Slot Bonus Terms and Conditions: What You Need To Know

While the online casino realm is home to a diverse selection of bonus types, the most frequent is the deposit match and free spins promo. Before getting into the bonus terms and conditions, it is essential to fully understand the typical promotions available at casino sites.

Whether you are registering for a new online casino or claiming a promo for existing players on your favourite gambling site, a deposit match is the most common bonus. Not only are deposit bonus offers the most lucrative available at online casinos, but they are also the simplest to understand. As the name suggests, the casino operator will match a deposit you make by a specific percentage.

Remember, the specifics of the deposit bonus can change, such as the percentage match on offer or the bonus limit. You should also always check the bonus terms and conditions. Most T&Cs are standard across deposit match offers (such as the wagering requirement), but there is some variance worth looking for. For example, you should pay close attention to the minimum deposit, which is the lowest deposit you can make to trigger the bonus.

Online casino operators can make a welcome bonus even more lucrative by offering a generous number of free spins. This offer is a pure slots bonus that will appeal to avid slots players at casino sites. As one of the simplest casino promos to understand, casino operators provide bettors with free spins on popular slot games.

However, like other casino bonuses, free spins often come with various restrictions and other T&Cs. Crucial requirements attached to free spins promotions include a cap on how much you can bet per spin. A standard maximum bet for this bonus is £0.10 per spin, meaning you will be limited in how much you can potentially win. It is also worth noting that the casino will decide which slot game/s you can use your free spins on. Remember to read the bonus terms and conditions for the specifics.

Best Casinos For Free Spins Packages UK

When browsing the bonus terms and conditions for just about any promotions at an online casino, the phrase “wagering requirements” will keep cropping up. The wagering requirement highlights how many times you must wager through a bonus before you can cash out your winnings.

So, let’s say you claim a 100% up to £250 deposit bonus. If you make a deposit of £100 and receive £100 on top thanks to the 100% match, you will have £200 (deposit + bonus) in your casino account. It is impossible to cash out your £100 bonus until you have met the wagering requirement.

Wagering requirements are presented as a multiplier number, such as 30x, which means you must wager the bonus amount (£100) thirty times before cashing out winnings. Under these terms, you will need to wager £3000 (30 x £100) before withdrawing your bonus.

Formula: Bonus Amount x Wagering Requirement = Total To Bet

So, say you grab a new slots bonus that seems out of this world, and you see a relatively enticing wagering requirement of 30x. While this may seem like a good deal, you need to double-check the bonus terms and conditions, since many casinos apply a wagering requirement on the qualifying deposit and the bonus combined.

Free spins work differently to a deposit bonus because you don’t receive a cash sum, and each individual spin is usually valued from £0.01 to £0.20. The wagering requirements if applied to a free spin value would be insignificant. Instead of applying the wagering requirement multiplier to the value of the spin (the way it would be applied to the value of a bonus), the casino puts it on any winnings you make from playing that free spin on the nominated online slot.

If the casino applies wagering requirements to free spin winnings, they are effectively treating the winnings as bonus funds.

Formula: Free spin winnings x Wagering Requirement = Total To Bet

For example, if you win £20 when you are playing the free spins that the casino has given you, and 30x wagering requirements apply, you would need to wager £600 (£20 x 30 = £600) before you can cash out your free spin winnings.

When claiming a free spins slots bonus or a deposit bonus, certain games at an online casino contribute differently to the wagering requirement. What this means is that if you have £600 to play though before you can cash out your bonus winnings, each £1 you play will be deducted from that amount if you play games with 100% contribution. If you play a game with a 50% contribution, each £1 you play on that game will only deduct £0.50 from your wagering requirement.

The amount of money you wager on a game that will go to the wagering commitment depends on your chosen online casino’s bonus terms and conditions. Online slot games almost always contribute 100% to the wagering requirements. Yet, table and live casino games contribute far less, usually around 5% - 20%. However, sometimes they are excluded entirely.

If you are trying to play through your wagering requirement so you can cash out your winnings, it is important to know which games will contribute the highest percentage so each bet counts as much as possible. Think about it this way - if you have a £600 wagering requirement, but the game you are playing only contributes 50%, then you effectively have to play through double the amount (£1200) to clear the wagering requirement.

Since the multiplier wagering requirement differs from casino to casino and from bonus to bonus, it is always important to check the bonus terms and conditions. Wagering requirements can range from 1x to 80x or more, so you need to know how hard it will be to meet the multiplier before committing to a bonus.

If you do not meet the wager requirements for a bonus, you will be unable to withdraw any winnings associated with the promo. All casino slots bonus offers also come with a time limit, which is the amount of time you have to claim the promotion. If you do not fulfil the wagering requirement within this timeframe, the bonus amount is forfeit, and you can no longer cash out your winnings.

Even if you meet the wagering requirements, you may not be able to withdraw all of your winnings from the bonus if they exceed the bonus withdrawal cap. Many UK online casinos attach a maximum cap to promotions, which essentially stops customers from winning huge sums on what is basically free money. Let’s look at an example to better understand how this works.

If you claim a 100% deposit match on a £10 deposit with a wagering requirement of 30x, you need to wager £300 to cash out the £10 bonus. Now, let’s say the casino has a £50 withdrawal cap on the bonus. Next, you manage to win a healthy £500 win on a slot game during your quest to meet the wagering commitment. Under the bonus terms, you may only cash out £50 (the withdrawal cap) of the total (£500) you won after you have cleared the initial wagering requirement.

Therefore, it is essential to always check the bonus terms and conditions to see if there is a cap applied.

Participating in most online slots bonuses involves making a qualifying bonus. Whether it is free spins or a deposit bonus you are claiming, a deposit is necessary to claim the promo. When reading the bonus terms and conditions, there are two vital things to note regarding the qualifying deposit: minimum deposit requirements and payment method restrictions.

Most online casinos offer a low minimum deposit to benefit bettors on a budget. For example, UK casinos often have a minimum deposit of £10. However, when looking at bonuses, deposit minimums are a little more complex. Sometimes the minimum deposit to participate in a promotion is higher than the casino’s regular deposit minimum.

For example, a welcome bonus may require you to make a minimum deposit of £20, even if the site usually accepts deposits of £10. You can still deposit £10 if you want; it just won’t trigger the bonus. Because the welcome bonus usually applies to the first deposit, you may inadvertently forfeit the bonus if you don't meet the minimum deposit requirements to qualify for the bonus.

So, even if the casino does offer a low deposit, you may have to fund your account with more than this to claim the welcome bonus. Remember, welcome packages are often for a single deposit, so this minimum deposit amount will only be for your first deposit. If the promotion is spread over multiple deposits, the bonus terms and conditions will detail this.

Some casinos exclude specific payment methods from certain promotions. While this doesn’t apply to all online casinos, some sites do not accept deposits from Skrill and Neteller for bonuses. Paysafecard and cryptocurrencies are also often not eligible for bonus payments. Still, you can use these banking methods for non-bonus deposits if your casino operator supports them.

Any excluded payments should be clearly stated in the bonus terms and conditions. Always read the small print of a bonus to ensure you don’t encounter any nasty surprises.

Best Slots Bonuses For UK Players

We have discussed the deposit bonus in all our examples throughout this guide. This approach makes sense because deposit matches are the most common casino bonus for new customers and existing players. However, many other bonus options are available at UK casinos, including no wagering requirement and no deposit deals.

While sharing similar characteristics with a deposit match, the bonus terms and conditions for these alternatives will differ.

Removing the wagering requirement from a bonus may seem like an answer to your prayers, but nothing is truly free in the online casino realm. As the name suggests, a no wagering bonus means you don’t need to play through multiple times to claim the offer. Still, these offers may have a withdrawal cap and a minimum spend (for example, spend £50 before getting the bonus).

Still, if the withdrawal cap is not too harsh, no wagering bonuses are an excellent way to cash out a bonus easily. They be smaller than the welcome bonus packages that promise huge bonuses over multiple deposits, but carry heavy wagering, but they give you a better chance of being able to withdraw some winnings. You won’t find them too often, but when you do, we advise reading the bonus terms and conditions to see if the requirements are favourable.

Progressive jackpot slots are the ultimate casino game, delivering some of the biggest gambling prizes available. They work by offering an accumulating jackpot that grows over a network of slots each time a player wagers. That enticing jackpot can become a life-changing sum of money that someone may win. Due to the vast potential prizes of progressive slots, casinos do not usually offer free spins on them.

The progressive free spin offers that we have seen have steep wagering requirements on any free spins winnings unless you hit the main progressive jackpot. Generally, progressive jackpots are paid out by the network that supports them, unlike local slots winnings that are paid out by the casino. If you are playing a progressive slot, and you have some small wins without hitting the main jackpot, those wins are paid out by the casino.

If you are playing with progressive free spins, the wagering requirements are usually applied to those smaller winnings. Because the network pays out the main progressive jackpots, if you win the massive main pot, the wagering requirements will not apply. Imagine having a wagering requirement of 50x the winnings on a massive £1 million jackpot? It's completely unrealistic. However, all casinos have different terms and conditions, so please read these thoroughly to make sure you understand how the wagering requirements apply to any winnings.

No deposit bonuses are fan favourites, but the devil is in the details. On paper, these promotions are great, and you claim a bonus amount without needing to make a deposit. In reality, unless the bonus terms and conditions are perfect, no deposit deals still require you to make several compromises. For example, the bonus amount will be small (like £10 or a handful of no-deposit free spins), there will probably be a withdrawal cap, and the wagering requirements will be larger than deposit-based bonuses. And although you don't need to make a deposit to claim the bonus, you will need to make a deposit before you can withdraw your winnings. However, there is a positive side to this. Your first deposit may trigger a welcome bonus with more favourable terms, as well as allowing you to withdraw your winnings from your no-deposit sign-up bonus (provided that you have fulfilled the wagering requirements).

Understanding how long you have to claim a bonus should be one of the first things you check in the bonus terms and conditions. Timeframes vary from 7 days to 30 days and everything in-between. Free spins may expire after 24 hours if there are multiple days of spins available.

Not to be confused with a stackable bonus feature within a slots game, a stackable casino bonus is a bonus that you can claim while you have another bonus already credited. Some casinos will allow you to make several deposits and claim all the bonuses in a series of offers before you have played through each bonus. These are stackable bonuses. Other casinos will not allow you to claim a second bonus while your first is still in play. These are unstackable bonuses.

If a casino's terms and conditions mention that the pupose of a bonus is for wagering only, then the bonus is likely to be a sticky bonus. Basically, these are bonuses that you can use to play casino games and hopefully win some money, but you cannot withdraw the bonus. Rules differ depending on the casino, but the most common type is the sticky bonus that has wagering requirements attached, then once you have fulfilled these requirements and you process a withdrawal, the bonus amount is deducted from your withdrawable winnings. If you are offered a bonus that appears to be sticky, it is worth getting in touch with casino support to clarify exactly what they mean in terms of withdrawable winnings.

When you want to claim a bonus, you need to play casino games to contribute towards the wagering requirements. We have already covered game weighting and how must games cut into the wagering commitment, but what about game exclusions? There are always games that are outright excluded from casino bonuses.

Looking at free spins, the casino operator will clearly state which slots you can use the free spins on. This is usually a single slot, such as a new release or popular title. In this case, all other titles are excluded from the promotion. As for a deposit bonus, live casino games are regularly omitted, and you cannot use your bonus funds on them.

Before committing to a new casino by making a deposit to claim a bonus, you need to ensure you meet the player eligibility criteria. Some of the requirements are obvious, such as meeting the legal gambling age (18 in the UK). Others are more specific to casinos, like not accepting two welcome bonuses on dual accounts.

Casinos will also limit bonuses to a single IP, meaning only one person in your household can claim the deal. Many casino brands own multiple gambling sites and may prevent players who claim a welcome bonus from claiming another on other operators within the casino group. This can be tricky, particularly because it's not always clear which casinos belong to the same group. The sister sites may be stated in the terms, but sometimes you need to do a little digging by researching the group itself to find out which brands it owns.

There’s a lot of information to digest about bonus terms and conditions. Becoming familiar with the ins and outs of casino bonus requirements takes some time. To make your journey easier, we have put together the following cheat sheet to help you:

While reading the bonus terms and conditions is helpful, there is admittedly a lot of small print and casino jargon. Sometimes understanding all the information can be challenging. Casino sites use live chat options and have detailed FAQs to help you understand the T&Cs for any bonus you want to claim. Live chat is especially useful, giving you direct access to a member of staff who works with the casino site.

Ultimately, online casino bonuses look good on paper, but often there is a lot of small print to consider. It’s not all negative, but it is crucial to understand T&Cs like the wagering requirements, payment restrictions, deposit limits, and game eligibility. With the information above, you have the knowledge to understand every aspect of a casino bonus you want to claim. Even so, we thoroughly recommend checking the bonus terms and conditions before you commit to claiming a promotion.