How to calculate wagering requirements: the clause, in plain English, with the arithmetic

What does a wagering requirement mean?

To calculate a wagering requirement, multiply the bonus balance by the multiplier in the clause, then divide by the contribution rate of the game you will stake on. Multiply the result by the game’s house edge to get the expected cost.

On a £20 bonus at 10×, staked on a game contributing 30%, that is £200 of turnover, £666.67 of stakes, and about £26.67 in expectation at a 4% edge. The clause that sets each term, and the arithmetic, follow.

The Gambling Commission’s definition sits in the code itself and in its consultation response, both read 21 September 2026.

‘A wagering requirement is where a customer is required to make wagers totalling a particular value for funds to become withdrawable.’ In plain English: the bonus balance is locked until you have staked a stated total.

Since 19 January 2026 the multiplier has a ceiling. The Commission’s news article of 26 March 2025 states that ‘all changes will come into force on 19 January 2026’, after an edit moving the date from 19 December 2025 (read 21 September 2026). The ceiling itself is in the code, cl. 5.1.1, quoted next.

How do you calculate wagering requirements?

Clause 5.1.1(3) — the multiplier, and what it turns £20 into. The social responsibility code, read 21 September 2026, lists what a licensee must not do with an incentive. One item is to ‘apply wagering requirements, which requires a customer to play through bonus funds, over a maximum of 10 times’.

In plain English: the multiplier on bonus funds cannot exceed 10.

The sum: turnover required = bonus × multiplier. On £20 at 10×, £200 must be staked. On £20 at 5×, £100.

Before the cap, the Commission recorded licensees applying ‘up to 60 times’; on £20 that was £1,200 of turnover.

The base matters as much as the multiplier. The Commission’s response describes the requirement as applying to ‘bonus funds in promotional offers’. A clause that multiplies deposit plus bonus doubles the turnover on a matched £20; our note on reading the base before the multiplier covers that wording.

REDLINE: any clause whose base includes your deposit.

How do I calculate wagering requirements for online casino bonuses?

Clause: contribution — why 30% means three times the stakes. The Commission’s worked example, read 21 September 2026, is a £100 bonus at 10 times wagering, played on roulette weighted at 30%: ‘each £1 you wager contributes 30 pence towards the wagering requirement’. In plain English: only part of each stake counts.

The sum: stakes needed = turnover ÷ contribution rate. On the Commission’s example, £100 × 10 = £1,000 of turnover, and at 30% that is £1,000 ÷ 0.3 = £3,333.33 of actual stakes. On £20 at 10× and 30%: £200 ÷ 0.3 = £666.67.

Contribution is not return to player; the two are different numbers on different pages, and our note on that distinction is the place for it. Here the only fact needed is the percentage in the clause.

REDLINE: a contribution table that lists your usual game at 0%, which turns the sum into division by zero: no stake on that game ever clears the requirement.

how to calculate wagering requirements

The four lines, in order. Line 1, the base: the bonus balance, or deposit plus bonus if the clause says so. Line 2, the multiplier: base × multiplier = turnover required.

Line 3, the contribution: turnover ÷ contribution rate = stakes you must actually place. Line 4, the cost: stakes × house edge = expected cost of clearing.

Line 4 is the one operators do not print. The house edge is the operator’s average share of each stake; Odds & Ends Lab owns the concept and Reel & Story owns a slot’s RTP. For the arithmetic here, assume a game that keeps 4% of stakes on average; replace the figure with the game’s own.

£666.67 × 0.04 = £26.67 expected cost to clear a £20 bonus.

That is the finding the calculator below is built to show: under a 10× clause on a 30% game, the expected cost of clearing exceeds the bonus. Under the same clause on a 100% game at the same edge, £200 × 0.04 = £8. The multiplier is capped; the contribution rate is not.

How to calculate wagering requirements for sportsbook promotions?

The same lines, with two clauses that differ. First, cl. 5.1.1(3) also provides that a licensee must not ‘include more than one type of gambling product (betting, casino, bingo, and lottery) within an incentive’ (read 21 September 2026). In plain English: from 19 January 2026 a bet-then-spin offer cannot be constructed.

A sportsbook bonus is cleared on betting, and its turnover is bets × multiplier.

Second, minimum odds. The ASA’s advice lists ‘minimum odds’ among the significant conditions a gambling promotion must state (read 21 September 2026). A minimum-odds clause does not change the turnover sum; it restricts which bets count towards it, in the same way a contribution rate does for casino games.

A bet below the minimum is a stake that clears nothing.

Line 4 for sports is the bookmaker’s margin on the bets you place, which varies by market; this page does not estimate it, and names no operator.

How to quickly calculate wagering requirements with a simple example?

£20 bonus, 10×, 100% contribution: £200 of stakes. £20 bonus, 10×, 30% contribution: £666.67 of stakes. £20 bonus, 10×, 10% contribution: £2,000 of stakes.

The multiplier sets the first figure; the contribution rate sets the distance between the first and the third.

The quick check is a single division: turnover ÷ contribution. If the clause says 10× and your game says 10%, multiply the bonus by 100. That is the number to hold against the expiry clock and the max-bet clause, both of which our other notes take line by line.

How do I clear my wagering requirements?

By placing stakes whose contributing value adds up to the turnover figure, on eligible games, within the expiry period, without exceeding the maximum bet. Each of those four conditions is a separate clause and each can stop the clearing.

The Commission’s transparency guidance requires that ‘players must be told when they are playing with restricted funds and any requirements or restrictions associated with this’ (read 21 September 2026).

The same guidance states that ‘simply including the information in website terms and conditions is not sufficient’. In plain English: the operator must show the restricted-funds conditions where you play, not only in a document.

The public guide adds that companies should ‘be clear about any restrictions on how you can play with bonus funds, such as restrictions on the size of bets’.

REDLINE: the maximum-bet clause. A single stake above the limit can void the bonus balance under many terms, and the turnover already staked with it. The clause is short; our note on the maximum-bet clause sets out its wording and its arithmetic.

The table: the calculator, done properly

The calculator models cl. 5.1.1(3)’s multiplier ceiling and the Commission’s contribution example: enter the bonus, the multiplier, the contribution rate, the maximum bet and an assumed house edge. It returns turnover, stakes needed, expected cost and the minimum number of bets at the maximum stake.

The table beneath it extracts the conditions from the documents read on 21 September 2026 and shows what each implies on £20.

A worked example in pounds

Bonus balance £20. Clause: 10×, the ceiling. Game: 30% contribution, the Commission’s example rate.

Maximum bet: £5, a figure chosen for the arithmetic. Assumed edge: 4%.

Line 2: £20 × 10 = £200 turnover. Line 3: £200 ÷ 0.30 = £666.67 of stakes. Line 4: £666.67 × 0.04 = £26.67 expected cost.

Bets: £666.67 ÷ £5 = 133.3, so at least 134 bets at the maximum, and more at any smaller stake. Total: to release a £20 balance the expected cost is £26.67 and the minimum effort is 134 bets.

Switch to a game contributing in full and the stakes fall to £200, the cost to £8, and the bets to 40. The clause did not change; the game did. That is the whole reason the contribution rate is the line to read first.

The cheapest response to a wagering requirement is not to accept it; operators must let you decline. If bonus terms are keeping you playing longer than you intended, GamCare’s helpline is 0808 8020 133.

What the terms do not say

They do not state the house edge, so line 4 is always yours to supply from the game’s own page. They do not tell you whether a session will resemble the expectation; Odds & Ends Lab shows how far it can stray. They do not say what happens to the cash balance on withdrawal; Payout Ledger owns that.

For this edition no operator terms could be read: the William Hill help article, the Betfair casino promotion FAQ and the Betway general bonus terms returned 403 or 404 to a plain fetch on 21 September 2026. Every clause quoted above is the Commission’s or the ASA’s.

Where an operator’s clause differs from the code, the code is the ceiling and the operator’s figure is the one to put in the calculator.

Questions answered

Six questions in the wording readers use, each answered in one sentence first and then from the clause.

Terms read

Sources checked 21 September 2026. Gambling Commission, LCCP social responsibility code 5.1.1 – Rewards and bonuses (retrieved 21 September 2026). Gambling Commission, Gambling promotions to be safer and simpler, 26 March 2025, with the implementation-date edit (retrieved 21 September 2026).

Gambling Commission, Autumn 2023 consultation response, Proposal 1 – Ban or limit the use of wagering requirements (retrieved 21 September 2026). Gambling Commission, Fair and transparent terms and practices – Transparency (retrieved 21 September 2026). Gambling Commission, Free offers and bonuses (retrieved 21 September 2026).

ASA/CAP, Gambling, betting and gaming: Free bets and bonuses (retrieved 21 September 2026). Not read: William Hill, Betfair and Betway bonus pages, HTTP 403 or 404 on 21 September 2026.