Understanding Wagering And Playthrough Requirements
Bonus offers are found at all online casinos. They are a great way to attract new players but naturally, a casino will not just give away free money.
All bonuses will feature playthrough requirements that essentially ensure a player will remain loyal to a casino for a set period of time, if they choose to accept a bonus offer.
What Is The Playthorugh Requirement?
When a player signs up to an online casino, they can take advantage of many different bonus offers. Once you accept any bonus promotion, you will also accept the wagering or Playthrough requirements.
What this promotion entails is that a player will receive a cash amount from the casino to either add to his current funds or to provide him with funds if no deposit is made upon completing your sign up.
A Player’s account will be limited to deposits and playing real money games, but he or she will not be able to make withdrawals. Any time you win a cash amount in a real money game, it will be banked in your account but you will only be able to make a withdrawal once you have met the wagering requirement.
How Playthrough Requirements Work
Lets us take an example. Let’s say a casino offers you a bonus of $100. The playthrough requirements are always related to the bonus you have received. Let’s, as an example, say the wagering requirement is 20x.
This means that you will need to wager $20 x 100 in the casino before you can get access to your funds. The 20x or 10x or 50x notation is standard amongst casinos when setting out the wagering requirements.
Once you have met these wagering requirements, you will get full access to your funds and you can withdraw any jackpot or bonus cash that is in your account.
When Do Wagering Requirements Come Into Play?
As soon as you have accepted a bonus offer, the playthrough requirements will come into effect, limiting your account withdrawals. The bonuses players can expect to be offered include:
- No Deposit Bonus – This is a form of welcome bonus that will be offered to new players signing up to a casino for the first time. The no deposit bonus is a cash amount paid to the player. You won’t have to make a cash deposit first and you can use the cash bonus you receive to immediately start making real money wagers on games.
- Deposit Bonus – If you sign up to the casino and make a deposit as well, then you can claim a deposit bonus, where the casino will match the amount you deposited with money of their own that they will add to your account. The bigger bonus you accept, the higher the playthrough requirement.
- Additional Deposit Bonus –many casinos will award a deposit bonus multiple times. The playthrough requirements will remain the same for all subsequent deposit bonuses.
Meeting Your Playthrough Requirements
There are a few things players can keep in consideration when they wish to meet their playthrough requirements as fast as possible.
- Read The Terms And Conditions – No bonus offers should be taken up by a player who has not read and understood the terms and conditions attached to a bonus. Any reputable casino will have an FAQ section or ideally a dedicated bonus section where their terms and conditions are clearly set out. You should only accept a bonus that you feel is not only fair but attainable.
- Play Games That Count More – Many casinos adjust the amounts that certain games count towards your wagering requirements. This means that while the majority of slot games may count 100% towards your wagering requirements, table games can potentially only count 50% or 60% towards meeting your wagering requirement. Try and focus on the games that count the most until you have completed your playthrough, then you can switch to other games.
- Keep Track Of Your Wagering –Even though the casino will keep track of your wagering requirements met, software issues and mistakes still happen. It doesn’t hurt to also personally keep track of the amounts you have wagered and on which games so that you can contest any mistakes that may arise with the casino’s support staff.
Find The Most Player Friendly Requirements
Not all online casinos will give you the same playthrough requirements as there is no industry standard. That said, since the online casino marketplace is already so competitive, there appears to be some general consensus on what is a reasonable playthrough requirement.
You can check our recommend casinos to easily find the most reputable casinos offering reasonable wagering requirements. This will save you the effort of reading through the fine print of other online casinos’ bonus agreements.
At the end of the day no bonus offer is forced upon players. These offers should only be accepted if you feel that you can meet their requirements. If these requirements seem reasonable to you, the bonuses you obtain are well worth it.