You are on the deposit screen, the bonus box is ticked, and a small line of text sits under the amount field describing how many times you must play the bonus before anything can leave. Most players skim past that line, then wonder why a withdrawal is held. It decides when your bonus money and winnings become withdrawable, and until the playthrough is complete the funds stay locked inside the bonus balance.
How to Claim the Offer
The claim runs through your account, so the steps matter more than the size of the offer shown on the promotions page.
- Open the promotions area inside your account and find the welcome offer shown for new players. Read the short description attached to it before you opt in.
- Register a new account with correct personal details, matching your payment information later. Mismatched details are one of the quiet reasons a bonus gets removed.
- Switch on the bonus option while you are still registering or before your first deposit. A bonus you forgot to activate cannot be added afterwards.
- Make your qualifying deposit through the cashier in your own name. The deposit that triggers the bonus is the one that counts, not later top-ups.
- Wait for the bonus to land in your bonus balance and confirm the amount shown matches the offer. A missing bonus needs a message to support before you play.
- Play only the games that count toward the playthrough requirement. Games outside that list add nothing to your progress, even when you win.
- Finish the playthrough before you request a withdrawal of bonus-derived winnings. Withdrawing early or moving funds out can cancel the remaining bonus.
Each step protects the next one, so treat the sequence as a chain rather than a checklist. Registering with your real name keeps the account and the payment method consistent. Activating the offer before the deposit is what links the two together in the system. Playing the wrong games wastes time without moving your progress forward. Withdrawing before the playthrough ends is the single most common way players lose a bonus they had already earned.
Conditions to Check
The main terms of a casino bonus fall into a small set of categories, and each one changes what you can do with the money.
| Term | What it means | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum deposit | The smallest payment that qualifies for the bonus | That your planned deposit reaches it |
| Playthrough requirement | How much you must stake before bonus winnings can be withdrawn | Whether bonus only or deposit plus bonus is counted |
| Eligible games | The games that contribute to the requirement | Which titles count and at what share |
| Maximum bet | The largest stake allowed while a bonus is active | That your usual stake stays under it |
| Expiry | The window in which the requirement must be met | How long you realistically need |
Players misread the playthrough requirement more than any other term, because it looks like a simple number on the page. It is a multiple applied to a base amount, and that base can be the bonus alone or the deposit and bonus together. The two readings produce very different targets. Reading the base correctly is what tells you how long the bonus will really take. Skimming the line under the deposit field is how that detail gets missed.
Wagering in Numbers
Here is a made-up example to show the arithmetic, not a description of the actual offer at https://ca-1win.org/. Suppose a player deposits 25 and receives a bonus, with a playthrough of forty times the bonus. The numbers are chosen only to make the method visible. Nothing below reflects the real terms attached to any offer.
Start with the base amount the multiple applies to, which in this example is the bonus alone. Multiply that base by the playthrough figure to get the total you must stake. The result is your target, and every qualifying bet moves you toward it. Keeping the base and the multiplier separate avoids the most common arithmetic mistake.
Now take the same deposit of 25 and apply the multiplier to the deposit plus the bonus combined. The target grows because the base is larger. A player who assumes the smaller base will finish later than expected. The formula is identical; only the base changes.
Track progress as a running total of stakes on eligible games, not as a count of wins or losses. Wins and losses do not move the target. Only money staked on qualifying games does. A session with several wins and a few bets may barely move the bar.
Imagine staking a small amount per round on a game that contributes in full. Each round adds to the running total until the target is reached. A game that contributes at a reduced share adds less per round. Choosing the game changes the pace without changing the target itself.
A bonus balance that is shrinking through losses does not shorten the target. The requirement is fixed at the moment the bonus is credited. Losing the bonus money first simply leaves nothing to withdraw. This is why stake size matters as much as game choice.
The final check is whether winnings derived from the bonus sit inside the locked balance until the target is met. In this example they do, which is the normal pattern. Reaching the target is what unlocks them for withdrawal. Stopping short leaves them in place.
Game Contribution
Not every game moves your playthrough forward at the same rate, and some move it not at all. Contribution is the share of each bet that counts toward the target. A game contributing in full adds the whole stake to your progress. A game with a reduced share adds only part of it.
Slots usually carry the fullest contribution, which makes them the default choice for clearing a bonus. Table games often carry a much smaller share, so a long session there moves the bar slowly. Live dealer games frequently sit in the reduced group or outside it entirely. Checking the contribution list first saves hours of play that count for little.
Contribution applies per bet, so stake size and game choice work together. A full-contribution game with modest bets clears a target steadily. The same bets on a reduced-share game stretch the same target over far more rounds. Neither approach changes the total you must stake; only the pace changes.
Players who switch games mid-way often assume their progress resets, and it does not. The running total follows you across eligible games. What changes is the rate at which new bets are added. Reading the list once at the start removes the guesswork.
A common mistake is playing a favourite title without checking its share, then feeling confused by slow progress. The fix is simple: look at the contribution list before the first bet. If your usual game sits low on it, pick a full-contribution title for the clearing period. Your progress will reflect the effort you put in.
How Free Spins Work
Free spins arrive as a separate bonus with their own conditions, even when they come with the same welcome package. The spins are credited to a set of named games. Winnings from them land in a bonus balance rather than your cash balance. That separation is why they behave differently from a cash win.
The winnings from free spins usually carry their own playthrough requirement. It is often set separately from the main bonus requirement. You may therefore be clearing two targets at once, or in sequence. Keeping them apart in your head prevents double counting.
Spins often come with an expiry window of their own. Unused spins can lapse while your main bonus is still running. The value of a lapsed spin is gone, and it does not convert to cash. Using them soon after they land avoids the loss.
Some offers release spins in batches rather than all at once. The first batch may appear on deposit, with later batches following on set days. Missing a batch can mean missing those spins entirely. A quick check of your bonus section each day keeps you on top of them.
The stake value of each spin is fixed by the offer, and you cannot raise it. That fixes the size of each win relative to the game’s symbols. A higher stake would produce larger wins but is not available here. Play the assigned game and accept the set value.
Withdrawing spin winnings follows the same path as other bonus money: the playthrough must be met first. The requirement applies to the winnings, not to the spins themselves. Until it is met, the funds stay locked. Meeting it turns them into withdrawable money.
What Voids a Bonus
Most cancelled bonuses come from a handful of avoidable actions, and each has a straightforward guard.
- Betting above the maximum stake while a bonus is active. Keep your stake under the cap for the whole clearing period, and lower it if you are unsure.
- Playing games that are excluded from the bonus. Choose from the eligible list and avoid excluded titles until the requirement is finished.
- Opening a second account to claim the same offer again. One account per person is the norm, so use your only account for the welcome bonus.
- Withdrawing before the playthrough is complete. Let the target finish before you request any payout from the locked balance.
- Cashing out bonus money or moving it between balances. Leave the bonus balance untouched until the requirement clears it.
- Using payment details registered to someone else. Deposit in your own name so the account and payment record match.
- Letting the bonus expire while you play other games. Track the window and give the bonus priority before it closes.
Each of these actions triggers an automatic review rather than a warning, which is why they sting. A single oversized bet can cancel a bonus you have been clearing for days. Playing an excluded game is often accidental, because the title looks ordinary. A second account made for a family member looks innocent and is still treated as duplicate. Withdrawing early feels reasonable when you are winning, and it ends the bonus. The safe habit is to treat the bonus balance as untouchable until the requirement is met. That one habit prevents most of the void cases on this list.