim your wins and you encounter yet another problem. Not all the wins are available to you. Some casinos will mention a cap for the wins obtained from gambling the bonus.
If you go above that line, you will only be able to withdraw up to the maximum limit, the rest of the wins will be voided.
Why Online Casinos Use Wagering Requirements
Online casinos are plain and simple businesses and just like any other business they don’t like giving things for free without having any sort of gain.
Bonuses are given away to attract new players and keep veterans loyal, however, without wagering requirements, gamblers will simply take the bonus and move to another website to repeat the process.
Recommendation
You can look at wagering requirements as a necessary evil, a safety net for the casinos to not go bankrupt. Even if what you read above may firstly seem unfair it balances out at the end of the day in both the favor of players and casino operators alike.
The gambling websites get new customers that gamble their bonuses and new players get to gamble with more money having more chances to win.
For those that do their research well and know how to beat the wagering requirements, claiming a bonus is quite profitable.
How To Beat Wagering Requirements
To beat the wagering requirements and emerge victorious with a couple of wins, you will need to keep some things in mind and even do a little bit of math.
At the end of the day, wagering requirements seem scarier than they are, and with a little bit of knowledge and careful picks, even players on a tighter budget can complete them.
First Rule: Read the Fine Print!
Finding a bonus is very easy since all online casinos on the market will offer a sort of a welcome bonus, whether it is a welcome match-up offer, a no deposit bonus, a free spins promotion, or any other sort of bonus.
Before you rush to claim the bonus, take some time and read the Terms & Conditions, both the general ones and the bonus-specific ones. If you fail to find the bonus-specific ones, contact customer support and ask them for a copy of the T&Cs.
These T&Cs will inform you about all the rules and conditions in place, like the wagering requirements which come attached to the bonus. If the conditions seem unfair or too much for you just move on to another bonus or casino.
Please note
Every gambling website is different and will have different Terms & Conditions when it comes to bonuses and wagering requirements.
Second Rule: Know your Budget and your Limits
Because the casino operator will have different wager requirements in place ranging anywhere from 1x to 99x. Any gambling website with wagering requirements between 1x and 25x is considered a low wagering casino, while everything above 55x is considered a high wagering gambling site. What’s in the middle is usually the market’s average.
If you are a high roller with plenty of time on your hands and a very large budget the choice is not that hard because you can pick whatever bonus you desire if it’s worth it for you.
However, casual players with a thinner wallet may want to stick to low wagering bonuses that can be completed easier and that are not so taxing for their balance.
It’s better to be able to complete the playthrough requirements and reap the benefits of the promotion than going over your limit and being unable to complete the conditions and losing the bonus.
Third Rule: Stick to the Rules
Once you finish reading the Terms & Conditions for the bonus you want to claim you will know all the rules you need to follow. Every online casino will have a myriad of games waiting for you to try them, from classics to shiny new titles.
Ignore the temptation for a while and stick to the eligible games with the higher contribution towards the wagering requirements completion. If slots contribute 100%, go and spin the reels.
You will also want to pick titles with an RTP (Return to Player Percentage) as higher as possible if the conditions allow you to pick the titles and do not restrict you to a certain game.
Remember
The higher the RTP the lower the house edge, which means you will lose less and the chance to win more while you complete the wagering requirements.
The Fourth Rule: Only Claim Bonuses That are Worth it
This is the most important section that separates novices from seasoned gamblers. Not every shiny bonus out there is worth claiming and knowing when to get a promotion and when to skip it will greatly improve your gambling experience.
We already mentioned the return to the player and the house edge.
The RTP is what you expect to get from playing a game in the long run taking into consideration the house edge.
All casino games will have a house edge that will vary from lower than 1% in some rare slots and can go over 15% or even 20% in some very risky games.
Example
Let’s take an online slot machine with an RTP of 98%. The other 2% left represents the house edge. If you play this slot for let’s say 100 spins for $1 per round you can expect to get back $98 which represents the return to player. The other 2% lost which means $2 remains to the casino as profit.
You may ask yourself how does the RTP matter when claiming a bonus?
Well, it matters because it will help do the math and find out if the bonus is worth it or not. Let’s suppose that you want to claim a 100% match-up bonus for up to $100. This bonus has wagering requirements of 20x but you are allowed to choose the games where to wager the total of $4000.
You find the game above with the 98% RTP and out of the $4000 you need to gamble overall, you can expect to lose in the long run the house edge of 2% which means around $80.
Now you go back to the bonus and withdraw the $80 lost from the total bonus of $200, leaving you with an estimated profit of $120.
You will have to do this math for every bonus you want to claim. If you get a profit when you draw the line it means that the bonus was worth it. If not, you need to keep searching for another bonus.
Final Thoughts
Bonuses and promotions are great, no matter if you managed to get a rare no wagering bonus or you still struggle with the wagering requirements.
If you follow the simple rules above, you will be able to make the best out of the bonuses you claim.
Now that you know everything there is to know about casino bonuses and their wagering requirements and also how to beat them, you can check out our top-rated casino page where you will find all the popular casinos and their bonuses displayed and see if one of them attracts you.