A sticky bonus is credit you may stake but never withdraw: when you cash out, the bonus amount is subtracted from the total. A non-sticky bonus sits beside your deposit, your own cash is played first, and you can withdraw early by forfeiting it. This page covers that one clause — the wording, the arithmetic and how to confirm which you have.
Pokies Cashout · Payments and terms referencePublished Last reviewed Promotion figures supplied by site owner: 5 October 2026
What the clause governs
Whether bonus credit is withdrawable
Variants
Sticky, non-sticky, semi-sticky
Where it is stated
Bonus terms, not the banner
Operators
Offshore — not AU licensed
"Sticky" describes the money, not the game
"Sticky" describes what happens to the bonus money at the moment you try to take it out. Nothing else. It is not a description of the game, the size of the offer or the multiplier attached to it. A sticky bonus and a non-sticky bonus can carry identical wagering, identical weighting and identical expiry, and still produce different amounts in your bank account from the same final balance.
Two near-homonyms cause most of the confusion in this search. A pokie's bonus round is a game feature with its own trigger and its own maths, and has nothing to do with this clause; a sticky wild is a reel mechanic. The clause on this page lives in the operator's promotional terms and governs money, not reels.
The definitions, one sentence each. A sticky bonus is credit you may stake but never withdraw: the bonus amount is subtracted at the point of cashout, so only what you won above it can leave the account. A non-sticky bonus — also written cashable, cash-first, forfeitable or parachute — is held separately from your deposit, your own cash is staked first, and the bonus becomes live only when that cash runs out. Until that moment you can withdraw and simply lose the bonus.
A third shape is worth naming because it gets described loosely as one of the other two: a semi-sticky or phased bonus, non-withdrawable at first and converting to cash at a stated point. The conversion trigger is the only thing that matters about it, and it is always written down somewhere.
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One balance or two: the cashier tells you first
Before reading a word of the terms you can usually tell which clause you are under by looking at the account balance after a deposit lands. A cashier showing one figure is running a merged balance. A cashier showing cash and bonus as separate lines, with separate amounts, is running two. A merged balance cannot be non-sticky in practice, because there is no cash pot to stake first.
The separation is not cosmetic. With two balances the order of play is a rule the software enforces: every round draws from the cash line until it reaches zero. That is what makes an early withdrawal possible — the money you would withdraw has never been mixed with restricted credit, so the operator can pay it and cancel the bonus cleanly.
With one balance it cannot. Once your deposit and the bonus are a single number there is no way to identify which dollars are yours, so the operator resolves it arithmetically at the exit and takes the bonus amount off whatever is there. That is the sticky mechanic, and it follows from the accounting rather than from any decision to punish you.
Check this on the deposit screen before you fund anything. The balance display is also the fastest way to catch a bonus you did not mean to claim: if a bonus line appears when you expected only cash, something was ticked or auto-applied, and the terms are now in force.
One balance or two: the cashier tells you first
The two formulas, and where they diverge
Two formulas, both short. For a sticky bonus at the point of cashout, assuming wagering is complete and no other cap applies: withdrawable equals current balance minus bonus amount. For a non-sticky bonus before the handover: withdrawable equals the cash balance, and the bonus is forfeited.
Put hypothetical figures through the first one. These are arithmetic illustrations, not any operator's terms. Deposit A$100, sticky bonus A$100, balance after wagering A$260. Subtract the A$100 of bonus credit and A$160 leaves. The headline said the bonus doubled your money; what it actually bought was the chance to play with A$200, and it kept A$100 of the result.
The same figures behave differently under a non-sticky clause, because the question gets asked earlier. The A$100 deposit is staked first. If it grows to A$160 while the bonus is still untouched, you can withdraw A$160 and the A$100 of credit disappears unused. If instead the deposit is lost, the bonus activates and you continue with money you could never have withdrawn anyway.
The second illustration is the one people miss. Under a sticky clause a balance below the bonus amount is worth nothing on withdrawal: A$100 of sticky bonus against a A$80 balance yields A$0, because the subtraction does not go negative. Under a non-sticky clause the same A$80 is your own money and leaves intact. Same offer size, same play, opposite result, and the difference is one clause.
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The handover: the round where a non-sticky bonus goes live
One more distinction inside the sticky family before the handover. Terms that deduct the bonus at cashout are not the same as terms that strip the unused credit the moment you request a withdrawal mid-wagering. Read which event triggers the removal, because the first lets you finish and the second ends the attempt.
A non-sticky bonus has a moment no banner mentions: the round on which the cash balance reaches zero and the bonus goes live. Before it you are playing your own money under no promotional rules at all. After it, every clause in the bonus terms applies — wagering, the weighting table, the maximum bet per round, the game exclusions, the expiry clock and any cashout cap.
This is why "non-sticky means no wagering" is wrong, and it is the most common misreading of the term. Non-sticky describes the separation of balances, not the absence of conditions. A non-sticky bonus you actually activate is a bonus with a full set of requirements. It is simply one you had the option not to start.
The practical risk is a stake set for cash play carrying across the boundary. If you were betting comfortably with your own money and the maximum bet while bonus funds are active is lower, the first bonus-funded round can breach a rule you were not subject to when you set that stake. Autoplay makes it worse, because nothing interrupts to tell you the balance has changed hands. Decide before you deposit what you will do at the handover: stop and withdraw whatever cash remains, or reset the stake to the bonus maximum and treat it as a new session. The answer that costs money is not noticing.
Conditions are published by the operator and change without notice. Read the live page before you act on anything here.
The clause is rarely labelled "sticky". Operators write the mechanic rather than the jargon, so search the terms document for the mechanic instead. Look for "non-withdrawable", "non-cashable" and "for wagering purposes only", all of which describe a sticky structure. Look for "will be deducted from your withdrawal" or "removed from your balance", which say the same thing and also tell you when the removal happens. Look for "your cash balance will be used first" or "real-money funds are played first", which describe a non-sticky structure. Look for "forfeit", which tells you what becomes of the bonus if you withdraw early — the whole non-sticky bargain in one word. And look for "converted to cash" or "becomes withdrawable when", which marks a semi-sticky structure, with the conversion trigger in the sentence that follows.
Two phrases look decisive and are not. "Cashable bonus" is used both for a genuinely non-sticky structure and for a sticky one whose credit converts after wagering, so read the surrounding sentence rather than the label. And "the bonus is yours to keep" is marketing copy with no defined meaning anywhere in the agreement.
Where you look matters as much as what you look for. The promotion page carries the headline; the clause lives in the bonus terms or the general terms, and the version in force is the one published when you accept. Save that as a dated PDF rather than a screenshot of the banner. If the offer in front of you is at Safe Casino or WinCrown, go to the bonus terms linked from their cashier and find this clause in their own wording — nothing on this page describes what either of them is running today.
The phrases that identify the clause in the terms
Five ways this clause costs people money
Partial withdrawals are the first failure mode. Some non-sticky structures cancel the bonus outright on any withdrawal rather than reducing it in proportion, so taking a small amount out of the cash balance can forfeit the entire bonus line; the sentence containing the word "forfeit" is the one that tells you which applies. Where cancellation is all-or-nothing, one withdrawal of the whole cash balance beats a series of small ones. Check also whether forfeiture is triggered by the request or only by a completed payment, because withdrawing a request may not restore anything.
The phantom balance is the second. A sticky bonus keeps the on-screen number larger than the withdrawable number for the entire life of the bonus, and people size their bets against the displayed total. The habit that fixes it is to subtract the bonus amount every time you look at the balance; that figure, not the displayed one, is what you are playing for.
The cancel button is the third. Most accounts offer a way to abandon a bonus, and what it does to winnings already generated by bonus funds varies: some terms forfeit the credit and keep the attached winnings as cash, others remove both. Find that sentence before you need it, because the button is one click behind a vague confirmation dialog.
The fourth is the cap underneath. A maximum cashout and a sticky clause stack rather than compete: the clause subtracts the bonus, the cap limits what remains. Reading one and assuming it is the only restriction is how a large balance becomes a small payment with no error anywhere in the chain. The fifth is auto-application: a deposit match that applies by default rather than by opt-in binds you from the moment the deposit lands. If you meant to deposit without a bonus, find the opt-out on the deposit form and confirm the result on the balance display before you play a round.
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Which clause suits you follows from what you intend to do, and two players with the same bankroll can reach opposite answers.
If you expect to withdraw as soon as you are ahead, non-sticky is the only structure that permits it, and the bonus is best understood as a second attempt you get if the first one fails rather than as added value. Its worth to you is the option, not the credit — which also means a non-sticky bonus you always activate was never worth much to you in the first place.
If you intend to run a wagering requirement to completion, this distinction shrinks and two other clauses take over: the wagering basis and the cashout cap. A sticky bonus with a modest requirement and no cap can leave more behind than a non-sticky one with a large requirement, because the subtraction is a fixed amount while the requirement compounds against the house edge. Work out the required turnover first, then apply the subtraction to the result. If you do not intend to complete a requirement at all, the only offer worth considering is one you can exit with your own money, which rules out the sticky structure by definition.
One rule covers all three. The structure never makes a bonus worth accepting on its own. Declining is an available answer, and it is the right one whenever the clause is unclear, the terms contradict each other, or completing the requirement would change how much or how long you intended to play.
Confirming it before you deposit, and what this page cannot tell you
A procedure, in the order that actually works. Open the bonus terms from the promotion page and find the clause with the searches above. Note which structure it describes and, if sticky, which event removes the credit. Then open the cashier, begin a deposit without completing it, and look at whether the balance panel shows one line or two. Then decide whether you are claiming the bonus at all. Fund the account last.
Keep the evidence in the form that is useful later: the dated terms document, the acceptance confirmation, and a record of the balance immediately after the deposit landed, showing the cash and bonus figures as the operator displayed them. If a withdrawal is later reduced, the question you will be asking is which published clause explains the difference, and that is far easier to ask with the original wording in hand.
What this page cannot tell you is which structure sits behind the offer in front of you. The same operator can run a sticky welcome match and a non-sticky reload in the same week, this wording is revised without version numbers, and the clause that governed last month's promotion does not carry across to this month's. Only the terms attached to the specific offer settle it, which is why every instruction above points at a document rather than at a figure.
The arithmetic settles less than it appears to. It compares two clauses using amounts you supply, and it assumes the wagering was finished and nothing else was taken off on the way out; it says nothing about whether a balance ever reaches the point where the subtraction becomes the deciding factor. Treat it as a method for reading a clause, not as a projection. And because the operators described here are offshore — online casino services are not licensed in Australia — the non-withdrawable wording you accept is enforced as the operator drafted it, with no domestic regulator to read an ambiguous deduction clause in your favour. A clause that decides what is allowed to leave the account is worth ten minutes before the deposit instead of an argument after a payment lands short.
"Sticky" describes the money, not the game — at a glance
Questions people actually ask
What does a sticky bonus mean in a casino?
It means the bonus credit itself can never be withdrawn. You may stake it, but at the point of cashout the bonus amount is subtracted from your balance, so only what you won above it can leave the account. The removal event is specified in the bonus terms — some deduct at cashout, others strip the unused credit as soon as a withdrawal is requested.
What is the difference between a sticky and a non-sticky bonus?
A sticky bonus shares one balance with your deposit and is deducted when you withdraw. A non-sticky bonus is held in a separate balance, your own cash is staked first, and you can withdraw that cash at any time before the bonus activates — forfeiting the bonus in the process. Wagering, weighting and expiry can be identical in both.
Does a non-sticky bonus have wagering requirements?
Yes, if you activate it. Non-sticky describes the separation of balances, not the absence of conditions. Once your cash balance reaches zero and the bonus goes live, the full set of terms applies — wagering, game weighting, the maximum bet per round, exclusions, expiry and any cashout cap. The option you had was not to start it.
How do I tell whether a bonus is sticky before I deposit?
Search the bonus terms for "non-withdrawable", "non-cashable", "deducted from your withdrawal" and "removed from your balance" (sticky), and for "cash balance will be used first" and "forfeit" (non-sticky). Then begin a deposit without completing it and look at the balance panel: one figure means a merged balance, two separate lines mean two balances.
Can I withdraw part of my balance with a non-sticky bonus?
Often not without consequence. Some non-sticky structures cancel the bonus outright on any withdrawal rather than reducing it in proportion, so a small withdrawal can forfeit the whole bonus line — the forfeiture sentence in the bonus terms is where that is settled. Check whether forfeiture is triggered by the request or by a completed payment, and prefer one withdrawal of the full cash balance to a series of small ones.
Is a non-sticky bonus always better than a sticky one?
No. If you plan to withdraw as soon as you are ahead, non-sticky is the only structure that allows it. If you plan to complete a wagering requirement, the basis and the cashout cap matter more — a sticky bonus with a modest requirement and no cap can leave more behind than a non-sticky one with a large requirement, because the deduction is fixed while the turnover compounds.
