🎁 Bonus Wager Calculator — What Clearing Really Costs
A "100% up to $1,000" headline tells you nothing until you price the wagering requirement.
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The Maths Behind Bonus Wagering — and Why Most Bonuses Fail It
Enter the offer below and see the turnover it demands, what that turnover is expected to cost you, and whether the bonus survives the arithmetic.
A wagering requirement is a debt denominated in turnover. If a casino gives you a $100 bonus with 40× wagering, you owe the tables $4,000 of bets before a withdrawal is allowed. Game weighting makes it worse: if your game only contributes 50% toward wagering, the real turnover doubles, because every dollar you bet only pays fifty cents of the debt. The calculator computes it as turnover = bonus × multiplier ÷ weighting.
Turnover is not free. Every dollar you push through a game with a house edge costs you, on average, edge × dollar. Clearing $4,000 on a 1% game costs an expected $40; on 4.5% slots — which is where most bonuses force you, and where weighting is usually 100% for a reason — the same requirement costs an expected $180. So the honest value of a bonus is simply bonus − (turnover × edge). When that number is negative, the "gift" is priced to cost more than it gives, and the rational move is to decline it and just play with your own money, or not at all.
Run a few real offers through and a pattern appears fast. A $100 bonus at 40× on slots is worth roughly minus $80 in expectation. The identical bonus cleared on a 1% originals game (where weighting allows it) is worth about +$60 — which is exactly why so many operators exclude low-edge games from wagering or weight them at 5–10%. The three numbers that decide everything are the multiplier, the weighting and the edge; the headline dollar figure is the least important of the four inputs.
Two caveats the expected value hides. First, variance: even a positive-EV bonus busts often, because you can lose the deposit and bonus long before the turnover is done — the "number of bets" line shows how long the grind really is. Second, terms: max-bet clauses, game restrictions and withdrawal caps can void the whole calculation, so read them before depositing. Our bonus pages break down the fine print for every code we list, and the session cost calculator shows what the clearing grind costs per hour of your time.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 40x wagering actually mean?
You must place bets totalling 40 times the bonus amount before withdrawing. A $100 bonus at 40× means $4,000 in total bets. Some casinos apply the multiplier to deposit + bonus, which doubles the effective requirement — check which one the terms specify and enter the full figure here.
Why does game weighting matter so much?
Weighting is the share of each bet that counts toward the requirement. At 100%, a $10 bet clears $10; at 10%, it clears $1, so your real turnover is ten times larger. Casinos typically weight high-edge slots at 100% and low-edge games at 5–20% or zero — steering you to the games where clearing costs the most.
Can a bonus ever be worth taking?
Yes — when the bonus exceeds turnover × edge, usually thanks to a low multiplier (under ~20×) or full weighting on a ~1% game. The calculator turns green for those. They exist, but they are the exception, because operators price promotions so the average clearer still loses.
If the expected value is positive, am I guaranteed to profit?
No. Expected value is a long-run average; a single clearing attempt is dominated by variance, and busting before the requirement is met is common. Positive EV means the deal is fair to take with money you can afford to lose — not that any individual attempt ends up ahead.