Wagering requirements, worked out in numbers

A welcome bonus is not money. It is money with a turnover target attached, and the target is what decides whether the offer is worth anything. The arithmetic is simple, it is the same everywhere, and nobody puts it in the advertisement.

The one calculation

A wagering requirement is written as a multiple — 10×, 35×, 40×. It tells you how much you must bet in total before the bonus, or anything you win with it, can be withdrawn.

Two things change the answer, and you have to check which one the terms mean:

• Bonus only. A $100 bonus at 35× means $3,500 of bets.
• Deposit plus bonus. A $100 deposit matched with a $100 bonus at 35× means $7,000 of bets.

Same advertised number, twice the work. This is the single most useful line in any bonus terms, and it is usually one clause deep.

What it actually costs you

Turnover is not loss, but it is not free either. Every game has a house edge, and the edge is charged on every bet you place — including the ones you place only to clear a requirement.

Take a $100 bonus at 35× bonus-only, played on slots with a 4% house edge:

• Required turnover: $3,500
• Expected cost of that turnover: 3,500 × 0.04 = $140

The expected cost of clearing the bonus is larger than the bonus. On average, at those numbers, the offer is worth less than nothing — and that is before any maximum-bet clause, game weighting or time limit. Run the same sum at 10×:

• Required turnover: $1,000
• Expected cost: 1,000 × 0.04 = $40

Now the bonus is ahead. Nothing changed except the multiple, which is why the multiple is the number to look for first.

The rule of thumb this gives you: multiply the requirement by the house edge of the game you will actually play. If the answer is bigger than the bonus, the bonus is a cost.

Game weighting quietly raises the multiple

Most terms count games at different rates. Slots typically count 100%, table games far less — 10% is common, and some games count for nothing at all.

If roulette counts 10%, then a $3,500 requirement needs $35,000 of roulette bets. The advertised 35× is a 350× requirement for that game. Weighting is not a footnote; it is a multiplier on the multiplier.

The three clauses that void the whole thing

Wagering is the headline. These decide whether you ever reach it:

• Maximum bet while a bonus is active. Often around $5. One bet above it can forfeit the bonus and everything won with it, retroactively.
• Time limit. A requirement you cannot physically complete in the window is a requirement designed not to be completed. $3,500 in seven days is $500 a day.
• Maximum conversion. A cap on how much of your bonus winnings can become withdrawable cash — sometimes a multiple of the bonus, sometimes a flat figure.

One regulator has put a ceiling on it

Great Britain’s Gambling Commission capped wagering requirements at 10 times the bonus amount, in force from 19 January 2026, and required that a single promotion cover only one product type rather than mixing betting, casino, bingo and lottery in one offer.

That matters here even though none of the brands on this site hold a British licence. It gives you a number that a regulator examined and settled on. 10× is what a market with a consumer protection regime decided was the outer limit of reasonable. When you are looking at an offer from an operator licensed somewhere with no such rule, you now have something to measure it against, and 35× or 40× tells you what kind of offer it is.

We have not verified the wagering terms of any brand reviewed on this site. Operator websites do not resolve from our network, and an App Store listing advertises a headline percentage without the conditions attached to it. Read the terms on the operator’s own site before you deposit — and read them for the multiple, the base it applies to, and the game weighting, in that order.

Before you accept one

1. Find the multiple, and whether it applies to the bonus or to deposit plus bonus.
2. Multiply it out into an actual turnover figure in your own currency.
3. Multiply that by the house edge of the game you intend to play. Compare to the bonus.
4. Check the game weighting for that game.
5. Check the maximum bet, the time limit and the conversion cap.
6. If any of those five is not stated in writing, treat the offer as having no terms you can rely on.

The offer that survives all six is rare. That is the finding, not a discouragement: bonuses are priced by people who have done this arithmetic, and the only way to be on the right side of it is to do it too.