Ask most online casino players what a wagering requirement actually means, and the majority will get it wrong. According to a 2024 BIT study, 9 in 10 players underestimated how much they needed to bet before withdrawing bonus winnings, a striking figure that explains why flashy welcome offers are losing their pull. In a market where every operator is competing with free spins and matched deposits, the casinos quietly winning the retention game are the ones making their terms easier to understand, not harder to ignore.
Advertising and offers for gambling can be overwhelming. Every casino has welcome offers, bets, and free spins galore. When you dig into these headlines, there is very little to differentiate them. In this competitive environment, well attuned players are looking beyond the headline offers and increasingly focusing on clearer bonus terms and conditions.
How Offers Lost Their Impact
The sheer number of gambling advertisements, coupled with the number of ads, is having an impact on their use. While figures for Australia are hard to obtain, a study by a regulated market, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission in 2021, found just how frequent these are. The table below describes just how often people were exposed to these ads.
| Text | Gambling App Notifications | Targeted Social Media Ad | ||
| Daily | 7% | 8% | 9% | 8% |
| At least once a week | 51% | 58% | 58% | 54% |
| At least once a month | 84% | 85% | 88% | 86% |
| Base size | 696 | 249 | 233 | 295 |
Another factor eroding the appeal of offers has been the limitations placed on gambling advertisers. Licensing requires them to have certain safeguards in place, which will cap certain amounts or types of bonuses. Their financial margins will also play a part in this, meaning many online casinos are restricted and end up providing the same bonuses as other operators.
The rise of third-party sites has also been positive when it comes to bonus offers. Those that are unfair or misleading are now quickly shared on social media or review sites. Feedback such as this has led to the arrival of several high quality sites, such as SpinBet. When players create a SpinBet login, they are presented with transparent overviews of the bonuses available. Backed by FAQs and terms and conditions, they are the modern way of providing bonuses and offers.
What Do Players Look for in a Bonus?
Players are gradually shifting their attention to the terms and conditions as a result. In the past, their desires may have included the following:
- Free spins
- Matched Deposits
- Free bets
- Reload bonuses
However, this has changed, and people are looking more into the transparency that comes with the bonus. As a result, customer expectations have realigned to:
- Reduced wagering requirements
- Fair cashing out limits
- Fast bonus withdrawals
- More choice regarding what games and bets bonuses can be used on
Central to all this is the concept of the wagering requirement. This is an amount that must be deposited or gambled through before you can withdraw any money won from a bonus or offer. Usually given as a multiplier, an example would be anyone who gained £10 in bonuses and won with a x10 requirement, would have to gamble £100 before they can withdraw money.
Consumers Still Struggling with Wagering Requirements
Research and consultation company BIT published a paper in 2024. In it, they conducted a randomised controlled trial of 4,012 gambling adults who were each shown an advert for gambling. The three aims were:
- Find out if wagering requirements lead to negative outcomes for consumers.
- How they impact player behaviour
- How does this differ by level and type of wagering requirement?
The outcomes of the study were that 7 in 10 people could not calculate how much they needed to meet wagering requirements. When applied to a bonus and deposit, this rose to 9 in 10, with most seriously underestimating how much they need to bet.
There were also no differing rates of play for those who had chosen bonuses with different wagering requirements. Consumer groups have also raised concerns that unclear bonus terms may contribute to excessive gambling or financial misunderstandings.
The Debate on Bonuses and Compliance
For regulated markets, the topic of bonuses is a tricky one. If they add more legislation, restricting bonuses, then players could funnel to offshore operators, reducing their channelisation rates. By having bonuses that are too generous and enticing, they risk attracting those with problem gambling issues or minors.
Nowhere has this recently been more hotly contested than in Sweden. The country’s trade association, the BOS, has recently been in a debate with the country’s two gambling monopolies, Svenska Spel and ATG. This was due to a proposal by the latter in which a blanket ban on bonuses could be applied to all licensed casinos in the country.
Published in the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, Svenska Spel’s Anna Johnson and Hasse Lord Skarplöth of ATG argued that this would reduce the appeal of casinos to the younger generation while reducing online gambling harms. Gustaf Hoffstedt, the Secretary of the BOS, countered by saying that “We believe that everyone agrees and is concerned that gambling among young people under the age of 18 is a growing problem. But to claim that this is due to the welcome bonuses that are currently offered to adult players, without mentioning how today’s young people learn to play for money through so-called skins and loot boxes in their favourite games, is not serious.”
The argument against this was that it would reduce the appeal and size of the legal market. While this would benefit the main licensed operators, it would also send a swell to offshore unregulated casinos that can offer better incentives.
Hoffstedt then added, “These two companies could have brought together the gambling market, or at least the members of their own trade association, for some common good. However, they ignore this and run solo games for short-term benefit for themselves, but not for Sweden and above all, not for consumer protection in the gambling market.”
How Could Bonuses Change in the Future?
From this, we can deduce that casino bonuses are at a crossroads. There are those who are looking deeper into the wagering requirements, searching for hidden value. There are also people who still don’t fully understand them. Both can be solved by one factor: Increased transparency.
Transparency, as provided by operators like SpinBet, provides several benefits for the customer and the casino operator. SpinBet’s approach, presenting bonus conditions upfront alongside FAQs rather than buried in small print, is a practical example of what this looks like in action. Being honest about the offer builds trust, which supports long-term customer retention, not just the onboarding of new customers. With fewer queries and problems, it also reduces the burden on a casino’s customer service department.
Customers may benefit from having clearer information about bonus conditions. They can see the value they are getting. Much like a supermarket discount tells you the exact amount you are getting off, casino bonuses could do the same, but tell you the exact requirements out in the open. This could even be introduced to operating systems: Providing calculators telling people how much they need to deposit relative to the amount they wager, much like a bet builder would in a sportsbook app.
When it comes to compliance, operators must continue to tread carefully. Should Sweden ban bonuses, its change in channelisation rates will be an interesting case study for other markets. This will be invaluable to those just opening their licensed operations and possible change in Australian regulations. It will provide a world first on the impact of how alterations to bonuses impact margins for countries and operators.
Responsible Gambling Disclaimer – Gambling should be approached responsibly and viewed as entertainment, not a way to make money. If you feel you are gambling excessively or beyond your means, then get assistance. Online casinos are 18+ only.
