An unreasonable request: the RG implications of wagering requirements

Wagering requirements. For me, this is one of the biggest responsible gambling issues the industry faces and yet the powers that be are doing nothing to curtail or ban them.

This is surprising given the push for responsible gambling in jurisdictions across the globe and no more so than in my home market of the UK.

While the government white paper published in April 2023 takes many positive steps forward in terms of player monitoring and affordability checks, in my opinion it falls short because wagering requirements have not been addressed.

It’s all well and good requiring operators to carry out “light touch” affordability checks based on player deposits. But I can’t help but feel the real-world impact this will have on improving player protections will be fairly limited.

Why? Because online casino operators are still able to entice players to their brands with welcome bonuses that come with wagering requirements in excess of 65x.

Most casual players simply don’t understand how wagering requirements work and this is often the cause of dissatisfaction with the casino.

The player sees a welcome bonus – a deposit match of 100% up to £100 – and quite rightly believes they can access up to £100 in bonus money to use at the casino when they sign up for the first time.

They don’t read the small print (who does?) where it says the bonus amount (eg £100), and in some instances their deposit (also £100), are subject to a 65x playthrough requirement before any winnings from the bonus money can be withdrawn.

Even if the wagering requirement is applied only to the bonus money (and not the player’s initial deposit of £100 as well), the player must still wager £6,500 through the casino to unlock any winnings accrued from the bonus cash (assuming the customer made a £100 deposit).

Players often have between seven and 30 days to complete the wagering requirement and are free to make additional deposits if needed to complete it. This puts time pressure on the player to continue playing and depositing. Some casinos even gamify the playthrough experience with progress bars.

If there is a better example of players being encouraged to gamble beyond their means, I can’t think of one.

Some players do enjoy the process of clearing the wagering requirement. But for the majority of casual players – the demographic most brands claim they want to engage – it leads to a negative experience with the casino while potentially encouraging them to deposit more than they want to or, worse, than they can afford.

Ultimately, wagering requirements can do untold damage to the relationship between the player and the online casino. If the player is not happy with the playthrough requirement, they will exit the casino with a bad taste in their mouth and try another brand.

And this makes me question the point of a wagering requirement in the first instance, something that a growing number of online casinos in the UK seem to be doing.

In recent years, we have seen a rise in the number of ‘no wagering casinos’ and at Comparasino, it is fast becoming one of the key factors players look for when using our recommendation engine to match their preferences with brands.

Sure, the value of the welcome bonus is usually less – perhaps they get £5 in no wagering cash or 10 no wagering free spins. But players get to keep all of their winnings from the offer. And this makes the offer enticing and fair.

PlayOJO really spearheaded the no wagering welcome bonus and since then other major brands have done the same, including the likes of Heart Bingo. Both of these brands are enjoying incredible success in the UK.

With regulators unlikely to mandate the removal of wagering requirements, operators will have to determine their own approach.

But from what we see, the brands that do away with wagering requirements can be responsible while standing out from their rivals, engaging players at scale and, more importantly, building strong, long-lasting relationships with their players.

Martyn Hannah is the co-founder and managing director of online casino comparison site, Comparasino. He has spent more than 10 years in the industry, first as an editor for EGR and then as a marketing consultant for operators and suppliers.

This experience allowed him to launch Comparasino, a comparison site with a powerful recommendation engine that allows players to find online casinos and bonuses based on their preferences.