Home › Bonus terms
GuideThe small print is the offer
A casino promotion is described in one line and governed by two pages. This guide covers the conditions that decide whether an offer is worth accepting at all, in the order you are likely to meet them. It quotes no figures from any operator, for reasons we explain at the end.
Wagering requirements
A wagering requirement is the amount you must stake before promotional funds can become withdrawable money. It is usually written as a multiple — a bonus with a requirement of forty times means staking forty times the bonus amount, not depositing it forty times.
The number to work out is total turnover, not the multiple itself. Ten pounds of bonus at forty times means four hundred pounds of stakes. Whether that is realistic depends entirely on how you play; at low stakes it is a long evening, and each of those stakes carries the game's ordinary house edge. Check also whether the requirement applies to the bonus alone or to the deposit and bonus combined, because the second version doubles the work for the same headline.
Game contribution rates
Not every game counts equally towards a requirement. Slots typically contribute in full, table games such as roulette and blackjack contribute a fraction or nothing at all, and live dealer tables are frequently excluded outright. Individual titles can also be barred, often the ones with the highest theoretical return.
This is where offers quietly become unsuitable. If you accept a promotion and then play the games you actually enjoy, you can stake a great deal without moving the requirement at all. Read the contribution table before you opt in, not after.
Maximum bet while a requirement is live
Most promotions cap the stake you may place on a single spin or hand until wagering is complete. Exceeding it, even once and even accidentally, is one of the most common reasons for a promotion being voided along with anything won from it. The cap is often a small amount, and it is often stated once, some distance from the headline.
Maximum conversion and win caps
Some offers limit how much of a promotion can ever turn into withdrawable money, regardless of what you win with it. A cap expressed as a multiple of the bonus, or as a flat sum, sets the real ceiling on the offer. An unusually generous headline paired with a low conversion cap is worth less than a modest offer with none.
Time limits
Two clocks usually run: one to claim, one to complete. Miss either and the promotional balance and any pending winnings normally disappear. Short completion windows combined with high requirements are the pairing that pushes people into playing faster and larger than they intended, which is the opposite of what a deposit limit is for.
Payment method exclusions
Certain deposit methods are commonly excluded from promotions. If you fund an account with an excluded method and then claim, the promotion may simply not attach, and support will be within its rights to say so. This is stated in the terms and almost never in the advert.
Verification and withdrawal
British-licensed operators must verify your identity and, where required, check that your play is affordable. Expect that process before a first withdrawal rather than after, and expect it to be a condition of releasing promotional winnings. It is not an obstacle invented by the operator; it is part of how the licence works.
Five questions worth asking before you opt in
- What is the total turnover the requirement implies, in pounds?
- Do the games I actually play contribute towards it?
- What is the maximum stake permitted while the requirement is live?
- Is there a cap on what the promotion can convert into?
- How many days do I have, and would that pace suit me if I were not chasing a deadline?
If any answer is unclear from the operator's own terms page, the sensible response is to decline the offer. A promotion you do not understand is not a discount; it is a set of conditions attached to your own money. Declining a bonus is always allowed, and playing without one leaves you free to stop whenever you like.
Why we publish no offer figures
Promotional terms change frequently, differ between accounts and are sometimes targeted at individual players. Any figure we printed would be accurate for a while and then quietly wrong, and a stale bonus figure is worse than none at all — it invites a decision based on something that no longer exists. So we describe the mechanics and leave the numbers to the only version that governs your account: the operator's own promotion terms, on the operator's own site.
Last reviewed 24 August 2026.