One of the real attractions of playing roulette online is the great welcome bonus that many offer. Most casinos will offer you some sort of bonus of your first deposit which you can spend on casino games and the slot games on their site. However it’s important to remember that this isn’t just free money which you can withdraw immediately. There are numerous wagering restriction which stop you simply cashing out and one of the most important is playthrough.
What Does Playthrough Mean Online Casino
Playthrough is one of the most important wagering requirements and will almost always be part of any offer or deposit bonus you’ll find online. It refers to the how many times you have to stake or bet your first deposit before you can cash out your bonus. It stops for example, a player placing a deposit and instantly checking out that 200% bonus of your deposit amount without actually playing! The core restrictions against this are something called the playthrough requirement which basically specifies the number of times you have to wager that bonus before it becomes available to withdraw. You’ll also see this term referred to as rollover or wagering requirements too although they can mean slightly different things.
So what does wagered 30 times mean hidden in the bottom of the conditions – it simply requires you to wager that bonus 30 times before it’s eligible to be withdrawn.
For example let’s look at one of the most trusted names in online gaming – Casino.com, here’s their main bonus page – Casino Bonus Page where they display their current best offers to match the deposit. If you search for the requirement, which to be fair are not hard to find. You’ll see on the offer, the expression – X40 wagering requirement which refers to the number of times you’ll have to play the ‘bonus’ amount before you can withdraw it. So for example a £100 bonus would need to be played 40 times – that is wagered to the level of £4500 before you can withdraw it. Furthermore the bonus will only be allowed on certain games maybe just on roulette or slots, and on others it might not contribute to the wagering requirement.
If it’s too high it makes the bonus almost worthless other than a way to practice the games first, which is probably how you should see these bonuses. The best way to playthrough casino bonus if you do want to attempt to win is to place it on even money bets but it will still take a huge amount of luck to withdraw any winnings from the bonus. There is unfortunately no simple method on how to beat wagering requirements, they are there for a reason – to stop you withdrawing them
Casino.com as a reputable company will be straight up with these requirements and bonuses but many online casinos are not. The typical pattern is to offer huge bonuses but linked in with ridiculous wagering requirement which you can simply never cover. The idea is to draw the player in with amazing offers and never actually pay out any of these bonuses.
It’s important to bear these in mind, wherever you receive a bonus there will be playthrough online casino requirement. They can often be quite complicated to work out, with lower wagering limits like x2 but very few games counting towards the requirement. In reality, it’s best to see the bonus as an added extra, but don’t choose a casino simply based on this.
If you can’t see the Terms and Conditions displayed on the bonus or home page then forget it, if it’s hidden it will probably be for a reason. They all vary substantially but usually the reputable online firms, will end up being very similar in bonus level payments.
Tips for Completing the Playthrough Requirements for Online Casinos
As we’ve mentioned above it’s usually a mistake to get too fixated on the value of the online bonuses. Sure they’re great to have, but focus instead on the reputation of the casino and the games they supply. After all it’s supposed to be fun – playing dreary slot games or boring casino table games just because they offered huge casino bonuses is not going to be that enjoyable.
Nevertheless, when you’ve found the casino you want to play in, there’s no harm in trying to turn as much of that deposit plus bonus as possible into real cash in your account. Here’s some very basic tips on how to achieve this –
Read the Terms and Conditions of the Wagering Requirements
This is crucial, most of the huge bonuses have incredible almost impossible wagering requirements so it’s important to find these out. There will often be two sets of conditions for most offers – the general ones which account for all the offers on the site. The second will be any specific conditions related to that particular bonus offer regarding the amounts you must wager.
It sounds tough trying to sift through lots of fine print, but on the decent sites you’ll find it’s not that bad. The big names value their reputation so want to ensure that their casino bonuses are pretty simple and transparent. You’re looking for certain key elements – including the playthrough requirement plus which betting methods are actually permitted. Sometimes they’ll exclude certain bets from counting toward the requirement or at a reduced rate.
The other restrictions maybe on things like maximum bet, stopping players placing huge bets at low odds to cash out quickly. The other typical methods that might be a problem are things like ‘opposite bets’ e.g. placing equal stakes on red/black at same time in roulette. This makes sense from the players side to minimize the house edge, but it may well invalidate your bonus.
Picking the Right Game
If you’re focusing on claiming that bonus for yourself then choosing the right game to play is crucial. This might not always be an option if it’s related to a specific activity like free spins. Yet a common bonus is linked to your deposit so you can technically play anything (as long as it’s not restricted in the T&Cs). Working out which is the most effective game to play is crucial to cashing that bonus out.
The most important factor is definitely the ‘house edge’ which is the built in advantage that the casino has in each game. These can vary widely and directly affect your chances of winning, they will vary from game to game and across casinos too. Generally though the best chances are Poker, Video Poker and Blackjack as long as you know how to play well. There could be others though, watch out for roulette – you need a European wheel with one zero or the house advantage will double.
The other factor to consider is that some games will have a lowered playthrough rate. This essentially means that only a proportion of your wagers will count towards the total. For example many casinos lower the rate on Blackjack simply because it has the lowest house advantage – it’s often as low as 10%. Which would mean that only .10 of your wager will actually contribute to the playthrough and you’d have to play 10 times as much to secure that deposit bonus.
Monitor Your Own Playthrough
Ok you don’t have to spoil all the fun with checking everything down in a little pad. However to make sure you get some of that match bonus back then keeping track of where you are is very sensible. Most casino software will keep track for you with a counter however they’re not always completely accurate. Some update after the sessions are over, others have been known to not register the lowered match bonus on some games.
The reason why it’s so important to have a decent record is that if you cash out before making the playthrough requirement you may very well lose that bonus completely. There is an easy solution