Read any casino bonus's terms in five minutes

Most bonus terms run to several thousand words, but only a handful of clauses decide whether the offer is worth taking. Everything else is definitions, boilerplate and rules about account abuse that rarely touch an ordinary player.

The first is the wagering requirement, the number of times you must bet the bonus (or bonus plus deposit) before it becomes withdrawable cash. The second is the maximum bet while the bonus is active, often around €5 per spin or hand. The third is any cap on what you can win or withdraw from the bonus.

The fourth is game weighting, which says how much of each bet counts towards wagering. The fifth is the deadline.

Turn the multiple into euro

A multiple means nothing until you convert it. Take a 40x requirement on a €100 bonus: that is €4,000 of bets before you can withdraw a cent of it. If the same 40x applies to deposit plus bonus, it is 40 times €200, which comes to €8,000. Read the wording carefully, because “40x the bonus amount” and “40x the deposit and bonus” look almost identical on the screen and differ by a factor of two in what they ask of you.

Then quote the clause back to yourself. A line such as “bets exceeding €5 while a bonus is active may result in forfeiture of bonus winnings” means one oversized spin can wipe out everything you won, even after hours of play within the limits.

That clause is where most complaints start.

Once you know the cost in euro, the next question is how the bonus money and your own money interact. This is the difference between sticky and non-sticky bonuses, and the terms rarely use either word.

With a non-sticky bonus, sometimes called a parachute bonus, you play your own deposit first. If you win while still on real money, you can usually withdraw and walk away, giving up the bonus but keeping your winnings. Only once your cash runs out does the bonus balance kick in, along with its wagering.

A sticky bonus is merged with your deposit from the first spin. The wagering applies to the whole balance, and the bonus amount itself is typically removed when you cash out, so it can never be withdrawn.

Look for wording such as “the bonus amount will be deducted upon withdrawal” or “real money is wagered first”. The first signals sticky, the second non-sticky. If neither appears, ask support in writing and keep the answer, because a chat transcript is far easier to rely on in a complaint than a memory of what an agent said.

The comparison below sets the two side by side.

The routine below works on any casino’s terms, in any order the operator chooses to print them. Open the bonus-specific terms rather than the general ones, since the specific page usually overrides the general.

Use your browser’s find function rather than scrolling. Searching for “wager”, “maximum”, “cap”, “contribut” and “expire” lands you on the clauses that matter in seconds, and it also tells you quickly when something is missing. A bonus with no stated deadline or no stated max bet is a bonus whose rules can be read against you later, and that alone is a reason to ask support before you deposit.

Six steps, each well under a minute once you know what to search for.

The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 gives Ireland its first modern rulebook for bonuses. Section 157 defines an inducement as “a benefit or advantage, the intent or effect of which is, either directly or indirectly, to encourage participation in gambling”. It bars licensees from offering inducements to a specific person or group, and lets the Minister set conditions on, or ban, inducements offered to the public.

We checked the regulator’s own pages. The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland states that the restrictions on advertising, promotions and inducements have not yet commenced, and its first licences cover remote betting from 1 July 2026. Casino games and slots are to be licensed later, with gaming applications expected to open in 2027 or 2028. Until gaming licences are issued and the inducement rules take effect, casino bonus terms are set by each operator rather than by Irish regulation, which makes reading them yourself more important, not less.

Whatever the bonus, set a deposit limit before you claim it.

If an operator refuses a withdrawal over a term you believe you met, complain to the operator in writing first and keep copies of the terms as they stood. The National Gambling Exclusion Register is planned under the Act but not yet running, so in the meantime use each operator’s own self-exclusion tool. Gambling Care’s national helpline is 1800 936 725, open 24 hours a day.