A bonus advertised at 20x sounds twice as generous as one at 40x, and that arithmetic is where most players stop reading. It is also where they get it wrong. The multiplier is only one of three numbers that decide how long a bonus takes to clear, and a low multiplier attached to a heavily restricted game list can be far slower than a higher multiplier on slots. The comparison metric that matters is effective playthrough: what you actually have to wager, on games you can actually play, before the balance becomes yours.
Why the headline multiplier hides the real cost
Playthrough, sometimes called wagering, is the amount you must bet before withdrawing bonus winnings. A 20x requirement on a $100 bonus means $2,000 wagered. A 40x requirement on the same $100 means $4,000. On paper the first is the better deal, and on slots it usually is. The trouble starts when the terms attach game weighting to that low number.
Weighting is the percentage of each bet that counts toward the requirement. Slots typically count at 100 per cent, live dealer tables often at 10 per cent, and some card games at 0 or excluded outright. A 20x bonus with 10 per cent table weighting does not cost 20x on blackjack. It costs 200x, because each $1 staked contributes 10 cents to the clearing total. A 40x slots bonus costs exactly 40x. The lower multiplier is five times the workload.
This is the playthrough myth in one line: the multiplier is a rate, not a total, and the total is what empties your bankroll or fills it. Any honest comparison has to multiply the headline figure by the weighting of the games you intend to play, then check whether those games are even eligible.
How to compare offers without getting fooled
Start by converting every offer to an effective playthrough figure for your own game of choice. Take the bonus amount, multiply by the multiplier, then divide by the weighting percentage as a decimal. A $100 bonus at 35x on slots is $3,500 wagered. The same bonus at 20x with 10 per cent weighting is $20,000. Write both numbers down before you look at the free spins.
Then check the exclusions. A lobby catalogue built around slot filters rather than raw game counts usually tells you more about eligibility than a headline “1,000 games” claim, because the terms page will list which categories count, which count partially, and which are void. Look for the phrase “contributions may vary” and treat it as a warning rather than boilerplate.
Reading a real set of terms
Take a representative Canadian-facing offer from Supabet, an operator that holds an offshore licence from the Anjouan Gaming Board and does not sit inside Ontario’s regulated market. The promotional card names a first deposit bonus of 100 per cent up to 150 dollars, while the body copy names a 100 per cent welcome bonus up to 500 euros with 200 free spins. That gap between card and body copy is worth noting on its own, and the 150 dollar figure is stated in dollars with the Canadian market named beside it. The operator names 35 times as the playthrough requirement.
Read the withdrawal wording in the cashier carefully, because that is where the clearing window is quoted in business days, and business days do not include weekends or Ontario statutory holidays. Supabet casino provides further background on the subject. A bonus that “clears in five business days” can stretch past a full calendar week once a holiday lands in the middle. The Supabet cashier is settled in the withdrawal wording, so the sequence of deposit, wager, clear, and request payout is documented, but only if you scroll past the bonus banner.
Here is the checklist that replaces the multiplier comparison:
- Effective playthrough: bonus times multiplier divided by game weighting, calculated for the games you will actually play.
- Eligible games: which categories count at 100 per cent, which are partial, and which are excluded entirely.
- Maximum bet per spin or hand while a bonus is active, often $5 or less, with breaches voiding the bonus.
- Time limit to clear, expressed in days, and whether the clock starts at deposit or at first wager.
- Withdrawal cap on bonus winnings, which can turn a large win into a modest payout.
- The clearing window in business days and how the payout rails (Interac, card, e-wallet) affect when money lands.
Run a Supabet welcome offer through that list and the 35x figure stops being the headline. The weighting table and the maximum bet rule decide whether the bonus is clearable at all. A player who deposits, plays live dealer at 10 per cent weighting, and hits the time limit has paid for a bonus they will never withdraw. That outcome has nothing to do with 35x being high or low.
The Canadian context that changes the maths
Ontario runs a regulated market with registered operators, and bonuses there fall under provincial advertising and terms rules that constrain how offers can be presented. Supabet is not part of Ontario’s regulated market, so players in Toronto are dealing with an offshore licence from the Anjouan Gaming Board and terms written to that jurisdiction. Neither arrangement is automatically better, but the disclosure style differs, and offshore terms tend to bury weighting and maximum bet clauses deeper in the document.
Geography also shapes the calendar. A Toronto player clearing a bonus across a week that includes a provincial holiday is working against a clearing window measured in business days, and the site reads Supabet from a Toronto week in exactly that way. Deposit hours matter too: an e-transfer that lands after the bonus window opens can leave the clock running before the funds are usable. Check whether the timer starts on deposit confirmation or on the first qualifying wager.
The practical takeaway for Canadian players is to ignore cross-operator multiplier comparisons entirely unless the weighting and game eligibility match. They rarely do. A 25x slots-only bonus and a 20x bonus with 20 per cent weighting on your preferred game are not in the same league, and the second is the worse deal by a wide margin. Compare effective playthrough, then compare time limits, then compare withdrawal caps. The multiplier is the last number to look at, not the first.
Before you claim anything, open the terms page, find the weighting table, and do the division yourself. If the bonus is 35x and you play slots at full weighting, you know your number. If it is 20x and half your session is blackjack at 10 per cent, you know a much bigger one. Log the effective figure next to the expiry date, keep your bets under the maximum, and treat the cashier’s business-day wording as the real deadline rather than the banner’s promise. The players who clear bonuses are not the ones who found the lowest multiplier. They are the ones who read the weighting table first.