Wagering Requirements Demystified

There are so many online casinos around nowadays that you need to be careful that you choose the best one if you want to sign up and play games somewhere. One of the aspects you are likely to want to check out is the presence of some promotions and bonuses. Each of those will come with a set of wagering requirements – unless you’re fortunate to find a casino promotion that offers a cap on winnings instead, with no wagering required.

Here, though, we are going to examine wagering requirements, and as the title says, we’re going to demystify the topic to give you better insight into how these requirements work.

What are wagering requirements?

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? These requirements are connected to plenty of casino offers and bonuses. They’re usually detailed in the small print, i.e., the terms attached to an offer. These may appear underneath the large print of the headline or on a separate page, reached via a link given to you underneath the offer.

The idea is that they prevent the casino from losing money by dishing out lots of bonuses to new and current players. Let’s set up an example, so we can see how the wagering requirements work.

Let’s say we visit an online casino and see a welcome offer giving a new player $25 as a no deposit bonus. This offer has a 10x wagering requirement attached to it. This means that we must multiply the $25 bonus by the wagering requirement, which gives us $250. This is the amount we must wager on the site before any winnings gleaned from the $25 bonus can be withdrawn.

There is usually a time limit on doing this, so you need to consider how it factors into things and whether it is a reasonable limit.

Make sure you work out the wagering requirement before claiming a bonus

This is important because you need to know whether the amount to be wagered is reasonable for you. Avoid high wagering requirements as they are usually impossible to meet. They may also cause you to spend far more than your budget would allow. Always keep your budget in mind when you’re considering a bonus and the connected wagering requirements. It’s easy to see the bonus and think that you’re getting a decent sum of bonus funds just for joining a casino or making a small deposit. However, when you factor in those wagering requirements, you can see there’s a lot more to think about. You could end up spending far more than you’re happy with or can afford.

Are wagering requirements fair?

They can be both for the player and the casino. It’s possible to find bonuses that don’t have them, but in this case, as we’ve already seen, they will likely cap the amount you can receive in winnings. If the casino didn’t do this, someone could use free bonus funds to win several prizes. If enough players did this, the casino would be out of business – and out of funds – in no time.

So, it’s not unusual to find them in place – far from it. In fact, it does make sense that you’d see them at a casino. However, they should be fair. Wagering requirements should be kept fairly low. Avoid anything that heads for 60x or above.

Focus on the slots when completing the wagering requirements

This is imperative if you get any choice about the games you can play. Most bonuses do let you play a range of slot games but check the small print to understand whether there are any exclusions. We wouldn’t suggest that you play progressive slots, but we have seen cases where games from certain game studios have been excluded. Some bonuses are far more limited in terms of the requirements, so don’t assume what you need to do in any case. Always check.

The reason why we suggest focusing on the slots is that they almost always contribute 100% towards the requirements. This means that the entirety of each wager you place will be deducted from the remaining amount you need to bet. For example, say you have $30 in bonus funds and the casino gives you wagering requirements of 5x. That’s super low, by the way, so we’ll use that for this example. Multiplying $30 by 5x gives us $150, so this is the amount you need to wager to complete the terms of the offer.

Assuming that slots contribute 100% each time, you might seek out a slot game and make a $2 bet on each spin. Every cent of each $2 bet would go towards wagering, so you’d need 75 bets to complete your progress.

Other casino games sometimes contribute as well, but by a far smaller percentage. We’ve seen table games contribute 20%, with some titles offering 10% or even less. This means it will take you far longer and cost far more to meet the wagering requirements.

Don’t assume the requirements for one bonus will be mirrored across a whole casino website

This is a common mistake to make. While there could be two or more bonuses on the same site with similar rules attached, there are likely to be some differences involved. You can apply the one rule you should always keep in mind here – never assume. Always check and read everything, and make sure you understand what you need to do to be able to withdraw any winnings you gain from a bonus.

We hope this guide has given you some insight into wagering requirements and how they work. Keep it in mind whenever you spot a new casino bonus of any type, so you know what to expect from it.