Free tool
Wagering Requirement Calculator
Turn “100% up to £200, 35x” into the total you actually have to stake — and what clearing it is expected to cost.
A bonus headline tells you what you get. It does not tell you what you have to do. Enter the offer as it is advertised and this works out the turnover the terms require, how much of it your chosen game actually clears, and what generating that turnover is expected to cost you at the game’s house edge.
The offer
Multiplier applies to
How you will play it
What the terms require
Total you must stake
7,000.00
- Bonus granted
- 100.00
- Wagering base
- 200.00
- Rounds at the max bet
- 1,400
- Expected cost to clear
- 280.00
- Net expected value
- -180.00
Expected cost is turnover × (100% − RTP): the average the house edge takes while you clear the requirement. Real sessions vary widely in both directions.
How it works
A wagering-requirement calculator turns the headline of a casino bonus into the number the headline leaves out: the total amount you have to stake before any of it can be withdrawn. "100% up to £200, 35x" tells you what you get. It does not tell you that clearing it means putting £7,000 through the games. The arithmetic is simple, and the trap is in which figure the multiplier is applied to. Some offers wager the bonus only; many wager deposit plus bonus, which doubles the requirement on a 100% match for the same advertised multiplier. Choosing the wrong one when you read the terms is the single most common way players underestimate an offer, so the calculator makes it an explicit choice rather than an assumption. Two further terms decide what the requirement really costs. Game contribution weights how much each £1 staked counts: slots usually contribute 100%, while table games often contribute 10% or 20%, so a £7,000 requirement becomes £70,000 of actual blackjack stakes at 10%. And because every stake is exposed to the house edge, generating that turnover has an expected cost — turnover multiplied by (100% − RTP) — which is frequently larger than the bonus itself. A max-cashout cap limits what you can withdraw without limiting any of that. Used honestly, the tool answers one question: is this offer worth taking? A bonus whose expected clearing cost exceeds its value is a marketing device, not free money, and the terms that make it so are always published.
Worked example
Take the standard offer: 100% up to £200, 35x wagering on deposit + bonus, slots contributing 100% at 96% RTP, £5 max bet while the bonus is active. Deposit: £100 Bonus granted: 100% of £100, capped at £200 = £100 Wagering base (deposit + bonus): £100 + £100 = £200 Turnover required: £200 × 35 = £7,000 Spins at the £5 max bet: £7,000 ÷ £5 = 1,400 Expected cost: £7,000 × (100% − 96%) = £280 Net expected value: £100 bonus − £280 cost = −£180 The same offer wagered on the bonus only would need £100 × 35 = £3,500 of turnover and cost about £140 — still more than the bonus, but half the exposure for an identical headline. Now switch to blackjack at 10% contribution: the £7,000 requirement needs £70,000 of actual stakes. Even at blackjack's much lower house edge, no realistic session generates that before the bonus expires.
The expected cost is a statistical average over the full turnover, not a prediction of your session — real results swing widely in both directions, and a minority of players do withdraw. It also assumes you play one game at one RTP for the whole requirement, that you never breach the max-bet rule (which usually voids the bonus outright), and that the bonus does not expire first. Always read the operator's own bonus terms: contribution tables, excluded games, max bet and expiry are all published, and all of them change this number.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate a wagering requirement?
Multiply the wagering multiplier by whatever the terms apply it to. On a £100 deposit with a £100 bonus and 35x on deposit + bonus, that is (£100 + £100) × 35 = £7,000 of required turnover. If the same 35x applied to the bonus only it would be £3,500.
What does 35x wagering actually mean?
It means you must stake 35 times a stated amount before a withdrawal is allowed. The critical detail is the stated amount: 35x on the bonus alone is half the requirement of 35x on deposit plus bonus, even though both are advertised as "35x".
Why does game contribution change the requirement?
Contribution is the share of each stake that counts toward the requirement. At 100% every £1 staked clears £1; at 10% it clears 10p, so a £7,000 requirement needs £70,000 of actual stakes on that game. Slots usually count fully, table games rarely do.
Are casino bonuses with wagering requirements worth taking?
It depends on whether the expected cost of clearing the turnover is smaller than the bonus. At 35x on deposit + bonus and a 96% RTP slot, clearing costs around £280 to win a £100 bonus, so the offer is negative on average. Lower multipliers, bonus-only wagering and higher-RTP games all move it back toward the player.
What is a max cashout and how does it affect the maths?
A max cashout caps how much of your bonus winnings you may withdraw, commonly at 3x to 10x the bonus or a flat figure. It limits your upside without reducing the turnover you must generate, so it always makes an offer worse than the headline multiplier alone suggests.
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