All online casinos offer bonuses to new players. These may come in deposit matches, no deposit, or free slot spins. Whatever the method, each has a wagering requirement attached to it. The player must bet a set amount before requesting a withdrawal. The bonus expires if the player fails to meet the wagering requirement in the allotted time.
How Wagering Requirements Work
When a player accepts an online casino bonus, the operator requires a certain amount to be wagered before a cashout is permitted. If an online casino allowed players to withdraw without playing, the site would go bankrupt, making these promotions impossible.
Every bonus has a number next to its wagering requirement. It is sometimes called a playthrough or rollover. For example, BetMGM Casino, as of this writing, has a 15 times wagering requirement for its 100% up to $1000 bonus. For every $1 in bonus, $15 must be wagered to clear it.
With this example, the bonus is 100% up to $1000. This means that the bonus is equal to the deposit amount.
Depositing the maximum amount for the bonus gives the player a $1000 playthrough base. The wagering requirement is 15 times, which makes it $15,000. However, there are a few catches with this and most other online casino bonuses.
Bonus Requirements Usually Include the Bonus and Deposit Amount
BetMGM’s offer is actually more generous than some in one aspect: many casinos set their playthrough to incorporate both the bonus and deposit. If BetMGM did this, the wagering requirement would actually be $30,000, being 15x the total of the deposit and the bonus ($2,000, given $1,000 each for the deposit and the bonus). So it’s important to review which process a particular bonus follows.
The base wagering requirement typically only applies to games with the highest house advantage. Those are generally slots. Other games often have a higher wagering requirement. This is usually described as a wagering contribution put into percentages.
A site’s bonus terms may look like this:
- Slots: 100%
- Table games, except blackjack, and video poker: 20%
- Blackjack: 10%
- Baccarat, craps, and roulette: 0%
If a player chooses a table game like Let It Ride or Caribbean Stud Poker to clear the bonus, only 20% of the wager goes to the playthrough requirement. This means the base number must be multiplied by five. These games require $75 for every $1 in bonus, as opposed to $15 for slots.
Blackjack games only count 10% towards the wagering requirement. This means the base number must be multiplied by 10. In the example, the player must wager $150 for every $1 in bonus to clear it.
Baccarat, craps, and roulette are excluded from the bonus. These games may be played. However, the bonus does not clear. If the bonus expires before released, the winnings from these and all other games are usually forfeited.
Wagering Requirement Returns
Online casino bonuses increase the player’s return. The amount depends on the wagering requirement. The list below shows how much common playthrough amounts increase the player’s return as a percentage. The smaller wagering requirements are usually associated with no-deposit offers. The larger ones are usually deposit matches.
- 1x: 100%
- 2x: 50%
- 5x: 20%
- 10x: 10%
- 15x: 6.67%
- 25x: 4%
- 50x: 2%
- 75x: 1.33%
- 100x: 1%
- 150x: 0.67%
- 200x: 0.5%
- 250x: 0.4%
- 300x: 0.33%
- 400x: 0.25%
- 500x: 0.2%
If the bonus and deposit are combined to compute the base amount that must be cleared, divide all the returns by two.
The next step is identifying games where the bonus returns can flip in the player’s favor. For example, if you found a standard online blackjack game with a 200 times or lower wagering requirement using only the bonus, or one that combines the deposit and bonus that is 100 times or lower, it would return over 100%. The same applies to many video poker games like 9/6 Jacks or Better and Ultimate Texas Hold’em variants.
Some slot games return up to 97%, meaning a 30 times or lower playthrough can flip those games in the player’s favor. Variance is involved, so a player is not guaranteed to win in these scenarios. It just means that the player is a favorite.
Never Deposit More Than You Can Afford or Clear
While bonuses increase their chances of winning, it is far from a sure thing. Only deposit money that you can afford to lose. It is also important to learn how many days the bonus is active. Divide the wagering requirement for your favorite game by your average bet. This will tell you how many spins or hands you must play to satisfy the wagering requirement. If that number is impossible in the allotted time, deposit a lower amount. The money is lost forever if the bonus expires before the playthrough amount is met.
