One important aspect of online casinos is the concept of a playthrough requirement (PTR). The PTR of an offer can be an important factor in how valuable it could be for a player.
During a recent trip to Detroit, we spent a bit more time evaluating some of the offers we encountered. Upon closer inspection, some weren’t as exciting as they could be.
For instance, we received a free spins offer from one of the sites. The offer was 10 free spins at the 20 cent bet level. After accepting the offer and completing the spins, we ended up winning 33 cents (woohoo – we guess?).
But wait! We didn’t, because to actually keep any of the money we then needed to play through that 33 cents 10 times. But with most games costing 20 cents a spin, two losing spins in a row meant that was gone.
It was a bit baffling – why did we need to play through this 10 times?
Another one was even worse – we were asked to do $40 in spins to get a $10 bonus. However, to keep any of that $10 bonus, we had to do $250 of spins, and hopefully keep some left behind. On a slot that pays 96 percent, the expected loss on $250 is… $10.
So they’re basically banking on the fact that most people won’t be able to keep any of it, and they’ll make some extra money on any losses on those initial $40 in spins.
Playthrough requirements make sense to a certain extent. When you get a deposit bonus of 50% or 100%, it makes sense you have to do some amount of spins to keep it. Even when you receive a bet and get sort of bonus, having a 1x playthrough requirement can make sense.
But when you’re getting into 10x and beyond, at some point it begins to feel a bit cheap. You’re certainly trying to make money, and entice players to play, but if you’re making it exorbitant to get there it may not be worth playing there in the first place.
Some of the sites are very good at bet and get offers tending to be 1x playthrough – and that seems fine, just like it would be if a casino gave you free play. It also makes sense it could be higher on deposit bonuses than bet and get.
25x after you already had to do 4x to receive it to begin with feels unnecessary, and has us watching that much more carefully going forward for what is being offered and what is required.
