Casino bonus terms, in plain English

Terms about the offer itself

These appear in the headline or just beneath it, and set the size of what you're being given.

• Deposit match - a bonus calculated as a percentage of what you put in. A 100% match on £50 gives £50 of bonus funds.
• Maximum bonus - the cap on that match. 100% up to £200 stops matching once the bonus reaches £200, however much more you deposit.
• Welcome package - several bonuses across your first few deposits, advertised as one combined percentage. A 900% package is normally three or four separate matches added together, not a single one.
• No-deposit bonus - credit given without depositing. Usually small, usually with heavy wagering and a low conversion cap.
• Reload bonus - a match on a later deposit, not your first, generally smaller than the welcome offer.
• Cashback - a percentage of losses returned over a set period. Check whether it arrives as cash or bonus funds, because that decides whether it's worth anything.

Terms that decide whether you can withdraw

This group does the real work. An offer is worth what these allow you to take out, not what the headline says.

• Wagering requirement - the total you must stake before bonus funds can be withdrawn, written as a multiplier such as 35x.
• Wagering base - what that multiplier applies to. 35x bonus and 35x deposit-plus-bonus differ by a factor of two on a 100% match.
• Game weighting - how much each game contributes. Slots usually count 100%, table games often 10% or nothing, which changes how much you must stake to clear the same requirement.
• Maximum conversion - the ceiling on how much of the bonus winnings can become withdrawable cash, however well it goes.
• Maximum bet - a per-spin cap while wagering is outstanding. Exceeding it once can void the bonus and everything won with it.
• Sticky bonus - one where the bonus and your deposit are merged, so wagering governs the whole balance.
• Non-sticky bonus - one where your own money stays separate and can be withdrawn without triggering wagering. Rarer, and much better.
• Expiry - how long before unwagered bonus funds are removed. Commonly seven to thirty days.

Terms about the games

Useful for choosing what to play, particularly while working through a wagering requirement.

• RTP - return to player, the share of all stakes a game returns over a very long run. 96% RTP means a 4% house edge.
• Volatility - how those returns are distributed. High volatility means rarer, larger wins and longer losing runs at the same RTP.
• Max win - the largest possible payout, expressed as a multiple of your stake.
• Bonus buy - paying an upfront multiple of your stake to trigger a feature directly. Usually disallowed while a bonus is active.
• Excluded games - titles that don't count toward wagering, or that void a bonus if played while one is live.

Terms about your account

These come up at registration and, more often, at your first withdrawal.

• KYC - know your customer, the identity verification required before a payout. Usually ID, proof of address and proof of payment method.
• AML - anti-money-laundering, the rules behind KYC and the same-method withdrawal requirement.
• Same-method rule - money generally has to return by the route it arrived.
• Pending period - the window between requesting a withdrawal and it being processed, during which some operators let you cancel it back into your balance.
• Self-exclusion - a binding block on your account that the operator can't lift early. Distinct from a cooling-off period, which is temporary.
• FTD - first-time deposit. Industry shorthand you'll mostly meet in affiliate contexts rather than as a player.

Common questions