Understand before you bet

How a bonus actually works

This page explains the mechanism. We list no offers, compare no amounts and rank nothing — not because we couldn't, but because it would serve to talk you into betting, which is not our job.

1. A bonus is not money

When an operator «credits» a bonus, that balance is normally not withdrawable. It is credit you can only bet with, and it becomes your money only if you meet certain conditions. The difference between the two is the whole substance of the matter.

2. The wagering requirement

This is the multiplier that sets how much you must bet through before you can withdraw. A requirement of 5× on €100 means placing €500 of bets, not €100. There is often a minimum price too: bets below that threshold don't count towards the requirement.

Two bonuses of the same size with different requirements are two completely different things. That is why comparing amounts tells you almost nothing.

Run the numbers yourself

You must place bets totalling500 €

At a minimum price of 2.00, with a typical margin of 9.4%, the statistically expected loss on that volume is≈ 47 €

In other words: betting through €500 costs on average about €47. This is not a prediction about your particular case: it is the average cost of that volume of betting, and it is the number almost always missing when bonuses are discussed. The 9.4% is the median margin we measure across our own listing, not an estimate: you find it match by match in the Margin column.

3. The time window

Almost always the requirement must be met within a set number of days. If it expires, the bonus and any winnings tied to it are lost. A short window pushes you to bet faster than you would have: a cost that appears in no figure.

4. What to read in the terms

  • the wagering requirement and what it is calculated on (bonus only, or bonus plus deposit);
  • the minimum price for a bet to count;
  • which markets are excluded from the count;
  • how many days you have;
  • the maximum withdrawable, sometimes lower than the winnings you built up;
  • whether hedged bets (opposite outcomes) are forbidden: usually they are, and breaking that voids everything.

5. Why we list no offers

Two reasons, both concrete. First: in Italy gambling advertising is banned (art. 9 of Decree-Law 87/2018), and a shop window of bonuses with amounts and rankings is advertising, whatever we call it. Second: you would gain nothing from it. A bonus is judged on its conditions, not in a league table — and over time the margin an operator applies to every single bet matters far more than any welcome bonus.

If betting has stopped being a pastime

Bonuses are built to increase how much you bet. If you notice you are betting to win money back, or more than you had decided, self-limitation and self-exclusion tools exist and are free. Gambling can cause addiction.