What matters more — a big signup offer or lower playthrough?
Lower playthrough, most of the time. The headline number is chosen to be advertised; the playthrough decides how much of it survives contact with reality.
A large offer with a heavy playthrough requirement is a large number you have to work through several times before any of it can be redeemed. A smaller offer you can actually clear is worth more than a big one you can't.
Who this is for
Somebody comparing welcome offers and noticing the numbers don't seem to line up with what people report getting.
Where it depends on you
How much you plan to play. If you'll play a lot anyway, a heavier playthrough on a bigger offer can come out ahead. If you're trying one site for a week, it almost never does.
Why the headline number is the loudest
It's the number in the ad, so it's the number that gets optimised. Nothing about a large figure is dishonest on its own — it just isn't the figure that determines your outcome.
The requirement attached to it is written in the terms, in smaller type, and is the thing worth reading first.
How to read an offer in thirty seconds
Find the playthrough requirement. Find whether it applies to the bonus only or to everything. Find the expiry. If any of the three is missing from the offer page, that's information too.
Then ask whether you would realistically play that much in the time allowed. If not, the offer is smaller than it looks.
The tradeoffs
- Optimising for offers pushes you towards signing up in a lot of places, which means a lot of identity checks and a lot of email.
- Ignoring offers entirely means leaving something on the table, particularly at sites you'd have chosen anyway.
Where this answer stops
- We don't do playthrough calculations, expected-value modelling, or offer comparisons. Those need current offer terms and careful maths, and doing them badly is worse than not doing them.
- We don't track offer histories or promotional calendars.