Martyn Hannah, co-founder of online casino comparison site Comparasino, says wagering requirements can encourage players to gamble beyond their means and online casinos should not impose them.
Wagering requirements are a common condition of bonus offers in gambling. They indicate how many times consumers have to bet their bonus funds before they can withdraw any winnings derived from the bonus.
Online casinos entice players in with generous welcome bonuses only to apply sky-high wagering requirements that can wipe out any winnings the player accrues from the promotion.
Worse, players can find themselves making additional deposits to clear the wagering requirement so they can unlock their bonus winnings as cash.
But many fail to realise they have wagered (and potentially lost) way more than they will get back by completing the playthrough requirement and accessing their bonus winnings.
Players don’t understand wagering requirements
Most players don’t complete the wagering requirements and are left feeling frustrated by the process, especially when they can’t access their bonus winnings.
I think operators assume that players understand how wagering requirements work when, in reality, many don’t.
Sure, the wagering requirement can be found in the bonus terms and conditions, but most players don’t trawl through the small print before they sign up and play at an online casino.
And even if they did, only a few would actually understand how wagering requirements work and how they apply specifically to the bonus they have claimed.
In reality, players have to wager thousands of pounds through the casino when claiming a bonus.
Take a pretty standard welcome bonus of 100% up to £100 with a wagering requirement of 40x applied to the deposit amount.
This is not especially high with some brands imposing wagering requirements in excess of 60x, while others apply the wagering requirement to both the deposit and the bonus amount.
Anyway, say the player claimed the full 100% deposit match and won £20 using the bonus money. This means they must wager £4,000 (that’s the £100 deposit x the wagering requirement) before they can unlock the £20 as bonus as cash.
A lot of casinos gamify the process with a progress bar, with the player able to make additional deposits if needed.
Of course, if the player doesn’t really understand the wagering requirement in the first place, they won’t understand why they might need to deposit more money if they want to unlock their bonus winnings.
Ultimately, this leaves a bad taste in the player’s mouth and undoubtedly contributes in part to the high levels of churn we continue to see at online casino brands in the UK.
How could the UKGC regulate wagering requirements?
But while wagering requirements are a detriment to the player’s experience, the greater concern is how they encourage players to deposit and wager, perhaps beyond their means.
And this flies against what the UK government is trying to achieve following the publication of its Gambling Act Whitepaper last year, and the subsequent regulatory changes we have seen imposed.
I don’t believe in banning bonuses – as we have seen in other regulated markets – but I do think the government and Gambling Commission have missed a trick when it comes to wagering requirements.
For me, I’d do away with them entirely but even imposing a maximum wagering requirement would be a step in the right direction – say up to 10x.
The rise on no wagering bonuses
Of course, operators can take matters into their own hands, and this is something we have seen with the rise of no wagering bonuses, pioneered by PlayOJO and since adopted by other brands.
The value of the bonus is often less – perhaps just a few free spins or £5 in bonus cash – but there’s no wagering requirement and players get to keep their winnings.
For me, this is exactly what a welcome bonus is all about – it’s an offer to the player that allows them to try the casino without having to spend their own money. If they win, great, let them keep their prize as this forms part of the initial experience they have with the brand.
If that initial experience is positive, they will likely continue to play moving forward. This makes far more sense than going through the cost of acquiring and onboarding a player, only for them to drop off halfway through a wagering requirement they didn’t know they had to complete.
This model also allows online casinos to differentiate from the competition. With the vast majority of brands offering the same welcome bonus, a no wagering promotion instantly stands out.
I also think it helps to position the casino as being fair and reputable; that it is committed to delivering a superior player experience from the get-go, and that it is on the side of the player.
This is the ethos that PlayOJO has adopted from day one and just look at the rapid rise it has enjoyed.
Indeed, PlayOJO and the other brands that have adopted no wagering bonuses stand as proof that you can take responsibility beyond the mandated requirements and still build a sustainable and hugely successful online casino brand in the UK.
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.
