The headline number on a casino bonus ("$1,000!") is the least important part of the offer. What decides its real value is the wagering requirement, also called playthrough or rollover. Here is how it works, and the two-minute math that tells you whether a bonus is worth claiming.
What a wagering requirement is
Bonus money is not cash. Before you can withdraw it, or anything you win with it, you must bet a multiple of it. A $100 bonus with a 15x requirement means you must place $1,500 in total bets first. Bets are counted cumulatively: winning $10 and betting it again counts twice.
Why every bet costs you something
Every casino game has a house edge: the share of each bet the casino keeps on average. A slot with a 96% RTP has a 4% house edge, so on average you lose 4 cents of every dollar you wager. Clearing a bonus means placing a lot of bets, and each one carries that cost.
So the expected value of a bonus is roughly:
Bonus value = bonus amount − (total wagering required × house edge)
Worked examples
| Offer | Wagering | Expected cost (96% RTP) | Expected value |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25 bonus, 1x | $25 | $1 | +$24 |
| $500 bonus, 15x | $7,500 | $300 | +$200 |
| $1,000 bonus, 30x | $30,000 | $1,200 | −$200 |
The small 1x bonus is worth more than the "$1,000" one. That is why 1x lossback offers from casinos like BetRivers, Hard Rock, and Fanatics score well with us despite smaller headline numbers.
Game contribution: the hidden multiplier
Most casinos count slots at 100% toward wagering, but table games often count at 10 to 20%, and some games are excluded entirely. If blackjack contributes 20%, each $1 bet only clears $0.20, so you need five times the wagering. Caesars Palace Online, for example, counts slots at 15x but other games at 75x.
The other terms to check
- Expiry: how many days you have to finish. Seven days on a large bonus can force more play than you would like.
- Maximum bet: many bonuses cap your bet size (often $5 to $10) while wagering. Breaking it can void the bonus.
- Bonus spins: check the spin value (often $0.10 to $0.20 each), which game they are locked to, and whether winnings carry wagering. bet365, for example, applies no wagering to spin winnings.
- Lossback offers: "losses back up to $500" only pays out if you lose, and it pays in bonus credit, usually at 1x.
Rules of thumb
- 1x to 5x: excellent, nearly cash.
- 10x to 15x: reasonable, worth claiming if you were going to play anyway.
- 25x and up: expensive; often worth skipping.
Plug any offer into the playthrough calculator to see its expected value in seconds, or compare current offers on our bonus page, where the key terms are listed up front.