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The matched deposit bonus is the oldest shape in online gambling: put in £20, play with £40. It survives because it is easy to advertise and easy to understand, and because the percentage on the poster tells you almost nothing about the deal.
Percentages have inflated over the years while the money behind them has not. A 300% match capped at £30 is a smaller offer than a 50% match capped at £100, and since the Gambling Commission capped wagering at 10 times the bonus on 19 January 2026, the headline percentage has even less to say about how hard the money is to keep.
How a match is calculated, and where it stops
The site multiplies your qualifying deposit by the percentage and credits the result as bonus funds, until it hits the cap. Every match therefore has two limits: the percentage, which governs small deposits, and the cap, which governs large ones.
A 200% match up to £50
Deposit £10: bonus £20. Balance £30.
Deposit £25: bonus £50, the cap reached exactly. Balance £75.
Deposit £100: bonus still £50. Balance £150.
Past £25 the percentage stops meaning anything. The deposit that lands exactly on the cap is the efficient one, and on most offers it is far lower than players assume.
Bonus funds are not cash, and the gap is the whole point
Matched money arrives in a separate bonus balance. It can be played but not withdrawn, and a wagering requirement decides how much has to be staked before any of it crosses into your cash balance. Licensees must show the two balances separately, so you can always see which is which.
How the requirement is expressed matters more than its size. Applied to the bonus alone, a £50 bonus at the legal maximum of 10x needs £500 of qualifying stakes. Applied to deposit plus bonus after a £50 deposit, the same multiplier needs £1,000. Identical headline, twice the work.
Game weighting then decides how quickly you get there. Slots usually count in full, while table games, video poker and live dealer games often count at a reduced rate or not at all, so the same £500 can take five times longer on the wrong game.
Sticky and non-sticky, and why the difference is worth knowing
A sticky bonus can never be withdrawn itself. You play with it, and only winnings above it can convert. It is the standard arrangement.
A non-sticky bonus works the other way round: your own money is staked first and the bonus sits untouched behind it. Win while playing with your own cash and you can decline the bonus, keep the winnings as real money and leave with no play-through at all. Lose your own money and you take up the bonus and continue under its normal terms. Where it is offered, it is usually the better structure for a cautious player.
The terms will not always use these words. What tells you which you have is the order in which funds are staked, and whether the bonus can be cancelled before it is used.
The ceiling: maximum conversion
Many matched offers limit how much bonus money can ever become cash, often to a multiple of the bonus or a flat figure. A cap of £100 on a £200 bonus means that half of what you were given can never reach your account no matter how the play goes.
This is the number that separates a real offer from a decorative one, and it is the one most often missing from a headline. When two offers look similar, compare conversion caps before anything else.
Matched deposit bonuses and matched betting are not the same thing
Matched betting is a sports betting technique that uses a free bet and an opposing lay bet on an exchange to lock in a return whatever the result. It relies on bets that cancel each other out.
A matched deposit bonus is casino or bingo bonus funds subject to a play-through on games with a house edge. There is no covering bet, no lock-in and no arbitrage: the expected outcome of a play-through is a loss, which is exactly why operators can afford to offer one. The similar name causes real confusion, and treating the two as equivalent is an expensive mistake.
Reload matches, and what they are worth
A reload is a match offered to an existing player, normally smaller than the welcome offer and often restricted to a day, a game type or a payment method. Because they repeat, a modest reload with a low requirement can be worth more over a few months than a single large welcome bonus.
The same three numbers apply: the cap, the wagering basis and the conversion limit. Being an established customer changes none of them.
What the advertising rules require of every offer here
The advertising codes require the significant conditions of a promotion to be shown clearly and prominently wherever it appears, with the full terms no more than one click away. Significant conditions include eligibility, any requirement to deposit your own money, wagering and withdrawal restrictions, and time limits.
They also say an offer cannot be called free if you have to risk your own money to qualify for it, and cannot be described as risk free unless you stand to lose nothing. Each listing on this page shows its significant terms for that reason, and if something is not stated there, it is not in the offer either.
How to judge a matched offer in under a minute
1
Find the deposit that hits the cap
Divide the cap by the percentage. That is the efficient deposit, and everything above it earns nothing extra.
2
Read the wagering basis
Bonus only, or deposit plus bonus. It is the difference between one play-through and two.
3
Find the conversion cap
The most the bonus can ever be worth in cash, whatever happens on the reels.
4
Check weighting, max bet and expiry
They decide whether the requirement is achievable in the time given without voiding the bonus.
The percentage is the marketing, not the offer
Matched bonuses are advertised on the one number that is cheapest to inflate. A large percentage with a low cap, a high wagering basis and a tight conversion limit is a small offer in a loud shirt, while a plain-looking match with a low requirement and no conversion cap can be genuinely useful.
Work out what the bonus is at your deposit, what it takes to clear, and what the most it can ever pay is. Three numbers, and none of them is the one on the banner.
Playing safely
A matched bonus works by getting more money into play than you intended to risk, and the play-through keeps it there. Decide your limit before you claim, set a deposit limit at the same time, and treat bonus funds as money at risk rather than money you own.
Every site listed here is licensed by the Gambling Commission and must offer deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion. If gambling stops being entertainment, free confidential help is available from GambleAware and the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, and GAMSTOP blocks access to every licensed British gambling site for a period you choose.
