A storm has been brewing in the online gambling world in recent months, and players are generally completely unaware.
In May 2015 the Gambling Commission released a Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) notice which required “all licensed gambling operators to include in their advertisements any significant limitations relating to promotions, to avoid misleading consumers”. For the most part the industry neglected to take heed of the warning, and continued business as normal. Even after the Gambling Commission raised concerns directly with operators in subsequent months, they arrogantly failed to acknowledge the implication of their wrongdoings.
Bgo Entertainment was one such operator, and in April 2017 they were issued a £300,000 fine for continued misleading advertisements, failure to take timely and effective action, and providing inaccurate assurances that the issues were addressed. The decision related to their promotion of “free” spins and bonuses which were deemed misleading as they required a deposit before being released and so technically weren’t “free”. It also related to the omission of significant terms of the bonuses, in particular wagering requirements, which stipulate that players must wager their bonus multiple times over before being able to withdraw any winnings.
Bgo weren’t the only casino to be found to have failings in their communication of promotions in advertisements, and they certainly weren’t the only ones to have wagering requirements on their bonuses. Wagering requirements are rife throughout the industry, and arguably are a necessary evil to prevent players abusing the “free” bonuses. The issue is not making them obvious enough to players before they sign up and accept the offer, although recent investigations also raise concerns over excessive wagering requirements imposed by many other online casinos.
The Advent of Wagering Requirements
It’s not uncommon for online casinos nowadays to exhibit wagering requirements of 35-40 times the bonus amount, which is generally the industry the average. A 40x wagering requirement means that a player must have placed €4,000 in bets before they can withdraw winnings won off a €100 bonus (40 x €100 = €4,000). This makes it extremely difficult for a player to actually win anything from the bonus as inevitably they would lose their winnings before being able to wager that amount. It’s those kind of wagering requirements that are deemed excessive, and to top it off, most online casinos also place game restrictions on eligible wagers, meaning that not all games count the same towards the fulfilment of the wagering requirement.
The reason excessive wagering requirements are so prevalent throughout the industry is because over the past decade casinos have tried to differentiate themselves from the competition by offering larger and seemingly more “generous” bonuses. Casinos can’t afford to give those kinds of bonuses away for free; and wagering requirements covertly protect them from losing out.
The Birth of No-Wagering Casinos
The response from Bgo following their penalty was to abandon their wagering requirements entirely. It meant a revision to their original free spin and bonus offers, which are now far less generous, but are at least realistic. Importantly, it also means players can be sure that if they do win anything from free spins or bonuses, they can stop playing and withdraw their winnings immediately should they wish to.
Wager-free bonuses and free spins are nothing new to the industry, although they are rare given the sheer number of online casinos in existence. NoWagering is an online casino portal dedicated to no-wagering casinos, bonuses and free spins; and it’s clear there’s plenty of choice when it comes to wager-free bonuses. Interestingly though, most casinos on their website are fairly new. PlayOJO launched in 2016 and offer wager-free spins on sign up as well free spin promotions; all of which have no wagering requirements attached to them. mFortune has been around a while but its sister site MrSpin, which offers no wagering free spins, launched in 2016. Kaboo offer wager-free winnings on bonus spins; they launched in 2015. Lucky Niki offer no wagering free spins; they launched in 2016. Notice the pattern? Even some long-standing and better-known brands feature wager-free offers: William Hill Vegas offer wager-free spins on sign up, as well as weekly free spins with no wagering requirements; Guts have wager-free winnings on their Extra spins; and Grosvenor Casino have no wagering requirements on their Play Points which can be exchanged for free spins and bets on table & card games alike.
It will be interesting to see if more operators switch to a wager-free model following Bgo’s announcement, or if other operators also notice a trend and decide to switch as a result. Whether the existing wager-free casinos have gone that way due to regulatory pressure or not is unclear. What is for sure though is that player demand will dictate the direction of the industry – do players want wager-free bonuses, or are they happy with excessive wagering requirements?
