When you claim any kind of bonus at an online casino, it comes with its own set of terms and conditions. These rules are separate from those you agreed to when you first signed up at the casino, and need to be followed in order to use free spins bonuses.
Some of the more common aspects of bonus terms and conditions include the wagering requirement for a bonus, how much players can withdraw from using the bonus, and if the bonus comes with any bet limits.
Wagering Requirements
When you claim a free spins bonus there are wagering requirements attached. What this means is when you win you have to play through the amount won several times before you convert it to real money and make a withdrawal.
For example:
Casino: Stellar Spins
Bonus Offer: up to 200 free spins as part of welcome bonus
Wagering requirement: 50x bonus amount apply to all welcome offer bonuses and free spins
Calculation: Assume you claim this offer and win $100 with your free spins. The wagering requirement will then be applied as follows:
$100 free spin win x a 50x wagering requirement = $500 to wager.
When you have wagered $500, any remaining funds in your bonus balance will be transferred to your cash balance. Then you are able to withdraw them.
Wagering Contributions
Wagering contributions are how much individual games at a casino contribute towards a bonus’ wagering requirement. For example, a bet of $1 on a slot machine will typically count as $1 towards a wagering requirement, but a bet of $1 on a game of blackjack might only contribute $0.10.
Exact wagering requirements vary from casino to casino, but there are usually some commonalities. Slots generally contribute 100% of their bets, so playing pokies is the easiest way to make the maximum contribution towards the requirement. It’s also not unusual for table games to contribute far smaller amounts, sometimes as low at 5%. Even if you’ve claimed and used a free spins bonus, the different amounts games contribute are important to keep in mind in case you feel like playing something different.
To see a casino’s exact wagering contributions, you’ll need to look at their bonus terms and conditions.
Bonus Cashouts
When you accept a free spins bonus, one of the conditions may be that there is a maximum amount that you can withdraw from using the bonus. This cap is put in place for two reasons: so that the casino doesn’t lose too much money in paying out earnings from free spins, and to avoid the potential exploitation of the bonus.
In the former case, imagine you own a casino and you need to pay out a big pokies jackpot to someone who won it on a free spin. Even if there’s a lot of great press around it, your casino might not have that much money on hand at once to pay out, so it’s not a good business decision. The idea of cashout restrictions for free spins bonuses might be a bit unfriendly, but ultimately they protect casinos and help them continue to operate.
Bet Limits
While a free spins bonus brings with it a lot of potential to win big, how much you can win is limited. In normal play, slots allow you to wager different amounts, but when you use free spins from a bonus, they have a fixed value.
There are two reasons for this: by making the bonus identical for all players, it’s more fair. It also prevents the casino from losing too much money on its promotions, since big wins on slots with the top bet can pay out hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Free spins are just an extra little bit of fun, so don’t get too wrapped up in them or take them too seriously.
Game Weighting Percentages
The good news about pokies as compared to other casino games is that they have a better game weighting percentage. But what is that exactly? Game weighting percentage can be described as the percentage of your wager that counts towards your wagering requirement.
Pokies are generally 100% weighted. That means all of your wager counts towards your wagering requirement. E.g. if you wager $5 on a 100% weighted game, then $5 is taken from your wagering requirement.
Table games have a much lower game weighting percentage, making it far harder to make the requirement.
Other Rules to Consider
In cases where you can use free spins to play a range of games, as opposed to a specific named pokies game, the casino may list a number of exceptions. You’ll also find there’s usually a time limit, which specifies how long the free spins are valid for after being activated or unlocked, and possibly a list of excluded countries. All of these vary from casino to casino, so it’s always worth checking the T&Cs.
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