What is rakeback? The formula, a calculator and how Stake pays it

What rakeback means: the poker origin and the casino version

In poker it is a share of the rake

The word comes from online poker. A poker room does not play against you; it takes a small fee, the rake, out of every pot and every tournament entry, and rakeback poker deals, sold mostly through affiliates in the mid-2000s, returned a slice of that fee to the player at the end of the month. Search the term today and poker forums still come first, which is why the casino meaning confuses people.

In a casino it is a share of the house edge

A casino has no rake. What it has is a house edge: the built-in percentage of every bet that the game keeps over time. Dice at 99 % RTP keeps 1 %; a slot at 96 % RTP keeps 4 %. Casino rakeback hands back a fixed share of that edge on every bet, paid whether the bet won or lost. Stake’s help centre defines it the same way, a percentage return of the house edge “regardless of how much you won or lost”. It is not a refund of losses and not a discount on the bet; it is a small, permanent rebate on volume.

The rakeback formula, with real numbers

Wager × house edge × rate

Three numbers decide what comes back: how much you wagered, the edge of the game you wagered it on, and the rate. With code PACTBONUS the Stake rakeback percentage is 3.5% of the house edge. Take a $1,000 session on Dice: the edge is 1 %, so the house’s expected take is $10, and 3.5% of $10 is $0.35. Move the same $1,000 to a slot at 96 % RTP: the edge is 4 %, the expected take is $40, and the rebate is $1.40. Bigger edge, bigger rebate, and the slot still costs you four times as much.

Why 3.5% rakeback is not 3.5% of the bet

This is where most pages ranking for the term go wrong. They read “3.5% rakeback” as 3.5% of turnover and print tables a hundred times too generous: $35 on a $1,000 session instead of $0.35. No casino pays a rebate larger than its own margin; a 3.5% return on a 1 % edge game would lose the house 2.5 % of every bet. The rate is a share of the edge. Stake’s own worked example says exactly that: 1 BTC wagered at a 2 % edge returns 0.0007 BTC, which is 1 × 0.02 × 0.035.

$100 to $100,000 wagered, by game

Originals means Dice, Limbo, Plinko, Mines and Crash at their published 99 % RTP. The live-casino column is a mixed-lobby average: basic-strategy blackjack sits under it, game shows above it. For slots, check the RTP shown in the game info; many titles on Stake run in reduced-RTP builds.

How Stake rakeback is unlocked and claimed

Two doors: the code at registration, or Bronze VIP

Stake’s help centre lists two ways to switch it on. The first is reaching Bronze in the VIP Club, which takes $10,000 of total wagers. The second is joining through an affiliate partner, which is what code PACTBONUS does. Enter it in the code field at registration, or within 24 hours under Settings → Offers, and the rebate runs from the first bet rather than the ten-thousandth. No deposit is needed for this part of the deal; the steps are on the claim guide.

Where it accrues and how you collect it

It builds up in the background, per currency, in the VIP rewards panel: open your profile, choose VIP, select the rakeback tab and press claim. The amount moves to your main balance at once. No minimum, no deadline, no wagering: once claimed it is ordinary balance, withdrawable like any winnings on a verified account. It is paid in the currency you wagered, so CAD play returns CAD and bitcoin play returns bitcoin. And it does not stop: it is attached to the account for its lifetime, not to a promotion with an end date. Hosts and reloads are on our VIP and rakeback page.

What counts

Every casino bet counts: slots, Stake Originals, table games and live dealer tables. Stake’s article (updated 24 August 2026) adds that the same rate applies to poker rake and to the theoretical value of sportsbook bets; we describe the casino case, which is where almost all of the volume is.

Activate 3.5% rakeback with code PACTBONUS

Stake VIP levels: how the rebate stacks with the ladder

The Stake VIP Club, tier by tier

The rebate is one of four rewards that begin at Bronze; the other three grow with the ladder. Here it is as stake.com/vip-club showed it on 5 October 2026, thresholds being lifetime wagers across casino and sports.

Two things the tiers do not change: the rate and the formula. A Diamond player and a day-old account with the code both get 3.5% of the edge. What the ladder adds is money on top of the rebate, not a bigger rebate.

Weekly Boost and the monthly bonus sit on top

The Weekly Boost is issued every Saturday at 12:30 pm GMT to Bronze and above, sized by the week’s play; the monthly bonus arrives by email around mid-month, sized by VIP level, recent wagers, results and the edge of the games you played. Platinum accounts add a daily reload calculated over the previous 7 to 42 days. None has a published formula, so we treat them as a pleasant surprise and the rebate as the only number you can plan around. How the weekly and monthly bonuses work has the detail.

Is rakeback worth it? The honest math

It lowers the edge; it does not remove it

A rebate of 3.5% of the edge turns a 1 % game into a 0.965 % game. On Dice, $10,000 wagered costs $100 in expectation; the rebate hands $3.50 back; you are down $96.50 on average instead of $100. On a 96 % slot the edge drops from 4 % to 3.86 %, and $10,000 costs $386 instead of $400. No rate any casino offers makes a game positive expectation; whoever says otherwise is selling something.

When it matters, and when it does not

Over a weekend it is cents. Over a year of regular play it is the difference between paying the full edge and paying 96.5 % of it, with nothing asked of you. It matters most to players who would be wagering anyway on low-edge games such as Plinko and Dice, where the margin is already thin and a rebate on it is a meaningful fraction of the cost. It matters least to a player who bets more to earn it: wagering an extra $1,000 to collect $0.35 is the worst trade in gambling. The games review lists the published RTPs so you can see which edge you are paying.

Rakeback vs cashback

One pays on volume, the other on losses

Cashback casinos return a percentage of your net losses over a period, often daily or weekly, and often as bonus funds with a cap and a wagering requirement attached. If you finished the week ahead, you get nothing. A rakeback casino pays on every bet regardless of the result, and Stake’s version has no cap, no wagering and no expiry.

Which is better

Cashback is worth more to a player who loses a large amount in a short period and nothing to one who wins. The rebate is worth the same to both and depends only on volume. For most regular players it is the better product: predictable and unconditional. An uncapped, unwagered cashback would beat it; we have not seen one.

Stake rakeback calculator

Read your number off the table

You do not need a script for this. Find the RTP in the game info, subtract it from 100 to get the edge, then read the line. The figures are per $1,000 and per $10,000 wagered at 3.5%.

Three steps for any amount

1. Edge = 100 − RTP. A 96.5 % slot has a 3.5 % edge.
2. Expected house take = wager × edge. $2,500 at 3.5 % is $87.50.
3. Rebate = that take × 0.035. $87.50 × 0.035 = $3.06.

A session mixes games, so run the steps per game and add them up. Any calculator that gives a figure a hundred times larger than this table has multiplied by the bet instead of the edge.

Getting started: the deal around the rebate

What code PACTBONUS adds

The rebate is the permanent half of the deal. The other half is a 200% match on the first deposit, on deposits from $50 up to $1,000: $100 becomes $300, $1,000 becomes $3,000. The match carries 40× wagering on deposit plus bonus, typically within 30 days, which the rebate does not; the terms page has the exact conditions. Play on the code also enters the $30,000 monthly Pactbonus leaderboard. Everything in one place: the Stake deal.

A note for Canadians

The rebate is credited in the currency you wagered, so a CAD bankroll returns CAD. The CRA treats recreational gambling returns as windfalls rather than income; disposing of crypto that has risen in value is a separate question, covered in our crypto casino Canada guide, which also explains why Stake does not serve Ontario.

Keep it a rebate

A rakeback bonus rewards play you were going to do anyway. The moment it becomes a reason to wager more, it has cost you far more than it returns. 18+ only. Set deposit limits before you start and use the tools on our responsible gambling page if play stops being fun.

Claim the deal with code PACTBONUS