A turnover calculation has two steps and one trap. The two steps are addition and multiplication: add up your stakes to get turnover, then multiply that by the margin of the markets you bet in to get what the turnover costs on average. The trap is that the phrase comes from the overseas rollover model, where a bonus is credited and then has to be staked several times over before anything can be withdrawn.
Australia does not work that way. Under the National Consumer Protection Framework, winnings from a bonus bet must be able to be withdrawn without a turnover requirement attached, so a compliant Australian bonus bet has no rollover on what it wins. The arithmetic below is therefore not about clearing a rollover but about what a promotion's own qualifying conditions cost, which is a different sum and usually a far smaller one.
Turnover is one addition
Turnover is the total you stake, win or lose. Not profit, not deposits, not returns.
Take an illustrative week of 20 bets: twelve at $25, six at $50 and two at $100.
- 12 x $25 = $300
- 6 x $50 = $300
- 2 x $100 = $200
Turnover = $300 + $300 + $200 = $800, across 20 bets, so an average stake of $800 / 20 = $40.
That is the whole calculation. A winner does not count twice and a loser does not count as nothing: a $25 bet is $25 of turnover either way, so terms asking for $200 of turnover are met by eight $25 bets or by two $100 bets. What turnover means is set out in turnover, and the rules each condition has to follow are in promo turnover requirements. This page is the sum.
The one multiplication: turnover times margin
Turnover on its own is not a cost. What turns it into one is the margin: the share of every dollar staked that a bookmaker prices in for itself.
expected cost = turnover x margin per dollar staked
If the markets you bet in carry 5 cents of margin in the dollar, $1,000 of turnover costs $1,000 x 0.05 = $50 on average. Three figures at three illustrative margins:
| Turnover | 2c in the dollar | 5c in the dollar | 10c in the dollar |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | $10.00 | $25.00 | $50.00 |
| $1,000 | $20.00 | $50.00 | $100.00 |
| $5,000 | $100.00 | $250.00 | $500.00 |
"On average" is the operative phrase: one bet returns a win or nothing, and the table is what the margin takes across many bets. It is also why doubling your stakes doubles the cost and leaves your strike rate where it was.
A 105% book is not a 5% margin
Add one divided by each price in a market and you get the book total, or overround. It is measured against a 100% market, while the cost you are calculating is measured against the money staked, so the two figures never match and bookmaker margin sets out why one margin reads as two percentages. For this sum, convert the total first:
margin per dollar staked = 1 - (1 / book total)
| Book total | Margin per $1 staked | Cost of $1,000 turnover |
|---|---|---|
| 102% | 1.96c | $19.61 |
| 105% | 4.76c | $47.62 |
| 110% | 9.09c | $90.91 |
| 125% | 20.00c | $200.00 |
Working the 105% row: 1 / 1.05 = 0.952381, and 1 - 0.952381 = 0.047619, so 4.76 cents. Then $1,000 x 0.047619 = $47.62, not $50. Taking the book total straight off the market overstates the cost by $2.38 on $1,000 and $11.90 on $5,000, and at 125% it reads 25 cents against a true 20. The bookmaker margin calculator gives the book total from the prices.
Wagering requirements in Australia: the rule that changes the sum
The overseas model is worth costing once. Suppose a $50 bonus had to be turned over 6 times before anything could be withdrawn, through markets at a 105% book.
- Required turnover = 6 x $50 = $300
- Expected cost = $300 x 0.047619 = $14.29
- As a share of the bonus = $14.29 / $50 = 28.6%
At 8 times it is 8 x $50 = $400, costing $400 x 0.047619 = $19.05, or 38.1% of the bonus. That is the model the phrase "wagering requirement" comes from, and in Australia it does not reach bonus bet winnings: the national policy statement requires that they be withdrawable without any turnover requirement attached. So in a compliant Australian calculation that line is $0 of required turnover and $0 of expected cost.
Note: a bookmaker's terms still govern what the bonus itself may be used on, and the bookmaker decides whether a given bet qualifies. If terms do attach turnover to bonus bet winnings, ask in writing which clause applies, then take it to the authority that licenses the bookmaker.
Turning a condition into a turnover figure
Betting turnover requirements covers which conditions the national rules allow and who sets each one. What follows is only the sum: how a line in the terms becomes a number of dollars, and why two conditions asking for identical turnover cost different money.
Qualifying spend on a market you choose
A promotion that asks for a bet of a set size before a reward is credited costs you the margin on that bet. Illustrative head to head prices of $1.90 and $2.05:
- 1 / 1.90 = 0.526316, so 52.63%
- 1 / 2.05 = 0.487805, so 48.78%
- Book total = 101.41%, so margin = 1 - (1 / 1.0141) = 1.39 cents in the dollar
A $200 qualifying bet there costs $200 x 0.013924 = $2.78 on average. The useful part: scaling both chances down to add to 100% gives fair prices of $1.93 and $2.08, and $1.90 against a fair $1.93 is a 1.39% cost while $2.05 against a fair $2.08 is also 1.39%. Under proportional de-vigging both sides of one market cost the same share, so you do not need to settle which side to back before you can price the condition.
A minimum price condition
A minimum price does not cost extra by itself, as the arithmetic above shows. It costs extra when it pushes you out of a tight market and into a wide one. A $3.00 floor rules out both sides of that head to head, so say the only qualifying prices sit in a three-way market priced $2.10, $3.40 and $3.50:
- 1 / 2.10 + 1 / 3.40 + 1 / 3.50 = 0.476190 + 0.294118 + 0.285714 = 1.056022
- Margin = 1 - (1 / 1.056022) = 5.31 cents in the dollar
- $200 x 0.053050 = $10.61
The same $200 of turnover: $2.78 in the head to head, $10.61 under the price floor. That is about 3.8 times the cost, and none of it came from the size of the bet.
A minimum number of legs
A multi stacks the margin of every leg, so a leg count is the most expensive condition on this list. At a 105% book per leg the combined book is 1.05 multiplied by itself once per leg:
| Legs | Combined book | Margin per $1 | Cost of $100 staked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 105.00% | 4.76c | $4.76 |
| 2 | 110.25% | 9.30c | $9.30 |
| 3 | 115.76% | 13.62c | $13.62 |
| 4 | 121.55% | 17.73c | $17.73 |
Put $100 through as four $25 singles and it costs $100 x 0.047619 = $4.76. Put the same $100 through as one four-leg multi and it costs $17.73, about 3.7 times more, on identical turnover. Turnover alone never tells you the cost; the market does.
A condition on the deposit
A deposit asked to be bet through before it can be withdrawn is not a bonus, so the bonus-winnings rule does not reach it, and it prices the same way: a $150 deposit with a 4 times condition is 4 x $150 = $600 of turnover, costing $600 x 0.047619 = $28.57 at a 105% book, or 19.05% of the deposit. Betting turnover requirements covers where that term comes from and what to ask for in writing.
Staking the bonus bet itself
A stake-not-returned bonus bet has to be placed once before it can be worth anything. That one bet is turnover, $50 of it on a $50 bonus, and it costs no cash because you had no cash in it. What it is worth depends on the price you take.
The bonus returns the winnings only, so with the illustrative fair prices above its expected value is stake x (price - 1) / fair price:
- At an offered $2.05 against a fair $2.08: $50 x 1.05 / 2.07895 = $25.25
- At an offered $5.00 against a fair $5.07, about the same margin: $50 x 4.00 / 5.07060 = $39.44
Same bonus, same $50 of turnover, about $14 between them. A bonus bet that loses pays nothing, and both figures are expected values across many such bets rather than what any one bet returns. If you intend to hedge the bonus at an exchange instead of letting it run, the bonus bet converter works the lay stake, the liability and the cash kept either way after commission.
Working a turnover target backwards
Two divisions finish the job.
- Bets needed = target / stake. A $600 target at $25 a bet is 24 bets; at $50 a bet it is 12.
- Turnover multiple = target / the amount it is set against. $600 against a $150 deposit is 4 times.
Then price it with the multiplication from earlier and compare it with what the promotion pays. If the expected cost is larger than the reward, the sum has answered the question, and bet selection will not change it.
Running the numbers
The arithmetic needs two inputs you have to read off a live market: the prices in the market you plan to qualify in, and the fair price behind them. B337's Terminal is a live odds board that puts racing and sports prices from 40+ bookmakers side by side with Betfair back and lay, price history and expected value overlays, so the prices this sum needs sit on one screen instead of being collected bookmaker by bookmaker. Prices are read on a repeating cycle rather than tick by tick, so confirm the price in your bookmaker account before you bet. A free account opens a limited view of the Terminal with live odds, and the four calculators at odds comparison are free with no account, including a racing promo calculator for what a promotion already on your account is worth.
B337 is software, not a bookmaker, and sessions use only the promotions and bonus bets a bookmaker has already issued to an account you hold. They never create, unlock or claim an offer, and promotions carry each bookmaker's own terms, with the bookmaker deciding whether a bet qualifies. The bot runs on your own computer, so nothing is placed while that computer is off, and no software prevents a bookmaker restricting or closing an account: B337 makes no claim that it avoids limits.
Risk: Betting involves risk. Bookmakers can restrict or close accounts and void bets, automation can fail, prices move, and a positive expected value bet can still lose. A bonus bet that loses pays nothing, and promotions carry each bookmaker's own terms. There is no guarantee of profit. See responsible gambling for limits and support.