Understanding Casino Wagering Requirements

Casino bonuses virtually always come with wagering requirements, and understanding them will make it easier to find profitable offers.

The fundamental premise of a casino bonus is that the player is getting extra money for playing games they would be playing anyway. However, a key part of this premise is the “for playing games” part, and there are situations where many people would try to claim a bonus offer without actually placing a bet. This would make the promotions a major source of loss for the casino sites themselves, and they wouldn’t be able to run them at all as a result.

Wagering requirements (also known as play-through requirements) protect the sites from this type of abuse, and they protect all other players since these requirements allow casinos to run the promotions in the first place. By forcing players to actually play the games for a set amount before they’re allowed to cash out, it avoids these abusive situations.

A Basic Example of Casino Wagering Requirements

In order to prevent a loss of revenue, online casinos will often come up with wagering requirements for their bonuses. The objective here is clear: erasing the possibility of exploiting a mechanic which could result in the business losing money, rather than making it. For this reason, often when you join a new gambling website, you will notice that in order to be granted the Welcome Bonus, you will be required to put down a minimum deposit. Putting down a minimum deposit is the most basic of examples when it comes to casino wagering requirements. However, the question that any new players might be asking is, how are wagering requirements determined? Well, that takes some explaining, though it is overall a rather simple process.

Wagering requirements are typically a multiple of the bonus, the deposit, or both. For example, you might see a deal at an online gambling site, that has a 20x wagering requirement on both the deposit and the bonus for a 100 percent match. Players who deposit $40 would get a bonus of $40, and the wagering requirement would be 20 * $80, which comes to $1,600. Alternatively, depositing $100 with the same deal would yield a bonus also worth $100, and the resulting play-through requirement would be 20 * $200 for a total of $4,000.

Complications With Game Restrictions

Some games have different levels of play-through requirements, and that can make things seem a bit complicated. Other games might be restricted completely from play before a wagering requirement is completed. For example, consider a 150 percent match bonus on a deposit of $50 (for a $75 bonus) with a 20x base wagering requirement on the bonus and deposit for slots, but other requirements for additional games:

• For slots, the requirement is 20x, so it’s 20 * $125 or $2,500.

 

• Suppose the requirement for casino war is 50x. That would be 50 * $125, which comes to $6,250.

 

• If the requirement was 120x for blackjack, then that comes to 120 * $125, and that’s $15,000.

 

• Games like Blackjack, Roulette, and Baccarat may be restricted in contributing towards wagering requirements full stop because of the even bets available in these games with a low house edge that can easily be manipulated by players in order to easily meet wagering requirements.

 

• On most casino sites the wagering requirement will be consistent throughout all games, and to compensate, you will normally see “contributions towards wagering requirements” expressed as a percentage (%) for each game listed.

As you can see, the complications virtually disappear as long as you go step-by-step and look at each game individually instead of trying to do it all at one time. Trying to take on too many numbers at once can cause you to make simple mathematical mistakes.

There is another way to ensure that you do not become entangled in some sort of complication with a bonus. You could simply thoroughly read through the Terms and Conditions of the online casino and the bonus you have your eye on.

You will find this at every online casino or sportsbook. Look through their website or mobile app, and find the section labeled “Terms and Conditions”. Then, go to the bonus section of the terms and conditions. Once you’ve done so, read through the terms as many times as necessary to fully grasp how the bonus works.

Usually, the terms will explain precisely which games are affected by which bonuses. Which bonuses can’t be used on which games? And most importantly, how long you have until the bonus you are eligible for runs out. So, when dealing with bonuses at online casinos, always remember to thoroughly read through the Terms and Conditions for the best possible experience.

Profitability of Bonuses

Many might be wondering whether casino bonuses are worth it in the first place. Newbies especially, those who still don’t have the experience might be apprehensive about trusting the quality of a bonus. So, if you are new, or even if you just need to know a trick for determining profitability, let us give you some tips that can help you make a bigger buck.

A cool trick you can do with wagering requirements like these is to figure out how much you’ll lose on average, based on the house edge of the game you’re playing. For example, suppose we have a 100 percent match on a $100 deposit with a 20x play-through requirement for a slot that has a 2 percent house edge.

Our wagering requirement is 20 * $200, which is $4,000 total. If we take 2 percent of that amount, we see that we’ll lose $80 on average from clearing these requirements. Since we’re losing $80 on average to claim a $100 bonus, we’re making an average profit of $20.