What Is Game Weighting?
A casino game’s weighting percentage tells how much of each bet counts towards your wagering requirement. It determines how efficiently you’ll wager your bonus and how likely you are to convert it to real money when playing a specific game.
Here’s how it works:
The casino will assign a percentage value to different game categories.
These percentages vary, but here’s what you can typically expect:
- Pokies – 100%
- Bingo, Keno and other instant games – 100%
- Table Games – 5-50% (depending on casino)
- Live Casino games – 0%
- Progressive jackpots – 0%
As you can see, game weighting generally doesn’t apply to pokies, meaning that 100% of each wager will contribute towards the wagering requirement. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case with all casino games.
Let’s look at two examples:
- If you play a pokie, the game weighting percentage is typically 100%. If you bet $1 per spin, each spin decreases the wagering requirement by $1.
- If you play a game of blackjack, that’s 20% weighted, only $0.20 out of every $1 bet goes towards fulfilling the wagering requirement.
Good To Know: Even though pokies are generally the best option for bonus wagering, most bonus terms and conditions include a few restricted pokies with a game weighting of 0%. These pokeis are usually excluded from bonus play due to their high RTP percentages.
Why Casinos Implement Game Weightings
Each casino game comes with a house edge. Games with lower house edges are more favourable to the player, and games with higher house edges are more profitable for the casino.
Since pokies and instant win games have the highest house edge, casinos are more comfortable lifting weighting restrictions on these games.
Table games like blackjack and roulette have a lower house edge that gives you a better chance of winning and wagering your bonus. Therefore, casinos manage risk by reducing the amount of each bet that contributes to the wagering requirement.
Examples Of Reasonable Game Weightings
We’ve already explained that most pokies are your best choice for wagering bonuses efficiently.
But if you want to mix things up with other games, you’ll need to do a little research.
Here are some examples of online casinos with reasonable game weighting percentages:
- Lucky Hippo: Pokies 100%, Table Games 50%
- Vegas Casino Online: Pokies 100%, Table Games 50%
- Cherry Gold Casino: Pokies 100%, Roulette 100%,Other Table Games 25%
Examples of Unreasonable Game Weightings
If you choose to play a game with a low weighting percentage, you’ll find it more difficult to clear the bonus and withdraw your winnings. Here are a few examples of games from casinos that have unreasonable game weightings for table games.
On these sites, you’re best off sticking with pokies and instant win games:
- Bitstarz Casino: Pokies 100%, Table Games 5%
- Neospin Casino: Pokies 100%, Table Games 5%
- Woo Casino: Pokies 100%, Table Games 5%
Games That Are Commonly Restricted
Some games are just too risky for casinos to make eligible for bonus play. That means the casino-calculated house edge is too low. Therefore, all live casino games, and many card games and table games, are usually heavily restricted or completely excluded.
We’ve already listed several casinos that reduce game weighting to 5%, but many online casinos exclude specific games from bonus wagering altogether.
If you use your bonus on these games, you won’t be able to cash out any winnings that result from it.
Here’s an example of a casino with bonus terms that restricts some specific table games.
- Lucky Hippo Casino: Any wagering on Roulette, Craps or Baccarat using an active bonus is forbidden. Wagers on any of these games will not count towards meeting any wagering requirements and withdrawal requests from winnings where any portion of an active is played on any of these games will be denied.
Here’s an example of a casino that restricts a few specific pokies.
- Bitstarz Casino: The following games do not contribute towards the completion of the wagering requirements of a bonus: Immortal Romance, Aliens, Mega Moolah, Ragnarok, Pocket Dice, Lucky Angler, Eggomatic, Big Bang, The Dark Knight, Peek-A-Boo, Tomb Raider, The Dark Knight Rises, Forsaken Kingdom, Scrooge, Secret of the Stones, Terminator 2, Champion of the Track, Robin Hood, Tomb Raider 2, Queen of Gold, Castle Builder (II).
How Game Weightings Affect Your Chances Of Converting Bonuses To Real Money
Choosing the right games is a big part of being strategic in maximising your chances of bonus conversion. Pokies are generally 100% weighted, making them the best choice for wagering bonuses.
By using the above examples of casinos with reasonable and unreasonable game weighting percentages, we can illustrate how these percentages can drastically impact your ability to cash out real money.
Let’s look at two casinos with widely different game weighting percentages to illustrate how drastically game weighting can impact your chances of winning real money with a bonus.
| Lucky Hippo Casino (Reasonable Game Weighting) | Bitstarz Casino (Unreasonable Game Weighting) |
|---|
| Initial Deposit & Bonus | $50 deposit + 100% match bonus = $100 total balance | $50 deposit + 100% match bonus = $100 total balance |
| Wagering Requirement (WR) | $50 bonus x 20 = $1000 WR | $50 bonus x 20 = $1000 WR |
| Game Weighting for Blackjack | 50% | 5% |
| Wagering Requirement on Blackjack | $1000 / 0.50 = $2000 | $1000 / 0.05 = $20,000 |
| Wagered Amount on $20 Bet | $20 bet contributes $10 towards WR | $20 bet contributes $1 towards WR |
| Total Wager to Cash Out | $2000 | $20,000 |
| Cash Out Eligibility | Can cash out winnings after wagering $2000 on Blackjack | Can cash out winnings after wagering $20,000 on Blackjack |
Wagering With A Reasonable Game Weighting
Let’s see how the wagering processes works if you claim a bonus at a casino which has a 50% weighting on table games:
- You claim a 100% match bonus and deposit $50, making your total balance $100.
- The casino applies a 20x wagering requirement on the $50 bonus. This means you must wager $1000 to fulfil the requirement (20 x $50 = $1000).
- You choose to play a Blackjack game with a weighting percentage of 50%
- You need to wager $2000 on Blackjack to meet the $1000 requirement ($1000/0.50 = $2000).
Wagering With An Unreasonable Game Weighting
Now, let’s see how the wagering process looks for the same example if you claim a bonus at a casino which specifies a much lower 5% game weighting percentage for table games.
- You deposit $50 and get a 100% match bonus, making your total balance $100.
- The casino has a 20x wagering requirement on the $50 bonus. You need to wager a total of $1,000 to fulfil the requirement (20 x $50 = $1000).
- You play a Blackjack game with a low game weighting percentage of 5%.
- You need to wager $20,000 on Blackjack to meet the $1000 requirement ($1000/0.05 = $20,000).
- If you bet $20 on Blackjack, only $1 counts towards the wagering requirement. Consequently, you need to spend $20,000 to meet the wagering requirement.
Key Takeaways
- The wagering process is much longer when each wager on a game doesn’t contribute much to meeting the wagering requirement.
- It is better to opt for games with a 100% game weighting where possible.
- If you want to use your bonus on table games, you should choose casinos with reasonable weighting percentages for table games to make your efforts worthwhile.
Read through our beginner’s guide to casino bonuses for expert tips on how to find offers with favourable terms. Once you’ve done all the necessary research, you can check out our selection of top bonus deals from high-quality casinos to put the knowledge into practice.