What Are Bonus Spins vs Free Spins? Key Differences Explained
My neighbour Margaret came to me last Tuesday with a printout from an online casino and two questions she couldn't get answered by the help chat. The difference between bonus spins and free spins is one of those things that seems small until it isn't.
The deal
My neighbour Margaret came to me last Tuesday with a printout from an online casino and two questions she couldn't get answered by the help chat. She is seventy-one, she plays bingo on Monday and Thursday evenings at the town hall, and she had signed up for an account at one of these online places because her granddaughter showed her how. The first question was about her deposit. The second was about her spins, and why two different kinds were sitting in her account doing different things.
I told her to sit down and I'd make us a cup of tea, because this was going to take a few minutes.
Round 1: Free Spins
Free spins are rounds on a slot machine that don't cost you anything from your balance. The casino hands them to you, you use them on the specified game, and whatever you win goes into your account.
The important word there is "whatever." With a clean free spin offer, your winnings land as real cash. Sometimes there's a small cap, perhaps £5 or £10 total regardless of what you spin up, but the money you get is yours to withdraw once you meet any conditions attached.
Free spins show up in a few situations. Welcome offers often include a batch of them. Loyalty programs give them out as rewards for regular play. Some slot games trigger them internally as a feature, which is a separate matter entirely and has nothing to do with any promotion.
Round 2: Bonus Spins
Bonus spins look identical on screen. You press the spin button and the reels turn. But the winnings work differently.
Winnings from bonus spins are credited as bonus money, not real cash. Bonus money sits in its own compartment in your account, separate from your real-money balance. Before you can withdraw any of it, you have to wager it a certain number of times, typically somewhere between 30x and 50x the amount you won.
So if you win £4 from bonus spins and the wagering requirement is 35x, you need to place £140 in additional bets before that £4 becomes withdrawable. Most of that £140 will be lost, naturally, which is how the casino makes the promotion worthwhile from their side. The wagering requirement is the price of the bonus.
I explained this to Margaret by comparing it to a gift voucher that could only be spent at one shop, after you'd done a certain amount of shopping there first. She understood that immediately. She said it sounded like a lot of shopping.
Round 3: What to Look for Before Accepting Anything
When a casino offers you spins of any kind, these are the questions worth asking:
- Do winnings come as real cash or as bonus money?
- If bonus money, what is the wagering requirement?
- What is the maximum withdrawal from bonus winnings?
- Which games count toward wagering, and at what percentage?
- How many days do you have to meet the requirement before the bonus expires?
A reputable operator will have these terms written clearly in plain language, or at minimum accessible from the bonus page. Under UKGC rules, operators are required to present bonus terms prominently. Anywhere the terms are buried three clicks deep or written in dense legalese is telling you something about how the operator handles their side of things.
Round 4: A Word About the Names
Not every casino uses these terms consistently. Some places call bonus spins "free spins" even when the winnings go to a bonus balance. Others use "free spins" to mean the clean, no-wagering kind. A few use "bonus spins" to mean free spins. The words alone are not reliable.
The reliable information is always the wagering requirement number. If winnings come with a wagering requirement attached, whatever the spins are called, you are dealing with bonus money. If there is no wagering requirement and no bonus T&Cs attached, the winnings are real cash.
Margaret went home with a clearer picture than she'd arrived with. She decided to use her bonus spins for the entertainment of them, and not to expect the money. That strikes me as a sensible way to approach it.
