Wagering Terms on Betting Offers Explained

Wagering terms apply to most betting offers, whether thats sportsbook, casino or other. If you claim a betting offer that gives you some kind of bonus cash balance to spend, the sportsbook or casino may choose to restrict how much you can withdraw. They do this by placing a wagering requirement on winnings earned from the bonus. It's a multiple of your bonus amount also known as play through. So it could be 1 x Wagering or it could be 20 x Wagering. All offers are different and each company's tolerance towards risk is different. 

Wagering Terms Example

Let's imagine you've signed up with Bet365 and claimed a welcome offer for 100% matched on your first deposit. For simplicity, let's say you've deposited a value of 100 credits (this could be in dollars, euros, pounds, or any currency). Bet365 then credits your account with a free bet bonus of the same value, so you now have an additional 100 credits as a bonus to spend as you would any cash balance you have. At this stage you'll have a 100 Credit cash balance and a 100 Credit bonus balance - often called Free Bets.

Here's where wagering requirements come into play. If Bet365 specifies a 5x wagering requirement on this bonus, it means you need to bet the total amount of the bonus multiplied by 5 before you can withdraw any winnings earned from it. In this case, you must place bets totalling 500 credits (which is 5 times 100) using the bonus money.

It's crucial to understand that these bets are not necessarily one big bet of 500 credits; you can meet this requirement through a series of smaller bets that add up to 500. However, each bet you make with the bonus money gets you closer to fulfilling the wagering requirement.

You're not required to use your cash balance either while spending the free bet credits. What should happen with a reputable sportsbook is you are given a choice to use your free bets balance when placing bets and these bonus bets contribute to your wagering requirements. 

So once you've reached the 500 mark in bets, any winnings you've accrued from those bets are yours to keep, and you can choose to withdraw them or continue betting. Remember, each sportsbook has different terms for their bonuses, so it's always good to read the specific conditions attached to any offer.

Here's a table showing how the cumulative wagering requirements increase with different wagering values, based on a single 100% deposit bonus:

Wagering Requirement Risks

It can be confusing when the sportsbook gives you a single cash balance after you've joined, this is rarer nowadays with bonus balances, but not unheard of. So you had a total balance of 200 credits when you joined and deposited. This includes your initial cash deposit which is now locked in as per the wagering terms.

You've got a single 200 credit balance and you can't withdraw anything until that 5 x Wagering from our example is fulfilled. So you can you see it's the sportsbook trying to stop what's referred to as bonus abuse from people attempting to deposit cash, earn the bonus and then withdraw cash before any bets are placed. More on bonus abuse below.

Bonus Abusers

Bonus abuse in the context of online betting refers to the practice where individuals try to exploit the bonus offers of betting sites, like welcome bonuses or deposit matches, in a way that's not intended by the betting site.

Ask explained above is where a person signs up for a betting site such as Bet365 and attempts to take advantage of an offer, which might be a free bet offer like 100% matched of their first deposit. Someone attempting bonus abuse might try to outsmart the system.

They might do this by depositing funds to claim the bonus and then attempting to withdraw the entire amount (deposit plus bonus) without any actual betting or by only placing minimal or low-risk bets. This goes against the spirit of the bonus, which is to encourage exploration of the betting site as a new player.

Betting sites are well aware of this and have strict terms and conditions in place to prevent abuse, wagering terms are one of several strategies to combat bonus abuse. Additionally, betting sites monitor accounts for unusual activity and have algorithms to detect patterns that suggest bonus abuse. If a user is found to be abusing bonuses, they can face forfeiture of the bonus, winnings, and even suspension or banning from the site regardless of how the player has one.

How To Avoid Wagering Terms

The simple answer to avoiding wagering terms is to decline the offer. There's no way to claim an offer and bypass the wagering if the bonus comes with those terms. You can soften the impact, however, by choosing to take a lower bonus. In our example, the new customer offer was for a 100% matched bonus. But you can often claim a minimum deposit bonus by triggering the lowest possible amount. So if your first deposit is 10 credits, you get 10 credits. This means you only have 50 credits to bet to complete the wagering requirements instead of 500.

Here's a table showing how the total wagering requirement changes with different deposit amounts under a 10x wagering requirement offer:

Wagering On Existing Player Offers

Wagering terms can be applied to any bonus. Existing player offers are not exempt and some bookies choose to add wagering terms to all their offers. The bookies are required to present the full offer terms and conditions before you can claim any loyalty offers, but they're not always clear, unlike the welcome offer terms. 

No Wagering vs Low Wagering vs High Wagering

No Wagering Bonuses:

• • No wagering bonuses are often the smallest in value because they offer more risk to the bookie
  • Since there are no wagering requirements attached, punters can immediately use any bonus winnings
  • Bookmakers offer smaller no-wagering bonuses like £/€/$10 as an incentive without exposing themselves to significant potential losses
  • No wagering betting offers usually come with capped winnings. So you can only up to a limited amount regardless of how big the bet is

Smaller Low Wagering Bonuses:

• • Lower wagering bonuses are often smaller in value because they are more straightforward and pose less financial risk to the bookmaker and the player
  • Since there are lower wagering requirements attached, punters can access the winnings quite quickly and potentially turn them into real money after a couple of bets
  • Bookmakers offer smaller wagering bonuses like 20 credits as an incentive to attract new customers without inviting the big bonus hunters

Larger Bonuses with High Wagering:

• • Larger bonuses, often in the hundreds or even thousands, can appear very attractive to players because of their apparent value. Casino sites especially offer big bonuses.
  • Larger bonuses usually come with very high wagering requirements. The bookmaker imposes these requirements to ensure that punters don't simply claim the bonus and immediately withdraw the funds, which would be financially unsustainable for them
  • To access and withdraw any winnings generated from a large bonus with high wagering, bettors must place numerous bets or wager a significant amount of money, often at odds that make it challenging to achieve a profit
  • These high wagering requirements create a significant barrier for bettors, making it less likely that they will be able to turn the bonus into actual profits. Anything over 10 X Wagering is high in our opinion. But if you're accessing a bonus of hundreds or thousands it's to be expected