Wagering Requirements Explained

There is a lot that you need to know about online casinos in order to have a smooth and easy-going experience. One of those aspects happens to be online casino wagering requirements. What are wagering requirements? For many new online casino members, this is a completely foreign concept, and some don’t fathom the importance of understanding them. If you don’t know what playthrough requirements they are, don’t worry - by the end of this read you will be an expert on the topic, and you will even be able to explain it to other players.
Read on, and you will find out everything you need to know about wagering requirements, what the best wagering requirements are, and we will even give you some examples to make it all crystal clear. That way, you will know which bonuses are as promising as they seem, and which ones are bait before registering at an online casino of your choosing.
What are wagering requirements?
As wise men say, you don’t understand a topic well enough if you cannot explain it in simple words. Therefore, we will skip the confusing language, and explain wagering requirements in human language. Wagering requirements (otherwise known as playthrough requirements) are basically the “conditions” under which you can withdraw the money you won when using bonuses in an online casino. Let’s go through a step-by-step explanation.
- When you register at a legit online casino, you will usually be offered a Welcome Bonus. Let’s use that as an example. Say the bonus offers a 100% match on your deposit. That means that once you deposit $50, you will have 100 virtual dollars to gamble with.
- Great, you have yourself $100! Now, any smart person would want to withdraw that money right out, and move on to the next casino to keep doubling their deposits, right? Unfortunately, you cannot do that. That is because there is a wagering requirement, which requires you to play through a certain amount of times before you can even think of withdraw the money. The only thing you can withdraw now is the initial $50 you deposited.
- Let’s say your wagering requirement is 30x. This means that you will have to make bets that are worth 30 times the bonus amount. So if you get an extra $50 on top of your deposit as a match, it means that you will have to bet 30 times 50. That comes out to 1500. We will touch some more on the ins and outs of this a bit later.
- Let’s say you’ve met the wagering requirement, which is 30x, and you’ve made bets worth 30 times your bonus amount - you can go ahead and withdraw the entire winning.
Still a little lost? Take a look at this visual explanation, it may help you what bonus wagering requirements are.
Wagering Requirements Scheme

Wagering requirements VS online casinos
Now that you understand wagering meaning a bit better, let’s discuss how they actually work in online casinos. This topic may be a bit confusing to new casino members, but we promise to help you understand this topic to the T.
First, you must understand that each online casino reserves the right to offer whatever bonuses they wish to give out, and set the wagering requirements that they see fit. Do remember that some bonuses can seem attractive, but if there’s a high wagering requirement, it makes the bonus lose it’s worth. Simply because you’re not really getting your buck’s worth, and it would take far too long to even withdraw your money won with the bonus.
What bonuses have wagering requirements?
Various online casino bonuses may request a wagering requirement to be met before you can consider making a withdrawal. The following online casino bonuses typically require a specific playthrough amount:
- Welcome Bonuses
- Weekly deposit offers
- Monthly match promotions
- Birthday deposit bonuses
So what are the good wagering requirements?
30x-50x is a pretty decent wagering requirement. However, we consider anything above 40x a bit too high, and we don’t think that any legit casino would actually have anything less than a 30x wagering requirement. The best wagering requirements will always be the ones that are lower.
Can I meet my wagering requirements by playing any games?
Unfortunately, no. Casinos will give you a list of games that you can bet on, which will help you meet your wagering requirement. Every online casino is different, so this is an important thin to check before getting excited about a bonus.
Some things to consider about wagering requirements:
- Some casino games won’t allow bonus wagering.
- If you make a withdrawal before you meet wagering requirements, you will throw off your bonus streak.
- You can only have one bonus or offer used for gambling online at a time.
- Bonus terms and conditions may be tricky, always read into them before playing.
Let’s use a real example
It’s time for a little practice run. We thought it would be helpful if we review a real online casino with wagering requirement.
x50 wagering requirement example
For this wagering requirement example, we have chosen - Playamo.
Playamo offers a first deposit bonus that gives you a 100% match up to $100.
That means your deposit will be doubled, and you can deposit as much as $100. If you do so, you will have $200 virtual bucks to play with. You also get 100 Free Spins, but let’s forget about that for now.
What we have to do now, is see what the wagering requirement is for this bonus. We can do so by reading the bonus terms and conditions. There we find that all deposit bonuses have a wagering requirement of 50x. It’s a bit high, but let’s move on.
Scroll a bit lower, and you will see that there is a percentage listed for each game, telling you what you will get in terms of meeting your wagering requirement.
Game type | Wagering % |
---|---|
Table games | 5% |
Video Poker | 5% |
Roulette | 5% |
Slots | 100% |
It is essential that you check this out before applying the bonus, because sometimes players only want to play specific slots, or avoid playing certain gambling games. Not just that, but you will also get a good idea on how long it may take you to meet the wagering requirement.
So let’s say, here, Video poker has a wagering percentage of 5%. That is how much the game will contribute to the completion of your wagering requirements. That should tell you that it won’t get you to the goal as fast as playing select slots would, given that they are 100%.
Wagering requirement for $100 deposit: $100 * 50 = $5000
x45 wagering requiremenxt example
To show you an example of a 45x wagering requirement, we selected Katsubet. It’s a great online casino site, but the wagering requirements are a bit up there.
Katsubet offers a 100% match bonus along with 100 Free Spins. This match will result in your deposit doubling, but you can only deposit up to $100. Say you go all out and deposit $100, that means that you will have $200 to gamble with. The free spins don’t matter for this example.
As awesome as it would be to immediately pull the doubled money out, you can't. You have a 45x wagering requirement to overcome, and that may take a bit of time. But let’s take a peek at what games you can play in order to accomplish this mission and get to pull your money out.
Game type | Wagering % |
---|---|
Video slots | 100% |
All other games | 5% |
Live games | 0% |
It’s important to look at what casino games will get you to your wagering requirement faster. In this case, playing video slots will obviously get you to your goal much quicker than other games would. And live games won’t contribute to your wagering requirement whatsoever. Therefore, you should avoid playing live games if you’re trying to complete your wager.
Wagering requirement for $100 deposit: $100 * 45 = $4500
x40 wagering requirement example
Now we can move on to a 40x wagering requirement, and for this one we will use the WildTornado casino. Although 40x is still not as of a requirement as we would like it to be, it’s still better than 45x.
WildTornado offers a 100% match bonus along with 100 Free Spins. Same as the last match, except here you can get up to $1000. If you deposit $500, you will have a whole $1000 to gamble with. This is much better, as you can double a considerably larger sum of money.
Now, this bonus comes with a 40x wagering requirement, and there are only certain games you can bet on in order to get to your wagering requirement. Here things are a bit different, as the deposit wager can be played in any games. As for bonuses, some games are restricted, the list can be seen here.
Wagering requirement for $100 deposit: $1000 * 40 = $4000
x35 wagering requirement example
Now let’s take a step down the ladder, and show you an example of a 35x wagering requirement, and Mr. Green casino will help us with that. 35x is exactly where we want it to be, it’s not too high, and it’s not suspiciously low. That’s the average you want to go for when selecting an online casino, especially if the Welcome Bonus is generous.
Mr Green offers a 100% match bonus along with 100 Free Spins. This will double any amount you deposit with a cap of $100. Deposit $50, and you will be able to play with $100 in select games. The deposit match and the wagering requirement in this case is a perfect balance in our opinion.
Of course, like any casino, there are only certain games that will contribute to the wagering requirements. Usually, the slots will contribute far more than any other gambling games would.
Game type | Wagering % |
---|---|
Slots | 100% |
Live dream catcher | 50% |
Monopoly live | 50% |
Deal or no deal live | 50% |
All live roulette and live blackjack | 10% |
All other live casino games | 10% |
All non-live table games | 5% |
Evidently, slots are the way to go if you’re wanting to through your wagering requirement quickly. The games that contribute 50% to the wagering requirement are also not a bad way to fly through the playthrough wager. The games that contribute 10% or less, are probably not going to be as beneficial to you.
Wagering requirement for $100 deposit: $100 * 35 = $3500
x30 wagering requirement example
King Billy has one of the best bonuses, and the most decent wagering requirements you will find. A 30x playthrough requirement is an absolute blessing, especially in a casino such as this one, that has thousands of games, and rational bonus terms.
Anyway, King Billy offers a welcome bonus that is split into 4 different deposits. Here is what you can expect:
- On your first deposit, you will get a 100% match up to $200 as well as 200 free spins.
- Second will offer a 50% deposit up to $200.
- The third one will match your deposit 25% at $300 or less.
- The last deposit is the same, offering a 25% match up to $300.
It’s not much different in terms of wagering requirements when it comes to these bonuses. Let’s just use the first deposit as an example. You got yourself a 100% match, which as you know by now will double your deposit, and the cap will be $200. Pretend you deposit $100, and you can play with $200. Your wagering requirement is 30x the amount, so you have to bet in an equivalent of $6000. Here are the gambling games you can play to get to your goal:
Game type | Wagering % |
---|---|
Slots | 100% |
Live games | 5% |
Table games | 5% |
Video poker | 5% |
Lottery games | 5% |
Jackpots | 0% |
Progressive jackpots | 0% |
As usual, slots will be your number 1 go to. Other games that contribute 5% are okay too, and in this case - you won’t have to play for ages to go through the playthrough requirements, as it’s only 20x. This is one of the cases where it’s not that important to only play the highest contributing games.
Wagering requirement for $100 deposit: $100 * 30 = $3000
Verdict
Hopefully now when someone asks what a wager is, you’ll be the first one to thoroughly explain the topic in detail. And to conclude, always search for casinos and bonuses that have minimum wagering requirements. Triple check that your deposit will be rewarding, and that the bonus wager isn’t so high that it will make you want to drop it all and move on to another online casino.