Why do casinos have wagering requirements?

Why do casinos have wagering requirements? The short answer

A casino bonus is money or spins the operator hands over before you have done anything except deposit. Without a wagering requirement, anyone could open an account, collect £50 of bonus funds and withdraw them the same afternoon. The requirement turns the bonus into something you must play with first: stake it a set number of times and only then can whatever is left be withdrawn.

That single mechanism does three jobs for the operator. It blocks straight cash-outs, it filters out people who sign up only to farm offers, and it lets the house edge recover part of what the promotion cost. In practice the casino is saying: we will give you extra play, but you have to actually play.

Since 19 January 2026, Great Britain has had a legal ceiling on how far this can go. The Gambling Commission’s 10x wagering cap means a bonus can’t require more than ten times its own value in stakes. Before that date, 35x, 40x and even 50x were common, which is why older articles about wagering can be badly out of date.

How casino wagering requirements work in pounds

The requirement is a multiplier applied to the bonus. Multiply the bonus by the figure in the terms and you get the total you must stake before the money becomes withdrawable. Every bet counts towards the total whether it wins or loses, so £200 of wagering could be ten £20 bets or a thousand 20p spins. Our guide to how wagering requirements work covers the mechanics in more depth, and our wagering calculator does the sums for you.

Two real examples from our partners show the cap in use. Casumo’s welcome offer is a 50% bonus up to £100 on a first deposit of at least £20, with the bonus to be wagered 10x within 7 days and a £5 maximum bet while it is active. Deposit £200, receive £100, and you must stake £1,000 inside a week. 10bet’s 100% match up to £25 must be wagered 10x on slots within 3 days, so a full £25 bonus means £250 of slot stakes. 18+, terms apply to both, and you can read the details on our Casumo bonus terms page.

The 10x figure in the Commission’s code applies to bonus funds. If an offer’s terms ever describe wagering on ‘deposit plus bonus’, read them closely and ask support how the total is worked out before you opt in.

Five reasons online casinos use wagering requirements

1. To stop instant withdrawals

This is the original purpose. A bonus without strings is simply a cash gift, and no operator can afford to hand cash to every new sign-up. Wagering keeps the bonus inside the games for a while.

2. To recover part of the promotion’s cost

Every casino game carries an edge for the house. A slot with a 96% return to player keeps about £4 of every £100 staked over the long run. Ask for £1,000 of stakes on a 96% slot and the expected cost to the player is around £40, which offsets part of a £100 bonus.

3. To discourage bonus abuse

People who open accounts only to withdraw offers, sometimes with several identities, are a real cost for operators. Requiring play makes that harder and less rewarding. Our explainer on bonus abuse covers what casinos treat as abuse.

4. To keep offers comparable with rivals

A wagering requirement lets an operator advertise a larger headline figure than it could if the money were withdrawable at once. A £100 bonus at 10x costs the casino less, on average, than £100 in cash.

5. To meet anti-money-laundering expectations

Requiring money to be played rather than moved straight in and out also makes it harder to push funds through a casino account. This is a side effect rather than the main purpose, but it is one reason operators look closely at accounts that deposit, claim and try to withdraw with little play.

The maths behind why casinos have wagering requirements

The cost of clearing a bonus depends on how much you have to stake and the edge on the games you use. The expected loss is simply total stakes multiplied by the house edge. It is an average across many players, not a forecast for one session: some people finish far ahead and many finish with nothing.

Run the same £100 through the old 35x requirement and you would have needed £3,500 of stakes. At a 4% edge that is an expected loss of £140, more than the bonus itself, which is why the Commission concluded that high multiples were pushing people into long, intense sessions. Its own illustration was a £10 bonus with 50x wagering, which would have needed £500 of play before any winnings could be withdrawn.

Why UK casinos cap wagering requirements at 10x

The Commission consulted on bonus rules from November 2023, announced its decision on 26 March 2025 and brought the cap into force on 19 January 2026, a month later than first planned. The code now says bonus funds can’t be required to be played through more than ten times. You can read the wording in LCCP social responsibility code 5.1.1 (opens in a new tab) and the reasons in the Commission’s announcement, Gambling promotions to be safer and simpler (opens in a new tab).

An outright ban on wagering was considered and rejected. The Commission kept wagering as a legitimate tool but limited how much play it can demand. On the same day, it banned promotions that mix gambling products, so an offer can no longer ask you to bet on football to unlock casino spins; see the mixed-product promotions ban for details.

The earlier consumer-law work matters too. The Competition and Markets Authority’s online gambling case (opens in a new tab) led several operators to promise clearer bonus terms and to let players withdraw their own deposit during bonus play. Our page on bonus terms rules explains what those undertakings did and didn’t cover, and before and after the 10x cap shows how offers changed.

What the wagering rules don’t control

The cap fixes the multiple, but a bonus can still be tough to clear because of the other terms around it. These are the conditions to read alongside the headline figure:

• Expiry. Casumo allows 7 days and 10bet allows 3 days; a shorter window means more stakes per day. See bonus expiry explained.
• Maximum bet. Casumo caps bets at £5 while a bonus is active, the same figure as the slot stake limit for players aged 25 and over. Our max bet rule guide explains why the rule exists.
• Game weighting. Some games count less than 100% or nothing at all towards the total; read game weighting explained.
• Maximum winnings. 10bet limits bonus winnings to £1,000.
• Payment exclusions. Some deposit methods don’t qualify for the offer at all.

Whether your own cash is used first or the bonus is locked until you finish also matters. That is the difference between sticky and non-sticky bonuses.

Why some UK casinos have no wagering requirements at all

Wagering is one way to control the cost of a promotion, not the only one. A casino can instead set a modest spin value, restrict the spins to particular games and pay whatever they win as cash. The operator knows the most a batch of spins can cost on average, so it doesn’t need extra play to protect itself.

PlayOJO’s welcome offer works this way: 80 free spins on Big Bass Bonanza with your first deposit of at least £10, at 10p each, with winnings paid in cash and no wagering. That is £8 of spins. Coral’s current offer is similar in structure: bet £10 or more on slots after depositing (certain payment types are excluded) and receive 100 free spins at 10p each, worth £10, on selected games, with no wagering on the winnings. Both are 18+ and terms apply. Other current offers of this kind are listed under no-wagering deals on our offers pages.

The trade-off is size. No-wagering promotions tend to be smaller because every penny they produce is withdrawable. A wagered bonus can look bigger but is worth less than its face value once you account for the play it demands.

Wagering requirement myths vs facts

How to check a wagering requirement before you opt in

1. Find the full terms, not the banner. The significant conditions should sit next to the offer, with a link to the rest.
2. Note the multiple and what it applies to: bonus only, or something else.
3. Multiply the bonus by the multiple to get the total stake required.
4. Divide that total by the number of days allowed to see the daily stake you would need.
5. Check the maximum bet, the eligible games and any game weighting.
6. Look for a winnings cap and for excluded payment methods.
7. Decide whether you would play that much anyway. If not, skip the offer or choose a no-wagering one.

Our checklist on how to read bonus terms goes through the wording clause by clause, and what is a fair wagering requirement looks at which multiples are good value.

Wagering, time and spending limits

Clearing a bonus means more play than you might otherwise choose, so set limits before you start. Since 31 October 2025, casinos must prompt you to set a financial limit before your first deposit, and decreases take effect immediately. If you notice yourself chasing a wagering target after losses, stop. Free, confidential help is available from the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, and our safer gambling hub lists the tools available.

Offers without wagering on winnings

If the reason behind wagering puts you off, the two offers below pay winnings from their spins without any play-through. Coral needs a £10 slots stake and PlayOJO a £10 first deposit. Both are 18+ only, with full terms on each operator’s site, and were last checked on 5 October 2026. You can also compare them on our Coral vs PlayOJO page or return to more casino questions answered.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Set a deposit limit before you play: how to set deposit limits. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.