What wagering requirements really mean

A '£50 bonus' with a 10x wagering requirement is not £50. It's the possibility of £50 after you have staked £500 of bets that meet the operator's qualifying conditions — minimum odds, eligible markets, time limits.

Each of those conditions matters. Minimum odds force you into riskier bets than you might otherwise choose; expiry windows force volume in a fixed time; and stakes on some markets may not count at all. The generous-looking offers usually carry the heaviest conditions.

Before accepting any bonus, find three numbers in the terms: the wagering multiple, the minimum odds, and the expiry period. If any of them is missing or hard to find, treat that as information about the operator.

Our reviews quote these numbers next to every offer we mention, with the date we checked them. Operators change terms often, so the final word is always the operator's own page.

Terms and offers change faster than any review site can promise to track, so treat the operator's own published terms as final. What doesn't change: gambling is restricted to adults, it carries a built-in cost, and the tools to keep it in bounds are free on every licensed site.