Wagering requirements, worked out

A "wagering requirement" (the "playthrough" or "rollover" of many terms) is the total of bets that a casino asks a player to place before the money of a bonus, and whatever that money has won, can be withdrawn. It is written as a multiple ("40x", or forty times), and the multiple says little on its own until two questions have been answered: to what sum it applies, and what each bet costs.

We follow one hypothetical player, who accepts a bonus of $50 with a requirement of 40 times the bonus alone and must therefore place $2,000 in bets (forty times fifty) before anything becomes withdrawable. On a slot returning 96 per cent, the "house edge" (what the game retains, on average, from every bet) is 4 per cent. His $2,000 of bets therefore cost him $80 on average, thirty dollars more than the bonus he was given!

The base: bonus only, or deposit plus bonus

The first thing we look for in the terms is the base, because the same multiple doubles its weight when it applies to the deposit and the bonus together. If the player deposits $50 and receives $50, forty times "deposit plus bonus" (written "D+B" in many terms) means $4,000 of bets, and at the same 4 per cent the expected cost rises to $160, more than three times the bonus.

The two formulas can be converted into one another. With a match of 100 per cent (a bonus equal to the deposit), 20 times deposit plus bonus is the same work as 40 times the bonus alone; with a match of 50 per cent the deposit weighs twice the bonus, and 20 times on $100 plus $50 becomes $3,000 of bets (60 times the bonus).

We would advise doing this conversion before reading the headline of any offer, since a low multiple on a large base can hide a heavier requirement than a high multiple on a small one. The word that decides the matter ("bonus", or "deposit and bonus") is often printed in the smaller type of the page.

What each bet counts for: game weighting

The second clause sets the share of each bet that counts towards the requirement, under the name of "game weighting" or "contribution". Slots usually count 100 per cent, while table games such as blackjack, roulette and baccarat often count 10 per cent, sometimes 5 and sometimes nothing at all (a bet placed there does not move the counter and may, if the terms say so, void the bonus).

The reason is arithmetic. With basic strategy blackjack keeps about half a per cent of each bet, and letting it count in full would hand the bonus to the player who plays best. At a weighting of 10 per cent our player needs $20,000 of blackjack bets to complete his $2,000, and at half a per cent those bets cost him $100 on average, more than the $80 of the slot.

Some terms also exclude specific slots (typically those with a high "RTP", the return to player, or with swings that the casino regards as a risk) and list them by name in a table at the bottom of the bonus page. It is worth opening the table before your first spin, since many terms treat a bet on an excluded game as a breach, not as a bet without effect.

The cost, worked out

The cost of a requirement is the total of bets multiplied by the house edge of the game on which they are placed, and it is the figure that makes two bonuses comparable, whatever their size. The table applies it to the same $50 bonus under five sets of hypothetical terms, so that each line changes one condition at a time.

The expected cost of a $50 bonus, by base, game and weighting (hypothetical terms)

Terms of the example	Bets required	House edge	Expected cost	Bonus minus cost
40 times the bonus, slot returning 96%	$2,000	4%	$80	minus $30
40 times deposit plus bonus ($50 + $50), same slot	$4,000	4%	$160	minus $110
40 times the bonus, slot returning 98%	$2,000	2%	$40	plus $10
40 times the bonus, blackjack weighted at 10%	$20,000	0.5%	$100	minus $50
20 times the bonus, slot returning 96%	$1,000	4%	$40	plus $10

Two warnings go with the table. The figures are averages, and a slot with high "volatility" (the size of its swings) lets a few players finish the requirement with a large balance and many more finish it with nothing; the average is nonetheless the figure on which the casino prices its offer, and we use it for that reason.

The second warning concerns the size of the bets, which does not change the cost. A player whose stake is $1 a spin pays on average the same $80 for the same $2,000 as one who stakes $5 (he only takes longer).

The maximum bet and the clock

While a bonus is active, its terms usually fix a "maximum bet" (a sum per spin or per hand, sometimes a share of the bonus), and a single bet above it can cost the bonus and everything won with it. In our example the limit is $5, so the $2,000 cannot be completed in fewer than 400 spins, and a player who raises the stake once, out of impatience near the end, hands the casino the ground that the terms call "irregular play".

The clock is the "expiry", the number of days within which the requirement must be met, counted from the crediting of the bonus. With 30 days the player has to bet about $67 a day (some 13 spins at $5); with 7 days the daily figure rises to about $286, and the requirement begins to decide how he plays.

When the term lapses, the bonus and the winnings tied to it are removed. Only what the terms call "real money" stays in the account, and a player who has lost track of the date can find that the winnings of a whole week went out with the bonus.

The ceiling on withdrawals

Some bonuses carry a "max cashout" (an upper limit on the withdrawal that the winnings of the bonus can produce), the clause that changes the meaning of a lucky session. Suppose the terms set the ceiling at five times the bonus ($250): if a run of good spins turns the player's balance into $1,200 and he completes the requirement, he can withdraw $250, and the other $950 is removed when he asks for his money!

Ceilings of this kind are frequent on offers without a deposit and rarer on deposit matches, and they sit among the bonus conditions, not in the withdrawals section of the general terms, where many players look for them. We read both, because a weekly limit and a cashout ceiling are separate clauses, and you can meet the second without ever reaching the first.

Sticky and non-sticky bonuses

A bonus is "sticky" (some terms and forums say "phantom") when it can be played with but never withdrawn. It stays in the balance while the player bets and is deducted at the moment of the withdrawal, so that a balance of $300 at the end of the requirement pays out $250, the $50 of the bonus going back to the casino.

A "non-sticky" bonus (also known as a "parachute") keeps the two balances apart: the deposit is played first, as real money that can be withdrawn at any moment, and the bonus comes into play only if the deposit is lost. In our view this is the fairer form for a player who accepts a bonus at all. A deposit of $50 that grows to $200 before the bonus is touched can be withdrawn whole, the bonus simply being given up.

How we read a bonus before accepting it

When we read the terms of an offer we note seven points, always in the same order: the base, the multiple, the weighting of the games that would actually be played, the maximum bet, the expiry, the ceiling on withdrawals and whether the bonus is sticky. The base times the multiple, divided by the weighting, gives the bets required (in our first example, $2,000).

The bets times the house edge give the expected cost, and set against the bonus it says what the offer is worth before any luck. Where the cost exceeds the bonus, as in the first line of the table, we would advise declining the bonus and playing your deposit as real money, which leaves every withdrawal free of conditions; where it is lower, the bonus can be worth taking if the other clauses fit the way you play.

The welcome bonuses page describes the types of offer and what each asks in return, the free spins page applies the same sums to spins (whose requirement usually falls on the winnings), and the house edge page gives the edge of each game that this page has taken as given.

Questions

By the Rand Casinos editorial team · Last updated October 2026 · Online since 2007