A Guide To Mastering Wagering Requirements in Online Casinos

Understanding how a wagering requirement at online casinos works is essential. Learn how it works and what differentiates wagering structures to increase your chances of withdrawing winnings from your bonus. In this guide, we at Australian Gambling Online will take you through all the details of a wagering requirement, and give you some tips on how to master it.

What Are Wagering Requirements?

The wagering requirement is the number of times you must wager through your casino bonus, deposit, or both before the bonus funds get converted into real cash. This is important because only real cash can be withdrawn from the casino.

A casino’s wagering requirement can work in multiple ways, and we’ll soon explain the different structures. But before that, you should know the standards for the casino industry: if you wager through only bonus funds the standard is 35x wagering, while it’s 30x wagering that’s considered standard if you wager both the deposit and the bonus.

If the wagering requirement of a bonus aligns with the standards, you have a fair chance to complete it. When it’s higher, your chances lessen, so the likelihood of you managing to withdraw winnings from the bonus decreases. Then, naturally, with a lower wagering requirement, you have a high chance of cashing out winnings.

In other words, the wagering requirement decides your chances of converting bonus money into real money. This is why paying attention to this specific term before deciding which bonus to claim is crucial. Other bonus terms are also important, but the turnover you need to meet is one that greatly determines if the bonus is good or not.

Why Do Online Casinos Use Wagering Requirements?

Casinos add a wagering requirement to their bonuses for one reason: to decrease the likelihood of you being able to withdraw money from the bonus. Without this bonus term, all players would cash out bonuses, and the casino would lose money.

From a casino’s perspective, a bonus isn’t given for you to win free money. It’s for you to come to the casino and enjoy yourself. You’re meant to try new games and use their services. Of course, it’s also given to reward regular players and increase your loyalty to them.

That you should win from the bonus isn’t the casino’s goal – but it’s a risk they’re willing to take. Only a fairly small percentage of players who receive a bonus will convert the bonus funds to withdrawable cash. And, if this happens to you once in a while, it will lead to you returning to the casino for more bonus offers in the future.

So for the casino, it’s beneficial in the long run that some players win from the bonuses, but they need to have bonus terms, like a wagering requirement, to ensure it doesn’t happen too often. If it did, the cost associated with offering bonuses would be a net loss for the casino.

Types of Wagering Requirements

There’s more than just one type of wagering requirement at online casinos. Therefore, you must thoroughly read the bonus terms. This is the only way to understand your specific bonus at your chosen casino.

We’ll now explain how the most commonly found wagering requirements work, so you know what you must do before you’re allowed to withdraw bonus winnings. Learn more about the necessary wagering for bonuses at a specific casino by reading our in-depth casino reviews.

Wager Only Your Bonus Funds

The most common form of bonus wagering is the one that’s applied to only your bonus funds. If you for example get a 100% bonus of up to $1,000, and it has a wagering requirement of 35x, the wagering requirement from a $1,000 deposit will be $35,000.

Typically, you’ll start by playing with your deposited money. The bonus funds will only be used if you lose your real money balance. At this point, the bonus wagering starts, and once that happens, you won’t be able to request a withdrawal until the wagering requirement has been completed.

If you never start using the bonus funds but instead win from your real money balance, you can forfeit the bonus. When canceling it you’re left with only real money in your account, and you can request a withdrawal.

Wager Your Deposit and the Bonus

Some casinos immediately blend your real money and bonus funds and tie a wagering requirement to all of it. For example, if you get a 100% bonus of up to $1,000 with a 30x (often listed as 30x d+b) wagering, and deposit $1,000, your wagering requirement will be $60,000.

Even though the total amount you need to wager before the bonus is completed is high, it’s not as bad as it sounds. The reason for this is that you’ll start the bonus wagering straight away. This gives you a larger balance while playing to convert the bonus.

The downside is that all your money is tied to the wagering requirement. Some casinos might let you cancel the bonus and withdraw the real money portion, but most won’t.

Wager Your Free Spins Winnings

If you get free spins, the wagering requirement is tied to the winnings. The value of the bonus you get, as in the value of the spins multiplied by the number of spins, has no impact on the wagering requirement. Only the winnings from your spins matter.

Therefore, you won’t know how much you need to wager before you convert the bonus into real money. You need to play the spins before the required turnover is determined. If you’re lucky and win a lot, it will be a large amount you need to play through. If you’re unlucky and only win a small amount, the required turnover will be correspondingly low.

Unlock the Bonus by Wagering Your Deposit

A new type of bonus wagering that has emerged in the last few years is one where you need to unlock the bonus by wagering your real money. The way this works is that you start by depositing into your casino account. The bonus can be a typical 100% bonus of up to $1,000. The wagering requirement can be, for example, 35x the bonus amount or 30x the bonus and deposit.

So for a $1,000 deposit, you need to wager either $35,000 (if it’s only the bonus amount), or $60,000 (if it’s bonus and deposit wagering). Once this has been completed, the bonus of $1,000 will be credited as real money to your account.

The great benefit of this type of bonus wagering is that you know you’ll get the bonus. Most casinos will allow you to make several deposits if you can’t reach the needed wagering with just the first deposit. Then again, the downside is that you might be tempted to make more deposits than you planned just to claim the bonus.

Tips for Mastering Wagering Requirements

The first thing you need to ensure if you want to give yourself the best possible chance to complete the wagering requirement is to choose a bonus with a low requirement. Avoid bonuses that need a high turnover, as it lessens your chances of fulfilling it.

Next, choose games with a high RTP and preferably a low volatility. A high RTP will ensure that the game pays out a large portion of bets made as winnings. A low volatility will mean you’ll win a small amount often, which leads to your balance keeping more or less stable over time.

You can switch to a game with higher volatility if you have a large amount in your balance. Some large wins can ensure you have enough bankroll to see the wagering through to the end.

Common Pitfalls To Avoid

The most common pitfall when wagering through a bonus is not sticking to the bonus terms. For example, if you bet more than the bonus terms allow, the casino can cancel your bonus and debit your winnings. To avoid this, read the fine print in the terms.

Another common mistake is to bet too large a portion of your bankroll per spin or game round. Typically, we recommend that you bet a maximum of 1% of your bankroll per spin when you play pokies. When wagering a bonus, it’s recommended that you not exceed 0.5%. After all, to successfully wager through the necessary amount, you need to play for a long time and to accomplish this you should play it safe.

How to Spot a Good Bonus With Fair Wagering Requirements

To evaluate the quality of a bonus, there’s no way around reading the bonus terms. Look for a bonus with a low wagering requirement. Anything at or below 35x the bonus amount of 30x the bonus and deposit are considered good.

The bonus structure is also important. If you need to wager both the bonus and the deposit, then this is only beneficial for a match bonus of 100% or more. If the bonus percentage is less, always opt for a bonus where you only need to wager bonus funds.

Also, look at more than just the wagering requirement when choosing a bonus. Pick a bonus with a high, or no, maximum win cap. You should also ensure that the wagering contribution is high on the game type you want to play. Finally, ensure that the maximum bet allowed aligns with your betting strategy.

Conclusion

A wagering requirement is a necessary evil at online casinos, and since you can’t get around it, you should ensure that it’s as little of a hindrance as possible. You need to be aware of the wagering structure, so you know when your wagering starts and how much you need to turn over before your bonus money converts to real withdrawable money.

Even though the wagering requirement gets a lot of attention when a bonus is evaluated, it’s not all that matters. Never ignore the other bonus terms, as they are equally important when assessing the quality of a bonus. Also, stick to best-practice recommendations, like the ones listed on this post, to increase the likelihood of completing a bonus so you can withdraw some more or less free cash.