Rakeback vs cashback: what is the difference?
Rakeback is a share of the house edge you generate on every bet, win or lose; cashback is a share of your net loss over a settlement period. They are not comparable rate to rate: 10% rakeback on a 3.5% house edge returns 0.35% of turnover, while 10% weekly cashback returns 10% of what you lost that week. We track 12 rakeback and 9 computable cashback programmes separately (latest read 2026-09-02) because one number must never feed both formulas.
The single most abused comparison in casino marketing, settled with arithmetic.
How we know
The definitions come from how the operators themselves compute the rewards in their published terms. The worked numbers are arithmetic on those definitions, checkable by hand.
Last verified: 2026-09-02
Sources:
help.stake.com/en/articles/4821738-what-is-rakeback · Re-read 2026-08-15 direct from help.stake.com article 4821738: 3.5% of the house edge back as cash (poker: 3.5% of the rake), earned on every bet win or lose, claimable any time from the VIP page. Confirmed verbatim. · duelbits.com/blog/guide/how-does-duelbits-rakeback-work/ · Re-read 2026-08-15 from duelbits.com/blog/guide/how-does-duelbits-rakeback-work/, which now returns 200 (it answered 403 at the previous attempt, which is why this record carried no read date). VERIFIED VERBATIM: rakeback splits into four claim types, Instant Bits at '10% of all your wagered house edge', Daily Bits 'a flat 5%', Weekly Bits 'a flat 5%', and Monthly Bits at an unstated rate; sportsbook rakeback 'calculated at 1% of the house edge'; rewards 'paid as cash with no wagering requirements'; 31 Ace's Rewards levels. SOURCED ARITHMETIC GAP, re-examined 2026-08-16 and this is the reason the record is worth publishing. The page states two different ceilings: one paragraph says the four types 'offer a combined return that can reach up to 47.5% of the house edge'; a later paragraph itemises the same four types at 'up to 25%', being '10% through Instant Bits plus a flat 5% each from Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Bits, with additional returns on top from level-up milestone bonuses'. Testing the charitable reading, that 47.5 includes those milestone bonuses: the page prices them at '5% at Rookie' climbing '0.25%' per level to '12.5% at the top Duelbits tier'. 25 plus the maximum 12.5 is 37.5, which is still 10 points below the headline. So the gap does NOT close even on the most generous reading the page itself supports. Two further gaps: the Monthly Bits rate is never stated independently (the page calls it 'yet another percentage'), and the page never says whether milestone bonuses are additive to the rakeback percentage at all, which they would need to be for any such sum to be valid. NO OPERATOR RESPONSE EXISTS: we found no public Duelbits statement addressing the discrepancy as of 2026-08-16, and have not yet requested comment; if we do, the response will be published here. Raw publishes both figures, shows the arithmetic, and names 25% as the only substantiated ceiling. CORRECTION: the previous gotcha about a '50% headline' capped at 50% of the initial deposit does not appear anywhere on this page and its source is unknown, so it is withdrawn. · www.cloudbet.com/en/support/articles/163516-how-to-earn-rakeback-with-cloudbet-rewards · Re-read 2026-08-15 direct from cloudbet.com support article 163516: rakeback is a percentage of the house edge, 5% from Bronze through Sapphire and 10% at Diamond tiers, with a worked example (10% of a 4% house edge returns 4 USD per 1,000 USD bet). Confirmed verbatim. · help.shuffle.com/en/articles/10020509-how-does-rakeback-work · help.shuffle.com/en/articles/9996771-the-shuffle-vip-program (XP thresholds, read 2026-08-03) · shuffle.com/vip-program (rate declined: "dependent on your VIP level as well as the wagered amount", read 2026-08-03) · shuffle.com VIP dashboard (read 2026-08-03): full XP ladder plus the 8-rank perk matrix, no percentage shown at any rank · shuffle.com/info/terms (section 1 licence and operating company, section 7.3 prohibited jurisdictions, section 10.5 the 60-day unclaimed bonus cancellation; read 2026-08-03) · help.wild.io/en/articles/7231947-what-is-the-daily-rakeback · help.wild.io/en/articles/7232009-what-is-the-weekly-cashback · Re-read 2026-08-15 direct from Wild.io help article 7231947: daily rakeback ranges 1% at Level 1 to 10% at Level 30, calculated on the house edge (stated average 3.5%). The weekly programme is cashback on net losses and lives in the cashback dataset; the rate string here is corrected to the daily programme only. · help.bitsler.com/en/articles/9059890-rakeback · Re-read 2026-08-15 direct from help.bitsler.com article 9059890: standard 5% rakeback on the house advantage of eligible games, claimable every 2 minutes from the VIP Rewards tab. Confirmed verbatim. · casinocanada.com/casinos/playbet-casino/ (5% of house edge, wager free, Gold and above; 16-level ladder; read 2026-08-03) · playbet.io VIP terms (NOT yet fetched: confirm before quoting) · Re-read attempted 2026-09-02 and the record could NOT be re-verified: the sole cited source, casinocanada.com/casinos/playbet-casino/, no longer carries the claim (the fetched review body has zero mentions of rakeback, house edge, loyalty or wager-free, all present at the 2026-08-03 read), playbet.io/vip now returns a 404, and playbet.io/loyalty renders no program details to an anonymous session. With the third-party source revised and no primary source reachable, the 5 percent of house edge / Gold gate record is downgraded to unverified until the program can be read from the operator directly. · blog.bc.game/bc-game-has-a-generous-rakeback-feature/ (the wagered x 1% x rate formula) · release.bcgame.com/release/66nvg-enhanced-vip-rakeback-unlock-rate (the 20% to 24% unlock ladder, read 2026-08-03) · Re-read 2026-08-31 from release.bcgame.com/release/66nvg-enhanced-vip-rakeback-unlock-rate (release dated April 16, 2025) and blog.bc.game: CONFIRMED VERBATIM, 'House Edge remains 1%', unlock rate 'scales from 20-24 based on your VIP tier': VIP 0-7 20%, VIP 8-37 21%, VIP 38-69 22%, SVIP 1-15 23%, SVIP 16+ 24%. The blog separately confirms the mechanism (a share of the notional 1% house edge per bet). Nothing corrected; freshness confirmation of the 2026-08-03 read. · www.strafe.com/esports-betting/reviews/gamdom/vip/ (6% at level 1, 10% at level 50, Royalty Up 11% to 15%, read 2026-08-03) · gamdom.com VIP terms (NOT yet fetched: confirm the per-category rates before quoting) · DATA CORRECTION 2026-08-31, read live from gamdom.com/rewards (via a Canada exit; the site geoblocks our usual vantage) and cross-checked against the strafe.com review that was this record's source: Gamdom restructured its rewards ('Rewards 2.0') and the published rate ladder IS GONE. The operator's own page now states rakeback is 'calculated per bet rather than as a flat percentage of your total wagering', 'based on multiple factors like your bet size, game RTP, and house edge', with tier progression unlocking 'better Rakeback rates' but NO numeric rate published for any tier. The only number left on the page is a '15% Instant Rakeback' that requires entering an affiliate code and lasts 7 days. The strafe source rewrote for Rewards 2.0 the same way and no longer carries the 6-to-15 ladder. The previous rate string ('6% of margin at entry, up to 15% on Royalty Up') therefore described a programme that no longer exists as published numbers; rateValue is set to 0 as 'no published standing rate' (the type requires a number) and publishesClearRate moves to false. This restructure is recorded on the redemption wall as a disclosure regression. · rainbet.com/rewards (read 2026-08-03: full tier ladder, per-tier perk unlocks, and the monthly P&L tooltip) · Re-read 2026-09-01 live from rainbet.com/rewards (rendered via the Canada vantage; the US vantage is geoblocked). CONFIRMED UNCHANGED: the rewards page still publishes the five separate streams (Rakeback, Daily, Weekly, Pre-Monthly, Monthly), the rank ladder still opens Bronze I at 4,000 USD wagered with Pre-Monthly gated to Silver, and it still publishes NO numeric rakeback percentage anywhere, so publishesClearRate stays false and the stored 'roughly 0.2% of turnover' estimate stands. No typed field changed; readDate bumped. · spartans.com/casino · spartans.com/help-center/general-terms-and-conditions · casino.guru/spartans-casino-review (SI 6.6, read 2026-07-20) · spartans.com/how-cashrake-works · CORRECTION, read live 2026-09-01 from the operator's own CashRake table at spartans.com/how-cashrake-works (rendered via the Canada vantage; the US vantage is geoblocked and direct fetch 403s). The published RakeBack-by-RTP table runs 33% at 94.00% RTP down to 5% at 99.50% RTP (33, 30, 27, then 25 across the mid band, 20, 15, 8, 5), so the floor of the range is 5%, not the 15% carried from the 2026-06-28 third-party dataset. The page also confirms CashRake 'is based on the house edge of each game', a deposit-linked claimable limit ('Deposit at any time to increase your total limit'), and a 24 hour claim window ('Claim within 24h to avoid expiry'). rate and rateValue corrected to the operator-published floor; this is now an operator-verified read, replacing the prior third-party sourcing. Recorded on the redemption wall as a correction to RAW, not a downgrade of the operator. · rakebit.com/ (VIP Club FAQ, "instant rakeback up to 25%", read 2026-08-10) · rakebit.com/promotions/special/vip_new/ (New VIP Loyalty System v2 launch page, read 2026-08-10, logged in) · cryptoslate.com/crypto-casinos/rakebit-casino-review/ · Re-read 2026-09-01 live from rakebit.com and rakebit.com/promotions/special/vip_new/, read anonymously this time (the prior read was logged in). CONFIRMED VERBATIM on the operator's own v2 page: 100% rakeback on Levels 1 to 9 up to 1,000 USD on first wager ('every wager generates rakeback, win or lose'), 10% base rakeback beyond Level 10, daily cashback from 2% up to 25%, and 50 VIP levels. The New VIP Loyalty System v2 is still live with a running countdown, about 34 days remaining. No typed field changed; readDate bumped. · www.7bitcasino.com/bonuses (read 2026-08-03: "up to 20% of your weekly net losses as a bonus") · www.7bitcasino.com/bonus-wagering · 7bitcasino.com VIP and cashback terms (read 2026-06-28) · Re-read 2026-08-31 from 7bitcasino.com/bonuses, the operator's own page, VERBATIM: 'Weekly Cashback: ... 7BitCasino offers up to 20% of your weekly net losses as a bonus for players meeting the requirements.' Headline rate, weekly cadence, net-loss base and bonus (not cash) form all confirmed unchanged. The 5% entry tier detail rests on the earlier VIP-terms read as before; this run confirmed the operator's own headline framing. · help.wild.io/en/articles/7231947-what-is-the-daily-rakeback (the DAILY programme is rakeback on the house edge, NOT this) · Re-read 2026-08-15 direct from Wild.io help article 7232009: weekly cashback now ranges from 5% at Level 1 to 20% at Level 30, calculated on real net money losses, credited Sundays 00:00 to 01:00 UTC. The previously recorded 1% entry rate is stale and corrected here. FOLLOW-UP 2026-08-16: the `gotcha` string still carried the stale 1% and the 10 dollar worked example derived from it, which went unnoticed because cashback gotchas were rendered on NO page until today. Corrected to 5% and 50 dollars here. This is the same failure shape as the stake entity page: a numeric field was fixed and the hand-written sentence describing it was not. · mbitcasino.io/casino-rewards-program · mBit Stellar Club terms (read 2026-06-28) · Re-read 2026-08-15 direct from mbitcasino.io rewards page: Daily Moneyback 2% up to 10% by level, on daily net deposit losses (deposits minus end-of-day balance minus withdrawals minus adjustments), credited as bonus with x40 wagering (x30 and x20 at the top two tiers). Confirmed verbatim. · miraxcasino.com/promotions (re-read 2026-08-03: tiers confirmed, basis still unstated) · casino.guru Mirax casino review · UPGRADE unverified-to-verified, read live 2026-08-31 in a real browser from miraxcasino.com/promotions (the page is client-side): the basis the record was missing is now STATED by the operator. VERBATIM tiles: 'Highroller Cashback 10%, Day spent 200 EUR - 999 EUR', 'Highroller Cashback 15%, Day spent 1000 EUR - 1999 EUR', 'Highroller Cashback 20%, Day spent 2000 EUR', no bonus code; and the page's own copy: 'Mirax casino will cover your previous day's losses by up to 20%.' So: base = previous day's losses, selector = daily spend bands, cadence daily, rates 10/15/20 exactly as stored. Wagering on the credited cashback and the credit form (cash vs bonus) are still not stated on this page and stay open in the gotcha. · www.pokerlistings.com/casino-sites/coincasino (tier rates, read 2026-08-03) · coincasino.io VIP terms (NOT yet fetched: confirm before quoting) · Re-read 2026-08-31 from pokerlistings.com/casino-sites/coincasino (still the only reachable source; the operator's VIP terms remain unfetched, so the record stays unverified). The tier ladder GREW at the top: the source now lists Bronze 5% / Silver 7% / Gold 10% / Platinum 15% / Diamond 20% weekly cashback, where the stored record topped out at 15%. topRatePct moves 15 to 20 and a Diamond tier is added, all third-party-sourced and labeled as such. · lcb.org/casinos/glitchspin-casino (10% weekly cashback, 30x wagering, EUR 200 cap, read 2026-08-03) · www.playcasino.com/casino/glitchspin-casino (Monday 00:00 UTC credit, 5-day expiry, 0.03% comp-point rakeback) · Re-read 2026-08-31 from lcb.org/casinos/glitchspin-casino: 10% weekly cashback, 30x wagering, 200 EUR maximum, credited automatically 00:00 UTC Monday, expires after 5 days. Every stored field confirmed unchanged. Stays unverified because both sources are third-party; the operator's own pages remain unread. · betpanda.kb.help/weekly-cashback/ (operator help centre, read 2026-08-14: "10% cashback on your net losses in eligible casino games", 12,500 XP unlock, "credited as real money with no wagering requirements", Wednesday 13:00 UTC) · betpandacasino.io/promotions (attempted 2026-08-14: client-rendered, returned an image reference only) · megadice.com/ (operator homepage, read 2026-08-14: "Play with $DICE and enjoy 15% cashback on your net losses every week!") · megadice.com promotions page (read 2026-08-14: does NOT carry this offer) · www.bets.io/en/bonus-terms-and-conditions (operator, read 2026-08-14: x3 wagering, 20 USDT minimum daily loss, 1,000 USDT Bronze daily cap, 7-day wagering window, 01:00 UTC credit, weekly 20% on "the amount of losses for the previous week" with a 1,000 USDT minimum and a 50,000 USDT cap) · www.bets.io/en/cashback (operator, read 2026-08-14: "You will get 5-10% back from your losses everyday") · www.bets.io/en/promotions/cashback (operator, read 2026-08-14: the deposit brackets that set the rate, 20 to 2,999 USDT = 5% rising to 20,000 USDT+ = 10%)