We explain what the bonus expiry rules is when you claim casino bonuses. Learn when a short expiry time is and isn’t a fair bonus terms. (Images courtesy of dotshock on vecteezy)
Bonus expiry is a bonus rule that dictates the time you must play through your bonus money balance before this balance expires.
You probably wonder how such a simple concept is worth an entire blog page. After all, I have explained exactly what bonus expiry is in the first sentence of this guide.
However, there are a few intricate details we want our readers to understand so that you don’t get caught out. For example, did you know you can continue playing and increasing your bonus money balance after completing the wagering requirement?
We also want to cover a fair time limit to play through a casino bonus. Some online casinos will give just one day, which in most cases is considered unfair, but there are also cases where one day is a perfectly reasonable amount of time.
In this guide, we’ll give you a series of scenarios so you understand exactly how the bonus expiry T&C found as part of online casino bonus deals works.
Wagering Requirement: If you are new to online casino bonuses, and you are not familiar with the term wagering requirement or bonus turn turn over, then please read our guide ‘What are Casino Bonus Wagering Requirements?‘.
The Simple Explanation
This part is the easy part. All you need to do is playing through your bonus and convert it to real money before it expires or play until you lose it all in order to beat the bonus expiry.
When you look at any online casino bonus, one of the terms you need to keep a close eye on is how long you have to play through your casino bonus. This is important because if you are offline for too long and your bonus expires, you will lose your chance to convert your bonus balance into your real money balance.
The Basic Rules of Bonus Expiry
| Common Bonus Expiry | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 3 Days | Make sure you use all your bonus funds within 72 hours of claiming your bonus. |
| 7 Days | Make sure you use all your bonus funds within 168 hours of claiming your bonus. |
| 14 Days | Make a note of the time you claimed your bonus, and keep playing for 14 days until your bonus money expires. |
| 30 Days | Again, make a note of the time you claimed your bonus, and keep playing for 30 days until your bonus expires. |
Playing through the wagering requirement before your bonus expires
So far, everything is quite straightforward. However, there are some questions some newer readers have asked us about bonus expiry that may not occur to some players, and here’s an example of one of those questions.
- You claim your bonus with a 14-day expiry, but play through the wagering requirement in three days!
At this point, you still have 11 days remaining, so do you continue playing and risk losing your bonus balance, or do you wait for the bonus to expire? This would mean waiting 11 days without playing at the casino because any new bets you make will affect your bonus.
To explain what to do in this situation, here are your two options:
- Request the casino review your bonus and pay you your real money conversion.
- Continue playing and aim to win more bonus money to increase the amount you convert to real money.
Other considerations for early bonus conversions
To explain, conversions are when you convert your casino bonuses into real money by playing through the wagering requirement. Although we mentioned in the above procedure that you can request that your bonus be converted to real money, there are two more scenarios to consider.
- Some casinos automatically cash you out before you can continue playing for more bonus money.
- There is often a pending time before the casino converts your bonus into real money. This is so the casino can ensure you did not break any casino bonus rules, also known as casino abuse (see the FAQ section for more info).
What is a fair bonus expiry timeline?
This is an easy question to answer, but at the same time, there are so many variables to consider, so we’ll tackle each one according to the type of bonus and the amount you deposit. You must fully understand the concepts of spin bet sizes (you can find out more from our bankroll management guide) and wagering requirements at this stage of our bonus expiry explanation.
Please note that each example, you can adjust the figures in the following examples according to the bonus terms at the online casino you are considering a deposit.
The only way a one-day bonus expiry could be considered fair is if there are low wagering requirements + a low bonus amount.
Here’s my explanation of how this works:
- Low wagering requirement: If the wagering requirement is only 1x to 3x the bonus amount, one day is not considered fair, strictly speaking, but also not impossible. With online slot RTPs averaging around 96% and table games offering higher RTPs, playing through 1x to 3x wagering is almost always achievable unless you hit an extremely unlucky losing streak.
- Low bonus amount: When the bonus amount is low, for example, $5.00 to $10.00, you can get away with a one-day bonus expiry as long as you play online slots or high-speed table games. If a spin lasts 2.5 seconds, you can roll in up to 1,400 spins per hour (more if your jurisdiction allows you to use the quick spin feature, and most minimum bets are $0.20.
With such a low bonus amount, after an hour of playing online slots, you will either lose your bonus or, if you still have a balance, you will likely have played through the wagering requirement.
Here’s my explanation of how this works if you didn’t lose your bonus balance:
- $5.00 bonus example: If you can churn out 1,400 spins in an hour at $0.20 per spin with your $5.00, then you have bet $280 worth of spins. Now, if the wagering requirement is 30x the bonus, for a $5,00 bonus amount, you need to play 5 x 30 = $150.00, so you’ve already converted your bonus.
- $10.00 bonus example: If you get through 1,400 spins in an hour at $0.20 per spin with your $10.00, then you have also bet $280 worth of spins. Now, if the wagering requirement is 30x the bonus, for a $10.00 bonus, you need to play 10 x 30 = $300.00, so you are $20.00 away from converting your bonus into real money.
Of course, these scenarios become problematic when the wagering requirements are higher; for example, 30x the deposit + bonus double your $5.00 wagering requirement to $300, and your $10.00 play through to $600. However, the bonus expiry of one day has little effect because you only need to commit an hour or slightly more of your time to attempt to convert the bonus.
The Answer: A one-day bonus expiry is not a fair bonus term, but it is also not that bad if you have a low bonus balance with low wagering. Also take note, the example uses only $0.20 spins bets, so you could increase your spin bet amount to get through the bonus faster.
A three-day bonus expiry is similar to the scenario we used in the one-day bonus expiry above. Still, we can increase the wagering requirement or the bonus amount if you have time to play online slots for an hour.
- $50.00 bonus with 35x deposit + bonus: Using our 1,400 spins in an hour, we will increase our spin bet to $0.50 per spin scenario again, increase the bonus balance to $50.00 and the wagering to 35x bonus + deposit. You must play through (35 + 35 = 70) X $50.00 = $3,500 worth of bets.
$0.50 x 1,400 spins = $700 spent after an hour of play. If you are playing slots for ‘two hours per day‘ over three days, this is $1,400 per day X 3 days = $4,200, which means if you do not lose all your bonus money, you’ll easily crack the wagering requirement.
- $50.00 bonus with 30x deposit: We are using the same concept of 1,400 spins, but this time with 40x bonus bonus only wagering requirements. You must play through 40 X $50.00 = $2,000 worth of bets.
$0.50 x 1,400 spins = $700 spent after an hour of play. If you are playing slots for ‘one hour per day‘ over three days, this is $700 per day X 3 days = $2,100, therefore it is possible to crack the wagering requirement in three to four hours of game play.
The Answer: A three-day bonus expiry is not a fair term in most cases, but it can work for those with a low bonus balance, lower wagering requirements than in my example above, and higher spin bet sizes. You also need to commit at least two hours a day for a bonus balance of $50.00.
Again, we need to use the 1,400 spins per hour scenario and a variety of spin bet sizes to dissect a seven-day bonus.
- $100.00 bonus with 40x deposit + bonus: Again we are going for 1,400 spins in an hour, we will use a $0.50 per spin scenario. You must play through (40 + 40 = 80) X $100.00 = $8,000 worth of bets (Wow!).
$0.50 x 1,400 spins = $700 spent after an hour of play. If you are playing slots for two hours per day ($700 bets x 2 hours) over seven days, this is $1,400 per day X 7 days = $9,800, you’ll crack the wagering requirement if you don’t lose your bonus balance.
- $100.00 bonus with 40x bonus only: This is the same 1,400 spins in an hour using a $0.50 per spin bet scenario, but with lower wagering requirements. You must play through 40 X 100 = $4,000 worth of bets.
$0.50 x 1,400 spins = $700 spent after an hour of play. If you are playing slots for one hour per day over seven days, this is $700 per day X 7 days = $4,900, so as long as you don’t crash and burn all your bonus money, you’ll crack the wagering requirement.
The Answer: Seven days is reasonable for bonus money balances of up to around $100 to $200 as long as you have the time to play, and the wagering requirements align.
We cannot argue with a 14-day or 30-day bonus expiry because these are the industry standard for most online casino bonuses. They cater to various spin bet and wagering requirement sizes, giving you plenty of time to play with your bonus money.
There is no need for a mathematical explanation here due to these time limits being the industry standard. However, you can use the example we’ve provided for the one-day, three-day, and seven-day bonus examples to calculate your bet size and the amount of time you need to play versus the wagering requirement.
Using bonus expiry to decide to claim a bonus
As long as you have read the scenarios for the one-day, three-day, and seven-day bonus expiry, you will have a good idea of what’s needed to decide whether the bonus expiry is fair.
Here are the main questions to ask yourself before committing to a bonus:
- Does the bonus expiry allow me to play through my wagering requirements Versus my bonus amount + wagering requirement?
- Do I have enough time to play the number of spins needed to allow me to play through the bonus amount + wagering requirement?
What about table games?
This is a good question because all the scenarios in this guide cover online slots. If you want to play table games, you’ll need more time on your hands to play through the wagering requirement, and you’ll also need to consider the game weights.
Due to these game weights, most bonus bets on table games only contribute 5%, 10% or 20% of your bet towards wagering. FYI – If you are unsure what game weights are, please visit our guide to casino game weights explained guide.
- Blackjack: Each round can take up to two minutes on live dealer tables, depending on the number of players, while on virtual blackjack tables, you are looking at around 20 seconds per hand. Minimum bets are usually $1.00, but even then, you cannot match the number of rounds online slots can produce.
- Baccarat: The game rounds playing baccarat are much faster than blackjack and generally use $1.00 minimum bets, but once again, game weights are the biggest obstacle. With each round taking roughly 20 to 30 seconds, you’ll play roughly 180 to 120 hands an hour, which is nothing, versus 1,400 rounds playing slots.
- Roulette and Sic Bo: Again, you are looking at 20 to 30-second game rounds and low-game weight bet contribution, so you’ll have a similar scenario to baccarat. The difference here is the minimum bets are lower at around $0.20, which is great if you have a 14-day to 30-day bonus expiry.
- Live Game Shows: Game shows vary in the time between each round. Most take around 20 to 30 seconds per betting round, but if the game hits bonus rounds and features regularly, some betting rounds could take up to two minutes. As for the rest, game shows usually come with minimum bets of $0.20, and an increasing number of online casinos are offering game weight contributions of 50% for game shows.
The final verdict: Unless you have a 1x to 5x wagering from something like a cash back bonus, you need at least 14 to 30 days to play through the wagering requirements of most table games. That is unless your bonus is just $50.00, then at $1.00 bets, you may only need 7 days to play through the wagering requirement.
FAQ
How often do players play through their wagering requirement?
The truth is that it is rare for players to beat the wagering requirement for any bonus because if they did, the casinos that offer them would be broke. However, they are still fun for some players, and with persistence and well-thought-out bet sizing, you can beat low wagering requirement bonuses one of ten times on average.
What happens if I don’t start playing my bonus?
It will still expire because the bonus expiry time triggers from the moment you claim your bonus. You should also be aware that if your bonus comes with free spins, the free spins also have an expiry time.
Why does it take two or three days for the casino to credit my bonus conversion?
The casino needs to review your bonus and ensure that you follow the bonus rules. Unfortunately, where free money is involved, there are always those trying to scam the system, which casinos call bonus abuse.
What is bonus abuse?
There are many instances of bonus abuse, including placing guaranteed bets or betting more than the maximum bet allowed by using bonus money bets. To find out more on this topic, visit our guide covering how to avoid casino bonus abuse.
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