Wagering Requirements Explained

Many first-time gamblers are left puzzled after registering with an online casino and claiming a welcome bonus to discover that they can’t withdraw their money after a few bets. In fact, they’re often disappointed after flicking back through the terms and conditions to realise that they have to fulfil something called wagering requirements before they can withdraw their bonus.

Similar to the way all casinos have welcome bonuses to tempt new customers, all such promotions have special terms. Let’s have a look into wager requirements and understand why casinos have to put them in place.

What Are Wagering Requirements?

Wagering requirements go hand-in-hand with deposit bonuses. They’re a multiplier that indicates the number of times you must wager your bonus before being able to withdraw it.

Wagering requirements apply as soon as you deposit money and accept a bonus. While some casinos allow their players to withdraw at any time, forfeiting the bonus money in the process, others ban players from withdrawing anything until they’ve successfully met the requirements.

Although it seems tempting, you don’t have to accept a bonus, and in some cases, it makes perfect sense to do so.

How Do They Work?

Wagering requirements are associated with deposit bonuses. However, it’s up to the casino to decide how lax or strict those requirements are supposed to be, and they can greatly vary among different online casino sites.

Generally, though, you will need to wager your bonus either 20, 35, 40, 45, 60 or more times as part of the wagering requirement.

However, it’s important you don’t just look at the multiplier as some casinos require players to wager their bonus and deposit combined.

For example, if you deposit £50 and claim a bonus of 100% of up to £100, you’ll receive an extra £50 in bonus money. If the casino’s terms and conditions state players need to wager the bonus 50 times, you will need to wager £2,500 (£50 x 50) before being able to withdraw.
Some casinos require players to wager their deposit and bonus combined. So, if you deposit £50 and claim a bonus of 100% of up to £100, you’ll receive a £50 deposit. However, if the wagering requirement is 25 times the bonus and deposit combined (£50 + £50 = £100), you’ll need to wager £2,500 (£100 x 25).

While both examples equal the same amount, you can see how they’re calculated differently and, more importantly, how they can be worded differently in the terms and conditions.

Completing Wagering Requirements

Now you know a little more about the wagering requirements, it’s important to understand how to complete them because it isn’t simple. To earn the bonus money, players will need to place bets on various casino games and reach the total value of their wagering requirement. Every bet made is deducted from the player’s wagering requirement, but this is where it gets a little confusing.

Each pound wagered doesn’t automatically deduct a pound from the player’s wagering. This is because each casino game has different wagering terms and some games don’t even subtract from your wagering.

Odds and Casino Games

As mentioned above, each casino game has different terms when it comes to wagering requirements. This is purely based on their odds. For example, most online casinos have their slot machines offer a 100% wagering deduction, meaning for every £1 wagered, £1 is removed from your wagering.

However, table games are much less likely to offer the same term. They may only deduct 10 or 30% of the player’s wagering. Other games that have a low house edge, such as roulette or blackjack, don’t contribute at all to your wagering.

What you also have to remember is that, while most slots offer better wagering terms than other casino games, the percentage can vary depending on the game. For example, NetEnt’s Bloodsuckers slot usually doesn’t deduct anything from wagering due to its high RTP (Return to Player).

If players are looking to complete their wagering, they’re safer playing on slot machines although it’s important to check the deduction percentage before playing the game.

Why Do Casinos Have Wagering Requirements?

Well, think of it this way. If the casinos didn’t have any wagering requirements, sooner or later players with bad intentions would start gaming the system. Signing up with different email addresses using credit cards, the casino’s door would be wide open to abuse.

There have been instances in the past where players opened an account, received the bonus, and cashed out after a few rounds, and it proved to be a real challenge for the online gambling market.

At Casinostoplay.com, we think wagering requirements are a valid mechanism to provide an incentive to players as long as they’re fair. If casino site’s want you to wager bonus money more than 50 times, then we usually wouldn’t recommend them on our website.

Spotting Wagering Requirements

With new regulations introduced by the UK Gambling Commission, spotting wagering requirements have become easier than ever before. All regulated operators are now required to show the special terms just below their welcome offers. Please make sure to have a look at them before signing up to avoid any form of disappointment.

Free Spins No Wagering

It’s a common misperception that wagering requirements only apply to deposit bonuses and not free spins and it’s the reason why the UK Gambling Commission frowns upon the term ‘free’ spins.

Just like bonus money, ‘free’ spins need to be wagered a certain amount of times before players can withdraw the winnings from them. The exact requirements depend on the casino and the specific game, but we think it’s important that you are aware of the general rules.

However, there’s good news! Rizk offers players free spins with no wagering requirements applied to them. Any winnings generated from the spins can be withdrawn immediately. No strings attached!

Are Bonuses Worth It?

After reading through all of this, you might be left wondering if there’s any point in claiming a bonus. Well, that’s entirely up to you. Many players see the bonuses as a waste of time and prefer to avoid them so they can play with their own money and withdraw whenever they want. Other players, however, enjoy the challenge of meeting a wagering requirement.

It’s important to read through the terms and conditions before claiming a bonus and calculating how much you’ll be able to withdraw after meeting the wagering requirements. Will you win an extra £100? Or will it be something smaller like £20?

Work it out and see if it’s worth completing the wagering requirements.