Casino Wagering Requirements Explained
All online casino bonuses come with wagering requirements, also known as playthrough requirements. It is important to read through the terms and conditions for an online casino bonus before claiming it. The requirement tells you how much you need to wager before the bonus funds are eligible to withdraw.
What are casino playthrough requirements?
The bonus credits you receive at an online casino will likely have specific playthrough requirements. Other terms that mean the same thing include wagering requirements, rollover requirements and turnover requirements.
In short, they explain what you need to do with your bonus funds before they convert to withdrawable cash. For example, Caesars Palace Online Casino offers new customers a 100% deposit match welcome bonus, up to a maximum of $2,500. These are the playthrough requirements in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia (the requirements are slightly different in New Jersey):
- 15x on slots.
- 30x on video poker.
- 75x on other games, such as blackjack and roulette.
Let’s say you sign up, make a $100 deposit and receive $100 in bonus credits. If you play slots exclusively, you must wager 15x the bonus you received plus your initial deposit. That would be 15 x $200 ($100 deposit plus $100 bonus). That means you need to place $3,000 worth of wagers on slots. At that point, any funds remaining will convert to cash, which you can withdraw.
However, if you instead play video poker online, you need to roll your funds over 30x. That would require you to place $6,000 worth of wagers on video poker before the $100 bonus converts to cash. You will need to complete these playthrough requirements within a certain number of days after receiving the funds — in the case of Caesars Palace, it’s seven days — or you forfeit the bonus funds and any winnings tied to the bonus funds.
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Casino bonuses with wagering requirements
Most online casino bonuses will have playthrough requirements. It may be a simple 1x requirement, or it could be a 30x requirement, but you normally need to play your funds through at least once before they become part of your available cash balance, eligible for withdrawal.
These are some of the bonuses that may have a wagering requirement:
- A deposit matching bonus.
- A no-deposit casino bonus.
- A reload bonus.
- Bonus spins (if the casino pays the winnings in bonus credits rather than cash).
- Bet-and-get promos, such as bet $50 on a slot and get a $10 bonus.
- A refer-a-friend bonus.
- Leaderboard contests (if the casino pays the prizes in bonus credits or spins).
- Insurance deals (if the refund is in bonus credits rather than cash).
Simply click on the terms and conditions underneath any bonus and scroll down to find details of the wagering requirements. If anything is unclear, contact the casino’s customer service.
You can also check out our online casino reviews, as we break down the playthrough requirements for each bonus.
Exceptions to the rule
Some online casino bonuses provide you with cash, which you can withdraw immediately, without the need to complete any playthrough requirements. These are some examples of bonuses with no playthrough requirements:
- A bonus that provides you with a cash refund if you sustain a net loss during a promotional period.
- Free spins that pay winnings in cash.
- Prize draws and certain leaderboard contests that issue cash, gift cards, experiences, tickets to sporting events and physical goods such as cars as prizes.
Wagering requirements by casino
Below, you’ll see details on all of the top online casino apps available for legal casino gambling in the US. App availability will vary by state as some have more than 20 options, while others may have as few as one or two.
DraftKings Casino
DraftKings Casino will provide you with a $35 no deposit bonus if you follow the “claim promo” link on this page. That bonus has a 1x playthrough requirement. You will also receive either a 100% deposit match bonus for up to $50 or if you play $5, get $2,000 in casino credits instantly. Both of those bonuses have a straightforward 1x rollover requirement, too.
BetMGM Casino
The BetMGM Casino bonus code LSRBONUS will provide you with a 100% first deposit match of up to $1,000, plus $25 on the house. You will receive the $25 bonus as soon as you sign up, and it only has a 1x playthrough requirement.
Caesars Palace Casino
Caesars Palace will provide a 100% first deposit bonus for up to $2,500 if you sign up using the promo code ROCKY2500. The playthrough requirement depends on which type of game you play: 15x on slots, 30x on video poker and 75x on other games.
Bally Casino
The Bally Casino bonus code (Coming Soon!) will qualify you for a $50 no deposit bonus with a 1x playthrough requirement. You will also receive a cash refund of up to $100 if you suffer a net loss during your first seven days at the online casino. Those funds will have no playthrough requirement, meaning you can withdraw them straight away.
Golden Nugget Casino
Golden Nugget Casino’s flagship promo is a 100% deposit match bonus of up to $50 (up to $50 in New Jersey), plus 200 bonus spins ($50 in casino credit in Pennsylvania).
BetRivers Casino
The BetRivers Casino promo code RIVLSR provides you with a 100% refund if you suffer a net loss during your first 24 hours. The maximum refund is $250 in Pennsylvania and $500 in other states where the online casino operates. BetRivers pays the refund in bonus credits, and you then need to satisfy a 1x wagering requirement before they convert to withdrawable cash.
Virgin Casino
Virgin Casino is a sister site to Bally, and it offers a similar welcome bonus. You can use the bonus code ROCK30 to claim a $30 no deposit bonus, which has a 1x playthrough requirement. Virgin will also provide a cash refund of up to $100, with no wagering requirements, if you show a net loss after one week of play.
Borgata Casino
Borgata Casino offers new customers a 100% first deposit bonus of up to $1,000, plus $20 on the house. It is a sister site to BetMGM Casino, with the same playthrough requirements: the $20 bonus has a 1x wagering requirement, but you cannot make a withdrawal until you make an initial deposit and play it through. The main part of the bonus has a 15x wagering requirement.
Bet365 Casino
Bet365 Casino offers new customers in New Jersey a 100% deposit bonus for up to $1,000 with bonus code LSRNJ. It has a 20x wagering requirement (applies to the deposit plus the bonus), which you’ll need to complete within 60 days. That is a higher playthrough requirement than many rival casinos, but certain high-RTP games contribute fully toward satisfying the requirement, which is not normally the case elsewhere.
Different games have different weighting contributions
You will generally find that online casino games have different contribution rates when working on the playthrough requirements for bonus funds. Wagers that you make on slots normally contribute 100%, but high-RTP table games like blackjack generally do not.
For example, these are the contribution rates at BetMGM Casino:
- Slots, jackpot slots, scratch cards, virtual games — 100%
- Roulette, baccarat, craps, video poker, live dealer games — 20%
- Virtual blackjack — 10%
Some real-money blackjack games have a theoretical payout rate of more than 99.5%. As such, you need to complete a higher playthrough requirement on those games than you would on a slot with a 95.1% RTP rate.
If you play virtual blackjack with your bonus funds at BetMGM, only $0.10 of every $1 you wager will contribute to the wagering requirement. It means the requirement effectively increases from 15x to 150x.
Meanwhile, if you play virtual baccarat, $0.20 of every $1 you wager will count toward the requirement. That effectively takes the requirement from 15x to 75x. However, some baccarat bets have high RTP rates, so you may decide that it is worth playing baccarat rather than a slot.
Terms and conditions to be aware of
Some US online casinos do not allow you to play certain games when working on playthrough requirements. For example, Caesars Palace and various others won’t count wagers on craps toward playthrough requirements. That is because some craps bets have very high RTP rates, such as a pass/don’t pass or come/don’t come bet with odds taken behind it.
Some casinos may also exclude specific slots. For instance, Blood Suckers by NetEnt has a 98% RTP rate, which is significantly higher than the average of around 96%, so you may find that it is excluded. You also cannot cover both sides of the same bet when working on playthrough requirements, such as the banker bet and dealer bet on a baccarat game.
There are more generic terms, too. You need to be 21 or older and located in a state in which the online casino is legally available to claim the bonus. Bear in mind that the bonus credits will expire if you do not use them within the specified timeframe, which is often seven days or 14 days.
How to opt out of a bonus after accepting it
The process of opting out of a bonus after accepting it will differ from one online casino to the next. If you have an active BetMGM Casino bonus, you can select the “Drop Bonus” option and then confirm that you would like to cancel it.
As another example, if you would like to cancel a DraftKings Casino bonus, visit the account section, tap “Withdraw” and then “Why are these numbers different?” You can then hit the “Forfeit Bonus” button and confirm that you would like to cancel it. If you are unsure how to opt out of a bonus at your chosen online casino, reach out to customer service.