Understanding Bonus Wagering Requirements

What are Wagering Requirements?

To avoid any confusion, let’s start with the very basics. First you have to know what a wager is, and that is simply a bet. In relation to an online casino, a wager is the amount that you bet on each spin or the reels, each hand of cards, each spin of the roulette wheel and so on. In short, it is the amount staked on a single game round.

However, to confuse matters, you will come across times when the word wager refers to the overall amount staked in a defined period of time. However, this will always be made clear.

Wagering requirements are a standard part of the terms and conditions attached to any casino bonus offer. They state that you must bet a certain amount of money before it is possible to withdraw bonus funds or collect any winnings resulting from the bonus.

How do Wagering Requirements Work?

The exact what that wagering requirements work will differ slightly from bonus to bonus, but the basic principles are the same.

If you are offered a deposit bonus, then you will have to wager the bonus amount a certain number of times before you can make a withdrawal. For instance, there may be a deposit bonus that comes with 30x wagering requirements.

This simply means that you will have to bet the bonus amount thirty times before you can withdraw. Sometimes, the wagering requirements may apply to the deposit amount plus the bonus amount rather than just the bonus amount.

There will also be wagering requirements attached to free spin offers. In this instance, the wagering requirements will apply to any winnings resulting from the free spins.

Calculating Wagering Requirements

It is not hard to calculate what the wagering requirements are for any given bonus offer. Take the example of a 100% deposit bonus with 30x wagering requirements on the bonus amount.

If you deposit €20 then you will receive a bonus of €20. All you have to do is 20 X the wagering requirement (30) and you have your answer, €600.

If the wagering requirements are on the deposit plus bonus amount, then the sum becomes €20 + €20 X 30, which equals €1200.

It may sound as if these numbers are incredibly high and you will have to spend a vast amount of money to meet the wagering requirements, but this isn’t necessarily the case. To begin with, you can use any winnings resulting from the bonus money to make bets, and if you bet carefully and have a bit of luck, then you could have money left over to withdraw once you have met the wagering requirements.

Why do Wagering Requirements Exist?

While wagering requirements may initially sound unfair, there are actually a number of good reasons for their existence. First of all, if they didn’t exist then people would likely just claim the bonus money, withdraw it from their account, and disappear, which would soon put the casinos out of business.

More importantly, wagering requirements are also needed so that casinos can prevent money laundering. If casinos didn’t have wagering requirements, it would be easy for criminals to launder funds by depositing and withdrawing straightaway.

Fulfilling and Overcoming Wagering Requirements

It is entirely understandable that you will want to accept casino bonus offers. They are a fantastic way of extending your bankroll and ensuring you have more funds to play with.

However, wagering requirements often have their own set of conditions attached, and it is vital that you understand them and then play accordingly. You should always start by reading the bonus’ terms and conditions carefully. You will quickly realise that there are many small details that you have to be aware of.

For instance, in addition to the basic wagering requirements, you may find that there is a minimum deposit required, that certain games are excluded from fulfilling wagering requirements, and that the requirements have to be fulfilled within a certain timeframe otherwise the bonus money will be removed from your account.

If you are not aware of all of these details and plan for them accordingly, you will most likely fail to meet the wagering requirements, which would be a great shame.

Planning the Finer Details

Not only may some games not contribute to wagering requirements at all, others may just contribute a percentage. For instance, only slots normally contribute 100% of your bet to wagering requirements. This means that if you bet €1, then €1 is knocked off the remaining amount that needs to be wagered. However, some table games, such as roulette, may contribute just 50%, meaning that just €0.50 from every €1 bet goes towards fulfilling the requirements. Therefore, when planning how to meet requirements, it is important to carefully consider which games you will be playing.

If you want to quickly meet your wagering requirements, then slots are the best option. However, you can be clever about which slots you choose to play. When choosing a slot you should pay attention to the volatility and the RTP percentage. In general, games that are high volatility will pay out large amount rarely. Therefore, if you are trying to meet wagering requirements it is a good idea to start with these types of games as they will give you the chance to grow your bankroll significantly.

Once your bankroll is looking healthy, you can switch to low volatility games, which pay out small amounts regularly. They will not eat into your bankroll as quickly and should allow you to keep more of your bankroll overtime.

It must be stressed, there will nearly always be a list of excluded games in a bonus’ terms and conditions, and this may well include some slots. It is vital that you take note of which games will not contribute to wagering requirements. For example, the following comes from Queenplay’s bonus policy:

“Bets placed on all versions of the following games will not count towards your wagering requirements: All Video Poker games, All Roulette games, All Quick Play games, All Blackjack games, All Rush games, Hi Lo Fever, All Baccarat games, 3 Card Poker, Blood Suckers, European Roulette, Football Studio, Jackpot 6000, Keno, Big Bang, Blood Suckers, The Wish Master, Dead or Alive, Lucky Angler, Jack Hammer 2, Cloud Quest, Tower Quest, Pearls of India, Treasure Island, Mega Moolah. If the player placed bets on any of the games mentioned above before the wagering requirements for the bonus have been met, we reserve the right to withhold any amount in excess of a player’s original deposit from a player’s withdrawal.”

To Conclude

When it comes to wagering requirements, there is certainly a lot to be aware of.  However, they are not really that difficult to understand. Furthermore, if you understand them properly, it makes it far easier to take advantage of casino bonuses and enjoy all that is on offer. Hopefully by now you have all the information you need to decipher the wagering requirements attached to any casino bonus and you can now head over to the casino and start claiming all the bonuses we have on offer.