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Casinos often have conflicts with players because of bonuses and their wagering. This is why it is very important to know how to wager a bonus at a casino. It may seem that bonus is credited to players for free and does not require anything in return, but this is a misconception. In most cases, players have to “pay” for such gifts from the casino – this process is called wagering. This article will tell you what this means and how it’s done.
How to wager a bonus at a casino?
Wagering or wager means that the player will need to spend a certain amount to be able to withdraw the winnings received with an active bonus. The problem is that the casino usually sets some requirements that make this task fairly difficult. Due to this, some players even prefer to refuse such offers.
A wager is usually indicated as a multiplier to the bonus amount. For example, a 30x wager means that you have to wager the $100 bonus by betting a total of $3,000 ($100×30). If the wager is 10x, then wagering will be much easier, as the required amount of bets is only $1,000 ($100×10). You bet, this amount accumulates over time, and the winnings become available for withdrawal.
What if the casino requires to wager a bonus and a deposit? In this case, you need to add the deposit amount to the bonus amount and multiply their sum by the wager. For example, in the above example, wagering will actually be 60x if 100% was added to your deposit – because the base will no longer be $100, but $200, and this amount needs to be multiplied by 30.
Please pay attention to such conditions. Sometimes the offer seems profitable, because the wager is lower than on other websites, but if there is a rule to add the deposit to the bonus when calculating the wagering amount, then the situation changes.
You need to also pay attention to the fact that each category of games, and sometimes individual games, have different contribution. This is how they call the percentage of the bet that counts for wagering. Traditionally, slot machines contribute 100%, while other games contribute either 10% or 0%. If contribution is 0%, then you will be betting in these games for nothing – i.e., the amount of wagering will not change. A 100% contribution means that the amount to be wagered will be reduced by the full bet.
How to wager a bonus at a casino. Bans and limits
Wagering the casino bonus at the certain time… The problem is not only to bet the required amount in the casino, but also that you can’t be wagering the bonus forever. The time for wagering is limited: it can be a month, a week, or a day. The more attractive the offer, the less time is given to prevent players from withdrawing bonuses too often.
Wagering a casino bonus without playing certain games
All casinos list specific games that you cannot play as long as the bonus is active. There can be any games the operator wants, so just read the bonus rules or ask support for details.
If you bet on non-qualifying games, you can kiss your bonus and winnings goodbye. The casino will cancel them, and they usually do not care whether it happened by accident or on purpose. You may give up on this, because it seems like you just got free money, so it’s not a disaster to lose. But this is not the case. The fact is that in most cases, players use their real money when wagering, in the first place.
The deposit is spent first, and once it’s gone, the bonus funds that you received as a gift is spent on bets. It turns out that you can win with your money, but it won’t be yours until wagering is completed. In case of the rules violation, these winnings will be taken away from you. It sounds unfair, but these are the rules in almost all casinos.
Just a few operators require that bonuses are spent first, and then the player’s real money. There were also cases when the casino offered to spend both the deposit and bonuses at the same time. For example, 50% of the bet is written off from the deposit, while the other 50% is written off the bonus balance.
Wagering the bonus without postponing bonus games in the casino
This is another important wagering rule. Most slot machines have bonus rounds. If you get the lucky combination to activate the bonus round and close the slot, the game will resume the next time you run the slot machine. Since it is often difficult to wager a bonus at an online casino, players prefer to postpone the bonus game they won and open it when there are no active bonuses. As such, they would receive a net win, ready for withdrawal.
However, it is forbidden to do so in casinos. Such tricks are considered cheating, and players do often want to cheat operators using this method. Therefore, casinos fight such behavior. If you get caught on this, it is unlikely that circumstances are considered.
How to wager the bonus without exceeding the maximum bet?
The maximum bet is another wagering rule. Its violation also leads to punishment. The standard bet amount limit is 5 dollars/euros/pounds. Why does the casino set it? Without a limit, the player will be able to wager the bonus at the casino if he takes a risk and gets lucky.
Let’s look at two examples with and without limits. The bonus amount is the same in both cases – $100. If the player bets a maximum of $1 per spin and gets a multiplication of 20x with one of the bets, the winnings will be $20. This amount is not dangerous, since the player will bet it again and again, and the more times you risk money, the more chances of losing it.
However, if the player is allowed to bet $100 per spin with the same 20x multiplier, they can win $2,000. Such a big amount means that they can easily complete the bonus wagering, because in this case they will only need to use the winnings a couple of times in order to accumulate the required amount of bets and unlock the withdrawals.
How to figure out whether you should try to wager the casino bonus or not?
There is a special formula for the expected price: 100% – (wager x house edge). It will show whether the offer is beneficial in theory or not, and is used by bonus hunters who need to play a lot to get theoretical values closer to real ones.
Substitute your values into the formula, and if the result is positive, then wagering is justified. If it is negative, then wagering is not justified. In this case, it uses the theoretical advantage of the casino in the game you intend to play. For example, a house edge in a slot with a 97% return is 3%.
Example: the wager is 35x, the house edge is 4%. Substitute the figures and get the following: 100% – (35×4%) = -40%. This means that the offer is unprofitable. You can read more about bonus hunting here.
How to wager your no deposit casino bonus
The rules are the same as for wagering the deposit bonuses, but the requirements are usually stricter. The wager will be much higher – for example, not 30x, but 60x. There may be more non-qualifying games and shorter times. In short words, it will be much more difficult to withdraw the winnings.
