What Are Casino Wagering Requirements?

Every requirement has two parts: a multiplier and a base amount.

The multiplier is the headline number in the terms, written as 20x, 30x, 40x and so on. The base amount is what the multiplier is applied to, and casinos do this in one of two ways:

• Bonus only. A $100 bonus at 30x means $3,000 in eligible wagers.
• Deposit plus bonus. A $100 deposit with a $100 bonus at 20x means ($100 + $100) x 20 = $4,000 in eligible wagers.

The second method produces a bigger number from a smaller-looking multiplier, which is why the base amount matters as much as the multiplier. A 20x requirement on deposit plus bonus is heavier than a 30x requirement on the bonus alone in the example above. Always read the sentence that defines the base before comparing two offers.

Note that "wagering" means the total value of the bets you place, not money you lose. If you bet $1 a spin, win some rounds and lose others, every $1 staked counts toward the target regardless of the outcome. This is why a balance can cycle through the requirement several times over even when the amount you deposited barely moves.

Without a playthrough condition, a deposit bonus would be free money. A player could deposit, claim the match, withdraw everything and repeat. The requirement converts a promotion into an invitation to play rather than a cash transfer, and it is the reason bonus funds sit in a separate, restricted part of your balance until the condition is met.

Two related terms usually travel with the requirement:

• Sticky bonus. The bonus amount itself is never withdrawable. You play with it, and it is deducted when a withdrawal is approved — you keep the winnings it produced, not the credit.
• Non-sticky or cash bonus. The bonus converts into withdrawable balance once the requirement is cleared.

Most casino welcome offers are sticky, so read that line carefully. It changes the arithmetic of what you can actually cash out.

Casinos publish a contribution table showing how much of each dollar wagered counts toward the requirement. Games with a low house edge or with strategies that reduce risk contribute less, because otherwise a player could clear a bonus cheaply on near-even-money bets.

This is the contribution table used at Lunaris:

Read that table before you choose where to play. At 100%, a $10 slot spin clears $10 of the requirement. At 10%, a $10 roulette bet clears $1. At 1%, a $10 live game bet clears 10 cents — you would need $100,000 in live bets to clear a $1,000 requirement, which is why bonus play and live dealer play generally do not mix.

Here is a full pass through a typical offer, using the terms that apply to a Lunaris slots bonus.

• Deposit: $100
• Bonus received: $100
• Total balance: $200
• Wagering requirement: 20x on deposit plus bonus
• Calculation: $200 x 20 = $4,000 in eligible wagers

Now translate that into play. At a $1 stake per spin on a non-progressive slot contributing 100%, $4,000 of wagering is 4,000 spins. At $2 per spin it is 2,000 spins. Neither figure tells you whether you will finish ahead — that depends on the game's return to player and volatility and on ordinary randomness — but it does tell you how much play the offer commits you to.

Change one variable and the picture shifts. If you spent the same $4,000 on RNG roulette at 10%, you would clear only $400 of the requirement and would need $40,000 in roulette bets to finish. A courtesy bonus works the same way on a smaller base: a $100 bonus with a 20x requirement on the bonus alone is $2,000 in wagers.

The multiplier is one line in a longer set of conditions. These are the terms that most often surprise players:

• Maximum bet while wagering. Many offers cap the stake per spin or hand. Exceeding it can void the bonus.
• Excluded games. Progressive jackpot slots and live dealer tables are frequently excluded or heavily discounted. At Lunaris, bonuses are not offered for live casino games at all.
• Time limit. An unspent bonus and its winnings are usually removed when the promotional window closes.
• Maximum cashout. Some offers cap how much of the bonus winnings you can withdraw, regardless of how much you built up.
• Minimum qualifying deposit. Below it, no bonus is credited — at Lunaris the minimum deposit to receive a bonus is $100.
• Maximum bonus issued. A percentage headline is limited by a cash ceiling; at Lunaris the maximum bonus issued is $100.

A 400% headline reads bigger than a 100% one, but the cash ceiling, the base amount and the contribution table decide the real value.

• Myth: wagering means losing that amount. Reality: it means placing that amount in bets. Winnings recycle back into your balance and can be wagered again, so you can clear a large requirement without losing anything close to it.
• Myth: a bigger bonus is always a better bonus. Reality: value comes from the whole term sheet. A capped, sticky bonus with a short deadline can be worth less than a smaller offer with open terms.
• Myth: any bet clears the requirement. Reality: the contribution table decides. Live games at 1% barely move the counter.
• Myth: bonuses are rigged so nobody clears them. Reality: the games behave the same with or without a bonus. Outcomes are produced by the same random number generator, and the requirement is a contractual condition, not a change to the odds.
• Myth: you can hedge by covering both sides of a table game. Reality: low-risk betting patterns are explicitly restricted in most bonus terms and can void the offer.

• How online casino bonuses work — deposit matches, reloads and cashback in context
• What are free spins — the spin-based offers that carry their own wagering rules
• What is RTP — the long-run average that shapes how a balance behaves during playthrough
• Casino glossary — plain definitions for rollover, sticky bonus, contribution and related terms

Unless a specific promotion states otherwise, all Lunaris bonuses carry a 20x wagering requirement, calculated on your deposit amount plus your bonus amount. The minimum deposit to receive a bonus is $100 and the maximum bonus issued is $100. Bonuses are sticky: the bonus amount itself is not withdrawable and is removed during the withdrawal approval process, so what you cash out is the winnings it helped produce.

Contribution follows the table above, which means the slots library is where a bonus is designed to be played. Bonuses are not available on live casino games, so if you want to spend an evening at a live dealer table, play that balance without a bonus attached. Individual promotions on the promotions page may set different requirements, cashout caps or eligibility rules, and those terms take priority over the default.

Bonuses are optional. Depositing without one leaves your balance free of playthrough conditions and subject only to the standard withdrawal limits shown in the Cashier. If a promotion's terms are unclear, [email protected] can confirm them before you claim rather than after.