Deposit bonus offers from UK licensed operators

How match percentage and match cap interact to set the bonus amount

A deposit bonus is an operator match on the player's deposit, expressed as a percentage up to a cap. The match percentage and the match cap are two separate constraints that work together to determine the bonus amount. Understanding how they combine tells you far more than either figure alone.

What the match percentage and cap actually calculate

The match percentage sets how much of the deposit the operator matches. A 100% match doubles the deposit amount as bonus credit; a 50% match adds half the deposit. The cap sets the ceiling on that calculation. A 100% match up to £100 means the maximum bonus is £100 regardless of deposit size: a £200 deposit still yields only £100 in bonus credit.

Changing either number independently changes the outcome significantly. Compare two offers side by side:

Offer A and Offer B both yield £100 bonus on a £200 deposit, but through different routes. Offer C has a higher match percentage than both but hits its cap faster. The percentage alone doesn't indicate generosity. The cap is where the headline diverges from the actual bonus amount.

Multi-tier deposit bonuses and how different ranges are treated

Some deposit bonuses apply different match percentages across deposit ranges. A tiered structure might offer 100% on the first £50, then 50% on the next £100, then 25% on deposits above £150. Each tier is a separate calculation, not a single blended rate.

Multi-tier structures are disclosed in operator terms as separate conditions, not always as a single summary. Reading the tier boundaries is the only way to know how a specific deposit amount maps to a specific bonus credit. A player depositing £75 on the example above gets 100% on £50 (£50 bonus) plus 50% on £25 (£12.50 bonus), totalling £62.50 in credit, not 100% on the full £75.

How minimum deposit requirements interact with the match calculation

A minimum deposit requirement sets the floor below which the bonus doesn't activate at all. It's a separate condition from the match percentage and cap, but it constrains both by determining which deposits are eligible for matching. A £20 minimum deposit with a 100% match up to £100 means a £15 deposit receives no bonus, not a £15 bonus.

Higher minimum deposits also affect the effective match rate on smaller eligible deposits. A £30 minimum deposit requirement on a 100% match offer means the smallest possible bonus is £30. Players who deposit exactly at the minimum get the full percentage; players who can't or don't meet the minimum get nothing. The minimum isn't a technicality, it's a gate that defines who the offer applies to.

The wagering base distinction: bonus-only vs deposit plus bonus

The wagering base is the single most important variable in a deposit bonus offer. It determines the playthrough target more than the multiplier does. Two offers with identical multipliers produce completely different obligations depending on whether the base is the bonus amount alone or the deposit plus bonus combined.

How the two bases produce different playthrough targets

Take a £100 deposit with a 100% match: the player has £100 in bonus credit. The same 35x multiplier produces dramatically different targets depending on the base:

1. Bonus-only base: 35x applied to £100 bonus = £3,500 playthrough target
2. Deposit plus bonus base: 35x applied to £100 deposit + £100 bonus = £7,000 playthrough target
3. The deposit amount is the same. The match percentage is the same. The multiplier is the same.
4. The playthrough obligation doubles entirely because of the base definition.

This is why two offers advertised with the same multiplier and the same match percentage can have wildly different actual obligations. The multiplier is visible in marketing. The base is in the terms.

How deposit bonus wagering compares structurally to free spins wagering

Free spins bonuses apply the wagering multiplier to the bonus pool: spin value multiplied by spin count. A set of 50 free spins at 10p per spin creates a £5 bonus pool. A 35x wagering requirement on that pool means £175 in qualifying play, regardless of what the player deposits or withdraws separately.

A deposit bonus, by contrast, anchors to the deposit transaction. The bonus pool is derived from the deposit itself, and on deposit-plus-bonus base offers, the deposit re-enters the wagering calculation even though it was the player's own money to begin with. The structural difference is that free spins create a self-contained bonus pool with no link to deposited funds, while deposit bonuses can pull deposited funds into the wagering obligation.

Free spins wagering base

Spin value multiplied by spin count equals the total bonus pool. Wagering multiplier applies to this pool only. Deposited funds are separate and unaffected.

Deposit bonus (bonus-only base)

Wagering multiplier applies to the matched bonus credit only. The player's deposit is separate and can be withdrawn independently once wagering starts, at some operators.

Deposit bonus (deposit plus bonus base)

Wagering multiplier applies to the combined total of the player's deposit and the matched bonus credit. The player's own deposit is locked into the playthrough calculation.

Why the deposit-plus-bonus base creates a lock-in effect

When wagering applies to the deposit-plus-bonus total, the player's own deposited funds can't be withdrawn until the full playthrough target is met. The deposit isn't available as a separate balance during wagering. It's part of the calculation, which means accepting the bonus commits both the bonus credit and the deposit to the playthrough process.

On some operators, declining the bonus after accepting it requires contacting customer support, and the process may not be available at all once play has started. The lock-in is the practical consequence of the deposit becoming part of the wagering base, not a separate contractual restriction. It follows directly from how the base is defined.

How deposited funds behave during playthrough, and when they're accessible

The relationship between a player's deposited funds and the bonus wagering obligation depends entirely on the base the operator applies. This single variable determines whether a deposit becomes accessible before wagering completes, or whether it's held until the full target is met.

When deposited funds remain separate from the bonus

On bonus-only base offers, some operators treat the deposit and bonus as separate balances. The deposit is withdrawable at any point; only the bonus credit and its winnings are subject to wagering. If the player withdraws the deposit before completing wagering, the bonus is typically forfeited. This isn't a rule imposed by regulation. It's a term the operator sets to prevent a player from taking the bonus credit without meeting any conditions at all.

The key question is whether the operator's terms allow a withdrawal of the deposit portion without triggering bonus forfeiture during an active wagering requirement. Operators vary on this, and the answer is in the terms rather than implied by the bonus type.

When the deposit is locked until wagering completes

On deposit-plus-bonus base offers, the deposit and bonus credit are treated as a single combined balance for wagering purposes. There's no separate deposit balance to withdraw. The full combined amount is subject to the playthrough requirement, and withdrawals from either component can't happen until the target is met.

How this compares to free bets and free spins on fund accessibility

Free bets don't involve a deposit in the wagering calculation at all. The bonus is a single wager the operator provides. The player's own funds aren't committed to any wagering target by accepting a free bet. Free spins similarly create a self-contained bonus pool from the spin value and spin count. Neither type locks the player's deposited funds into the playthrough obligation the way a deposit-plus-bonus base does.

This makes the wagering base distinction specific to deposit bonuses. It's not a general property of gambling offers. Free spins wagering targets can be large, but they don't implicate the player's deposit in their calculation. A deposit-plus-bonus base on a match offer does, and that's a structural difference that changes the decision about whether to accept the bonus in the first place.