Online Casino Bonus

A casino bonus is neither a gift nor a swindle. It is a contract with four conditions, one of which is printed on the banner and three of which sit in the terms. Read the other three and you can compare two offers in a minute; look only at the percentage and you are comparing type sizes.

Sentence one: the wagering factor and what it is calculated on

The factor says how many times the amount has to be staked before anything becomes withdrawable. The real question is not the number in front of the multiplication sign, though — it is what that number is applied to. “35× the bonus” and “35× deposit and bonus” are four words apart and a factor of two apart.

On a 100-euro deposit with a 100-euro bonus, that is 3,500 euro of wagering against 7,000 euro. Both sentences sit in the same place in the terms and in the same type size. The calculation in full.

Sentence two: the maximum stake while wagering runs

Almost every offer caps the stake per round for as long as the wagering is running — five euro is typical. A single spin above it can void the whole bonus and the winnings with it, and the software as a rule does not step in. It accepts the stake and records it.

That is the most common way to lose a bonus and at the same time the easiest to avoid: look up once which amount applies, and keep the stake under it until the wagering is done.

Sentence three: the cap on withdrawable winnings

Many offers limit how much can be paid out of a bonus at all — often five to ten times the bonus amount, and with free spins often a fixed sum such as a hundred euro. A large percentage sitting above a small cap is a small offer, loudly announced.

Sentence four: game weighting

Not every stake counts the same. Slots usually count at a hundred per cent, table games at ten or twenty, live tables frequently not at all. Clear the wagering at a table that counts ten per cent and you stake ten times as much.

The weighting table is rarely printed next to the offer and usually sits in a section of its own in the bonus terms. It is the reason two offers with the same factor take different lengths of time. What counts in the live section.

And the calculation that sits above all of them

Wagering obliges you to play, and every game has a built-in house edge that works on exactly that turnover. That is why a high factor costs money and not just time — even when something is left at the end. How the edge works through the wagering.

The six bonus pages