Find the best blackjack bonus.

Most casino bonuses look great on the surface.

• “100% match up to $500.”
• “200 free spins.”
• “$25 free, no deposit needed.”

But even if it looks attractive on the surface, the catch is in the fine print. You’ll quickly find that most of them are not as sexy as they first seem.

Most bonuses count blackjack at 5 to 20% of every dollar wagered, and some exclude it completely. So a $500 bonus with 30x wagering needs $15,000 of qualifying play before you can withdraw. With blackjack at 10%, that means $150,000 of actual blackjack to clear the bonus.

In other words, most casino bonuses aren’t really for blackjack players. They’re for slots players. The marketing just doesn’t say it that way.

That’s why our list above is short. We only feature casinos where blackjack actually counts toward the bonus, or where the structure works for table-game players. Our affiliate disclosure explains how we make money on those recommendations.

Quick reference. The numbers that matter, and what to look for in each:

These are the same boxes we tick when we pick the casinos above. Apply them in this order, and most bad bonuses fall out before you read the rest of the page. Our editorial policy lays out the full criteria.

Blackjack contribution. This is the most important number. It’s how much of every dollar you bet on blackjack counts toward clearing the bonus. 100% means a dollar wagered equals a dollar toward the requirement. 10% means you need to bet $10 to count as $1. Anything under 20% is a trap. Aim for 50% or higher when you can find it.

Wagering requirement. The multiplier you have to bet through before withdrawing the bonus, or the deposit plus bonus together. 30x is common. 40x is high. 50x or more is almost always a trap unless contribution is 100%. Multiply this by the bonus and you’ll see the total amount you need to bet through.

Time limit. How long the casino gives you to clear the wagering. 30 days is fair. 14 days is tight. If you see the time limit at 7 days or under, walk away unless you have a serious plan to play hard.

Max bet during bonus. Most casinos cap your bet at $5 to $10 per hand or per spin while a bonus is active. Bet over the cap and the bonus is voided. Find what it is for the bonus, or ask the customer support if you can’t find it by yourself.

Sticky bonus. A “sticky” bonus stays attached to your account. You can win with it and withdraw the winnings, but the bonus money itself can never be cashed out. Non-sticky is better.

Cashout cap. Some bonuses cap how much you can withdraw from bonus play, often at 5 to 10 times the bonus. If that cap is in the terms, the bonus is rarely worth it for serious players.

The wagering requirement (sometimes called “rollover” or “playthrough”) is the number that decides whether a bonus is actually worth claiming.

It’s a multiplier the casino sticks on the bonus. Before you can withdraw, you have to bet through the bonus that many times.

Here’s a simple example.

You deposit $100. The casino matches it 100%, so you have $200 to play with. The wagering requirement is 30x the bonus. That means you need to bet $100 × 30 = $3,000 of qualifying play before any winnings can be withdrawn.

Now factor in blackjack contribution. If blackjack only counts at 10%, every $1 you bet on blackjack counts as $0.10 toward that $3,000 target. So you’d need to bet $30,000 of actual blackjack to clear the bonus.

This is where most bonuses fall apart for table-game players. The math works for slots (which usually count at 100%) but rarely for blackjack.

Calculate how much you need to play.

A few quick rules of thumb:

• Multiply the bonus by the wagering requirement. That’s your real target. $200 bonus × 30x = $6,000 to bet.
• Then divide by your contribution. If blackjack counts at 10%, divide by 0.10 to get the actual blackjack you need to bet. $6,000 ÷ 0.10 = $60,000.
• Compare that to your usual session size. If the math says 50 hours of play and you only play 5 hours a week, the bonus may not finish before the time limit runs out.

The shorter the wagering, the higher the contribution, the better the bonus.

If you want to feel what clearing a wagering looks like, try a few hundred hands in our free blackjack simulator.

Let’s be honest. Most casino bonuses are designed with slots players in mind, not blackjack.

Here are the different types of bonuses you can find, what they actually mean, and how to find the ones that work for you.

Some bonuses look fine on the headline but hide their tricks in the small print. Here are the patterns we walk away from.