Whenever you accept an online casino bonus, it will always come with terms and conditions attached, and it’s important that you read the Ts and Cs to ensure you get the most out of your bonus and avoid disappointment.
Why should I read my online casino bonus Ts and Cs?
The terms and conditions tell you many things about your bonus, which are different with each bonus. Failure to read them through carefully to find out what is required of you as a player can often result in bonus winnings being forfeited, which can be annoying and frustrating.
Before accepting a bonus, take a minute or two to read the Ts and Cs, or do so as soon as you have claimed a bonus. Most online casinos today make their bonus Ts and Cs clear and easy to understand and shouldn’t take up too much of your time.
What can the Ts and Cs tell me about the bonus I just claimed?
Let’s just say you have claimed a free live casino games bonus worth up to the value of $/€/£0.50 to try out some of the casino’s live dealer games.
The Ts and Cs for this particular no deposit bonus will tell you things like which games you can use your free $/€/£0.50 on and how much your bonus winnings are capped at, among other things, such as wagering requirements.
What are bonus wagering requirements?
Online casino bonus wagering requirements are attached to most bonuses. It’s the amount you have to wager before you can cash out any winnings you make.
Wagering requirements protect the online casino operator, preventing players from withdrawing any free money they receive and spending it elsewhere.
If wagering requirements weren’t attached to bonuses, nothing would stop players from cashing it out the moment they receive it. They basically prevent players from doing this.
If players have any winnings left over after they have completed their wagering requirements, there will be no more restrictions, and the players are free to do as they please with their winnings, meaning they can now withdraw back to their preferred debit card or eWallet, or spend it in the casino and hope to win even more money.
With most online casino bonuses today, the following wagering requirements are often attached:
- Extremely low: 1x 4x times the bonus amount
- Low: 5x to 20x times the bonus amount
- Medium: 25x to 50x times the bonus amount
- High 60x to 70x times the bonus amount
- Extremely high 100x to 200x or more times the bonus amount
In most cases, you will find the bonus comes with medium (25x to 50x) wagering requirements attached. When completing your wagering requirements, don’t forget that only certain games will contribute more towards getting them out of the way than other games for every $/€/£1.00 wagered.
It will all be revealed in the Ts and Cs. They will also tell you exactly how long you have to complete your wagering requirements, which could be 24 hours, one week, two weeks or longer.
If you don’t complete them in time, any bonus money you won/received will expire and disappear from your account.
Remember that online slot machines (apart from a few exceptions) and scratchcards often contribute 100% towards completing your wagering requirements and that wagering requirements are sometimes called rollover or playthrough requirements.
Other games like roulette, blackjack and live dealer games usually don’t contribute anything towards completing them, whether you play from your smartphone, desktop computer, laptop, or tablet device.
Final note
If you can’t seem to find out how much you have to wager before the bonus money is yours to keep after reading the Ts and Cs, the best thing to do would be to contact the professionally trained player support agents and ask them to point you in the right direction.