New UK Bonus Wagering Requirement Cap

What Are Wagering Requirements and Why Do They Matter?

When you claim a casino welcome bonus, you’ll almost always find wagering requirements attached. These determine how many times you must bet through your bonus (or bonus plus deposit) before you can withdraw any winnings. For example, a £20 bonus with 40x wagering requirements means you’d need to place £800 worth of bets before cashing out.

The problem? Research from the Behavioural Insights Team found that seven in ten players cannot accurately calculate what their wagering requirements actually mean in practice. Even more concerning, almost nine in ten struggle when the requirements apply to both the bonus and deposit combined. Most people who get it wrong underestimate how much they need to wager, meaning they think the bonus is worth more than it actually is.

This confusion has real consequences. The Competition and Markets Authority previously investigated the gambling sector and found consumers were being locked into complex requirements that were difficult to understand and potentially unachievable. Some offers required players to wager fifty, sixty, or even one hundred times the bonus value before withdrawing anything.

What’s Changing Under the New Rules?

The Gambling Commission’s new regulations bring several important changes:

• Wagering requirements capped at 10x – Operators can no longer impose requirements above ten times the bonus value. This brings the UK in line with Denmark, which introduced similar caps in 2020.
• Mixed product promotions banned – Casinos can no longer require you to gamble across multiple product types (such as slots and sports betting) to unlock bonus benefits.
• Clearer terms expected – The changes are part of broader reforms following the 2023 Gambling White Paper, which called for empowered consumers who can make informed choices.

Tim Miller, Executive Director for Research and Policy at the Gambling Commission, stated that these changes would better protect consumers from gambling harm and provide much better clarity on offers before customers decide to participate.

These reforms follow extensive consultation throughout 2023 and 2024, during which the Commission examined evidence showing that high wagering requirements can lead to higher intensity gambling activity. The complexity of bonus terms was identified as a factor that increases the risk of excessive gambling and potential harm.

Why Bonus Comparison Remains Difficult

Whilst the new 10x cap is a significant improvement, comparing bonuses isn’t simply a matter of looking at one number. A welcome offer might include:

• A matched deposit bonus (100%, 200%, or sometimes more)
• Free spins with their own wagering requirements
• Maximum win caps that limit how much you can withdraw
• Short validity periods to meet the requirements
• Game restrictions that exclude certain slots or table games
• Minimum deposit thresholds and payment method exclusions

Two bonuses might both have 10x wagering requirements, but if one gives you sixty days to meet them and the other gives you seven days, the value is completely different. Similarly, a bonus with no win cap is worth more than one that limits your maximum withdrawal to £100.

This complexity is precisely why we developed BonusRank.

Introducing BonusRank: A Clearer Way to Compare Bonuses

BonusRank is a proprietary algorithm that translates all the complicated terms attached to a welcome bonus into a single percentage score. An offer scoring 95-100 is rated Excellent, whilst anything below 50 is rated Poor. This gives you an immediate, at-a-glance understanding of how one bonus compares to another.

To ensure BonusRank is built on solid foundations, we commissioned an external research report examining the regulatory context, consumer protection challenges, and international best practice in bonus regulation. The research was conducted by:

• David Norman – A UK regulation and compliance researcher specialising in gambling law (ORCID profile)
• Stephen Hagan – An expert in Computer Science and Machine Learning (ORCID profile)

The full research paper, titled “The Importance of Welcome Bonus Value in Player Protection Initiatives: Developing a Consumer-Focused Evaluation Framework for UK Online Casino Promotions”, is available to read at Zenodo.

What BonusRank Considers

The algorithm evaluates the factors that matter most when determining whether a bonus offers genuine value:

• Wagering requirements – How many times you need to bet through the bonus, and whether this applies to just the bonus or your deposit as well
• Bonus value and structure – The effective return relative to your deposit and how the offer is unlocked
• Free spins quality – Quantity, any additional wagering on winnings, and practical limitations
• Accessibility – Minimum deposit thresholds and any payment method restrictions
• Win caps and withdrawal limits – Whether there are restrictions on how much you can actually withdraw
• Terms quality and validity period – Overall fairness, including how long you have to meet the conditions

Each factor is weighted according to its importance based on regulatory guidance and behavioural research, with wagering requirements carrying the most significance given the widespread consumer confusion in this area.

What This Means for You

Our goal with BonusRank is straightforward: we want you to be able to look at our online casino bonus comparison page and immediately understand which offers provide genuine value and which ones look better than they actually are.

Before BonusRank, comparing bonuses meant reading through lengthy terms and conditions, trying to calculate wagering implications, and weighing up multiple factors in your head. Now, you can sort offers by their BonusRank score and focus your attention on the bonuses that actually deliver what they promise.

This doesn’t mean you should ignore the details entirely. The score gives you a starting point, but you might have personal preferences – perhaps you value free spins more than matched deposits, or you prefer a smaller bonus with no wagering over a larger one with requirements attached. BonusRank helps you narrow down the options so you can make a final decision based on what matters most to you.

Our Commitment to Transparency

The new Gambling Commission regulations represent an important step forward for player protection. By capping wagering requirements at 10x, the rules ensure that bonuses become genuinely achievable rather than theoretical offers that very few players ever actually benefit from.

The broader context here matters. According to the 2024 Gambling Survey for Great Britain, 2.7% of adults score in the problem gambling range, with a further 3.1% at moderate risk. The GambleAware Annual Treatment and Support Survey found that among those experiencing problem gambling, 13% reported being motivated to start gambling by seeing gambling advertisements, compared to just 3% of the general gambling population. Promotional offers, as a primary point of customer acquisition, have a responsibility to operate transparently.

At BestCasinoSites.net, we believe transparency shouldn’t stop at regulatory minimums. By publishing the methodology behind BonusRank, linking to the full research paper, and providing ongoing verification against current operator terms, we’re committed to giving you the information you need to gamble responsibly and make informed choices.

We verify all bonus data against current terms and conditions, conduct consistency checks to ensure higher-scored offers are objectively superior, and carry out quarterly reviews to account for market changes. Offers with particularly problematic practices, such as misleading headlines or extremely short validity periods, receive automatic deductions.

Finding and Comparing Bonuses

You can now compare UK online casino welcome bonuses using BonusRank scores on our dedicated online casino bonuses page. Each offer displays its overall score alongside key information about wagering requirements, free spins, and any notable limitations.

If you have questions about how a particular bonus was scored, or if you spot terms that don’t match what we’ve listed, please get in touch. Keeping this information accurate benefits everyone, and we appreciate readers who help us maintain the highest standards.

The changes coming into effect this month mark a new chapter for UK gambling regulation. With BonusRank, we hope to make that chapter one where players can finally compare bonuses with confidence, knowing exactly what they’re signing up for. Informed players make better decisions, and better decisions lead to safer, more enjoyable gambling experiences for everyone.