Wagering requirements are a confusing thing to many new online gamblers, especially since they can also be called ‘playthrough requirements’ or ‘rollover requirements’, further complicating the matter. Put simply, wagering meaning can be defined as the number of times you have to get a bonus before you can withdraw it. For example, if you took a £100 bonus at 20x wagering, you would have to make £2,000 worth of bets before you can withdraw the £100.
Before learning more, check out some of our low or no wagering requirements bonuses…
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That might seem impossible, but it’s not. Check out our guide on how to beat wagering requirements for some insight.
What are rollover requirements and what’s the easiest way to understand what they mean for you as the player? This short, simple article will explain them.
We’ll look at the most important things about them, including:
- What is wagering requirements/what does wagering mean in gambling?
- What is wager x20?
- How bonus wagering works and how casinos always win by using them.
- How can you beat online casino wagering?
- What’s a no wagering casino?
What Does Wagering Mean? – Definition
Don’t confuse wagering requirements with wager. They’re different terms. For those who don’t have the time to read the entire piece, wagering terms are associated with bonuses and make it difficult for you to withdraw the bonus cash you are given. We don’t like them, and we know you won’t either. We prefer casino bonuses with no wagering requirements. They’re not as ‘exciting’ as the free money offers, but it’s 100% honest. You get to keep 100% of what you win.
Now, back to what wagering requirements actually are…
Imagine the following casino welcome bonus offer:
“Get a 100% deposit match up to £2,000 on your first deposit. Minimum deposit £20. x20 wagering requirements apply”.
What this means is that if you deposit anything up to £2,000, the casino will double your money. However, the wagering clause means you’ll have to bet that money x20 over before you can withdraw it, or any winnings you get on top of it. Let’s say you deposited £100 and the house gives you another £100 on top – you would have to bet £2,000 before you can withdraw the bonus money. Hopefully, this helps you to understand wagering meaning in gambling.
Let’s say you take the offer and play slots, and you hit a nice £5k jackpot. If you’ve burned through the initial deposit and are now using the free casino bonus, you’ll have to bet it x20 over before you can withdraw that jackpot.
This is how the casinos make their money. To be fair, you can’t expect them to be dishing out thousands of pounds willy-nilly. After all, they’re a business and they’re out to make money. Wagering x20 isn’t as hard as it initially seems, but it is highly unlikely you’re going to be able to withdraw that money, and that’s exactly what the casino wants. Even at low wagering casinos, you will have to bet bonus cash between 5x and 10x.
The best way to look at welcome bonuses and deposits is free money to play with. In realistic terms, you aren’t going to make the wagering terms and win without extreme luck on your side. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t enjoy playing your favourite slots, tables games or card games using that money.
Don’t bank on betting the house’s money x20 and winning. The games are based on probability and you’d have to have a horseshoe up your arse to be able to bet that many times over and win. However, the house’s money can be used to just have fun and play your favourite games at whatever casino you desire.
It’s still always best to find casino welcome bonus deals with the lowest possible wagering limits, giving you the best chance of being able to actually win and withdraw that money plus any associated jackpots. Anything between x20-x35 is normal but stay away from the casinos that take things over and above this as x40 or x50 would be nearly mathematically impossible to meet. Rather than try to meet them, just play at the lowest wagering requirements casino in the UK – PlayOJO, which has no wagering at all. It’s also important to play the best slots for wagering. There’s no point in understanding the wagering meaning without knowing how to take advantage and beat them!
What does wagered 30 times mean?
Wagered 30x means that you have to bet the bonus 30 times before you can withdraw it. For example, if you get a £100 bonus, you have to wager £3,000 before you can withdraw the bonus. This isn’t as impossible as it first seems, but it will require some luck.
Time Limits
Most bonuses also usually also come with time limits. For example, they might say you have to meet them within 30 days, 90 days, or whatever the casino in question determines. Always read the small print to find out about time limits as well.
Let’s say the playthrough requirements are x20 and have to be met within 30 days. You deposit £100 and get £100 to play with from the casino. That means you’ll have to bet £2000 within 30 days or the deposit money will be cancelled and any winnings will be declared void.
Casinos do this for cash flow reasons. They can’t give you their money and let you sit on it forever as this would make it hard for them to meet their substantial operating expenses. Some give more generous time limits than 30 days, but they all have time limits in some form.
Play Through Rates and Game Weighting
The final thing to consider is game weighting. Once you understand wagering meaning, you have to go deeper and understand this too.
Game weighting means, in a nutshell, the percentage of bets that will count towards meeting wagering in a given game.
For example, slots almost always count 100% towards wagering requirements. That means that for every penny you bet, you’re working towards meeting the wagering requirements. However, card games like blackjack rarely count 100%, and might be assigned a game weight of something like 70%, meaning that for every 10 you play with, 7 will count towards wagering requirements.
Always check the terms and conditions of a given deposit bonus of welcome offer to check what games count. Since most online casino players play slots more than any other game, this shouldn’t be of too much concern. If you’re out to play another game, however, you need to consider if you’ll need to bet more to meet the wagering requirements. Again, the best casino sites with no wagering eliminates this issue altogether. Game weighting brings a whole new element to the meaning.
Note: Americans and Aussies will struggle to find bonuses with low or no wagering requirements. If you’re playing from these countries, we suggest grabbing a Yabby Casino no deposit bonus. Yes, you’ll have to wager it, but it’s a good deal and you have a reasonable chance of keeping what you win.
Wagering Meaning Summary
As you can see, wagering makes it close to impossible to beat the house. Only a few lucky fish slip through the net of playthroughs and actually put the casino cash in their pocket. You will stand more chance if you play high RTP slots.
Knowing this, just take the money with the aim to play games for free. You might as well approach it that you aren’t likely to win using the welcome bonuses, because that’s basically the truth when you look at it objectively. Still, these offers are there for the taking and you can try out all of the various games and play whatever you want at the casino without using your own cash.
If you do manage to score a huge jackpot using the welcome bonus money, such as x100 the value of the bonus then you can bet away to meet the requirements, knowing that when you do, you’ll be able to make the withdrawal and still be up a large amount of money. For example, let’s say you spin slots with a £100 bonus and win £10,000 – you’ll only have to bet £2000 before you can withdraw the jackpot, provided the wagering requirements are x20 as in our previous example.
Remember, it’s all free money at the end of the day and you just never know – you could be spinning away on the likes of Mega Moolah and could hit the progressive jackpot. At that point, meeting the wagering terms before you can withdraw will be a walk in the park.
Did you enjoy this article on wagering meaning? Did it explain them properly or do you still have unanswered questions? Drop us a comment and let us know. Check out some of our best slot sites if you’re looking for games to play.
Greg has been an avid gambler for over 15 years. He loves slot machines and betting on football. He’s been writing on the subject for close to a decade now and knows everything there is to know about video slots, jackpots, and slot sites in general! He has been writing for GamblersPro.com for over five years now.
