How To Beat Wagering Requirements For Casino Bonuses

When it comes to casino bonuses ‘wagering’ is one of those words that can strike fear or dread into some casino players. But, it really doesn’t have to.

Wagering refers to the amount of times that money has to be played through a casino before it turns into withdrawable cash. It can be as little as once (1x) and up to 100 times (100x) in extreme cases.

For many players, wagering requirements are complicated, and a little scary. There’s a reason the casinos usually hide them within the small print of the t’s and c’s and that’s because it can be off-putting. It is also seen as a ‘catch’ in the bonus offer.

But wagering doesn’t have to be feared or avoided. You can use strategies and controls to eliminate the risks and in some cases, wagering can actually turn out to be highly profitable.

It’s just a case of knowing what to do and when.

So, let’s take a look at how to beat wagering requirements for casino bonuses and everything else you need to know about wagering.

What Is Wagering?

The term ‘wagering’ simply means ‘spending’ when it comes to playing slots or table games.

It is sometimes referred to as a rollover, as the money is played through the casino over and over again until it is eligible for withdrawal.

If we look at a typical slot game, if you were to bet £1 per spin, then you would be wagering £1 on every spin. If you were to bet £1 per hand on blackjack then you would be wagering £1 per hand.

If you then spin 10 times or play 10 hands of blackjack, then you would have wagered £10. If you did this 20 times, you’d have wagered £20, and 50 times equals £50 and so on.

A wagering requirement does not refer to a set number of spins, it is always a monetary value. Sometimes this is specific such as ‘Wager £20’ while other times it comes as a multiple, for example ‘10x’.

10x simply means you have to play through the value of your winnings ten times.

If you’ve taken a free spins bonus and won £8.25 and it has a wagering requirement of 10x, then you need to wager £82.50 (10 x £8.25) before it can be withdrawn.

Why Do Casinos Apply Wagering Requirements

Casinos promote a wide variety of bonus offers to entice and engage customers. Although they can be beneficial to the player, the casinos also need to get value out of them.

If they were to offer all customers free spins and then just allow everyone to keep their winnings without any spending requirement, then they would quite quickly go out of business.

That’s why they go big in advertising their promotions, but also add things like wagering requirements, time limits, and sometimes max winnings into the terms and conditions.

In effect, wagering requirements are the casino’s way of maintaining house edge.

The more they get you to play, the more chance they have of winning their money back and gaining the advantage over you. It’s all just part of the game.

How To Wager Casino Bonuses

Betting £1.00 can make wagering very simple, as it keeps the maths very easy to work out e.g. wagering £20 is 20 x £1 spins.

However, not everyone wants to bet at £1 per spin/hand, for some, this would be too high, or too low and, it isn’t always the best strategy anyway. Therefore, with most casino bonuses, you can adjust your bet levels to suit you.

Let’s look at different ways we can adjust our bet level to wager £20 on slots.

If you want to keep your bet level as low as possible at 10p, then you simply do more spins to make up the £20. If you prefer a quicker, but riskier strategy, then choose fewer spins on a higher bet level.

It’s easy to work out yourself, simply divide the total amount you need to wager by the bet level you want to play and this will show you how many spins you need to do.

£5.00 divided by £0.20 = 25 spins

£5.00 divided by £0.10 = 50 spins

The fact is, when wagering, it doesn’t matter how many spins you do, or how many hands you play, it only matters that you have wagered the full value required in terms of money.

Casino Offers With Wagering

Most casino offers come with some form of wagering or rollover.

Sometimes it comes at the start of the bonus in order to unlock the offer and sometimes it comes at the end when you have winnings or bonus cash.

Before we look at how to beat wagering requirements for casino bonuses, let’s look at two examples of bonus offers that require wagering and the challenges that it brings.

1. Wager £20 and receive 20 free spins, winnings credited as cash

With this offer, you have to wager £20 upfront in order to unlock the free spins. Once you have the free spins, any winnings from them are credited as cash and do not need to be wagered further.

The downside to this bonus is that you could wager £20 and then not win anything from the free spins. However, at least the risk is restricted to a maximum potential loss of £20.

The upside to this bonus is that you could win money both from the £20 wagering and the free spins and then get to keep it all.

2. Receive 20 free spins - winnings need to be wagered ten times (10x)

With this offer, you receive the free spins first without any financial outlay, and then whatever you win from those will need to be played through the casino ten times.

If you win £1.00, you’ll need to wager £10

If you win £5.00, you’ll need to wager £50

If you win £10.00, you’ll need to wager £100

The more you win, the more you have to rollover. Once the wagering requirements have been met, then any funds you have left is yours to withdraw as winnings.

The upside to this bonus is that you don’t have to spend any money upfront. You can see how successful the free spins are first and then make a decision on whether you want to wager to release them.

In some cases, you can use the bonus funds to wager. If you’d won £10 from the free spins, that gives you £10 to start wagering. If it runs out before the full £100 wagering has been met, this is a ‘bust out’ and it has cost you nothing other than your potential £10 win.

Alternatively, there is a possibility that the £10 can actually grow into higher profits during wagering.

The downside to this bonus is that if you can’t use the bonus funds to wager, then you would have to wager £100 of your own money to release the £10 winnings. This is unlikely to be worth it and could end in a big loss.

However, this doesn’t mean that the bonus is not worth doing, it’s just a case of knowing how to play it strategically to give you the advantage.

How To Beat Wagering Requirements

You can see from both of the examples above that when it comes to wagering requirements for casino bonuses, there can be risks involved.

However, there are a number of strategies and choices you can make to beat these wagering requirements which we’ll go into below.

Only do offers that have positive expected value (+EV).

Choosing which casino bonuses to do and which ones to leave is a vital strategy in casino advantage play. There are some offers out there that just are not worth doing as the risks far outweigh the rewards when it comes to wagering.

However, there is an abundance of +EV casino offers too, which can give players a statistical edge over the casino. Using positive expected value offers gives you the long-term advantage over the casino.

Outplayed not only finds the +EV offers for you, but gives you a detailed guide on the best strategy to play them, along with each offer's actual value and risk level.

Wagering Game Choice

If you want to beat wagering requirements, then you have to choose the right games to wager on. Although some casinos or offers have restrictions on which games can be used for wagering, the majority are open.

If this is the case, you should be looking for the game that has the highest RTP (Return to Player) on the casino site. Often this is blackjack, but if not available for wagering, then you need to pick a high RTP slot and preferably one with low volatility.

This has the double benefit of reducing risks and increasing the chances of gaining profits while wagering. So, when it comes to wagering, stay away from your favourite games and choose the high RTP ones to help beat the wagering requirements.

Wagering Bet Size

Reducing your bet size is a great way to beat wagering requirements as it controls the variance in the game. If you bet 10p or 20p rather than £1 or £2, then it is less likely that you will lose a big amount, especially if you’re playing a high RTP slot.

If you hit a losing streak playing higher stakes it can prove costly very quickly. Ten dead spins in a row on a 10p spin will only cost £1, however the same on a £2 bet level will leave you £20 down.

Slow and steady helps to beat wagering requirements, especially if the wagering amount is low.

If the wagering amount is higher, or you hit a nice win while wagering, then it may be beneficial to increase to 50p or £1 bets, but it’s always best to err on the side of caution if you want to beat wagering.

Don’t Deposit Unless You Have To

When it comes to wagering, reading the terms and conditions is essential. Some casino offers will state ‘Deposit £20 and get 30 free spins’ while others will state ‘Wager £20 and get 30 free spins’.

Unless the offer specifically states ‘Deposit’ then you don’t need to deposit any new money. If you already have some funds in the casino account, however small, then you can use that to wager.

You may end up having some luck along the way, and be able to complete the necessary wagering with that balance alone. If not, then you can make a deposit just for the amount that’s left to be wagered.

Use Bonus Funds Before Own Funds

Some casino offers stipulate a deposit needs to be made in order to receive bonus funds. The bonus funds then come with wagering requirements in order to turn them into withdrawable cash.

However, often the funds you’ve just deposited will be used for wagering before the bonus funds. In this scenario, you can beat the wagering requirements by withdrawing your deposit immediately. This means that the bonus funds will be used to complete the wagering instead of your own money.

Play And Stop Strategically

Casino offers with wagering requirements don’t need to be played through to completion. At any time you can beat the wagering requirements by forfeiting the bonus funds if you want to limit the risks.

Say, for example, you have a high wagering requirement of 40x for casino bonus funds. You may decide to start the offer, but if the wagering isn’t going well and you don’t want to risk further funds, then you can stop it at any time and just lose the bonus funds.

This puts you in full control of the situation and ensures that wagering can never lead to unmanageable losses.

You can use support from Outplayed to determine what the value and risk level is if you continue wagering to help you make an informed decision.

Wagering Considerations

Now we’ve covered the basic principles of wagering and some top tips on how to beat wagering requirements, let’s look at a few factors we need to consider when wagering.

1. Winnings Don’t Affect Wagering – While you’re wagering on slots or table games, you will inevitably hit some wins along the way (hopefully big ones!). It doesn’t matter how much or how often you win, the winnings have no impact on the wagering requirements so you’ll still need to keep playing until you’ve hit that wagering target.

2. Time/Bet Restrictions - Some casino offers stipulate the bet level you must bet when wagering, for example, no lower than 20p, or no higher than £1.00, so make sure you check out the terms before wagering. Also, all offers come with a time-limit so make sure you complete wagering within that date range or you’ll forfeit your bonus funds.

3. Game Restrictions - Some casino offers stipulate the specific games that wagering must be completed on. This can be a set range of games or a veto on games that are above a certain RTP. Always ensure you’re aware of these before playing or you could be spending money but not actually wagering.

4. Keep Track of Spins – The last thing you want to do is wager more than you have to. Make sure you keep track of how many spins you have done, so you can stop when you have hit your target. Some casinos have a counter and will notify you when wagering is complete, but some don’t.

5. Wagering Can be Profitable – Don’t forget wagering can actually be very profitable. I have lost count of the times that I’ve hit a nice bonus while wagering and ended up with way more profits than I originally thought. Of course, this isn’t guaranteed, so the correct strategy is to limit losses using our tips and if a big win comes along, then it’s an added bonus.

Wagering Summary

Wagering is definitely something put in place to benefit the casinos. Usually, when a casino is offering a freebie (free spins or bonus cash), they are, in effect, trying to get you to spend your own money to ‘release’ winnings.

When faced with a casino offer that has wagering, the lower the wagering requirement, the better, as there is more chance that you can turn that into profit. The higher the wagering, the more chance you have of ‘busting out’, unless you hit some good wins along the way.

However, that doesn’t mean wagering should be feared or avoided. You can beat wagering requirements on casino offers by playing strategically and following our tips.

The trick is to eliminate as much risk as possible, so your potential losses are limited, and then maximise any potential wins by choosing the right offers, games, bet size and strategy.

Play Safely

Casino games are fun to play, but it’s important to always gamble responsibly. It can be very easy to get carried away while playing and before you know it you’ve spent much more money and much more time than you intended to.

Always be very self-aware while playing casino games. Set yourself a budget, take regular breaks, monitor your play and if you start to feel like it is getting out of your control, then take action to manage it.

Every online casino has a Safer Gambling page where you can find tools and measures to help you, as well as advice and support. Alternatively, go to GAMSTOP which is a free service to help put controls in place to manage your online gambling activities.