The 10x wagering cap is the UK rule that no casino licensed in Great Britain may require a bonus to be played through more than ten times. It has applied since 19 January 2026, alongside a ban on offers that mix casino and sports. A £25 bonus can now ask for £250 of stakes at most.
The cap is on wagering, not on the size of a bonus: a £1,000 bonus at 10x is still permitted. It applies to the bonus funds; read the terms for any other condition attached to the deposit. It does not make a bonus easy, only finite: £250 of stakes in three days is still about £83 a day.
How to check a site follows it
Read the significant terms beside any bonus. A figure above 10x means the page is out of date or the site is not licensed in Britain.
Coral and Ladbrokes are both run by LC International Limited (Entain). If you already hold an account with one Entain brand, you may not be able to open a new account with another; check the terms before signing up.
Significant terms: 18+. New players only. Offer runs 01/10/2026 to 01/02/2027. Deposit (certain types excluded) and bet £10+ on slot games to get 100 free spins (selected games, £0.10 each, 48 hrs to accept, valid 7 days). No wagering on free spin winnings. Deposits by Neteller, PayPal, Paysafe, Skrill, prepaid cards and certain debit cards do not qualify. Restrictions and T&Cs apply. GamCare.org.uk
Read the Coral reviewLicence: LC International Limited, UKGC account 54743. Offer checked 5 October 2026.
Significant terms: 18+. New UK customers (excluding Northern Ireland). First deposit only. Minimum deposit £10. 80 free spins on Big Bass Bonanza, £0.10 each. No wagering requirements; winnings paid in cash. Cannot be used with any other offer. Only available to players who arrive through the designated offer link. Full T&Cs apply. GamCare.org.uk
Read the PlayOJO reviewLicence: Skill On Net Limited, UKGC account 39326. Offer checked 5 October 2026.
Significant terms: 18+. New customers only, from 14/11/25 until further notice. Certain deposit methods excluded. Deposit and spend £10+ on slots for 50 free spins a day during the first 10 days after first deposit and registration (max 500, £0.10 each, selected games, claim before 23:59 each day, valid 7 days). No wagering. Prepaid cards, PayPal, Paysafe, Neteller, Skrill and Moneybookers deposits do not qualify. Restrictions and T&Cs apply. GamCare.org.uk
Read the Ladbrokes reviewLicence: LC International Limited, UKGC account 54743. Offer checked 5 October 2026.
How to check an offer against the cap
Find the wagering figure in the offer's significant terms, which must be shown beside the offer itself. It should read ten times or less, or say that winnings are paid as cash. If the figure is missing from the offer and only appears deep in general terms, treat the page as out of date and check the casino's own promotions page.
What the cap changed for players
Before it, the usual requirement was 30 to 40 times: a £25 bonus asked for £750 to £1,000 of stakes and cost more on average than it gave. At ten times the same bonus needs £250 and leaves about £15 on average on a 96% slot. Casinos responded by offering more free spins with no wagering and smaller matched bonuses.
What it did not change
Deadlines, payment method exclusions, maximum bets and maximum wins are all still allowed. A bonus within the cap can still be lost to a three-day time limit or a deposit made by an excluded e-wallet.
What LCCP 5.1.1 says: the wording behind the 10x wagering cap
The cap is written into the Gambling Commission's Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice, in the social responsibility code on rewards and bonuses, condition 5.1.1 (opens in a new tab). Because it is a social responsibility code provision, it is a condition of every operating licence it covers, not guidance, and breaking it can lead to enforcement action.
The provision does four things that matter to players. First, wagering requirements may not require a customer to play through bonus funds more than ten times. Second, a single incentive must not include more than one type of gambling product, such as betting and casino. Third, an earlier provision that let a benefit's value depend on gambling for a set length of time or at a set frequency was removed, so time-based changes to an incentive are no longer allowed. Fourth, incentive terms must be clear, transparent, fair and readily accessible.
The four parts of the January 2026 bonus rules
Part
What it says
Example of what is no longer allowed
Wagering cap
Bonus funds can be played through no more than 10 times
A £20 bonus with 40x (£800) wagering
Mixed-product ban
One incentive can't cover more than one gambling product
Bet £10 on football to get 50 slot spins
Time-based incentives
Value can't depend on gambling for a set time or frequency
A bonus that grows the more days in a row you play
Clear terms
Terms must be clear, fair and readily accessible
Significant conditions hidden away from the offer
The Commission also consulted on banning wagering requirements altogether and decided against it. That is why matched bonuses with 10x wagering, such as the ones on our latest deposit bonuses page, still exist alongside offers with no wagering.
10x wagering cap timeline: from the 2023 white paper to 2026
The cap took almost three years to go from promise to rule. The government's 2023 gambling white paper committed to "fair limits on re-wagering requirements", and the Commission then consulted on a specific figure. The start date was moved once, by a month.
How the UK wagering cap came in
Date
Step
27 April 2023
White paper, High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age, promises fair limits on wagering
29 November 2023
Gambling Commission consultation opens on incentives, including a 10x cap (it ran to 21 February 2024)
26 March 2025
Commission announces the 10x cap and the mixed-product ban
July 2025
Start date moved from 19 December 2025 to 19 January 2026
Wagering is the total you must stake before bonus money becomes withdrawable cash. Under the cap, the most it can be is the bonus multiplied by ten. The calculation takes four steps.
Find the bonus amount, not the deposit. A 50% bonus on a £60 deposit is £30.
Multiply by the wagering figure in the terms, which can't exceed 10. £30 × 10 = £300.
Divide by your usual stake to see how many spins that is. £300 at 50p is 600 spins; at £1 it is 300.
Check the deadline and maximum bet. 300 spins of £1 in 7 days is about 43 a day, and the stake must stay within any maximum bet in the terms.
Two current UK offers show the cap at work. 10bet's welcome bonus matches 100% up to £25 and must be wagered 10x on slots within 3 days: a £25 bonus means £250 of slot stakes, or 250 spins at £1. Casumo's matches 50% up to £100, with 10x wagering within 7 days and a £5 maximum bet: a £100 bonus means £1,000 of stakes, which takes at least 200 spins even at the £5 limit. Both are 18+, new customers only, and terms apply. The wagering calculator does the arithmetic for any figure, and how to calculate wagering covers trickier cases.
Some bonus terms count certain games at less than 100% towards wagering. That is a separate term from the cap, so check the game weighting table before playing anything other than slots.
Is 10x wagering good? What it costs on average
Every stake on a slot loses a small percentage on average: the house edge, which is 100% minus the return to player (RTP). The expected cost of completing wagering is therefore the wagering total multiplied by the house edge. That single sum shows why the cap changed bonus value so much.
Average cost of clearing a bonus at 10x vs the old 35x (illustrative; results vary widely)
Bonus
Wagering at 10x
Average cost at 96% RTP
Average left at 10x
Average left at 35x
£10
£100
£4
£6
Minus £4 (£14 cost)
£25
£250
£10
£15
Minus £10 (£35 cost)
£50
£500
£20
£30
Minus £20 (£70 cost)
£100
£1,000
£40
£60
Minus £40 (£140 cost)
At 10x on a 96% slot, a bonus keeps about 60% of its face value on average. At 35x, the expected cost was larger than the bonus itself, so an average player finished with less than they started. On a lower-RTP version of a game, say 94%, the cost at 10x rises to 6% of wagering and the average left on a £25 bonus falls to £10. Read RTP explained for why the same slot can come in different versions, and what is a fair wagering requirement? for a fuller answer.
These are averages over very large numbers of spins. In a single session you can lose the bonus and your deposit, or finish well ahead; volatility decides how wide that swing is. A bonus is a way to extend entertainment you had already budgeted for, not a way to make money.
Does the 10x cap apply to free spins, cashback and existing customers?
The code applies to incentives in general, so the cap is not limited to welcome offers. The table shows how it affects the bonus types UK players meet most often.
How the 10x wagering cap applies by bonus type
Bonus type
How the cap applies
Matched deposit bonus
Bonus funds can be wagered at most 10 times
Spins paid as bonus funds
Winnings credited as a bonus can be wagered at most 10 times
Spins with no wagering
Nothing to cap: winnings are paid as cash
Reload and existing-customer bonuses
Covered: the code applies to any incentive, not just sign-up offers
Cashback paid as cash
Nothing to cap; if paid as bonus funds, the 10x maximum applies
Sites without a British licence
Not covered at all
For free spins for existing customers, reload bonuses and loyalty rewards, check the terms in the same way: the wagering figure must be 10x or less. The cap covers Gambling Commission licensees serving Great Britain; Northern Ireland has its own gambling law, explained in our guide to Northern Ireland gambling law.
10x wagering cap myths vs facts
Common misunderstandings about the UK wagering cap
Myth
Fact
The cap limits how big a bonus can be
It limits wagering only; a large bonus is still allowed if its wagering is 10x or less
10x means bonuses are easy to clear
£250 of stakes in 3 days is still around 83 spins a day at £1
Wagering requirements are now banned
A full ban was consulted on and rejected; 10x is the ceiling
The cap removes maximum bets and deadlines
Deadlines, maximum bets, game rules and payment exclusions are still allowed
Offshore sites must follow it too
Only Gambling Commission licensees are bound by it
Other bonus terms are still regulated in other ways. Our page on the rules for bonus terms explains the fairness requirements, and the max bet rule explained guide covers the most common trap within capped offers. If you're unsure whether an offer is current, the date the terms were last updated is usually shown on the casino's promotions page; anything from before 19 January 2026 should be treated as superseded.
Reading wagering terms: compliant and non-compliant wording
Wagering terms are written in several styles, and the same requirement can look very different depending on how it is phrased. The examples below are illustrative wordings, not quotes from any casino, with what each means in pounds for a £20 bonus and whether it fits within the 10x cap.
Illustrative wagering wordings for a £20 bonus, checked against the 10x cap
Wording in the terms
Stakes needed on a £20 bonus
Within the cap?
Wager the bonus 10x
£200
Yes, at the ceiling
Wagering requirement 5x bonus
£100
Yes
Bonus must be played through 30 times
£600
No: older wording, or not a British licence
Winnings from spins credited as cash
Nothing
Yes: no wagering at all
Wager 10x bonus; slots count 100%
£200 on slots
Yes, with the weighting shown
Bonus and winnings expire after 3 days
Not a wagering figure
A deadline, which the cap doesn't limit
Three habits make terms easier to read. Look for the word bonus next to the multiplier, because the cap is expressed in terms of bonus funds. Convert the multiplier into pounds before you deposit, so £20 at 10x becomes a concrete £200 of stakes rather than an abstract figure. And read the multiplier together with the deadline and maximum bet, since those three numbers decide whether the requirement fits your usual pace of play.
If a figure is missing from the offer itself and appears only deep in general terms, that is a warning sign too: significant conditions are meant to be shown with the promotion. Casinos also have to apply terms fairly: in the Competition and Markets Authority's 2018 work on online gambling, named operators committed not to change bonus terms unfairly after a player had opted in, and consumer law protects you from unfair terms more generally. If the wording is unclear, ask customer service to confirm the wagering in pounds in writing before you claim, and keep the reply.
What to do if a bonus asks for more than 10x wagering
Seeing more than 10x usually means one of three things: the page you're reading predates January 2026, the site doesn't hold a British licence, or a licensed casino has made a mistake. Each has a different next step.
Screenshot the offer and its terms, with the date visible.
Check the operator on the Gambling Commission's public register. If it isn't there, don't deposit; see how to check a casino licence.
If it is licensed, raise it with the casino's customer service and ask for the current terms in writing.
If you've already claimed and the casino won't apply the cap, make a formal complaint. It has 8 weeks to resolve it.
After 8 weeks, or with a final response, take it to the casino's free independent dispute resolution service; see complaints and ADR.
Report the breach to the Gambling Commission. It doesn't settle individual disputes, but it uses reports to decide where to act.
Everything here is dated. Offers and facts were last checked on 5 October 2026; this is not a live feed. Casino details come from each casino's published terms and help pages and the Gambling Commission's public register. How we check. 18+. Free help: 0808 8020 133 or safer gambling.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 10x wagering cap?
The 10x wagering cap is the rule that a UK-licensed casino can't require you to play through bonus funds more than ten times before they become withdrawable. It is part of the Gambling Commission's licence condition 5.1.1 and has applied since 19 January 2026. A £25 bonus can require at most £250 of stakes; a £100 bonus at most £1,000. The same change banned incentives that mix more than one gambling product. The cap limits wagering, not the size of a bonus, and other terms such as deadlines still apply. See how wagering requirements work.
When did it start?
The 10x wagering cap started on 19 January 2026. The Gambling Commission announced it on 26 March 2025, originally for 19 December 2025, and in July 2025 moved the start date back by a month to give operators time to change their systems. The idea goes back to the government's April 2023 white paper, which promised fair limits on wagering, and to a Commission consultation that ran from 29 November 2023 to 21 February 2024. Any UK-licensed offer advertised since 19 January 2026 should show wagering of 10x or less. The 2026 timeline lists the other changes.
Does it apply to free spins?
Yes, wherever spin winnings come with wagering. If winnings from spins are paid as bonus funds, the casino can require them to be wagered no more than ten times: £6 of spin winnings could need at most £60 of stakes. Many UK spin offers now have no wagering at all, so winnings are paid as cash and there is nothing to cap; Coral, Ladbrokes and PlayOJO's current welcome spins work this way (18+, terms apply). The spins themselves still have a fixed value and an expiry date. Our guide to free spins winnings explains the difference between cash and bonus winnings.
Which bonuses are at the cap?
Of the five partner welcome offers we track, two sit exactly at the 10x cap: Casumo's 50% bonus up to £100 (minimum deposit £20, wager 10x within 7 days, £5 maximum bet) and 10bet's 100% bonus up to £25 (wager 10x on slots within 3 days, maximum bonus winnings £1,000). Coral's, Ladbrokes' and PlayOJO's welcome spins have no wagering, so they are well inside it. All are for new customers aged 18 or over, and terms apply. Offers were last checked on 5 October 2026. Our low wagering casino bonus page compares other low-wagering options.
Have you tested these casinos with real money?
No. Latest Casinos is desk-based and says so. We don't deposit, play or clear bonuses ourselves; we read each casino's published terms, check licences on the Gambling Commission's public register and record the date of every check. For this rule, the source is the Commission's own licence condition and announcements, linked on this page, so you can read the wording yourself. Where a figure can't be verified from an official or operator source, we leave it out rather than estimate it. The editorial policy explains how pages are researched and updated.
Does commission change what you report?
No. Some links on this site are adverts, and we may earn commission if you open an account through them, but that doesn't change what we report about a rule or an offer's terms. Commercial links are labelled as adverts, and payment doesn't affect which casinos appear or their order. On this page, the rule itself comes from the Gambling Commission, and the offer figures come from each casino's published terms on the date shown. If a partner's offer broke the cap, we would say so. Our advertiser disclosure sets out the commercial arrangements in full.
How do I know an offer page is out of date?
An offer page is out of date if it shows wagering above ten times or a sports bet unlocking casino spins, because both have been banned for UK-licensed operators since 19 January 2026. Other clues include a 'last checked' date before 2026, references to autoplay or turbo spins, slot stakes above £5, or credit cards listed as a deposit method. The casino's own promotions page always takes priority over any third-party listing, including ours. Our guide to spotting an outdated offer has a full checklist.
Is autoplay allowed on slots?
No. Autoplay has been banned on online slots in Great Britain since 31 October 2021, so every spin must be started individually. The same rules require at least 2.5 seconds between the start of one spin and the next, and ban turbo and slam-stop features that make results appear faster. From 17 January 2025 the autoplay ban was extended to all online casino games, with a 5-second minimum per game cycle on non-slot games. These rules affect how long wagering takes: £250 of stakes at £1 is 250 separately started spins. See the slot autoplay ban.
Can I buy a slot's bonus round?
No. Slots supplied to casinos licensed in Great Britain don't offer a feature buy or bonus buy option, so the only way into a bonus round is to trigger it in normal play. Versions of the same games offered in other countries can include a buy button, which is one quick way to spot a site that isn't operating under a British licence. No official Gambling Commission rule or date confirms a formal ban; it reflects how games are supplied to Great Britain. Our page on how slot bonus rounds work explains triggers and features.
Is 10x wagering good?
Yes, compared with what came before: 10x is the most a UK-licensed casino can now ask, and at that level a bonus keeps value on average. On a 96% RTP slot, wagering £250 for a £25 bonus costs about £10 on average, leaving roughly £15. Under the 30x to 50x requirements common before 2026, the average cost usually exceeded the bonus. Lower is still better: no-wagering offers pay winnings as cash. These are averages, so a single session can go either way. See no wagering vs low wagering for a side-by-side comparison.
Does the 10x cap apply to bonuses for existing customers?
Yes. Licence condition 5.1.1 covers incentives generally, not only sign-up offers, so reload bonuses, loyalty rewards and spins given to existing customers that come with wagering must also be capped at ten times the bonus funds. The mixed-product ban applies to them as well. If you receive an email or app offer with a higher figure from a UK-licensed casino, check whether the terms are current and ask customer service. You choose whether to receive such offers: since 1 May 2025 casinos must ask for consent per product and channel. Our marketing consent rules page explains how.
Can a casino still set a maximum bet while I have a bonus?
Yes. The 10x cap limits how many times a bonus must be wagered, but casinos may still set a maximum stake while a bonus is active, and they usually do. Casumo's welcome bonus, for example, has a £5 maximum bet. On online slots, the legal stake limits also apply: £5 a spin at 25 and over, £2 at 18 to 24. Breaking a bonus maximum can void the bonus and its winnings, so check the limit before you start. Our explainer on why casinos limit bets with a bonus covers the reasons.
What happens if I don't finish the wagering in time?
Usually the unwagered bonus, and any winnings made with it, are removed when the deadline passes, while your own deposited money stays yours. The 10x cap doesn't set or limit deadlines, so they vary: 10bet allows 3 days for its welcome bonus and Casumo 7 days. Before claiming, divide the wagering by the number of days to see whether the pace fits how you normally play, and don't increase stakes to beat the clock. Our guide to bonus expiry explains how deadlines are counted and what to check.
Gambling can be addictive. Free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day from the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133. Get free support from GamCare or NHS gambling support, or block yourself from all UK-licensed gambling sites with GAMSTOP.
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