You deposit $100 and the casino doubles it: a $100 bonus, $200 to play with. Then, somewhere in the small print, a line appears: 35x wagering on bonus. Most players see that number, shrug, and start spinning. They should not, because that single multiplier is the difference between a fair offer and a polite way of taking your deposit.
This guide breaks down what wagering requirements actually mean, the math you need to value any bonus in under sixty seconds, and the hidden rules operators bury beneath the headline number.
Wagering requirements, also called playthrough or rollover, are the total amount you have to bet before bonus-derived winnings can be withdrawn. The figure is expressed as a multiplier, usually 30x to 50x, applied to either the bonus amount or the bonus and deposit combined. Two casinos can advertise the same headline bonus and carry wildly different real costs depending on which base they use.
If the terms do not specify, assume bonus plus deposit. After the multiplier itself, the base is the most important number on the page.
A bonus is not free money; it is a discount on losses. To translate the headline number into a real expectation, multiply the total wagering by one minus the expected return, or RTP, which shows how much a game is expected to pay back over time.
Worked example: a $100 deposit, a $100 bonus, 35x wagering on the bonus, slots only at 96% RTP.
That is the honest expected value. The bonus is worth less than what you will statistically lose clearing the wagering requirements.
A good bonus is one where the expected loss to clear is meaningfully smaller than the bonus itself, typically 25x or lower on bonus only at 96% or higher RTP.
Game contribution is where wagering requirements quietly get more expensive, and it is one of the main reasons withdrawals take longer than expected even at fast payout casinos. Not every game contributes 100%. Slots almost always do, but live blackjack, video poker and roulette frequently contribute 10% or less, and sometimes 0%. So if you bet $10 on blackjack at a 10% contribution, only $1 counts toward your rollover, and your effective wagering balloons.
The same $3,500 requirement above, played on blackjack at 10% contribution, becomes $35,000 in actual bets to clear. At even a slim 0.5% house edge, that is $175 in expected loss, significantly worse than slots despite blackjack’s better headline RTP.
Always check the contribution table before you start. Operators often will not show it on the offer page, so you have to dig into the full terms or a dedicated game weighting section. How an operator handles that kind of fine print, and its verification process, is exactly the sort of thing our William Hill review examines before we recommend a casino.
The multiplier is the headline. These four restrictions decide whether you can actually clear it.
The expected-loss math above assumes the worst case, that you are clearing wagering requirements with money that is genuinely at risk. Whether that is true depends on one detail operators rarely advertise: is the bonus sticky or non-sticky?
A non-sticky bonus, sometimes called a parachute bonus, keeps your deposit and the bonus separate. You play with your real deposit first, and you can withdraw whatever is left of it at any time without touching the bonus or triggering wagering requirements. The bonus only activates once your deposit is spent. If you have a good run early, you cash out your own money and the wagering requirements never become your problem.
A sticky bonus locks the deposit and bonus together. You cannot withdraw anything, including your own deposit, until the full wagering requirements are cleared. Win early and you still cannot leave with it, because the deposit is hostage to the playthrough.
This single distinction changes the real cost of an offer more than the multiplier does. A 40x non-sticky bonus is often a better deal than a 25x sticky one, because with non-sticky you risk only what you choose to gamble, while with sticky your entire deposit is exposed to the house edge until the requirement is met.
Before you judge a bonus by its headline number, find out which type it is. If the terms do not say, assume sticky and treat the offer accordingly, and lean toward operators with genuinely player-friendly terms, like the one we break down in our hands-on Spino review.
Free spins look like the simplest bonus there is, but they hide a second layer of wagering requirements that catches players out. When you win money from free spins, that win is almost never cash. It is converted into bonus funds, and those funds carry their own playthrough.
The trap is that free-spin wagering is usually calculated on the winnings, not on a bonus handed to you up front. Say 50 free spins return $20 in wins at 40x wagering. That is $800 in bets you must place before any of that $20 can be withdrawn. Because the amount you have to clear depends on how lucky the spins were, it is impossible to know in advance.
Two more rules almost always apply to free-spin winnings. First, a withdrawal cap, frequently $50 to $100, limits the maximum you can ever cash out no matter how well the spins went. Second, a short time window, sometimes as little as 24 hours, to use the spins and then clear the wagering requirements on what they produce.
This is why no-wagering free spins are genuinely valuable when you can find them: the win is paid as withdrawable cash with no playthrough at all. They are rarer than they should be, but they are the only free-spin offer where the headline and the reality match. For every other free-spin promotion, read the wagering requirements on the winnings before you assume the spins are free.
Open the bonus terms and check, in this order:
If three or more of these are tilted toward the operator, the bonus is a marketing line, not a player offer. Take the deposit and skip the bonus.
Genuinely fair offers do exist. They look like this: 25x or lower, on bonus only, non-sticky, slot contribution at 100%, a maximum bet of $5, 30 or more days to clear, and no withdrawal cap on bonus winnings.
You will not find them on every casino homepage, but they show up, often from operators that compete on player retention rather than player acquisition. Good wagering requirements reward you for reading the terms, and bad ones rely on you not bothering.
It means the wagering requirement is 35 times the bonus amount, or 35 times the bonus plus deposit depending on the operator, before bonus-derived winnings can be withdrawn. On a $100 bonus with bonus-only wagering, that is $3,500 in total bets.
Not always. A 50x wagering requirement on a $200 bonus with 100% slot contribution and a 30-day window can be more clearable than a 25x bonus restricted to blackjack at 10% contribution with a 7-day window. The multiplier is only one of several variables that decide a bonus’s real value.
Most casinos play down the bonus balance first while you clear wagering requirements, which means your real deposit is protected until the bonus is done. Some flip this and play down the deposit first, which is far less player-friendly because you risk losing your own money before the bonus even unlocks.
Yes, and this is the single most common cause of disputed payouts. Exceeding the maximum bet, playing a restricted game, or finishing wagering requirements after the time limit will typically void the bonus and any winnings from it. Read the bonus terms in full before your first spin.
A non-sticky or parachute bonus lets you withdraw your real deposit at any time without forfeiting it, and the bonus only activates once the deposit is spent. A sticky bonus locks deposit and bonus together until wagering requirements are fully cleared. Non-sticky is significantly better for the player.