Sportsbooks compete for customers with bonuses — a $200 deposit match, a $500 free bet, a risk-free first wager — and the headline numbers look generous. The catch is always the same word, buried in the terms: rollover, also called wagering or playthrough. Rollover is the amount you must bet before bonus funds, and any winnings from them, can be withdrawn, and it is usually expressed as a multiple of the bonus, or of the deposit plus the bonus. A bonus that looks like free money can require thousands of dollars in bets to unlock, and many bettors only discover this when they try to withdraw and find their balance locked. Here is how to read the terms before you deposit.

How to Calculate a Rollover

The calculation is simple once you know which number the multiple applies to, and that is the detail that matters most. A $100 bonus with a 5x rollover on the bonus alone requires $500 in bets. The same bonus with a 5x rollover on the deposit plus the bonus requires $1,000 in bets, because the multiple applies to $200 instead of $100 — twice as much work for the same bonus. A 10x rollover on deposit plus bonus for a $500 deposit and a $500 bonus means $10,000 in bets before withdrawal, which is a very large amount of betting for a casual player. Always find the rollover multiple and the base it applies to before you accept a bonus, and do the multiplication yourself: the terms will state it, but they will not do the arithmetic for you, and the difference between 5x on the bonus and 10x on deposit plus bonus is the difference between a fair offer and a trap.

What Counts Towards Rollover — and What Does Not

Not every bet counts equally towards rollover, and some bets do not count at all. Most sportsbooks require bets at minimum odds, commonly -200 or longer, so a bet on a heavy favourite at -500 may not count, and some books exclude certain markets entirely, such as cashed-out bets, voided bets, or bets on both sides of the same event. There is usually a time limit as well, often 7 to 30 days, after which the bonus and any winnings from it expire, and there may be a maximum bet size while the bonus is active, so a large bet placed to clear the rollover quickly can void the bonus. The practical approach is to bet normally, at odds you would bet anyway, and let the rollover clear in the background — trying to force it with large or unusual bets is how bonuses get voided. If the rollover is so large that you cannot clear it by betting normally within the time limit, the bonus is not worth taking, however big it looks.

When a Bonus Is Worth Taking

A bonus is worth taking when the rollover is small relative to your normal betting volume, the time limit is generous, and the terms are clear. A 1x rollover — bet the bonus amount once — is genuinely good value and close to free money. A 5x rollover on the bonus alone is fair for a regular bettor who will place that volume anyway. A 10x rollover on deposit plus bonus, with a seven-day limit and a minimum odds requirement, is a trap for almost everyone except a high-volume bettor, and the honest move is to decline it. Some sportsbooks let you decline a bonus at deposit, and if the terms are bad, declining is the right choice — your own money, unencumbered by rollover, is worth more than a bonus you cannot withdraw. The best bonus is not the biggest one; it is the one with the smallest rollover, the longest time limit, and the fewest restrictions, and those three numbers are always in the terms if you look for them.

Rollover is the real price of a sportsbook bonus, and it is always in the terms. Multiply it out, check what counts towards it, and only accept a bonus you can clear by betting normally — because a bonus you cannot withdraw is not a bonus at all.