Wagering requirements calculator

Run your own numbers

The calculator gives you the total amount you'd need to bet. It can't tell you whether you'll get there. Nothing can.

Tip: if the terms say "deposit plus bonus", enter the two together as the amount to wager on. If they say "bonus amount", enter the bonus alone. Get that one input wrong and every number after it is off by half.

Three ways casinos count wagering

Same word, different maths. Before you trust any number, find out which of these the terms use.

Bonus only. Wagering is a multiple of the bonus amount. This is what the Baytree brands (Spin Casino, Jackpot City, Royal Vegas, Ruby Fortune, Lucky Nugget) say: "35x bonus amount".

Deposit plus bonus. The multiple applies to both together. Same headline number, roughly double the betting. Tooniebet's promotions page describes its 20x this way. Its homepage says "bonus wagering". We'll come back to that wobble.

Then there's winnings, for free spins: the multiple applies to whatever the spins won. Tooniebet uses 30x on spin winnings; Lucky Nugget applies 200x to both its bonus and its spin winnings.

A fourth thing hides behind all three: game weighting. If a game counts at 2%, every C$1 bet clears two cents.

Worked example 1: 35x at a Baytree casino

Let's use Jackpot City's first deposit, 100% up to C$400 (shown to us as €400; amounts shown to us in euros; confirm the C$ figure in the cashier).

1. You deposit C$100. You get C$100 of bonus.
2. Wagering is 35x the bonus: 35 × C$100 = C$3,500 of bets.
3. Max bet while wagering: C$8 per round (shown €8) and 50 cents per line.
4. At C$1 a spin, that's 3,500 spins. At C$2, 1,750.

Time limit? None stated for the wagering itself, but unused match bonus is forfeited after two months. That's generous by industry standards; we'll give them that.

One extra clause to know: the terms allow the casino to cap welcome-bonus winnings at 6x the first deposit, at its discretion (progressive jackpots excluded). On a C$100 deposit, that's a possible C$600 ceiling. Not guaranteed to be applied. Not something to ignore either.

Worked example 2: 200x at Casino Rewards

This is the one that makes people swear at their phones.

Yukon Gold's second-deposit offer: 100% up to C$150, at 200x.

1. You deposit C$150 and get C$150 of bonus.
2. 200 × C$150 = C$30,000 of bets.
3. Slots count 100%. Table and live games count 2%, so if you tried to clear it on blackjack you'd need C$1,500,000 of hands. No, that's not a typo either.
4. There's no fixed bet cap, but any single bet of 25% or more of the bonus value counts as irregular play. With C$150 of bonus, keep each bet under C$37.50.

Zodiac's C$1 entry works the same way at a smaller scale. Say the 80 chances win C$8. At 200x, that's C$1,600 of bets before the C$8 is free, and the irregular-play line sits at C$2 a bet (25% of C$8).

Zodiac does drop to 30x from the third deposit onward. That's the part of the Zodiac package we'd actually consider.

Unused bonuses at both sites are forfeited 60 days after registration.

A side note on Lucky Nugget's 150%

Lucky Nugget isn't a Casino Rewards site (it's a Baytree brand), but it shares the 200x habit. Its third-deposit offer is a 150% match up to C$200 (shown €200; confirm the C$ figure in the cashier). Deposit C$100, get C$150 of bonus, and 200x turns that into C$30,000 of bets. Bigger percentage, same mountain. A higher match rate makes the wagering worse, not better, because the multiple applies to a larger bonus.

Worked example 3: 20x at Tooniebet

The friendliest number on our list. Also the most ambiguous wording, so we'll do it twice.

First deposit: C$100 (the bonus needs at least C$30). You get a 100% match: C$100 of bonus, plus 200 spins over four days.

Why the two readings? The promotions page and the homepage simply describe it differently, and we can only report what each says. It's like the bank's daily Interac limit: the app says one thing, the branch says another, and the one that counts is whatever stops your transfer at 11 p.m.

Plan for C$4,000. If it turns out to be C$2,000, nice surprise. Check the wagering bar in your account after the bonus lands; that's the figure the casino will actually use.

Now the clock: 10 days. C$4,000 in 10 days is C$400 a day. At C$2 a spin, 200 spins a day. Doable for some players, a stretch for most. The max bet is C$7.50, so you can't rush it with big bets.

Spin winnings carry their own 30x. If the 200 spins win C$25, that's another C$750 of bets, and the spins must be used within 7 days.

What wagering costs you, on average

Here's the bit casinos don't put on banners.

Every bet on a slot has a built-in house edge. Take an illustrative slot returning 96% (check the real figure in the game's info screen; operators may run lower versions). Over a lot of spins, you'd expect to lose about 4% of everything you bet.

• Baytree example, C$3,500 of bets: expected loss around C$140, against a C$100 bonus.
• Tooniebet example, C$4,000: around C$160, against C$100 of bonus plus spins. At C$2,000, around C$80.
• Yukon Gold example, C$30,000: around C$1,200, against a C$150 bonus.

Averages, not predictions. Short sessions swing wildly in both directions. But the averages explain why 35x is borderline and 200x is, in our view, not a real bonus at all.

So when is a bonus a good deal? When the expected cost of wagering is lower than the bonus itself. At 20x bonus-only it often is. At 35x it's close. Past that, you're paying for entertainment.

Before you tick the bonus box

You can usually decline a bonus. People forget that.

If you play table games, want to withdraw quickly, or just don't want rules hanging over your balance, play with cash. Some casinos let you opt out at the cashier; others need a quick message to support. Our fast withdrawal page explains why an active bonus is one of the most common reasons a payout stalls.

Compare the full set of offers on the bonus hub, or see the cheapest entries on the no deposit page. Ontario and Alberta readers: bonus amounts aren't shown to you on this site; regulated operators there display offers only inside your account.

Help, any hour: Jeu : aide et référence (Québec) 514 527-0140 or 1 800 461-0140; ConnexOntario 1-866-531-2600.

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