Wagering Requirements Explained, With Real Numbers

What wagering requirements are

A wagering requirement is the amount you need to wager before bonus funds become cash that can be withdrawn. It is written as a multiplier: 30x, 40x, 45x.

That is pretty much all that needs to be explained, and it is where most explanations stop. The issue is that a multiplier on its own tells you nothing, because one casino can publish 35x and be twice as expensive as a competitor publishing the same 35x. The multiplier has to be applied to something, and casinos do not apply it to the same thing.

How to calculate a wagering requirement

Let us take a look at the whole calculation for a 100 deposit with a 100% match bonus.

Turnover means total stakes placed rather than money lost. A 4,000 requirement cleared at 1 a spin is 4,000 spins, and most of those stakes come back as small wins that get staked again.

All the figures on this site use the top half of that table as a benchmark: what a 100 deposit carries when it draws the advertised match. It is a completely fair comparison, since it holds the deposit constant and transforms a marketing percentage into a number you can put next to another number.

Two things the calculation does not indicate are explained further down the page: how much of each stake actually counts, and how time constrained the offer is.

Wagering requirements are applied to two different bases

This is the most important information you will find here. Of the 88 casinos we have in our database, 60 apply the multiplier to bonus funds only and 16 apply it to the bonus and your deposit together. The same wording on the banner, twice the work.

Take a look at the 35x column and the 50x column together. A 35x requirement on the bonus and the deposit is 7,000. A 50x requirement on the bonus funds only is 5,000. The casino with the lower multiplier is asking for 40% more staking, and a player comparing the two banners would pick the wrong one every time.

Our own roster has a worked example of exactly that. RooStake publishes 35x, which sounds mid-table, and applies it to bonus plus deposit against a 300% match. That comes to 14,000 of turnover on a 100 deposit, the third dearest figure on the site. Flush also has a 35x requirement and comes in at 13,125. In contrast, eight casinos have a 35x requirement on the bonus funds and sit at 3,500.

The bases have plain-English names in the terms documents, and knowing these names saves time:

• "35x the bonus amount" or "35 times the bonus" means bonus funds only. This is the cheaper arrangement.
• "35x the deposit and bonus", "35 times (D+B)" or "the qualifying deposit and amount of bonus given" means both. This doubles the cost at a 100% match, and more than doubles it below 100%.
• Occasionally a casino applies the multiplier to the deposit alone. It is rare and it usually appears with no-deposit or cashback offers rather than matches.

What wagering requirements look like across 88 casinos

Explanations of this subject are usually presented in a vacuum, with no data. Here is ours, and it comes from reading the terms rather than from an industry average.

75 of the 88 casinos publish a multiplier. Turnover can be worked out for 68 of them, because a further seven publish a multiplier without a match percentage to apply it to.

There are three valuable interpretations of that table.

• 40x is the market default, not a warning sign. 44 of the 75 casinos that publish a figure publish 40x. A reader who treats 40x as greedy will reject most of the market; the sensible reaction is to check the base.
• The median cost is 4,800 across the 68 casinos whose terms allow the sum. Anything materially under that is cheap, and anything over 8,000 is in the top ten percent for cost, where seven casinos sit.
• 19 casinos land on exactly 4,000. That is 40x on a 100% match applied to bonus funds, which is the single most common bonus on the internet. Recognising it saves you reading the same terms twice.

At the extremes, the cheapest offer requiring any wagering at all works out at 1,500 of turnover, and the most expensive at 18,000. That creates a twelvefold spread inside one market, and it is invisible from the banners. Our low wagering casino bonuses page is where you can find the cheap end of it.

Game contribution changes the sum again

The requirement assumes that every 1 you stake is equal to 1. This is not usually the case.

Casinos publish a contribution table stating how much of the wager each game type counts towards. Slots typically count as 100%. Everything else counts for very little.

Rates in the middle column are the ones that recur most often in the terms we have read. Individual casinos differ, and the contribution table is always on the bonus terms page rather than the promotion.

The difficult thing to understand is the 0% row. If the game you choose to play counts nothing towards the wagering, the bonus is not expensive, it is impossible, and no amount of play will convert it. Crash games and dice are the usual casualties at crypto casinos, which is somewhat awkward when the same casino advertises them as a headline category.

Under the contribution table there is often a second list, where individual titles are excluded from bonus play entirely. These lists can be very long. One of the casinos in our database publishes 741 exclusions, including sixteen entire studios and its own branded games.

The rates above are the ones that recur, but no casino is obliged to use them. Our game contribution guide sets the published tables of six casinos side by side, and below the slots row they agree on almost nothing: live casino runs from 50% at one operator to completely removed at two others.

The clauses that sit on top of the requirement

To determine whether a requirement is realistic, there are four other rules to consider. None of them ever appear on a banner, and all four are found in the bonus terms.

• The maximum bet while a bonus is active. Usually 5 in the account currency, sometimes less. Exceed it once and the bonus and its winnings can be voided, which is the single most common reason a player loses a cleared bonus. The max bet rule guide lists what nine casinos here allow, and the spread across them is tenfold.
• The time limit. Anything from 48 hours to 60 days across the casinos we have read, with a median of 7 days. A 48-hour window on an 8,000 requirement at a 5 maximum stake is a demanding two days, and we have seen exactly that combination published. The bonus terms guide charts every published window beside the clause that sits with it.
• The win cap. Many casinos limit what bonus play can pay out, often to a multiple of the bonus. Anything above it is forfeited however the wagering went, and the max cashout guide shows the ceiling eight casinos here publish on the same 100 deposit, from 100 up to 1,000.
• The forfeiture rule. Requesting a withdrawal before the requirement is met normally cancels the bonus and everything won with it. Some casinos also charge a fee on a deposit withdrawn without being staked once.

None of these rules are hidden. They are all published, and they are all on the second page that no player ever bothers to open.

What clearing a requirement actually looks like

A number like 4,000 keeps its abstract feel until you convert it into time at the machine.

400 spins an hour is a common rate for autoplay on a standard slot. The hours are playing time rather than elapsed time, and every one of them is exposed to the house edge.

The table shows why a max bet rule is needed at all. Clearing at the maximum permitted stake is dramatically faster, so casinos cap the stake to prevent it. It also shows why a short time limit is more punishing than a high multiplier: you can beat a big number with big stakes, and the max bet clause removes that option.

To be frank about expectation, staking 4,000 on a slot with a 96% return would put the expected loss at around 160 along the way. That is the real cost of the bonus, and it is why a lower requirement is worth looking for rather than a bigger headline percentage.

Wagering requirements on free spin winnings

Free spins also have their own multiplier, and most players miss it. Winnings from spins are most often credited as bonus funds, which means they carry a requirement of their own before they convert.

Three patterns turned up in the terms we read:

• The same multiplier as the cash bonus. The most common arrangement. 30 free spins paying 12 in winnings at 30x means 360 of turnover on the winnings.
• A separate, often higher multiplier for spin winnings, stated in the promotion rather than the general terms.
• No wagering at all, with spin winnings paid straight to the cash balance. This is rare, it is worth far more than the spin count implies, and casinos that do it tend to say so loudly.

There is usually a maximum amount that can be won from a spin bonus too, and sometimes it is a fixed amount per bonus. When comparing packages on spin count alone, the multiplier on the winnings and that cap matter more than the difference between 100 spins and 200. Our 100 free spins page records both figures per casino where the operator publishes them.

Casinos with no wagering requirements at all

They exist but they are unusual. Five of the 88 casinos in our database publish a welcome offer with no wagering attached to it.

It is a case of quantity versus certainty. A no-wagering offer is usually smaller in cash terms, or arrives as cashback or as spins whose winnings pay straight out, because the casino has no play-through protecting it. The trade-off is peace of mind: whatever you win is money, immediately, with no clause between you and it.

A good example is a small no-wagering offer set against a large 40x one. A 50 no-wagering bonus is worth 50 in cash. A 200 bonus at 40x needs 8,000 of staking to be worth anything at all, and the expected cost of that staking on a 96% slot is around 320. Bigger headline, smaller value.

Non-sticky offers sit in between and are well worth knowing about. A non-sticky offer keeps your cash separate from the bonus, so you play the cash first, and if you win you can withdraw without touching either the bonus or its requirement. It is the fairest structure in the market and only a handful of casinos run it.

Comparing two bonuses in sixty seconds

Everything above boils down to a simple routine. Instead of opening the promotion, open the bonus terms page and look out for five specific numbers.

1. The multiplier. One number, usually stated in the first three lines.
2. The base. Bonus only, or bonus plus deposit. This is the one that doubles the answer, so if you read nothing else, read this.
3. The qualifying deposit. The smallest deposit that triggers the offer. If it is not published, assume you will find out at the cashier.
4. The time limit and the max bet. Together they decide whether the number is achievable at all.
5. The win cap. The ceiling on what the whole exercise can pay.

Then do the calculation from the top of this page and compare the two turnover figures rather than the two percentages. Our money pages publish that figure for every casino they rank, which is the whole reason they exist: the 100% deposit bonus page ranks the most common offer type on cost, and the crypto casinos page does the same for coin-funded accounts.

Mistakes that cost people money

• Comparing multipliers across different bases. The mistake this whole page exists to prevent. 35x can be dearer than 50x.
• Reading a package total as a first-deposit figure. A "550% welcome package" is often four deposits added together. What matters is what deposit one pays.
• Assuming the game you like counts. Check the contribution table and the excluded titles before the first spin rather than after it.
• Exceeding the max bet once. It voids bonuses that were otherwise cleared, and the clause is enforced retroactively at withdrawal.
• Depositing more to "unlock" more bonus. A larger deposit at the same percentage raises the requirement in exact proportion. It buys a bigger number, never a better deal.
• Ignoring the clock. A 30-day window and a 48-hour window on the same multiplier are different products.

Wagering requirements questions

What are wagering requirements? How do you calculate a wagering requirement? What is a good wagering requirement? Do all games count towards wagering requirements? Do free spin winnings carry wagering requirements? Can you withdraw before meeting the wagering requirement? Are there casinos with no wagering requirements?

About the author

Ana Petrescu

Bonus terms editor, CasinoFinderHub - Bucharest

I maintain the bonus data behind this site. That means reading welcome offer pages and terms documents, recording the match percentage, the ceiling, the qualifying deposit and the wagering line, and re-reading them when operators change the numbers without saying so.

Every figure on this page comes out of that database rather than from an industry average. The base distinction in the middle of the page is the thing I would most like readers to take away, because it is the mistake I see repeated in every comparison table that lists a multiplier and stops there.

Play safely

Understanding how wagering requirements work will help you be a better informed shopper. It does not change the arithmetic of the games themselves, which have a house edge whether or not a bonus is attached.

Think of the requirement as the price of the bonus rather than as a target you need to reach. Make use of the tools the casino provides, and set a deposit limit before you claim anything. Free, confidential help is available from BeGambleAware, Gambling Therapy and Gamblers Anonymous.