Whether no deposit bonus or welcome bonus or reload bonus. All bonus offers have wagering requirements. So how do you wager your casino bonus? Which strategy is safest? Which slots are the best? And what mistakes should you avoid?
No bonus comes without conditions and wager. The standard at most online casinos is to convert the free credit x times. The higher the necessary turnover, the more difficult it is to pay off in the end. But don’t worry, with our tips and tricks the chances are good!
What does Wager mean?
You cannot withdraw free credit immediately but have to use it several times for the casino games on offer. Most casinos expect 30 to 40 times the turnover from the bonus, which is still reasonably fair.
This turnover – also known as wagering in English – is calculated from the sum of all your bets. For example, if you have received € 10 bonus balance with 40x wagering, you have to place a total of more than € 400 before you can withdraw the bonus balance.
Attention: Some casinos ask for sales not only for the bonus itself but also for deposit bonuses for the deposited amount. For example, if your deposit plus the 100% bonus received have to be wagered 30 times, this means nothing other than 60 times the bonus wagering. This is very high in this case, which is why you shouldn’t blindly use every offer.
Can I wager a casino bonus with all games?
At most casinos, many games are excluded from sales. As a rule, table games and video poker, which have particularly high payout percentages, are not permitted. But many slots are also left out. Especially friends of NetEnt machines such as Blood Suckers, Kings of Chicago, Drive: Multiplier Mayhem, Devil’s Delight, Simsalabim, Dead or Alive, Wish Master, and Steamtower look into the tube.
Therefore, always take a look at the respective bonus rules in advance to make sure that you do not violate them. Otherwise, your bonus balance and the resulting winnings could be canceled. At most casinos, however, you will normally receive a warning and can look for another slot.
What does weighting mean in an online casino?
However, some casinos give you the opportunity to generate revenue from almost all games. However, these are then weighted differently. This means nothing other than that your stakes only contribute to a certain fraction.
Example: You used the welcome bonus at Playluck Casino and received a fantastic € 40 bonus for your € 10 deposit. However, your favorite game Book of Dead only contributes 50% to sales. At Wunderino, the bonus and deposit must be rotated 30 times. According to Adam Riese, this makes € 50 times 30 = € 1,500 required bonus turnover. If you only play Book of Dead now, you have to get the reels glowing for € 3,000. How you divide your bets is up to you (almost, see below). You can play three thousand rounds over € 1 or complete 6000 spins with 50 cents or, of course, vary the stakes.
Beware of the Maxbet rule in online casinos
As much as we like to play with free credit, there is usually more than one catch. Unfortunately, a bad habit of online casinos nowadays is the so-called max bet rule. Here it is stipulated that you can only bet a certain amount per spin or per bet. At Wunderino this is 5 €. As soon as you bring just one spin with a higher bet, your winnings and your bonus can be canceled. In most cases, you will get a (one-time) warning, but this is not really fair. Therefore, always check your stake twice if the bonus you are playing with is subject to the MaxBet rule / the € 5 rule.
Why even wager a casino bonus and the MaxBet rule?
We can absolutely understand that online casinos do not credit any withdrawable credit. Otherwise, hundreds of thousands would just open an account, cash out, and say goodbye. The MaxBet rule, on the other hand, is intended to protect the casino from too much risk of high winnings. On the one hand understandable, but also a little sad.
Beware of safe bets
So-called safe bets are also prohibited. Suppose you want to wager a bonus at Roulette Casino by betting on both red and black, then you are mostly breaking the bonus rules as well.
Are there strategies for the correct bonus wagering?
Which strategy you choose always depends on your preferred slots.
High variance slots (Book of Dead, Jack and the Beanstalk, Books & Bulls, Crystall Ball)
If you like slots with the high volatility that can bring big wins, then you should play them until you have a decent win. Then you switch to slots with low variance. A good example of this is Starburst. Set a low stake and let the winnings run through with Autoplay. This will likely take a small loss, but it will bring you closer to sales. If you were to continue playing with slot machines with high variance, i.e. high risk, the profit can melt faster than the polar caps of the Antarctic due to the possible and expensive streaks of bad luck there.
The middle ground: medium risk slot machines (Guns n Roses slot, Koi Princess)
Here you can start playing without hesitation. Due to the medium variance, the chances for the fabulously large win are not so good, but you have no bad prospects of bringing home your bonus and maybe even a little more.
Why even wager a casino bonus and the MaxBet rule?
We can absolutely understand that online casinos do not credit any withdrawable credit. Otherwise, hundreds of thousands would just open an account, cash out, and say goodbye. The MaxBet rule, on the other hand, is intended to protect the casino from too much risk of high winnings. On the one hand understandable, but also a little sad.
Beware of safe bets
So-called safe bets are also prohibited. Suppose you want to wager a bonus at Roulette Casino by betting on both red and black, then you are mostly breaking the bonus rules as well.
Are there strategies for the correct bonus wagering?
Which strategy you choose always depends on your preferred slots.
High variance slots (Book of Dead, Jack and the Beanstalk, Books & Bulls, Crystall Ball)
If you like slots with the high volatility that can bring big wins, then you should play them until you have a decent win. Then you switch to slots with low variance. A good example of this is Starburst. Set a low stake and let the winnings run through with Autoplay. This will likely take a small loss, but it will bring you closer to sales. If you were to continue playing with slot machines with high variance, i.e. high risk, the profit can melt faster than the polar caps of the Antarctic due to the possible and expensive streaks of bad luck there.
The middle ground: medium risk slot machines (Guns n Roses slot, Koi Princess)
Here you can start playing without hesitation. Due to the medium variance, the chances for the fabulously large win are not so good, but you have no bad prospects of bringing home your bonus and maybe even a little more.
Realize casino bonuses with slots with low risk and smaller wins
Do you especially like slot machines like Starburst? Then you might still want to try a few higher-risk slot machines. Low-risk slots most have a better payout key. Starburst is a good example of this. However, one must not forget that due to the limited profit opportunities when wagering bonuses, the credit usually decreases continuously. It sounds paradoxical at first, but especially with the slots with the lowest risk, your chances of successfully implementing the bonus are the smallest. You can only bring your credit home with Starburst and other slots if you have made high profits with the bonus.
Beware of bonus rules that prohibit strategies when implementing bonuses
Now there are some nasty online casinos that prohibit you from certain ways of playing. Dubious casinos do not allow you to switch to another slot after a big win in a very volatile game in order to meet the bonus conditions. Fortunately, this does not apply to the casinos advertised here. In general, however, it is not wrong to vary the slots and the stakes a little in between – even if only for a few spins. This shows the casino that you are a “normal” player.
What else you should consider when wagering bonus credits
Most of the time you only have a limited amount of time to convert the bonus. If you fail, it will be deleted from your account. There are no excuses. If you really don’t have the time, you can still use the low-stakes autoplay.
Furthermore, we would always advise you to pay out the credit directly after successfully implementing the bonus. Even if you want to keep playing, it is better to deposit again.
Choose casino bonuses carefully
The best tip to implement the casino bonus at the end: Do not register at every first online casino. Many bonuses come with unfair terms. Furthermore, there are unfortunately too many dubious casinos that we have to warn against over and over again. For many players, it is unfortunately not immediately obvious whether you are playing with a trustworthy provider with a European license or a fraudulent provider with no prospect of winning.
We have put together an overview of what we believe to be the most reputable online casinos for you. From welcome bonuses to free spins to no-deposit bonuses, you will find everything a bonus hunter’s heart desires here.
