A wagering requirement is the condition attached to almost every casino bonus, and it’s the single number that decides whether a promotion is actually worth claiming or just looks generous on the surface. Ignore it, and a “100% bonus up to £100” can turn into a much worse deal than it first appears.
What the Number Actually Means
A wagering requirement, sometimes called a playthrough requirement, is expressed as a multiplier — commonly somewhere between 20x and 50x at Gibraltar-licensed casinos. That multiplier applies to the bonus amount, the deposit amount, or both combined, depending on the specific terms, and it tells you how much total betting activity you need to generate before any winnings from that bonus become withdrawable as real cash.
A Worked Example
Say a casino offers a 100% deposit bonus up to £100, with a 35x wagering requirement applied to the bonus amount only. Deposit £100, and the casino matches it with a £100 bonus. To clear that bonus, you’d need to wager £3,500 in total across eligible games — 35 multiplied by the £100 bonus — before any bonus-related winnings can be withdrawn. If the same 35x requirement applied to the deposit plus bonus combined, that figure would jump to £7,000. That difference, buried in the fine print, is exactly why the headline bonus size tells you far less than the wagering terms attached to it.
Not All Games Count the Same
Most casinos weight games differently toward the wagering requirement. Slots typically count 100% of what you wager, while table games like blackjack or roulette often count at a much lower rate, sometimes 10% or less, because their house edge is smaller and more predictable. A £100 bet on blackjack might only count as £10 toward clearing a wagering requirement, which means table game players usually need to wager far more in raw terms to clear the same bonus.
What to Check Before Claiming
Before accepting any bonus, it’s worth checking three numbers specifically: the wagering multiplier itself, whether it applies to the bonus alone or the deposit plus bonus combined, and the game weighting table if you plan to play anything other than slots. Those three details, more than the headline bonus figure, determine whether a promotion is actually worth your time.