Playthrough, rollover, wagering: one number counted three ways

Variable one: what the multiplier multiplies

Offers apply the multiplier to one of three bases, and the terms page is the only place this is stated.

• Bonus only. A $100 bonus at 30x is $3,000 of turnover.
• Deposit plus bonus. The same $100 bonus on a $100 deposit becomes 30 × $200 = $6,000.
• Winnings from free spins. Some offers apply the multiplier to whatever the spins produced, which means the requirement is unknowable until after the spins.

Those are the same three sentences read in a hurry, and the difference between the first two is a factor of two.

Variable two: weighting, which can multiply the work tenfold

Not every bet counts in full. Games carry a contribution rate, and the pattern across the market is that slots count at or near 100 percent while table games count for much less — blackjack is the usual example, commonly cited at around 10 percent and sometimes excluded altogether. Live dealer tables are frequently excluded or weighted very low.

The arithmetic is unforgiving. A $3,000 requirement cleared on 100-percent slots is $3,000 of bets. The same requirement on a game weighted at 10 percent is $30,000 of bets, because each dollar wagered reduces the obligation by ten cents. A player who intends to clear a bonus at a blackjack table and does not check the contribution rate has misjudged the task by an order of magnitude.

Variable three: the cap on a single bet

Most offers limit the size of any one bet while a requirement is active — figures in the single-dollar to low-double-digit range are common. The cap does two things. It stretches the time required (a $3,000 requirement at a $5 ceiling is 600 bets minimum), and it creates the single most common way a bonus is lost: one oversized spin, placed without thinking, can breach the terms and void the bonus along with winnings derived from it.

If you take one habit from this article, take this one: find the cap, then set the stake below it and leave it there for the duration.

Variable four: the clock

Requirements expire. A thirty-day window is common, and the expiry applies to the remaining balance as well as the obligation — unmet requirement, forfeited bonus. The clock usually starts at the moment of credit, not at your first session, which is why an offer accepted before a two-week absence is often already lost.

Which money leaves the account

Behind the multiplier sits a second question that trips up more withdrawals than the maths: which of the balances on your account can be paid out at all.

• Cash. Your own deposited funds and cleared winnings. Withdrawable.
• Bonus funds. Credited money carrying the requirement. Not withdrawable until the requirement is met; typically removed if it is not.
• Site credit or casino credit. A promotional balance that is staked but, under many terms, is not itself returned in the payout — you keep the winnings the stake produced, not the stake. The distinction between "bonus cash" and "credit" is a terms-page distinction, not a marketing one.

The order in which an account spends these matters too. Terms specify whether cash or bonus is consumed first; a site that spends cash first has you wagering your own money while the requirement is still outstanding.

A worked example, with the numbers kept honest

Take a deposit of $200, a 100 percent match, a 30x requirement on deposit plus bonus, slots weighted at 100 percent and a $5 maximum bet. Requirement: 30 × $400 = $12,000. Minimum number of bets at the cap: 2,400. If the game’s theoretical return is in the mid-nineties, the expected cost of generating $12,000 of turnover is the house edge times that turnover — that is the real price of the $200 bonus, and it is the calculation the headline is designed to keep you from doing.

Those figures are illustrative: substitute the ones on the offer you are actually looking at. The structure is what transfers, not the numbers.

Where to check, per site

Deposit and withdrawal mechanics differ by state and by brand; the deposits hub and the no-deposit page cover which offer types appear in the regulated states, and the casino hub lists the brands by state.

For how an unexpected decline at the deposit step is a separate problem entirely, see MCC 7995; for the identity checks that can hold a withdrawal, source of funds versus source of wealth.