How to Wager Casino Bonus: Tips, Tricks, and Common Pitfalls

First, let’s talk about the basics. To fully understand what wagering requirements are, you need to be familiar with online casino bonuses.

Why do they exist? Online casinos use bonuses as a tool to encourage you to register and/or make a deposit. There are no deposit bonuses that are awarded right after signup and welcome bonuses on real money deposit. Both come in the form of bonus funds or free spins, usually.

Players can use the bonus funds and free spins to test new games and experiment with different gambling strategies. It’s basically a risk-free environment with real money-winning potential… but you can only achieve it if you successfully fulfil the wagering requirement.

Obviously, online casino bonuses don’t offer free money. Yes, players are awarded bonus funds and free spins to use on the platform. But, none of the awards gives free money because they all have wagering requirements tied to the bonus amount.

What are wagering requirements? They are one of the mechanisms casinos use for preventing players from withdrawing bonus funds right away. Other mechanisms include time limits, specific game selections, and different wagering contributions.

To withdraw bonus funds with a 50x wagering requirement, you have to wager the bonus plus deposit amount fifty times over. Keep in mind that most online casinos also have time limits to go alongside wagering requirements (typically 1 to 4 weeks).

We’ve researched for long enough to conclude that no wagering requirements bonuses are almost impossible to find. You’ll need to wager through the bonus funds to actually get your real money winnings. Wagering a bonus takes patience and a proper strategy. You can’t expect to fulfil it in a matter of days. It’s a process; a marathon, not a sprint.

In this section, we’ll provide you with a step-by-step guide to fully wagering a bonus and withdrawing the funds.

Step 1: Reading the Terms

The bonus Terms and Conditions page represents the ruleset for the given bonus(es). How to read casino terms? There are several key areas:

• Wagering requirements: Check the wagering requirements as they are typically among the first disclosed characteristics.
• Time limit: The time limit for fulfilling bonus requirements is typically 1 to 4 weeks.
• Minimum deposit: Casinos tend to have minimum deposit requirements (f.e. $10) for claiming the welcome offer.
• Wagering contributions: Some casinos have different contributions per game category (f.e. slots 1.5x, live casino 0.75x)

Step 2: Picking Suitable Games

In some cases, free spins will be for a specific game or a set of games. But, most of the time you’ll be able to pick whichever game you’d like to play. No matter if you’ve claimed free spins or a deposit match, your best options are slots with a high RTP (return to player) percentage. The higher it is, the higher your chances of winning.

Step 3: Setting a Budget

Set yourself a budget and stick with it. Sounds simple enough, eh, but it’s quite difficult once you get things going. Our advice is to find casino sites with low deposit promotions. They will allow you to deposit several times without making a massive dent in your finances. This should grant more playtime and potentially improve your chance of success.

Step 4: Tracking Playthrough

Pay attention to your progress toward completing the wagering for the bonus you’ve claimed. Most sites have a progress page where you can check in real-time how much more you have to wager. If you try to cash out too early, you won’t be able to withdraw your bonus funds. That’s why tracking playthroughs is one of the essential chores you need to tend to when wagering through your bonus.

Step 5: Knowing When to Cash Out

If you cash out too early, not only will you be unable to withdraw the bonus funds, they might even disappear from your account, depending on what casino you’re at. If you’re not sure what the rules are with your particular bonus, once again we advise you to thoroughly examine the Bonus Terms and Conditions page. That’s where you’ll find details on what happens if you try withdrawing too soon.

In the following couple of paragraphs, we’ll be going through the most common mistakes we see people make when trying to fulfil the wagering requirements of claimed bonuses. There’s nothing inherently wrong about making mistakes, don’t get us wrong… but if you’re making them, make sure you learn something in the process. So, when you’re wagering through your bonus, stay clear of the following pitfalls:

Ignoring the Fine Print

Always read and try to understand the fine print! Details like time restrictions, game exclusions, minimum deposit and wagering requirements are all necessary for you to understand what you’re dealing with and how to figure out the best approach.

Chasing Losses

One of the most common mistakes done by beginners is sprinting through the wagering requirements. Players who get a good start tend to force bets later on and end up losing everything in a couple of hours. Then they go down the rabbit hole and end up chasing losses. This can easily turn into much bigger issues, and no one wants that.

Playing Excluded Games

We already talked about wagering contributions, so let’s give more details here. Certain types of games count more, and certain types of games count less towards the wagering requirement. At some casinos, certain game types are outright excluded. In other words, playing them won’t count towards your wagering progress.

Cashing Out Too Early

As mentioned earlier, you need to know when to cash out. Luckily, it’s pretty straightforward. Casinos typically provide progress stats for wagering through bonuses. Pay close attention to it and make sure you’ve actually fulfilled the requirement before cashing out. If you cash out too early, you might forfeit your bonus funds.

If you’re serious about withdrawing that welcome bonus you’ve just claimed, this section is going to be of help. It’s here to answer a simple question ‒ how do bonuses work? There are certain strategies you can implement to drastically improve your chance of fulfilling the wagering requirements. If you play it smart, choose optimal games, and play patiently, you might just make it.

Smart Game Choice

The smartest game choice for folks who are wagering through their bonus are high RTP games. It’s easy to understand RTP percentages. The higher they are, the more you’re likely to be on the winning side of things. Over time, high RTP games are far more likely to be profitable than their lower RTP counterparts.

Leverage Bonus Types

In other words, use the knowledge about bonuses to your advantage. If you’re claiming bonuses without deposit requirements, you’re basically getting free gameplay. Use it to test new games. If you’re claiming bonuses based on the first deposit, try to maximise their value and slowly progress through the wagering requirements. In short, play to your advantage!

Maintain Discipline

The best way to maximise your bonus value is to cement your budget. Set your betting bankroll aside every week/month and always stick with it. No matter if you’re working on fulfilling wagering requirements or just playing for fun – maintaining discipline is of utmost importance!

Stay Informed

Staying informed has plenty of benefits too. That’s because online casinos frequently change their promotion offers and often add new ones. They alter the terms every now and then, which means staying up to date will ensure you’re the first one to know when a new bonus pops up.

If there’s one thing you could’ve learned on this page, it ought to be the importance of reading the bonus terms and conditions. They will give you all the necessary information and help you properly understand what you’re dealing with.

Another key takeaway is the wagering requirement. In short, you should always look for the best balance of bonus funds and wagering requirements. If a bonus grants a 200% deposit bonus up to $1,000 CAD, it will probably have an enormous (read 100x and higher) wagering requirement. Obviously, the superior strategy would be to find a less lucrative bonus that has realistic wagering requirements.