In this article we are going to talk about a topic of utmost importance when choosing which online casinos offer the best welcome bonus. Because no matter how much they tell us they are offering, be it 100%, 200% or 1000%, it is common for some players not to consider that what really matters is the rollover value we must meet before we can withdraw our winnings bet with those bonuses. And that's where they usually trick us. Let's see.

More than the free money they promise us, what matters is actually the rollover value we must meet before the casino allows us to withdraw our winnings.

That's why in this in-depth article we want to share what rollover is and how it can affect our gaming experience.

What Is Rollover?

First of all, to understand any matter it is important to go to the definitions. Rollover is a wagering requirement that casino promotions have. It means "to turn over" and refers to the number of times we must bet the amount they have given us as a bonus before we can withdraw the winnings generated with that free betting money.

This refers to "turning over money", not necessarily winning it, so both lost and won money accumulates — the important thing is that it has been wagered. Let's see an example below to make it clearer.

Why Do Casinos Add a Rollover to Their Bonuses?

It has two main motivations. The most obvious is that the user has a barrier when withdrawing their winnings in cases where they have won real money playing with free (bonus) money.

And second, and this is the part where many casinos should improve their practices, it allows casinos to promote welcome offers with very high bonus values, with the certainty that users will hardly be able to withdraw those winnings.

And we have seen welcome bonuses of over 500%! Combined with high rollover values, and we have seen values of up to x45! This makes it easy (and deceptive) to promote that they give away a lot of free money, since later the user will have many difficulties withdrawing their winnings obtained with that money. They will be forced to keep playing and lose them.

The true quality of a bonus lies in its rollover value

Let's See an Example

Suppose a casino offers a welcome bonus of 500% with a x30 rollover. Let's also suppose we deposit $100 and play all our money.

In the case of such a deposit, our bonus money would be $100 * 500% = $500. That is, together with our real money we will have a total of $100 + $500 = $600 to play.

So far it seems like a very good offer, since we multiply our available money to bet many times. However, let's see when we apply the rollover conditions.

$500 (bonus obtained) x 30 (rollover value) = $15,000

This means we need to bet, and re-bet our winnings until we have "turned over" through the games a total of 15 thousand! And what seemed like a great bonus has become a nightmare.

Why? Imagine the case where with our $500 bonus, we bet on a machine and are lucky enough to win a jackpot of $10,000. Hooray! Only in this case of our example we won't be able to withdraw them until we continue betting and have passed through the slots or games of our preference another $5,000. Which considerably increases the chances of losing all or a good part of the winnings obtained.

Even worse if we don't win a big jackpot and simply end up with a reasonable positive balance, say $1,000. We might think we can withdraw at least the remaining $500 that are not from the bonus, but no. We will also have to reach a rollover of $15k, which makes it practically impossible that we will ever see that money in our bank account.

In Summary About Rollover and Promotions

Promotions and welcome bonuses are a great thing, mainly because they allow us to get to know the casino, its games and how it works without having to bet too much money from our pocket.

An acceptable average rollover is x25. Higher than x30 is no longer recommended, and it ends up being preferable to deposit without using bonuses so that all winnings are yours.

What we find wrong is when casinos, with the intention of attracting as many players as possible, promote very high bonus values, trap unsuspecting users who when trying to withdraw their winnings find that they haven't met an impossible rollover. Even more so when they add time limits on the validity of the bonus among the conditions.

That's why if you take away something from this article, let it be understanding that what matters in a deposit promotion is not only the amount of free money it gives away, but the rollover that makes it more or less possible to withdraw the winnings we generate with that money.

Good luck! And if you've had experiences with high rollovers, leave us a comment to share with the community.

That's why if you're interested in getting the most out of promotions, also learn how to deposit at 20bet in this tutorial, where we show you step by step.