How Wagering Requirements Work, Step by Step
A wagering requirement (also called playthrough) is a multiplier applied to a bonus amount, determining how much total betting volume you need to generate before that bonus becomes withdrawable. Let’s walk through a full example: you deposit $150, claim a 100% match, and receive $150 in bonus funds. The casino applies 35x wagering to the bonus amount.
$150 x 35 = $5,250 in total bets required before the bonus funds unlock. If you’re betting $1 per spin on average, that’s 5,250 spins. At a typical pace of roughly 10-15 spins per minute on a fast slot, that’s somewhere between 6 and 9 hours of continuous play just to clear one bonus, worth keeping in mind before assuming a bonus is “free money” you can withdraw immediately after claiming it.
Common Wagering Traps: Game Weighting in Practice
Not all games count equally toward clearing a wagering requirement, and this is where many players lose value without realizing it. Slots typically contribute 100% of each wager toward the requirement. Table games and live dealer titles often contribute far less, blackjack might count at just 10-20%, meaning $100 wagered on blackjack only reduces your remaining requirement by $10-$20, not the full $100.
Concretely: if you have $5,250 left to wager and you play it entirely on slots, you need $5,250 in total bets. If you instead play it entirely on blackjack at 15% weighting, you’d need $35,000 in actual wagers to contribute the same $5,250 toward the requirement, seven times more betting volume for the identical progress. Many bonuses also cap the maximum single bet allowed while wagering is active, often $5-$10 per spin, and placing even one bet above that cap can void the entire bonus and any winnings tied to it, so it’s worth checking this limit before increasing your stakes mid-session.
Calculating a Bonus's Real Value: A Full Comparison
Let’s compare two real offers side by side. Offer A: 100% up to $200, 20x wagering, 7-day expiry. Deposit $200, get $200 bonus, need to wager $200 x 20 = $4,000, achievable in a normal week of casual play. Offer B: 300% up to $200, 45x wagering, 3-day expiry. Deposit $200, get $600 bonus, need to wager $600 x 45 = $27,000, in just three days, over 6.75x more betting volume than Offer A, in less than half the time.
Despite Offer B’s headline percentage looking three times more generous, it’s realistically clearable only by players already planning to wager very large amounts very quickly, for a casual player, Offer A is almost certainly the better deal in practice. This is exactly the kind of hidden trade-off that makes rakeback appealing as an alternative, since it scales with your actual play instead of requiring you to hit a fixed volume target within a deadline.
Before claiming any offer at a crypto casino, run this same deposit x percentage x multiplier calculation yourself, and check current crypto bonuses we track to compare wagering terms across operators before deciding. Ready to see your own numbers? Use the calculator below to plug in a specific bonus, wagering requirement, and game type. Want more room to work with, or to bookmark this for later? Use our full bonus wagering calculator page.
FAQ – Wagering Requirements
Multiply the bonus amount by the wagering multiplier. A $100 bonus with 35x wagering requires $3,500 in total bets before it becomes withdrawable.
No. Slots typically count 100%, while table games and live dealer titles often count far less, sometimes just 10-20%, meaning you’d need to wager proportionally more on those games.
Placing a bet above the stated maximum while a bonus is active can void the entire bonus and any winnings tied to it, so it’s worth checking this limit before increasing your stakes.
Yes, almost always. Bonuses typically come with an expiry window, commonly a few days to a few weeks, after which any unfulfilled wagering requirement and remaining bonus funds are forfeited.
Often yes in practical terms. A smaller bonus with a low, clearable wagering requirement frequently delivers better real value than a large bonus with a wagering target far beyond your normal play.
Max Ledger
Casino and gaming expert
Max Ledger is a crypto and online casino specialist who has personally reviewed 20+ crypto casinos on this site, covering blockchain gambling platforms, bonus structures, and provably fair gaming.