No Deposit vs No Wagering: What Do These iGaming Terms Mean?

Increasingly in North America, and especially Canada, iGaming has become a prominent form of digital entertainment. The space of online casino gaming has developed tremendously over the last five or so years. Now, there are slots tapping into just about every theme imaginable with a large variety of features and core mechanics. On top of this, live casino gaming has really taken off.

With such variety, it doesn’t come as a surprise that where iGaming is regulated, it thrives. It’s not just variety in the gaming products, though. There’s a vast range of online casinos to choose from. As a result of the competition, even those sites that tick other key boxes of the experience, such as payout speed, have had to adapt the quality of their bonuses.

So, that leads to the rise of two new terms in iGaming: no deposit and no wagering. We’ll explore what these terms mean and which is the better offer below.

A Brief Look at Competition Driving Incentives

Players love a bit of competition, whether it’s proving to be better at blackjack than the others or beating the rest to a progressive jackpot prize. As it turns out, the platforms themselves seem to revel in a bit of competition. Such is the case that it’s essentially obligatory for each online casino to offer a welcome bonus. It plays into the classic marketing setup of the free sample, even being able to do away with some of the hindrances of physical freebies.

Originally, it was a case of catching the eye with the biggest offers. Platforms would offer thousands of dollars as their welcome bonus. Looking at them further, though, would reveal many terms and conditions. The bonus would be spread across multiple deposits. Sometimes, the bonus wouldn’t be a 100 percent match. Other times, the wagering requirements were almost impossible to beat.

The increase in competition since those days has led to a much more player-friendly and accessible environment. It has been an important pivot, making for more accessible bonuses to welcome more players. Even in Ontario, where advertising promotions doesn’t happen, they’ve played a large part in gaming revenues hitting $738 million in 2024/25.

No Deposit or No Wagering?

The latest developments for online casino bonuses revolve around no deposit and no wagering bonuses. Both are still fairly novel. Yet, among the casinos given perfect scores by Bonus.ca in their post that ranks platforms with fast payouts, a fair few have no deposit and no wagering bonuses. These sites already tick the key box for giving players withdrawals in under an hour. On top of this, they offer player-friendly new bonus formats.

No deposit bonus means that players don’t need to make a deposit – which they usually do – to get the bonus playing funds. They just need to make an account. No wagering bonus means that a deposit is required to get the funds or free spins. However, whatever is won from that bonus is paid to the player in real money. So, winnings aren’t subject to wagering requirements. These often require players to bet bonus winnings several times over.

No deposit and no wagering bonuses are the result of intense competition in iGaming. Of the two, no deposit bonuses are best for those who just want to test the experience. No wagering bonuses are best for players who want to play to win.