How a wagering requirement really works

The bonus is 100 euros. The wagering requirement is 35×. How much do you have to play to get that money out?

If you answered 3,500 euros, you are roughly on the right track — but only roughly, and "roughly" here is a
matter of hundreds of euros. The right answer depends on four things most players do not check:
what the requirement is calculated on, how much each game counts, how large a bet is allowed and how
much time is given.

This article unpacks all four with real numbers. By the end you will be able to say of any offer whether it
is a good deal or an expensive illusion — and you will make that calculation in a minute.

The first trap: what the requirement is calculated on

This is the most important and most rarely noticed detail. The same "35×" can mean three completely different
sums.

On the bonus only. The most favourable variant. A €100 bonus × 35 = €3,500 of turnover. That is what
most decent offers use and it is what people assume.

On the bonus and the deposit. Here everything doubles. If you deposited €100 and
got a €100 bonus, the requirement is calculated on €200: 200 × 35 = €7,000 of turnover. The same percentage, twice
the obligation. The wording in the terms is usually "35× (deposit + bonus)" and it is very
easy not to notice.

On the winnings. Encountered mainly with free spins. If you win €50 with the spins,
you have to wager 50 × 35 = €1,750.

The second trap: game weightings

The game weighting determines how much each euro staked counts towards the
wagering. It is not a technical detail — it can multiply the requirement tenfold.

A typical distribution looks like this:

Look at the last column. If you play blackjack at a 5% weighting, your real turnover obligation is
seventy thousand euros — twenty times more than the banner suggested.

That is why bonuses are in practice a slot players' tool. If your game is blackjack or roulette,
most welcome offers are mathematically pointless for you and it is better to play without a bonus.

Why casinos do this

It is not pure malice. Blackjack's house edge with good strategy is under one per cent, a slot's
usually 3–5%. If blackjack counted 100%, a bonus could be turned into money almost risk-free and
the casino would lose every time. The weightings level that out.

For a player the conclusion is simple: a weighting is not a punishment but a price tag. Games with a low house edge
are expensive in bonus terms, because they are favourable to you.

The third trap: the maximum bet

The max bet is the rule that voids wins most often. A typical limit is
5 euros per bet until the bonus is wagered through.

And here is the cruel part: it is not enforced by the system but checked afterwards. Many casinos
let you make a €20 spin without a warning. The game runs, the win comes, the balance grows. Only when
you ask for a withdrawal does someone review the history, find that one bet and void the whole win arising from
the bonus.

Three things to know in this connection.

Autoplay is dangerous. If you set autoplay running and a feature or a bonus game raises the bet, you have
crossed the limit without pressing a single button.

Bonus buys are usually forbidden. The "buy feature" button often costs 50–100× the bet and that
exceeds the max bet automatically. Most terms explicitly forbid them while playing with a bonus.

The limit applies after partial wagering too. Until the requirement is fully met, the limit applies. Even
when you have done 90%.

The fourth trap: the deadline

A wagering requirement always applies within a window. Typical is 7 to 30 days. When the time runs out, the bonus disappears and
with it the wins that are still unwagered.

The deadline and the size of the requirement always have to be looked at together. A 25× requirement in seven days can be harder than 40×
in thirty, because the first forces you to play faster and with larger bets — which in turn
increases the probability that you crash into the max bet limit or simply lose the balance before the requirement is met.

Always calculate: the required turnover divided by the number of days = how much you have to play a day. If that number
feels uncomfortable, the offer is wrong for you.

Putting it together: a real calculation

Let us take two offers and see which is better.

Offer A: 100% up to €200, wagering 35× on the bonus only, slots 100%, 30 days.
Deposit €200, bonus €200.
Required turnover: 200 × 35 = €7,000. Per day: €233. Entirely doable.

Offer B: 300% up to €600, wagering 40× on deposit + bonus, slots 100%, 14 days.
Deposit €200, bonus €600.
Calculation base: 200 + 600 = €800. Required turnover: 800 × 40 = €32,000. Per day: €2,285.

Offer B gives three times more bonus money and requires four and a half times more turnover, in half
the time. On the banner B is the bigger number. In practice A is the only one that can reasonably be played to the end.

That is the whole point of the article in one example. Our calculator does that calculation for you —
spend a minute before, not after.

What happens statistically: the expected result

Now comes the uncomfortable part. Even with a good bonus the expected result is usually negative, and it is
important to understand that so as not to be disappointed.

A slot game's RTP is typically 96%. That means that for every hundred euros
staked, an average of 96 euros comes back and four disappear. If you have to run €7,000 through as turnover,
the statistically expected loss is 7,000 × 4% = €280.

The bonus was €200. The expected result: 200 − 280 = minus €80.

The same calculation for offer B: 32,000 × 4% = €1,280 of expected loss, a bonus of €600. The expected
result: minus €680.

Two conclusions. First: a bonus is not a gift and no mathematically sane casino offers
it as one. Second — and this matters more — **a bonus reduces your expected loss compared with
the same turnover without a bonus.** Without a bonus the expected loss on €7,000 of turnover would be a full €280;
with a bonus it is €80. A bonus is a discount, not income.

Rakeback: a different model, different mathematics

Rakeback works entirely differently and at crypto casinos it is increasingly common.

With rakeback there is no wagering requirement at all. The casino calculates how much house edge your bets
generated and returns part of it as real money. Stake, Gamdom,
Roobet and Winna work that way.

The difference is fundamental. A welcome bonus gives money up front and ties it to conditions. Rakeback gives
money afterwards and without conditions. The first suits someone who plays once; the second someone
who plays constantly.

In numbers: if Gamdom gives 15% rakeback and a slot game's house edge is 4%, for every €1,000 of turnover you get
back about 6 euros (1,000 × 4% × 15%). That sounds like little — and it is little for one evening. But it
is unconditional and accumulates with every bet, without your having to fight for anything.

On our bonuses page both types of offer are marked separately, precisely because
they cannot be measured with the same ruler.

Three clauses nobody reads

The maximum withdrawal from a bonus. Especially with no-deposit bonuses it is common that you can win
up to, say, 100 euros, no matter how much you actually win. If you hit a €5,000 win, you get

1. That number is in the terms and never on the banner.

Excluded games. Some slots are entirely forbidden while playing with a bonus — usually those whose
volatility or RTP is unfavourable for the casino. If you play them, the bonus is voided. The list is
in an annex to the terms.

Irregular play. This is the vaguest clause and therefore dangerous. It covers,
for example, low-risk betting in roulette (red and black at once), a sharp raising of the bet
after a win, or a pattern that looks like systematic abuse of the wagering. The definition is
deliberately broad and the interpretation is the casino's.

How to check where you are in the wagering

Most casinos show a bonus's progress on the account — look for "bonus progress", "wagering requirement" or
similar. If it is not visible, that is a bad sign in itself: an offer whose progress is not shown
is harder to manage and easier to lose.

A practical tip: keep your own record too. Write down the date you took the bonus, what the
deadline is and how much turnover is needed. The casino's indicator may be delayed or count the weightings
in a way you do not expect.

And if something does not add up, ask support before you continue. If you ask after a withdrawal has been voided, the
conversation is already lost.

A summary before the FAQ

A wagering requirement is not one number. It is four decisions the casino has made for you: the calculation base,
the weighting, the bet limit and the deadline. The banner shows one of them, usually the most enticing.

Three things to check with every offer, in order:

1. Is the requirement calculated on the bonus only or on the deposit too?
2. How much does the game you actually play count?
3. What is the maximum bet and what is the deadline?

Once you have an answer to all three, you have the real number — and then the decision is easy.

Bonus types and their small print

Not all bonuses are the same animal. Each type is designed for a different purpose and the small print follows that
purpose.

The welcome bonus

The most common. The casino doubles your first deposit, sometimes splitting the package over two to four
transfers. Wagering is usually 30–40× and the deadline 14–30 days.

When a package is in several parts — like BetFury up to 590% or
500 Casino 300% — it means you have to put money in several times and each part carries
its own requirement. The advertised percentage is the sum of all the parts, not the rate of the first transfer. That is
legal but misleading, and we write it out with every offer.

The no-deposit bonus

A small amount or spins without a deposit. It looks like a gift, it is marketing. Three restrictions come
almost always together: the market's highest wagering requirement (often 50–60×), the lowest withdrawal cap (often
€50–100) and the shortest deadline (7 days or less).

In practice that means it is almost impossible to get money out of a no-deposit bonus — and that is the
design. The value you get is the chance to try the platform out risk-free. If you treat it that
way, it is an honest deal. See the no-deposit bonuses.

Free spins

These have mathematics of their own. A spin's "value" is calculated from the spin's nominal bet — if 50 spins are
€0.20 each, the nominal value is €10. But a win from spins usually carries a separate wagering requirement
and often a separate cap.

Rainbet's 20 spins are an example: the bonus terms and the spins terms are two different documents
with two different numbers. Read both.

Another detail: spins are almost always tied to one specific slot. If that game's
volatility is high, the likely result is zero — high volatility
means rare but large wins and fifty spins is not a statistically sufficient sample.

The reload bonus

A smaller percentage for an existing customer, usually with a lower requirement than the welcome package. Often
the best value among all the offers, because here the casino does not have to buy a new customer — it is keeping an existing one.

Cashback

Cashback returns part of a loss, usually by the week. The important
question: does it come as real money or as bonus money? Real money is immediately withdrawable, bonus money carries
a new wagering requirement. The difference is fundamental and it is one word away in the terms.

Sticky and non-sticky bonuses

This difference is little known but changes the whole risk profile.

Non-sticky. Your own money and the bonus money are separate. You play with your own
money first; if you win, you can withdraw it and simply cancel the bonus without having to wager
anything. The bonus only activates once your own money is gone.

That is clearly the best variant for a player, because there is practically no risk — at worst you lose
the deposit you would have lost anyway, and at best you withdraw a win without any wagering.

Sticky. Your own money and the bonus go together into one balance. Every bet consumes both and
the wagering requirement applies the whole time. You cannot withdraw a win before the requirement is met, even if
technically you played only with your own money.

Most crypto casino welcome offers are sticky. If you find a non-sticky one, that is a sign of
a player-friendly offer — and it is worth checking whether the terms say the bonus can be
cancelled at any time without losing the balance.

How volatility affects the wagering

This is the part that distinguishes an experienced player from a beginner.

If you have to wager 7,000 euros with a balance of 200 euros, your only hope is that the balance lasts long
enough. Volatility determines how fast it swings.

A low-volatility slot gives small wins often. The balance falls slowly and evenly, which
means you are more likely to reach the end of the wagering — but a big win probably will not come.

A high-volatility slot gives rarely but a lot. The balance can disappear in twenty spins or
triple in one. The probability of reaching the end of the wagering is smaller, but if you do, the balance is
probably larger.

A rule of thumb: when the wagering requirement is large compared with the balance, choose low volatility. Your enemy
is not a small win but the balance reaching zero before the requirement is met. If the requirement is small and the balance large,
high volatility may be sensible, because you have a buffer.

A decision tree: to take the bonus or not

Four questions, in order. If you answer "no" to any of them, consider declining the bonus.

1. Am I going to play at least the wagering requirement's worth anyway?
If the requirement is €7,000 and you usually play €300 an evening, then no. The bonus would force you to play
twenty times more than you planned.

2. Do I play games that count 100%?
If you play mainly blackjack or roulette, the answer is no and the bonus is mathematically
pointless for you.

3. Can I keep every bet under the max bet limit?
If your usual bet is €10 and the limit is €5, you have to change your whole way of playing. That is tedious and
risky — one forgotten spin voids everything.

4. Is the deadline realistic?
The required turnover divided by the number of days. If that number is larger than your usual daily turnover, you will not reach
the end.

If all four answers are "yes", the bonus is sensible and reduces your expected cost. If any is "no",
play without — your money stays immediately withdrawable and no rule can void a win.

And if you do not want a bonus, say so: almost every casino allows an offer to be declined either at
registration or on the account. A deposit without a bonus is an entirely ordinary choice.

Our table's offers through this lens

Let us look at how this calculation works out for the houses in our ranking. The numbers are from the operators'
own terms, read in August 2026.

Note the pattern: six houses out of eleven have no wagering requirement at all, because they have
gone over to rakeback. That is an important difference between crypto casinos and traditional ones and
for a player it is rather good news — unconditional money is always better than conditional money.

But it also means that rakeback houses cannot be compared by the size of a welcome bonus. Their value
depends on your turnover, not on the offer's number. If you play little, rakeback gives almost nothing.

Why these rules exist at all

An honest digression, because it helps you read the terms better.

Every wagering clause is an answer to some specific abuse.

The wagering itself prevents a bonus being withdrawn immediately. Without it every bonus would simply be free
money and casinos would not offer them at all.

The max bet prevents a strategy where a player puts the whole bonus on one large bet: either winning
a large amount or losing the casino's money. Without the restriction that would be favourable to the player and harmful to the casino.

Game weightings level out games with different house edges, as described above.

The irregular play clause is a general protection against patterns the terms could not
foresee — for example covering red and black at once in roulette, which generates turnover almost risk-free.

From that follows a practical tip: if your plan is to "play the system", it is likely that some
clause already covers it and the result is a voided win. Bonuses are not beatable — they are
priced products.

On the regulatory side, Curaçao's new CGA regime has brought a requirement that
terms must be clear and accessible. If an operator does not publish the terms, that is contrary to the new
regime's spirit — one reason why we penalise BC.Game for it in the score.
More: an analysis of the Curaçao licence change.

The five most common mistakes

1. Taking a bonus without opening the terms. The most common and the most expensive. The link to the terms is
always there, usually in small print under the bonus description.

2. Using autoplay with an active bonus. Features and bonus games can raise the bet over
the limit without your doing anything.

3. Using a bonus buy ("buy feature"). Almost always forbidden and almost always exceeds the max
bet.

4. Playing table games during the wagering. The weighting is 5–10% and you play ten times longer than
you think.

5. Forgetting the deadline. A bonus expires quietly. Set a reminder on your phone on the same day you
take the bonus.

All five are free to avoid. Together they explain, in our experience, the overwhelming majority of cases where
a player believes the casino cheated them.

What to do when a win has been voided

If you believe the voiding was unfounded, there are three steps.

First: ask the casino for a written justification with a reference to the specific clause of the terms and
the specific bet or event. A general reference to "a breach of the bonus terms" is not an answer.

Second: check that clause yourself. If the terms really do have a €5 limit and you made a €6
spin, the casino is right — unpleasant, but right.

Third: if the answer does not satisfy you, what happens next depends on the licence. Under Curaçao's new regime there is
a complaints procedure with the regulator. With Anjouan and Tobique it is considerably weaker. That is exactly why
the licence is a separate category in our scoring and exactly why we recommend preferring houses with a Curaçao CGA licence when playing with larger amounts.

At casinos with an Estonian licence you additionally have the Tax Board's supervision and Estonian consumer protection — those are covered by
freespin.ee, pangakasiinod.ee and
kiiredvaljamaksed.ee.

A glossary for this article

• Wagering — how many times a bonus (or bonus + deposit) has to be staked through.
• Game weighting — how much each game counts towards the wagering.
• Max bet — the largest single bet allowed with an active bonus.
• RTP — a game's long-term return percentage.
• Volatility — how variable a game's result is.
• Rakeback — a return on turnover, with no wagering requirement.
• Cashback — a return on losses; check whether it is real or bonus money.

If you want all the terms at once, they are in the glossary.

Two calculations worth being able to do yourself

The calculator does the work, but two formulas are worth keeping in your head — they give an answer in ten seconds.

Formula 1: the real turnover obligation

```
turnover = calculation base × multiplier ÷ weighting
```

The calculation base is either the bonus alone or the bonus + deposit. The weighting is a decimal: slots 1.0,
roulette 0.15, blackjack 0.05.

Example: a €100 bonus, 35×, calculated on the bonus, you play roulette (15%).
100 × 35 ÷ 0.15 = €23,333 of turnover. The same offer with slots would be €3,500.

Formula 2: the expected result

```
expected result = bonus − (turnover × (1 − RTP))
```

Example: a €100 bonus, €3,500 of turnover, RTP 96%.
100 − (3,500 × 0.04) = 100 − 140 = minus €40.

If the result is strongly negative, it does not mean you will certainly lose — it means the
offer is skewed more than an ordinary game. If the result is close to zero or positive, it is
an exceptionally good offer and it is worth checking whether you have missed something in the terms.

What we check ourselves with offers

For transparency: every offer that reaches our bonuses page goes through the same
check.

Are the terms publicly readable before registration? If not — as with
BC.Game — we note it separately and it affects the casino's bonus score.

Are the wagering requirement and the calculation base stated? If the terms only say "35×" without the base,
we ask support and write out the answer.

Is the max bet given? If not, that is a warning sign: it is the clause on which wins
are most often voided.

Is a deadline set? An unspecified deadline means in practice that the casino can consider a bonus expired at any
time.

Is there a maximum withdrawal? Especially with no-deposit bonuses, that number is often what determines
the whole offer's value.

If any of these is missing, we do not leave the offer out — we write out the shortcoming. A missing number is
information for a player, not a blank.

A common question: is it worth chasing bonuses at all

The short answer: no, not for the bonus's sake.

The longer answer: there are people who make money from bonuses systematically — they are called
bonus hunters and they look for mathematically positive offers, play them exactly within the
terms and move on. That is work, not entertainment, and it requires a spreadsheet,
discipline and considerable starting capital.

Casinos know that and the clauses in the terms — especially the "irregular play" point — are largely
aimed at exactly that. Closing accounts on suspicion of bonus hunting is common.

For an ordinary player the conclusion is simple: **choose a bonus by whether it fits your way of playing,
not by whether it can be beaten.** And if an offer does not fit, do not take it — that choice is always
there and it is used far too rarely.

If you want to compare how casinos with an Estonian licence formulate the same offers — where the Tax Board's supervision
means stricter requirements for the clarity of terms — see
freespin.ee and pangakasiinod.ee.

Wagering and the bankroll: how long the balance lasts

A last piece of mathematics that decides whether you reach the end of the requirement.

Meeting the wagering is not a one-off payment — it is a process during which the balance swings. Even if
the expected result were zero, the balance can reach zero before the requirement is met simply through variance. That is
called gambler's ruin and it is an entirely real reason why bonuses cannot be played to the
end.

A practical rule of thumb: **the larger the requirement compared with the balance, the smaller the bets have to be
and the lower the volatility.**

An example. A balance of €200, a requirement of €7,000. You have to generate 35 times your balance in turnover. If you bet €2 at a time,
that is 3,500 spins. If you bet €5 at a time, it is 1,400 spins — faster, but every single spin takes
a bigger piece out of the balance and the probability of ruin rises sharply.

Three practical rules:

• A bet should not exceed 1–2% of the balance. With a €200 balance that means a €2–4 bet.
• Choose low volatility when the requirement is large. Small frequent wins keep the balance alive.
• Do not raise the bet after a loss. That is the fastest way to miss out on meeting the requirement — and

in many terms it is also a pattern falling under the "irregular play" clause.

Two offers worth thinking twice about

A big percentage with a short deadline. 300% in three days is almost always a bad deal: the required
daily turnover is so large that you have to bet big, which in turn kills the balance before the end.

A bonus whose maximum withdrawal is small. If you can win up to €100 from a bonus, regardless of
the result, then the whole upper part of the distribution is cut off — and that is exactly where the small
probability lies that would make a bonus worthwhile at all. Always check that number, especially with
no-deposit bonuses.

Both are entirely legal and entirely transparent. They are simply not as good as the banner
suggests — and that is the whole point of this article.

Four scenarios and what to do in each

Theory is nice, but the decision has to be made in a specific situation. Let us look at four typical ones.

Scenario 1: you want to try a platform, budget 50 euros

Do not take a bonus. A €50 bonus from a €50 deposit with a 35× requirement means €1,750 of
turnover — that is thirty-five times your budget and you will not reach the end. The bonus simply locks up your
money and forces you to play longer than you planned.

Instead: make a deposit without a bonus and play freely. The money is withdrawable the whole time and no
rule can void a win. If you like the platform, take a bonus next time, when the budget is larger.

Suitable houses with a low minimum: Thunderpick €1, Gamdom $5,
Stake practically without a limit in crypto.

Scenario 2: you play regularly, turnover €3,000–5,000 a month

For you rakeback is almost always better than a welcome bonus. You generate the turnover anyway and
rakeback comes unconditionally — every bet adds a little and the money is immediately withdrawable.

Stake, Roobet and Winna are the strongest representatives of that model.
Gamdom's 15% seven-day window is a good entry offer, but time-limited.

If you do take a welcome bonus, choose a low requirement and a long deadline, not a big percentage.

Scenario 3: you play only table games or live casino

Avoid bonuses entirely. A weighting of 5–10% makes every offer mathematically pointless and
some terms exclude live tables from the wagering altogether.

Your value comes from elsewhere: from rakeback (which counts all turnover, regardless of the game),
from cashback and from VIP programmes. Look at those, not at welcome packages.

Scenario 4: you have a large budget and want to maximise a bonus's value

Here a bonus pays off and here the choice matters. Look for three things at once: a requirement calculated **on the bonus
only**, a deadline of at least 30 days and slots at a 100% weighting.

And then play a low-volatility slot with a bet safely under the max bet limit —
usually €2–3 when the limit is 5. The aim is not a big win but meeting the requirement without losing the
balance. A big win is a bonus, not a plan.

How to read a terms document fast

The terms are long, but only six lines of them concern you. Ctrl+F and search for the following words.

"wagering" or "playthrough" → you find the requirement's multiplier and the calculation base. Check straight away whether the word
"deposit" is next to it.

"max bet" or "maximum stake" → the bet limit. Write it down.

"contribution" or "game weighting" → the table of weightings. Look there for the game you actually
play.

"expiry" or "valid for" → the deadline.

"maximum withdrawal" or "max cashout" → the cap on how much can be withdrawn from a bonus at all.

"excluded games" or "restricted games" → the games that are forbidden.

Six searches, two minutes. That is the whole effort assessing a bonus requires — and it is cheaper than
any alternative.

What this costs in practice

Let us finish with one calculation that puts the matter in perspective.

Suppose you play twelve times a year and take a bonus each time without reading the terms. Statistically
three things happen:

• About twice you choose an offer whose calculation base is "deposit + bonus" and you play twice

as much as you planned.

• About once you exceed the max bet and lose the whole win arising from the bonus.
• About once the bonus expires before you meet the requirement.

If your typical deposit is 200 euros, the combined cost of those three cases is easily €400–600
a year — not because of bad luck but because of sentences left unread.

Two minutes per offer, twelve times a year, half an hour in total. That is probably the most
profitable half hour you can spend at a casino.

What matters most in all of this

A bonus is neither a gift nor a trap. It is a priced product whose price is stated in the terms and whose
value depends entirely on how much you would play anyway.

If you play little, a bonus makes your situation worse: it forces you to play more. If you play
a lot, it makes it better: it reduces your expected cost. The same offer, two opposite
results, and the difference is not in the offer but in you.

That is why we do not compile a "best bonuses" ranking by percentage. On our
bonuses page every offer carries the numbers that count, and the
calculator does the calculation with your own turnover.

And if you are not sure — play without a bonus. That is always allowed, always safe and surprisingly often
the better choice.

To finish

When an offer seems too good, the small print is where it becomes clear why. And almost always the reason is one
of four: the calculation base, the weighting, the bet limit or the deadline.

In our bonus table those four numbers are set out for every offer — and when
an operator does not publish them, we write that out too. The scores summarising every casino's terms are in the
ranking.