How Casino Wagering Requirements Work
Updated August 2026
A wagering requirement is the amount you have to bet before bonus money becomes money you can withdraw. It applies either to the bonus alone or to your deposit and the bonus together, and 30x is typical. On a $100 deposit matched with $100, the second convention means betting $6,000. That figure is the offer, not the headline.
Why the requirement exists at all
Deposit $100, take $100 in bonus credit, cash out $200 an hour later, and the casino has handed out free money. Playthrough conditions are what stop that: a requirement is an instruction to keep betting until the house edge, two to six percent of every dollar staked on a slot, has consumed the credit. At a four percent edge, turning over $6,000 costs an expected $240 in losses, so the bonus works as a discount on that cost, not as a gift.
The multiplier, and what it multiplies
Two casinos both advertise 30x. One applies it to the bonus, the other to deposit plus bonus: a factor of two.
Take the example this page uses throughout: a $100 deposit, a 100% match worth $100 in bonus credit, and a 30x requirement applied to deposit and bonus combined. Thirty times two hundred dollars is six thousand dollars, the turnover needed before the balance becomes withdrawable, or sixty times the money you actually put in. Had the same 30x applied to the bonus alone, the figure would be $3,000.
The phrase to hunt for is deposit plus bonus, or D+B: where it appears, double whatever you calculated.
Game weighting quietly rewrites the figure
Slots contribute 100% of every dollar staked. Blackjack often contributes 10%, sometimes 5%, occasionally nothing.
Run the earlier example as a blackjack player at 10% weighting. The $6,000 requirement does not change on paper, but each $10 hand counts as $1 toward it, so clearing it means staking $60,000 across the table, sixty hours of blackjack for a $100 bonus. Blackjack has the lowest house edge in the building, which is why the weighting exists.
The bet cap that voids everything
Most bonus terms set a maximum stake while the requirement is still unmet, commonly $5 per spin. Exceed it once and the penalty is forfeiture of the bonus and the winnings attached to it.
The trap is mechanical, not reckless. Autoplay set before the bonus was credited, or a doubled bet after a losing run, can breach a $5 cap without the player registering that a rule changed. The account review finds that single $10 spin at withdrawal.
The clock you agreed to
Expiry windows run from seven days to ninety, with thirty as the common middle. The clock starts when the bonus is credited, not when you next log in, and whatever remains unwagered at the deadline disappears with its winnings.
Six thousand dollars of turnover in thirty days is $200 of staking per day, every day: the offer setting your schedule.
When declining is the right answer
A no-wager offer pays the winnings as cash, not as bonus credit, with no turnover attached. They are rarer than they should be, and usually a small spin package instead of a headline match.
So the decision is about your own behaviour. If you were going to stake $6,000 over the next month anyway, a $100 bonus costs nothing you were not already spending. If you deposit $100 intending to play $150 and stop, the same bonus converts a liquid balance into a locked one. Declining is usually an unchecked box at the cashier.