Wagering requirements are the number of times you have to play through your bonus before withdrawing any wins. You can also read them as an amount of money you must stake. In its Terms & Conditions, each site specifies the wagering requirements, as they can apply differently to different games and bonuses.
Sometimes, sites call them rollover or playthrough requirements. Nonetheless, real money online casinos prefer playthrough, while sportsbooks stick with rollovers. These limits vary depending on the company’s policy, games, and bonuses. All in all, if you don’t meet the wagering requirements, you won’t be able to turn your bonus funds into a withdrawable cash amount.
What Are Wagering Requirements
In short, a wagering requirement is a rule online casinos instate in their welcome offers to challenge the players and prevent them from withdrawing the funds right away. The wagering requirement represents the number of times the player has to wager through the bonus funds to convert the winnings into real money and be able to withdraw them.
How Wagering Requirements Work
The wagering requirement represents the number of times you have to wager the bonus amount to complete the bonus and unlock withdrawals. For instance, you claim a $100 bonus at a 10x wagering requirement. In this case, the total wagering amount is $1,000. Or if you claim a $200 bonus at 20x wagering requirement, the total wagering amount is $4,000.
Calculation of Wagering Requirements: Example
You only need simple maths to calculate the wagering requirements, or to be more precise – multiplication. Online casinos usually provide playthrough requirements between 35 and 70 times. This means that you’ll have to stake your bonus or the whole amount for (by) 35 or 70 times.
Let’s take wagering requirements of 35x as an example:
Imagine you’ve placed a 10 NZD bet and unlocked a welcome bonus of a 100% deposit match. This will give you an additional NZ$10 to play. Now, let’s imagine the site specified a 35x wager for the whole amount.
In this case, you must play the whole $20 NZ dollars 35 times before withdrawing any wins. This means that you must bet a total of 700 NZD (or 35 x $20). After that, all your winnings will become redeemable.
However, some sites limit the wagering requirements only to the bonus amount (non-sticky promos). In this case, you’ll have to wager only 350 NZD (or 35 x 10 NZD).
The website may also have a high playthrough requirement of 70 times. This means that you’ll have to play through the 20 NZD 70 times or bet a total amount of NZ$1400.
Anyway, you should keep in mind that you need to read the T&Cs of every casino bonus you claim.
Other Bonus T&Cs That Influence Bonus Wagering
Before staking your funds, check the T&Cs of the company. There you’ll see what else can limit or curb your wagering. For example, sites have different time limits, minimum bets, or game restrictions. Furthermore, they can have specific playthroughs for free spins or other promotions. Following are the most important T&Cs that influence your wagering:
Game Contribution
Different games contribute differently toward the playthroughs. Sites usually state that slot games contribute 100%. This means that the 35x wagering stays 35 times when staking your funds at slot tiles.
Nonetheless, tables or live dealer games may contribute 50% or 10%. If the contribution is 50%, this means that you will have to double your wagering sum. Your standard wager will decrease from 100% to 50%. In this case, wagering your money at tables or live dealer will become 70x (or 35 x 2).
Time Limit
Time limits are another condition that can influence your bonus wagering. For instance, websites can specify time limits for wagering your free spins or the whole bonus amount.
Sometimes they’ll impose time limits on the bonus wagering between 7 and 60 days. Other times, you’ll have only 24 hours to wager your funds.
Additionally, the gaming operators can divide the free spins amount daily. For example, you may unlock 100 free spins as a part of a welcome offer. However, some sites may oblige you to wager 10% of the free spins for 10 consecutive days. Please check out the T&Cs of each company and learn more about the wagering time limits.
Minimum Bet
A minimum bet stake doesn’t tell much about the bonus value. In fact, it only states the lowest amount you can stake at a game without losing the right to play with the bonus funds.
However, a limit you should reconsider before claiming a bonus is the maximum betting limit. This restriction will give you an insight into how quickly you could clear the wagering requirements. Most of the time, the max limit will be set at 5 NZD.
Type of Bonus
On NZ online casinos, first-deposit and no-deposit (AKA sign-up) bonuses are the two most common types. When we compare them, we’ll notice that first-deposit bonuses have much lower wagering requirements. In contrast, wins based on free spins tend to have much higher wagering requirements and usually require players to make a deposit to unlock withdrawals.
Bonus Amount
Another factor that plays a vital role in the wagering requirements is the bonus amount. Typically, bonuses with larger maximum caps and superior deposit percentage boosts have higher wagering requirements than their lower-capped counterparts. For example, a bonus that rewards a 200% first deposit bonus capped at $2,000 is typically going to have a much higher wagering requirement than a 100% first deposit bonus capped at $200.