Online gambling explained: what is a bonus wagering requirement?
If you’ve ever played at an online casino, chances are you’ve come across the term ‘bonus wagering requirement’. Are you new in the online gambling world and confused about what this means? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. We’ve been contacted about this many times, and decided it was time to dedicate a post about this subject and answer all your burning questions. No need to worry about this ever again – after reading this article you’ll be an expert on the topic!
What is a casino wagering requirement?
Let’s start at the beginning. Most online casinos offer new players a generous welcome bonus. For example, if you deposit 100 euro, you’ll receive 100 euro bonus money. We’ve highlighted ‘bonus” to point out that you can have two different types of money in your player account: cash money and bonus money. The first is the money you will play with first and is generally money you can cash out (depending on the terms of the casino). The latter is money you will have to turn into cash money before you can actually withdraw it. The big question on your mind right now is probably: how do I turn bonus money in to cash money? That is exactly where the bonus wagering requirement comes in. The wagering requirement is the amount of times you have to wager (bet) the bonus amount before it turns into cash.
You might ask yourself why there are bonus wagering requirements at all. And the simple answer is: to protect the online casino. Imagine that there would be no terms for bonuses at all. Let’s say you start playing your favourite game but luck is not on your side and you lose your full deposit. What would stop you from simply cashing out the remaining 100 euro bonus? You wouldn’t loose a penny – but this wouldn’t be very favourable for the casino. Without certain bonus terms, online casinos would be out of business very soon.
How do you wager your bonus?
You can wager your bonus money by betting on games. Depending on the casino, some games will not count towards the wagering requirement and are excluded. The best way to explain how you can wager your bonus money is by giving an example. Let’s say you just deposited €20 in a casino, and you’ve received 100% bonus: thus €20. You have checked, and the bonus wagering requirement is 35 times. In order to turn your bonus in to cash money, you will have to bet €700. This mind sound like a lot, but it’s really not as daunting as it seems. Remember that whilst playing any game, you will win some and you will lose some. Reaching the wagering requirement might go a lot faster than you think. Let’s say for example that you like to play videoslots, and you bet €1 per spin. Every spin, 1 euro will be deducted from the remaining wagering amount. Once the wagering amount reaches 0, the remaining bonus amount will turn into cash money and is completely yours. So with a bit of luck on your side – you just got yourself extra money for absolutely nothing!
Things to keep in mind
Different online casinos use different wagering requirements, and some even use different bonus wagering requirements for the welcome bonus and other bonuses. Furthermore, casinos will often exclude certain games/ slots from the wagering requirement. For example, some casinos choose to exclude (live) table games. Make sure that you read the bonus terms & conditions before you start playing to prevent any surprises. Last but not least – money you win as a result of free spins is usually also bonus money. The same bonus wagering requirement will then apply to the money you’ve won with the free spins.
