Understanding the Fine Print of Casino Bonuses

Posted by Harry Kane on Saturday, January 18, 2020

As the iGaming market has continued to expand and diversify in the UK, brands both old and new have been forced to compete more aggressively for their fair share of the action.

To achieve this objective, most operators use lucrative welcome bonuses and increasingly targeted promotions to help attract and retain key players, and whilst that can be genuinely rewarding it can also cause confusion amongst customers.

After all, all bonus offers are defined by their unique terms and conditions, many of which can be found in the promotion’s small print.

In this post, we’ll talk you through the most common small print and explain precisely what this means from a player’s perspective.

1. Getting Started With Wagering Requirements

Ultimately, the goal of all casino operators is to optimise their profitability, which means that all promotional offers and bonuses include terms and conditions aimed at minimising losses.

The best example of this exists in the form of so-called ‘wagering requirements’, which have been a source of controversy for a couple years now (and ever since the UKGC announced the protection of vulnerable gamblers as one of its core strategic objectives through 2021).

This was also the primary focus of a joint investigation by the regulator and the Competitions & Markets Authority (CMA), which subsequently compelled operators to drastically alter their key bonus terms and remove any unfair restriction on the withdrawal of winnings.

Wagering requirements certainly earned particular criticism, primarily because they forced players to “commit to an extended period of gambling before any winnings could be withdrawn.” These restrictions have also become a key staple of most iGaming promotions, imposing increasingly unfair rules on players in the process.

But how exactly do wagering requirements work? In simple terms, they refer to the precise number of times a player must play through or wager the value of the bonus before turning it into real money and completing a withdrawal from their account.

To this end, they’re usually expressed as a number followed by the letter ‘x’, to identify the exact terms of the bonus and their impact on participating players.

For example, let’s say that you deposit £10 to unlock a bonus value of £20 (against a wagering requirement of “30x”). In this instance, you’ll be required to play through a hefty £700 before you can withdraw any winnings, creating an arbitrary and unfair restriction that may potentially create the problem gamblers of tomorrow.

Typically, wagering requirements will vary from 20 to 50x the bonus of your value, and the good news is that firms are now compelled to ensure that these are advertised as transparently as possible.

This is important, as you should definitely review the wagering requirements attached to any bonus in detail before making an informed decision to commit.

2. Wagering Stakes and Individual Game Weightings

It’s fair to say that not all casino games have been created equal, and this is definitely the case when it comes to the world of wagering requirements and unique bonus terms.

Of particular concern is the role of game weightings, which stipulate that stakes placed on specific games may not contribute in full towards your bonus wagering requirement.

More specifically, variable contributions may apply to different games and verticals, meaning that you may have to wager considerably more to release your winnings.

To understand this in greater context, let’s use the previous example of a £20 welcome bonus with a wagering requirement of £700. Let’s also say that video poker has a meagre game weighting of 10%, meaning that you’ll need to wager 10x more (or £7,000) to complete the wagering requirements when playing this type of game alone.

Game weightings will often vary from one casino to another, but as a general rule popular verticals such as online slots will contribute 100% to your wagering requirements.

Conversely, games such as video poker and roulette may hover around 10% to 30%, and it’s important to bear this in mind when activating promotional offers and developing a strategy to help access your winnings.

Otherwise, you may find yourself spending considerably more than you need and wasting huge sums of money in pursuit of relatively modest winnings.

3. What’s the Spin Value?

In order to differentiate their bonus or simply add depth to an initial offer, a growing number of operators are now creating packages that include free spins.

Whilst operators will usually offer a fixed number of spins on selected slots, however, it’s also important to note that each spin has a clearly defined value that impacts on the viability of the offer in question.

As a general rule, the majority of free spins boast a minimum value of £0.10, and places an instant cap on your winnings and the bottom line profitability of the bonus in question.

If the free spins are included as part of a deposit match bonus, operators also tend cap the maximum bet at £5 or less (at least until the wagering requirements have been met in full).

In the event that bets of larger amounts are placed, casinos often reserve the right to withhold an individual player’s winnings and you may eventually be required to forfeit the bonus.

These terms can be decidedly complex and variable, so once again it makes sense to review them in full before you commit to a specific offer.

Understanding the value of each spin is also key to operating profitably as a gambler, particularly when they primarily enjoy slot gaming titles.

4. The Bonus Expiration

We close with the bonus expiration, which another clear but often overlooked conditions that often trips players up.

Ultimately, all bonuses expire at one time or another, but new player promotions tend to have a particularly short lifespan. In fact, most are scheduled to expire within seven days, during which time you’ll need to complete the fixed (and often prohibitive) wagering requirements.

Of course, some casinos have applied less stringent expiration dates in recent times, especially as the regulator has looked to clampdown on unfair practices.

As a result, it’s not uncommon to find that some bonuses will last for a period of between 14 and 30 days, and it’s fair to say that such promotions may offer considerably better value for casual or low-rolling players.

As you can imagine, failing to bet or complete the wagering requirements within the expiration date will cause the bonus to expire, at which point it will be removed from your account and any accumulated losses will be immediately debited from your deposited balance.