Not all games contribute equally toward unlocking a bonus (read our guide on Excluded Games & Contribution Traps). This Wagering Contribution Calculator audits the blended impact of game weights, letting you find the most efficient and cost-effective path to clear your rollover requirements (see the full math behind Wagering Requirements Explained).
| Amount wagered | Weight % | HE % | |
|---|---|---|---|
When you claim a casino bonus, you must complete a set amount of wagering (e.g., $3,000) before withdrawing. To speed this up, you might think of playing low-house-edge games like blackjack. However, casinos are well aware of this strategy and enforce **Game Weights** (or contributions) to protect their edge.
While slots usually contribute 100% of your wagers, table games might only contribute 10%, and some games are completely excluded (0%). This means a $10 bet on blackjack only clears $1 of your wagering requirement. This calculator lets you input different games and stakes to see the true mathematical cost of your clearing strategy.
To find the cheapest clearing strategy, the tool calculates the blended contribution and the true financial cost across all games played:
The actual progress you make toward your wagering requirement ($W$) across different games:
Wagering_Cleared = Σ (Wagered_Amount_i * Contribution_Weight_i)
The average house edge across your entire session, weighted by the amount bet on each game:
Blended_House_Edge = Σ (Wagered_Amount_i * House_Edge_i) / Total_Wagered
The expected loss to clear $100 of wagering requirement on a specific game is:
Expected_Loss_per_100 = (100 / Contribution_Weight) * House_Edge
Let’s audit the true cost of clearing a $1,000 wagering requirement across three different games:
Despite blackjack having an edge eight times lower than the slot (0.50% vs 4.00%), the slot machine remains **the cheaper game to clear the bonus on** ($40 expected loss vs $50) because of its 100% wagering contribution weight.
Any bets placed on excluded games contribute absolutely nothing toward your wagering requirement. Worse, many casinos consider playing excluded games while a bonus is active a breach of terms, which can result in the casino confiscating your bonus and all associated winnings.
A blended strategy involves split play—for example, playing slots to quickly clear the bulk of your wagering, and then switching to low-variance table games to protect your remaining balance. This calculator helps you map out the exact blended math of this approach.
To prevent players from hedging their bets to clear wagering without risk—such as betting on both Red and Black simultaneously. Casinos enforce terms that exclude even-money bets or high-coverage layouts (covering more than 67% of the wheel) from contributing to wagering.