Casino Bonus Wagering Requirements

Author: Sylvia Garcia

Online casinos offer bonuses to lure new members and/or to retain their existing ones. From the beginning, it is important to stress that bonuses are not funds that can be withdrawn. These online casino bonuses are meant for wagering at the casino and players can only take home what they win from wagering the bonuses. These are what are called wagering requirements. Basic bonus wagering requirements stipulate how many times the bonus and deposit need to be wagered before you can request a withdrawal. Plus there are a number of additional conditions that are attached to the wagering requirements in the fine print.

One such condition imposes a maximum value on the wager placed while the wagering requirements are in effect. What this means is that if you place a wager that is higher than the maximum amount allowed before you meet the wagering requirements, then the wager itself will not count towards fulfilling the wagering requirements, so the wagering requirements will stand where they were before you placed the wager. Plus, any winnings will be voided and will not be added to your balance.

This condition is consistent with the intent of the wagering requirements. Let me explain…if the bonus is a 100% deposit bonus and you deposit $100 that gives you a bankroll of $200. Now if the wagering requirement stipulates a wagering of 15 times the deposit and the bonus, then the total amount that must be wagered works out to $3000. Without a maximum limit on the bet, the player can wager $200 per spin and complete the bonus wagering requirement in 15 spins. Instead, because there is a maximum bet limit of $6, the player will have to make at least 1500 spins in order to complete the requirements.

Why is this important??? In order to answer this question you must have at least a basic understanding of the concept of average return to the player. On an online slot machine, the average return to the player is about 95%. What this means is that in the long run, for every $100 wagered, players will recover $95 and will lose $5 to the online casino. What the maximum limit on the bet wagering requirement does is it takes the player out of the realm of short-term wagering and puts him into the realm of long-term wagering. In this scenario, most players end up losing by the completion of the wagering requirements and only a small amount of luckier ones are able to take home winnings from these free bonuses.

The lesson that you should take from this is that when choosing the best casino bonuses, you must ensure that you carefully read the fine print. It can mean the difference between you losing your entire bankroll or possibly taking home a few bucks.