One of the reasons why many people enjoy gambling online is the myriad of promotional offers they can enjoy. By claiming different bonuses, free spins, and other casino incentives, players can enjoy extra funds to play their favourite casino games and hopefully stack up very generous wins.
However, as virtual casinos tend to offer different casino promotions, it is always good to do your research and choose the incentive that will serve your needs the best. In addition to checking the type of benefits each promotion is offering, it is also advised to carefully read the terms and conditions of bonuses. You may often see that some games are excluded from casino promotions. That means you will not be able to bet bonus funds on said titles and you will not be able to meet wagering requirements by playing these games.
If you are wondering why bonuses do not apply to certain casino games, you should keep in mind that not all titles are created equal. A few reasons make certain games unsuitable for casino bonuses and we will try to cover all possible scenarios. That way, you will be able to determine whether it is worth it to redeem a certain bonus to play your favourite casino titles.
Bonus Wagering Requirements
If you were simply given a casino bonus to have some fun, playing any game you enjoy, there would have been no game restrictions imposed by virtual casinos. However, it should be remembered that online casinos tend to give their members some type of incentive in return for making some profit. That is why almost any type of casino promotion comes with certain wagering requirements.
To put it simply, you are given casino bonuses to play games but you are not allowed to withdraw any accumulated earnings before you play with the bonus amount several times. Once you have wagered bonus funds enough times, you will be able to withdraw your casino money. In addition to notifying you how many times you should stake the bonus amount, you may also have some restrictions on the games you play with bonus money.
Typically, online casinos will have a list with games’ wagering contributions in either the General Bonus Terms and Conditions section of the website or the bonus conditions of the respective promotion. Of course, titles with 100% contribution are the best options to use your bonus on. In most cases, only bets on slots will fully count towards the completion of the bonus turnover.
The games that are most commonly excluded from bonus use or have a reduced contribution include.
Lower house edge options
Since a lower house edge indicates that games give players higher chances of winning, most casinos will have such titles excluded from bonus promotions or will reduce their contribution to bonus wagering.
Table games
Among the titles that are typically excluded from bonus offers there are roulette, blackjack, craps, and baccarat variations. Such table games are usually very popular among players due to having much lower house edge rates than slots. Typically, these games are preferred by players as they often require both skills and luck. That is the reason why many interactive casinos exclude table games from bonus promotions or have reduced bonus wagering contributions.
Progressive titles
Progressive games are also not included in casino promotions and players cannot use their bonuses for wagering on progressive titles. Since progressive jackpots grow thanks to the contributions of bets made by other players, you will not be able to contribute to the prize pool by wagering bonus funds.
Specific slots
While slots are typically the games that have 100% contribution towards meeting wagering requirements, specific slots are typically excluded from the titles you can use bonus funds on. The slots are usually the ones that have high volatility and high RTP. Just like table games, such titles give players higher chances of bigger wins, so casinos prefer to exclude such titles from bonus offers.
Live casino games
The main reason why live-dealer games are excluded from bonus deals is due to the high possibility of players negotiating with other players and making counter bets, allowing them to meet wagering requirements much faster.
Is It Better to Play Slots with Reduced Contribution?
As we have discussed above, many virtual casinos will either exclude high RTP slots from bonus offers or will have their contribution to bonus wagering reduced. While there are usually plenty of slot variations that will have your bets count 100% towards the bonus staking, many players wonder if they are still not better off sticking to high RTP titles despite the lowered contribution.
To help you understand which betting strategy is better, we will give you a few examples of the contribution of high RTP slots.
Let us take for example the NetEnt slot Blood Suckers, which is often excluded from casino bonus promotions. The slot has 98% RTP, which means the house edge is only 2%. If you have redeemed a £200 bonus with wagering requirements of 35x the bonus amount, you will need to wager £7,000 to be able to withdraw your winnings. If we multiply the amount you are supposed to play through by the house edge, we will get that your potential losses are estimated to be £140 (7,000 x 0.02). If we deduct your losses from the bonus you have received, you will still enjoy a profit of £60.
If you are allowed to play the same slot or another title with the same high RTP of 98%, with a contribution to bonus wagering reduced to 20%, you will have a very different experience. If you are yet again redeeming a £200 bonus, with wagering requirements of 35x but you are choosing to play a slot with a 20% contribution, you will actually need to meet wagering requirements of 175x. That means you will need to bet £35,000 before you can withdraw your winnings. Multiply that by the house edge (0.02) and you will get potential losses of £700. As you can see, this is nowhere near the profit you can potentially make if the game had a 100% contribution.
Now, let us assume that you have claimed the same bonus, with the same wagering requirement but you are playing a full-contribution slot with 94.96% RTP, making the house edge 5.04%. In that case, the wagering amount of £7,000 is multiplied by 0.0504, making your potential losses £352.80. As you can see, while the possible losses still surpass the bonus amount, they are significantly lower when you play a slot with a higher contribution but a lower RTP.
How to Get the Best Casino Bonus Experience
As already mentioned, some casino games can be often excluded from casino bonuses as they can give players a bigger advantage while they are meeting bonus wagering requirements. However, that does not mean that you cannot have a great experience with the incentives you claim while playing at virtual casinos. To make the most out of your virtual casino time, you should try to beat the wagering requirements. While you cannot fully avoid this bonus condition, there are certain ways to make this type of activity more enjoyable and fruitful.
Choose bonuses with reasonable playthrough requirements
While this may sound like an obvious step, online casinos have their ways of tricking players into claiming bonuses with too high wagering requirements. While some offers will have their turnover requirements apply only to the bonus funds, others will have you wager both your deposit and the bonus amount several times. That will significantly increase the real wagering you will need to do before you can withdraw your winnings. That is why you are advised to stick to offers that will require you to wager only the bonus amount a certain number of times.
Stick to smaller but still rewarding promotions
While a 100% or even 200% match bonus that can award up to £1,000 sounds very tempting, it is better to redeem smaller offers. The reason for that is the massive wagering that you will need to complete if you redeem a bigger bonus. While you will have a bigger amount to play with, in the end, you might not be able to enjoy your winnings as meeting even the lowest wagering requirement on a huge bonus amount can be quite burdensome. That is why we advise you to stick to a small deposit that will award a smaller bonus. That way, you can still enjoy extra funds to play casino games but you will have an easier time meeting the rollover requirements.
Choose games with a high contribution rate
If you are playing with a casino bonus, you would most likely wish to complete its wagering requirements as fast as possible. That is why you are advised to use your bonus funds only on games with a high contribution rate. In most cases, video slots are the games that will have a 100% contribution to meeting wagering requirements. That said, make sure to first check the bonus terms and conditions as high RTP slots tend to have lowered or no contribution to bonus wagering.
Opt for high RTP games if possible
As we already covered, online casinos tend to exclude high-RTP games from the list of titles you can play with a bonus amount. That said, it is worth it checking the bonus terms and conditions to see if any high-RTP games can still be played with your bonus. To give yourself a better chance of completing the bonus wagering as fast as possible, you are advised to always opt for the games with the highest RTPs. Combine that with a 100% contribution, and you will be able to make the most out of your bonus casino play.
High volatility is also recommended
For those who meet bonus wagering requirements, finding high-volatility titles is also recommended. Playing a high-volatility game would indicate that you have a better chance of landing a generous payout. Hitting a massive win of 100x your stake for example can definitely help you meet the bonus playthrough requirements significantly faster. The only downfall of playing high-volatility games is that big payouts may come after long losing streaks. However, as you are playing with bonus funds, you can afford to play more aggressively, hoping for a massive win after you have risked losing your wagers in several rounds. If you, however, have redeemed a smaller bonus and you do not enjoy making riskier bets, you are advised to stick to low-volatility games.
Switch to low-volatility games at the end
After you have almost reached the goal by playing high-volatility games, it is advised to switch to options with lower volatility to finish off the bonus wagering. Once you are almost done with the bonus staking, you should not risk losing bigger amounts by playing high-volatility titles. After all, the main goal is to enjoy as much of your winnings as possible. By playing low variance games, you will be able to finish the bonus wagering requirements without risking losing too much money, ultimately ensuring a better profit at the end of your bonus play.
Conclusion
Casino bonuses are often among the factors that draw more players to online gambling, offering them generous amounts to play their favourite casino games. However, one thing to keep in mind is that casinos will not simply award players with free money, without making any type of profit out of their wagers. In many cases, casino bonuses come with terms and conditions that can make offers seem less attractive.
More often than not, casino bonuses come with specific wagering requirements that must be met before players can withdraw their bonus winnings. That means, the bonus amount often needs to be staked on casino games a certain amount of times before it is transformed into a withdrawable amount.
Even though wagering requirements are often among the conditions players are willing to fulfil, what many of them fail to understand is that not all casino games are included in bonus offers, or if they are, they have a reduced contribution. That means the bets placed on certain titles will count partially or will not contribute at all to the wagering of the bonus amount. That is why it is always important to get familiar with bonus terms and conditions before you go ahead and redeem an offer.
