How refer a friend works

How refer a friend works: the short version

A casino refer-a-friend scheme rewards an existing customer for introducing someone new. You get a unique link or code from your account, your friend uses it when registering, and once they've done what the terms require, the casino credits the reward. Some schemes reward only the person referring, some reward only the new customer, and some reward both.

The scheme is a promotion like any other, so it comes with terms: who counts as a new customer, what the friend must deposit or bet, how many referrals you can make, what form the reward takes and how long you have. This guide explains each part, with worked numbers. It belongs to our casino bonus guides, and our refer a friend bonus page looks at where such offers can still be found.

Our five partners' welcome offers, last checked on 5 October 2026, don't include a refer-a-friend scheme. If one appears, it will be on the casino's promotions page with its own terms.

How refer a friend works step by step

The journey has two sides, yours and your friend's, and the reward depends on both being completed in the right order.

1. You open the referral area of your account and copy your personal link or code.
2. You share it with a friend who is 18 or over, lives where the casino operates and has never had an account there.
3. Your friend registers through the link, or enters the code at sign-up, before doing anything else.
4. Your friend passes the casino's age and identity checks, which UK casinos must complete before anyone can deposit or play.
5. Your friend makes the qualifying deposit or bet within the time limit, using a payment method the terms don't exclude.
6. The casino checks the referral against its rules, such as one per household and no duplicate accounts.
7. The reward is credited to whoever the terms name, sometimes straight away and sometimes after a waiting period.

The link is the part most likely to go wrong. If your friend signs up through a search result or another advert instead, the casino may have no record that you referred them. It works much like a qualifying deposit: the system only rewards actions it can trace to the promotion.

Refer-a-friend rewards and how they're paid

Referral rewards come in a handful of forms. The form matters more than the headline amount, because it decides whether there's wagering, a cap or an expiry.

With bonus funds, the wagering requirements do most of the work in setting the real value. With free spins, the spin value and any max cashout are what count.

Refer-a-friend terms to read line by line

Referral terms tend to repeat the same handful of clauses. Reading them in this order covers the points that most often cost people the reward.

Our guide to spotting unfair bonus terms helps if a referral clause seems one-sided, such as a term letting the casino withhold rewards at its sole discretion.

What a referral reward is really worth: worked maths

Because none of our partners runs a referral scheme in the offers we've checked, the figures below are illustrative examples built from common structures, not any casino's live terms. They show how to work out value for any scheme you meet.

The method is the same each time: multiply the wagering by the house edge to estimate the average cost, then subtract that from the reward. A £20 bonus at 10x needs £200 of play; at a 4% house edge that costs about £8 on average, leaving roughly £12. These are long-run averages, and a single session can end with nothing left or with more. Before 19 January 2026, a reward like this could carry much heavier wagering: at 35x, the same £20 bonus would have needed £700 of play and cost about £28 on average, more than the bonus itself.

Remember the other side too. Your friend usually has to deposit and play before you're rewarded, and that play has a cost to them. A referral that leads someone to gamble more than they'd planned isn't a good trade at any reward size.

UK rules on refer-a-friend offers in 2026

A referral reward is a marketing incentive, so the general UK rules on bonuses apply to it.

• Wagering cap: under social responsibility code 5.1.1 of the licence conditions and codes of practice (opens in a new tab), wagering on bonus funds can't exceed 10 times the bonus from 19 January 2026. See our page on the 10x wagering cap.
• One product per incentive: from the same date, a single incentive can't mix gambling products, so a referral that rewards a sports bet with casino spins, for example, isn't allowed. Our mixed-product promotion ban page explains it.
• Clear terms: significant conditions, such as the friend's qualifying deposit and the reward's wagering, must be shown prominently, with full terms easy to reach, under the Commission's transparency guidance (opens in a new tab).
• Marketing consent: since 1 May 2025 casinos must get opt-in consent per product and channel before sending direct marketing, under LCCP 5.1.12 (opens in a new tab). A referral link you choose to send a friend is your message, but the casino can't add your friend to its own marketing without their consent. See marketing consent rules.
• Harm checks: operators must stop marketing and new bonus take-up for customers showing strong signs of harm, which can apply to referral rewards as well. See bonuses and harm indicators.

Households, sister sites and duplicate accounts

The clause most likely to void a referral is the one about who counts as a separate person. Casinos commonly limit offers to one per person, household, address, device or IP address, which our glossary covers under one offer per household. If you refer a partner who shares your address and Wi-Fi, the system may treat it as the same household even though you're two adults.

Referring yourself through a second account is a different matter: that's multi-accounting, which almost every casino's terms forbid, and it can lead to accounts being closed and winnings voided. Gambling Commission guidance on promotional play restrictions (opens in a new tab) expects such restrictions to be spelled out clearly in advance, and casinos must say what action they'll take.

Brands owned by one company can also share customer records. Coral and Ladbrokes are both run by LC International Limited, so someone with an account at one may not count as new at the other. See do Coral and Ladbrokes share accounts and how sister site bonuses work.

Referring a friend responsibly

A refer-a-friend scheme gives you a reason to encourage someone else to gamble, which is why it deserves more care than an ordinary bonus. A few principles keep it on the right side:

• Only share a link with adults who already gamble and enjoy it as entertainment, and only if they ask.
• Never pressure anyone, and never suggest gambling is a way to make money: losses are likely over time.
• Don't refer anyone who has self-excluded, is cutting down or has had problems with gambling. GAMSTOP registration blocks sign-ups at UK-licensed sites anyway.
• Don't share your own account, details or payment card with a friend; each account must be used only by its verified owner.

If you're worried about your own gambling or someone else's, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 (free, 24/7), and GAMSTOP (opens in a new tab) lets people block themselves from UK-licensed gambling sites.

Are refer-a-friend casino bonuses still common in the UK?

They're less visible than welcome offers. Among our five partners, none of the offers we checked on 5 October 2026 includes a referral scheme, and we don't say a partner runs one unless its own pages confirm it. Promotions for existing customers do change, so the honest advice is to look at the casino's promotions page and read the terms of anything you find.

If you're already a customer and want ongoing value, other kinds of existing-customer promotion may suit you better. PlayOJO's OJOplus pays money back on every game played, with no wagering, as explained in how OJOplus works. Each partner's existing-customer page, such as Coral's offers for existing customers, points to where those promotions are listed.

Refer a friend vs other existing-customer offers

Our pages on the reload bonus, free spins for existing customers and cashback bonuses go through each in more depth.

Partner offers for new customers instead

With no referral scheme in our partners' checked offers, the nearest equivalent for a friend who's new to one of them is the ordinary welcome offer, which needs no link from you. Here's what a newcomer would do for each. Every offer is 18+ and terms apply.

As Coral and Ladbrokes share an operator, someone already with one may not be treated as new by the other. Whatever a friend decides, it's their own choice to make.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Decide a budget before you play: set a budget. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.