Casino Bonus Wagering Guide: Playthrough Requirements Explained
Nearly every crypto casino welcome bonus and deposit bonus has wagering requirements attached. But few of these casinos take the time to properly explain what a wagering requirement is, how it works, and how some simple calculations will help you figure out the precise amount you need to bet.
Our in-depth guide to casino wagering requirements explains the basics for beginners, giving you the tools to easily figure out how much you need to bet to unlock bonuses. And you can use our free casino playthrough calculator for an instant answer.
What Are Casino Wagering Requirements?
Casino wagering requirements are conditions attached to your bonus which limit what you can do with the funds. Specifically, you need to place a number of qualifying bets before you can convert the bonus funds into cash.
Wagering requirements are industry standard and apply to most online crypto casino bonuses. Far from being predatory, they’re a necessary safeguard to stop poachers from signing up, claiming a bonus, and withdrawing before ever betting a penny.
The size of a crypto wagering requirement is decided by the casino itself. At the top end, you’ll see 70x-80x wagering, which requires a hell of a lot of spins. At the lower end, 5-10x is about as good as it gets. Some bonuses also have 1x wagering, though this is more common in sports betting than casino games.
What is a Playthrough Requirement?
Playthrough requirements are exactly the same as wagering requirements. It’s simply another term that means the same thing: you need to literally “play through” your bonus a certain number of times before you can unlock it.
You’ll initially receive your bonus as bonus funds. This is then automatically converted into withdrawable cash once you meet the playthrough requirements.
What Are Bonus Funds?
Bonus funds are a type of currency which can only be used at one casino and cannot be withdrawn. You’ll receive bonus funds as part of a promotion, and must meet wagering requirements in order to convert bonus funds to cash.
Most crypto casinos have a very clear divide between ‘Cash’ and ‘Bonus funds’, and this can usually be seen in the cashier section. The best online crypto casinos will even show you how close you are to meeting wagering requirements through the use of a progress bar.
Because bonus funds are a unique type of currency that are exclusive to one casino, the site it able to give it very specific limitations. For example, they may add 40x wagering requirements, which means you can’t withdraw the bonus funds until you’ve bet the total amount of the bonus at least 40 times. Or they may limit bonus funds to certain games only. For example, bonus funds that can be used on slots but not table games or live games.
Wagering Requirements vs No Wagering Bonuses
Crypto casino bonuses with wagering requirements mean you have to play a certain number of games to cash out, while no-wagering bonuses can be withdrawn right away.
Most bonuses involve wagering requirements. This includes the majority of welcome bonuses, deposit bonuses, and even no-deposit bonuses.
But some bonuses have no wagering attached. This can apply to free spins (which go both ways – some have wagering requirements, some don’t) and VIP rewards. If you’re a top-tier VIP player, you might even get deposit bonus codes with no wagering – but these are not common for most players.
Average Casino Wagering Requirements
The average casino wagering requirements are 30-50x across most sites. The higher the wagering requirement, the worse the value, because you need to bet a lot more to unlock your bonus.
The highest wagering requirements are 80x or above. These aren’t easy to unlock, and it’s often best to treat these bonuses as ‘fun money’, rather than a realistic target.
The best wagering requirements are 20x or less. This is much more achievable, giving you a real shot at turning a big deposit bonus into withdrawable cash.
How to Calculate Wagering Requirements
The easiest way to instantly figure out your wagering requirements is by using our Wagering Calculator. Just enter your currency, deposit amount and wagering requirement, and press ‘Calculate’ to see how much you need to wager.
You can also calculate this manually. Just take the bonus amount and multiply it by the wagering requirements.
For example:
- Bonus amount = $100
- Wagering requirements = 35x
- 100 x 35 = 3,500
- Total amount to bet = $3,500 to unlock a $100 bonus
Before you start playing games to unlock your bonus, make sure you check the terms and conditions closely. Some games contribute different percentages towards your wagering requirements.
Most slots will contribute 100% towards wagering requirements, but some might be as low as 50%, with others excluded. And it’s quite common for live casino games to either be excluded or count for 10% or less.
To better understand this, let’s look at a couple of examples, using the same bonus in each scenario.
Example A
- Ben receives a 100% deposit bonus worth up to $50 with 35x wagering requirements
- He deposits $50 and receives $50 in bonus funds
- Using the Wagering Calculator, Ben can see that he needs to bet a total of $1,750 to unlock his free $50 bonus
- He plays a qualifying slot game that contributes 100% towards wagering
- He bets $1,750 on the slot game
- He unlocks his $50 bonus
Example B
- Ben receives another 100% deposit bonus worth up to $50 with 35x wagering requirements
- Again, he deposits $50 and receives $50 in bonus funds
- Just like before, Ben can see that he needs to bet a total of $1,750 to unlock his free $50 bonus
- He plays a live blackjack game that only contributes 10% towards wagering
- This means he needs to bet 10 times as much to unlock his bonus
- Ben bets $17,500
- He unlocks his $50 bonus
- Ben looks in the mirror and asks himself, “Was it worth it?”
- The mirror says nothing, but silently judges Ben
Wagering Requirements Pros and Cons
At first glance, you might not think there are any pros from a player perspective, but that’s not quite true. Here are the main pros and cons of casino wagering requirements:
