Ever played at a casino because of its exciting bonus offerings? You may have learned again and again that these bonuses never equal free money owing to their wagering requirements.
Well, nothing does, but it is possible to loosen some of the strings attached. With the right approach, you can learn how to go about the wagering requirements with the possibility of the maximum cashout.
In this article, we’ll compare the old way of meeting the wagering requirements versus a more disruptive approach to withdraw your winnings every time.
But before we can learn how to beat the wagering requirements, we need to know what they are and why they exist in the first place. Read on to learn more.
What are wagering requirements?
If you claim a bonus at a casino, you won’t be able to withdraw your money straightaway. This is because your bonus money comes in a wallet separate from your cash funds. In fact, you need to wager your bonus winnings a certain minimum number of times. This is what’s called the wagering requirement for the bonus.
Let’s say you win 10 NZD using a bonus of 50 free spins, and the wagering requirement is 20x. You now need to wager a minimum of 200 (10×20) NZD before you can cash out your winnings.
Why do wagering requirements even exist?
At a first glance, it may seem that wagering requirements are a way for the casinos to increase their profits. But this is not true. In fact, the law mandates the casinos to include wagering requirements, whether they want these or not.
If casinos did not have wagering requirements in place, money laundering could easily take place. Criminals could clean their black money, taking advantage of the instant withdrawals that would be readily available.
The standard way to meet the wagering requirements
First, there is the standard approach to meeting your wagering requirements so that you can cash out your winnings. This looks something like the following.
Step 1. Calculate your wagering requirement.
Obviously, you first need to know the wagering requirement for the bonus. You can easily find this in the bonus terms & conditions.
Then, you can use a wagering calculator to compute the minimum total wager you need to make to cash out your bonus. You can also calculate it manually.
Step 2. Start playing.
You can now begin to start playing the slot games. But note that most casinos will only let you play select slots for a given bonus.
Step 3. Each wager contributes to your wagering requirement.
Every spin you make on an applicable slot with your bonus amount will add up to your wagering requirement.
However, note that most casinos will only allow you to wager a maximum of 10 NZD or so with bonus money.
Step 4. Wager enough times to meet your wagering requirement.
If you wager enough number of times without expending all your bonus funds along the way, you will eventually meet the wagering requirement.
You will then turn your bonus funds into real cash and can withdraw them.
The innovative way to beat the wagering requirements
While you cannot technically beat the wagering requirements, you can get close. There is an imaginative way to play and more than meet the wagering requirement. Below, we’ll explore the same in detail.
Choose wager-free bonuses
This is the most straightforward way to beat the wagering requirements. You simply avoid them altogether. But it is also the method that is least likely to pan out. However, one exception may be no deposit based free spins.
A casino may hand out free spins without any wagering requirements. However, as always, you’ll only be able to use these free spins on select slots.
Alternatively, you may look for low wagering options among bonuses. An increasing number of online casinos have been bringing down their wagering requirements in recent times.
But note that there may be other compensating restrictions in place. Indeed, in the long run, it is not really possible to beat the wagering requirements in this way.
Understand the wagering requirements better
This involves reading the fine print, mostly hidden in the detailed bonus terms & conditions of a casino. But you can make your search easy by looking for a few key metrics.
Besides the wagering requirement and the minimum deposit amount, these include payout cap, maximum bet, and bonus validity.
The last thing you want happening is your bonus or winnings getting cancelled because you accidentally broke a rule. Say, your bonus money comes with a maximum bet of 10 NZD. It won’t help matters if your wagers include a 20 NZD bet in the round.
You can also change games along the way, but only if you know the slots that contribute higher percentages to the wagering requirement.
Select the right casino
Further, you must pick a casino with the most favourable wagering requirements to begin with. While this is something hard to come by, you must browse different online casinos to get a feel for them before you make a real deposit.
Despite regulations causing casinos to include strict wagering requirements, many gambling commissions have been vying for the opposite. You can take advantage of this new wave by selecting low wagering requirements based casinos.
However, note that you may need to wager your deposit cash besides the bonus money. This can make matters far less attractive than they seem at a first glance.
Pick the right games
It is not enough to pick the right casino and start playing. You must also pick the slots that contribute the highest towards meeting your wagering requirement. It matters that not all games contribute equally to the wagering requirements.
Generally speaking, slots are a better choice compared to table or live games. In fact, it is not uncommon for slots to contribute 100% towards the wagering requirements.
You can further customize your choice by going for low or medium volatility slots. This is because higher volatility slots may cause you to lose your bonus money fairly quickly, with less scope for recovering along the way. With that said, however, it’s ultimately down to chance once you have done all your homework.
Conclusion
Overall, online casinos do their legwork before launching their platforms. As such, it makes sense for you to learn the rules so that you can stick out longer in the game. Ultimately, you may not be able to win big or win often, but you can figure out ways to withdraw your bonus money most of the time.