What Does Playthrough Mean in Online Casinos—Wagering Requirements Explained

When starting your online gambling journey, you may be wondering—what does playthrough mean in online casinos? Also called wagering requirements, playthroughs are an important factor to consider when claiming campaigns in online casinos. While these requirements can complicate the gaming experience for players, they’re a necessity that casinos implement to prevent the abuse of the campaigns.

To help you navigate playthroughs, our comprehensive guide will reveal the common wagering requirements and discuss the different game types that contribute toward meeting them. We’ll also recommend reputable casinos with some of the best wagering requirements you can hope for.

What Is Playthrough in an Online Casino?

In online casinos, playthrough conditions are often attached to claiming online casino campaigns, such as a welcome or deposit campaign.

The playthrough represents the number of times you must wager the additional amount—or the combined deposit and additional amounts—before you can withdraw them, along with any associated winnings. If you don’t fulfill the wagering requirements within the specified period, you’ll be forfeiting the additional amount you claimed and all the winnings associated with it.

Playthroughs serve as a mechanism for casinos to prevent campaign abuse while allowing players to enjoy the added value during their gameplay.

To fully understand how each campaign and its wagering requirements work, you should always read the platform’s and specific campaigns’ terms and conditions.

How To Meet the Wagering Requirements

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Not all casino games contribute equally towards fulfilling the wagering requirements. Different games have varying levels of contribution, and it’s essential to understand these variations to make informed decisions about how to use your funds.

Here’s how the game contribution percentage is distributed in general:

• Slot games—This category has a 100% contribution, meaning that every bet placed on slots will count entirely toward the wagering requirement
• Table games—Blackjack, roulette, and baccarat often have a lower contribution, typically ranging from 5% to 25%
• Live dealer games and progressive jackpot slots—These games are usually excluded from contributing to wagering requirements

Understanding the game contribution percentage is important if you are trying to strategize your gameplay using your campaign funds. For every bet placed on the games that don’t have a 100% contribution, only a small percentage of the wagered amount will count toward the wagering requirement. As a result, you’ll need to play more rounds of these games to fulfill the requirements, which brings greater risks of losing. By choosing games that have a higher contribution, such as slots, you can meet the wagering requirements faster and increase your chances of cashing out the additional funds and winnings.

How To Calculate How Much You Need To Wager

Wagering requirements can often confuse newbies in online casinos, but there’s a simple formula to calculate how much you need to wager to fulfill the playthrough.

For example—what is a 40x playthrough requirement at an online casino? If you’ve deposited $200 and you now have $400 because you claimed the campaign, a 40x playthrough can be the following:

• For an additional amount—You need to wager $200 x 40 = $8,000
• For the deposit and additional amount combined—You need to wager $400 x 40 = $16,000

The higher the wagering requirement is, the more challenging it will be to fulfill it. 

Other Terms and Conditions

Before claiming a campaign, you need to pay attention to the following three key elements of the terms and conditions:

1. Minimum deposit—This refers to the minimum amount of money you need to deposit to be eligible to claim the offer, typically ranging from $10 to $20
2. Maximum wager limit—Each campaign has a maximum allowed bet when using the campaign funds. Going above this limit may result in forfeiting the campaign and losing any associated winnings
3. Time limit—Campaigns usually have a restricted period within which they must be claimed before you lose them. This often lasts from seven days to two weeks, but it can be longer in certain cases

Approaching Wagering Requirements—Best Practices

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There’s no universal answer to the question of how to fulfill the wagering requirements, as each online casino can set its own rules and decide all the details regarding the playthrough. This means you’ll need to adjust your strategy depending on which casino you choose. You can try these three general strategies to make the process easier:

1. Choosing the right campaign—Opt for campaigns with reasonable wagering requirements and avoid those with extremely high playthroughs, as they may be too hard to meet
2. Reviewing game contributions—Learn how different games contribute toward the wagering requirements and select the games with higher contribution percentages
3. Tracking your progress—Keep track of your wagering progress to always have an idea about how close you are to meeting the requirements. Most online casinos provide a way to track this in the account section

Combining these strategies will help you better navigate the playthrough process and ensure you’re always getting the most favourable terms possible.

Top Casinos With the Best Playthrough Requirements

To ensure you make the most of your gaming experience, we’ve compiled a list of top casinos with the most favourable playthrough requirements:

These are the current wagering requirements at the casinos on our list. Note that casinos can have different wagering requirements for specific campaigns and reserve the right to change them at any time—it’s important to check the casino campaign terms and conditions to stay up to date.

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