Unmasking Gambling
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Questions · Bonuses

Are casino and betting bonuses worth it?

Short answer

For most people, no. A €100 bonus with a 35× requirement means staking €3,500 before you can cash out. In our simulation, only between 1 in 5 and 1 in 3 people end with more money than they deposited; the rest lose their deposit along the way.

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Money that is not yours yet

“We’ll double your first deposit.” It sounds like a gift, but the bonus cannot be withdrawn: first you have to stake it many times. That wagering requirement, or rollover, is the small print that changes everything.

While you work through the requirement, your money and the bonus are mixed together, and every bet pays the house edge. With typical requirements, most people run out of balance before they finish and lose their deposit as well.

Try it below with the terms of any bonus. The simulation plays a thousand times until the requirement is met or the balance runs out.

What happens when you accept a bonus

Change the deposit, the bonus, the requirement and the game. The defaults are a typical casino bonus.

Calculated on
Volatility
You must stake
€3,500
End with more than they deposited
34%
Get to cash anything
38%
Average result vs not playing
+€12

1,000 simulated people accept this bonus and play until they meet the requirement or run out of money.

The bonus looks like free money, but it only becomes real money after you stake €3,500. Along the way, most people run out of balance and lose their deposit too: only 34% end with more than they put in.Simplified model: deposit and bonus form one balance, every spin counts 100% towards the requirement and there is no cap on winnings or stakes. The edge on the requirement costs €140, but the average result can come out better because those who go bust stop betting. Real terms (maximum bet, withdrawal cap, games that count less or are excluded, deadlines) exist precisely to close that gap.

What they are really for

Bonuses are not designed for you to win, but for you to start playing and stay. They work: according to Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs, the number of online gamblers grew 21.6% in 2024, the year welcome bonuses were allowed again. The market shows how much operators spend on bonuses and advertising every year.

If a bonus got you to open an account you were not planning to open, it did its job.

Technical Why the average misleads

The expected loss to the edge is requirement × (1 − RTP), but the simulation’s average result can come out better: those who go bust stop betting and never pay the rest of the requirement, and the bonus absorbs the first losses. With high volatility the average can even be positive while most people lose their deposit. That is why real terms include a maximum bet per spin, a withdrawal cap, games that count less or not at all, and deadlines: they exist to close that gap. Sources: Royal Decree 958/2020; Spanish Supreme Court ruling of 19 April 2024 (BOE-A-2024-11619); Ministry of Consumer Affairs press release, 4 August 2025.

Related questions

What is a wagering requirement or rollover?

It is how many times you must stake the bonus (or bonus plus deposit) before you can withdraw that money. A €100 bonus with a 35× rollover means staking €3,500. Until then, the bonus and anything you win with it are not yours.

Can I withdraw without meeting the requirement?

You can usually withdraw your own money, but you lose the bonus and whatever you won with it. Each operator sets this in its terms, which are worth reading before accepting anything.

What about free bets?

With a free bet, if you win you get the winnings but not the stake. So they are worth a good deal less than advertised: a €10 free bet at odds of 2.00 pays €10 if it wins, not €20.

Are welcome bonuses allowed in Spain?

They were banned by Royal Decree 958/2020 until the Supreme Court struck that part down in April 2024. Since then operators can offer them again, under the conditions set by regulation.