What does Wagering Mean in the Casino?

When you sign up at an online casino in Australia, you see the word ‘wagering’ plastered across terms, bonus pages, and other areas of the site. This term can be used in various ways, so it’s important to understand what it refers to in different contexts. The term wagering simply refers to your bets, so the amount you wager is the amount you bet.

The amount you wager is important because this can tie into bonus terms and conditions. We’re going to run through everything you need to know about wagering at an online casino.

How Much Should You Wager During your First Time at a Casino?

If you’re new to playing casino games, you should set a budget in line with what you can afford to lose. This will help you stay in control of your wagering activity and prevent you from allowing the casino to get the better of you — this is called bankroll management. It’s always wise to take things slow and ease yourself into wagering at a casino. You should give yourself enough to play various games and see what takes to your fancy.

Many online casinos will allow you to set wager limits, this is a good way to enforce control and prevent you from picking up negative gambling habits. If you’re looking for a new online casino, you should do your research and pick a casino that has an extensive offering, excellent security, and the correct certifications. The best way to explore new casino sites is by checking out trusted casino reviews.

What are Wagering Requirements?

Wagering requirements or playthrough requirements are something you’ll see reference at many online casinos. The wagering requirements are the number of times you must wager through a bonus because the bonus money can be withdrawn as real cash. The reason that wagering requirements exist is to protect the casino from bonus abusers.

If a bonus offer does not have wagering terms attached, then players could claim a bonus and withdraw the funds without taking any risk. The wagering requirements enforces the player to risk the bonus money before it can be cashed out. While this is ‘free’ money to gamble with, it’s not free to withdraw like cash from an ATM.

Online casinos will offer players a match deposit bonus of 100% up to $100. In this case, if you deposit $100, you will get another $100 in bonus funds. You then have a total of $200 to wager on the casino games. This $100 bonus will have a wagering requirement, such as 35 times.

This means you have to wager the $100 a total of 35 times, which is $3,500. So, to turn the bonus money into real money for the casino, you need to wager through $3,500 within the set period, which is usually no more than 30 days.

How Can I Find a Site’s Wagering Requirements?

Online casinos all have different wagering requirements, so it’s worth exploring the different operator sites and picking a platform that has a more favourable wagering requirement. You can find the casino wagers terms on casino review pages, within the bonus terms page located in the site’s footer, or on the promotional terms attached to the bonus. The industry average is around a 35x wagering requirement.

The lower the wagering requirement, the better. There are many online casinos that have high wagering terms, and many casinos will also apply wagering requirements to the deposit amount, on top of the bonus amount. It is important to take some time to read through the terms and conditions of any bonus offer.

What is the Wagering Contribution?

The wagering contribution is something else that refers to the bonus wagering terms. There is a wagering contribution percentage set against different types of games. For example, if slots have a 100% wagering requirement, then any bet you place on the slots will contribute towards completing the wagering requirement.

If table games have a 5% wagering contribution, then only 5% of your wagers will contribute towards the wagering. The reason that table games have a lower wagering contribution is that it would be easier to complete wagering terms if you were to just place bets on table games like blackjack and roulette.

These games have a 50/50 chance of winning, and therefore wouldn’t be too challenging to complete bonus wagering and cashing out. There are many games that are completely excluded from contributing to the wagering requirements, including slot games. This is because the casino considers them too volatile. You should look for the restricted games and wagering contribution percentages within the bonus terms and conditions before you claim any offers.

What About No Wagering Bonuses?

There are some online casinos that do not have wagering terms attached to their offers. These offers are usually free spins, and so, anything you win on these spins is free to withdraw at any time. Wager-free spins and other no-wagering offers are usually offered as a welcome perk, but there are casinos that offer no-wagering offers. These offers will usually have other terms in place to prevent the casinos from taking a hit, such as a cap on the maximum winnings.

Final Thoughts

As a casino newbie, it’s better not to commit too much of your real money balance towards bonuses. You should start by claiming a lower bonus amount, and then you can get to grips with the wagering terms and how you can turn the bonus money into real cash.

Most online casinos will separate your bonus balance and your real money balance. You can also find your wagering progress, so you know how much you have remaining in wagering, letting you chip away at the amount in your own time, providing you don’t hit the bonus expiry date.