Bingo Sign Up Bonus Offers: What You Actually Get and What It Costs

A bingo sign up bonus looks like free money on the surface. Read the small print and the picture changes: wagering multipliers, withdrawal caps, game restrictions and expiry windows decide whether you ever see a penny of it. This guide breaks down the mechanics with real UK operator numbers for 2026.

How Bingo Sign Up Bonuses Actually Work

What does a bingo sign up bonus typically give you?

Most UK-facing bingo rooms hand out one of three things on registration: a deposit match, a set of free bingo tickets, or bonus credit usable only on slots. Gala Bingo and Double Bubble Bingo lean on free tickets, Sky Vegas and JackpotJoy favour matched credit, while Foxy Bingo and Sun Bingo mix both. The headline figure ranges from £10 to £50 in 2026.

The structure matters more than the number. A £30 bingo sign up bonus paid as 60 tickets at 50p each behaves nothing like £30 in withdrawable cash. Tickets expire when the room closes, winnings land as bonus funds, and those funds carry their own wagering requirement before you can cash out.

Under UK Gambling Commission rules, any bonus funds must be clearly separated from your cash balance. Licensed operators like Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill display two balances in the cashier. Offshore sites running on Curaçao or Anjouan licences often blend the two, which is where players get caught out.

Why do operators advertise bigger numbers than they pay?

Because a large headline converts better than an honest one. Marketing teams know that a "£50 Free Bingo Bonus" banner pulls more registrations than "£5 with 4x wagering". The actual cost to the operator per acquired player stays roughly the same, but the click-through rate on the advert jumps. It is the same logic as a shop window sale sign: the discount percentage does the persuading, the terms do the accounting.

Offshore operators push this further than UK-licensed brands. A Curaçao-licensed room can advertise £200 or £500 sign up offers with no UKGC affordability checks, no 24-hour withdrawal timelines and no mandatory loss-limit tools. Their acquisition budget per player runs higher because regulatory overhead is lower, and the bonus headline is where that budget shows up.

The trade-off is enforcement. A UK-licensed bingo site must honour published terms, publish RTP figures, and respond to complaints through IBAS. An offshore room publishing a £500 offer is under no comparable obligation, and the difference shows up in dispute resolution rates.

Which parts of the offer are regulated in the UK?

The Gambling Act 2005 plus the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice govern how bonuses can be presented. Operators must show key terms before a player opts in, cannot reverse withdrawals once requested, and must keep bonus funds distinct from cash. Since the 2023 stake and prize rules tightened further, free bingo tickets count toward promotional spend reporting.

Three specific protections apply to every UK bingo sign up bonus. First, wagering requirements must be stated as a clear multiplier before opt-in. Second, maximum conversion caps must be disclosed. Third, the operator must allow you to forfeit the bonus and withdraw your deposit instead, though some brands bury this option in their terms.

Offshore brands sit outside all three. MyStake, GoldenBet, Donbet and Fat Pirate advertise sign up packages that would fail UKGC presentation rules, chiefly because the wagering figures are hidden behind a click or stated only after registration.

How do free bingo tickets differ from bonus credit?

Tickets are the cleaner product. You get a fixed number of plays in named rooms, you keep whatever you win up to a stated cap, and no wagering applies to ticket winnings on sites like Double Bubble Bingo and Fabulous Bingo. Credit behaves differently: it sits in a bonus wallet, must be wagered a set number of times, and often expires within 7 to 30 days.

The maths favours tickets when you play casually. Fifty tickets at 20p each gives you 50 independent chances across scheduled games, whereas £10 of bonus credit at 30x wagering means £300 of spin-through before withdrawal. Casual players rarely clear that threshold; regulars sometimes do.

Watch the room restrictions. Free tickets usually lock to specific rooms and time slots, typically 90-ball games running between 12pm and 10pm UK time. Miss the window and the tickets vanish. This is not a loophole, it is written into the offer terms on Gala Casino, Rainbow Riches Casino and Heart Bingo alike.

The Traffic Rules Behind Bonus Restrictions

Why do wagering requirements exist at all?

Think of a wagering requirement as a speed limit. Without it, a player could register, collect £50, play three lucky hands and withdraw immediately, costing the operator money with zero customer lifetime value. The multiplier sets the legal speed: 35x means you must turn the bonus over 35 times before the balance converts to withdrawable cash.

Speed limits exist because open roads kill people. Wagering exists because open bonuses kill operators. The trade-off is identical in both cases: everyone moves slower, but the system survives. A bingo sign up bonus with 40x wagering on Sky Vegas costs you time; the same bonus with no wagering on MrQ costs the operator margin, which is why MrQ caps its no-wagering offers much lower.

Game weighting is the equivalent of variable speed limits. Slots usually contribute 100% toward wagering, bingo tickets 50% or 100% depending on the room, and table games like blackjack 10% or nothing at all. Play the wrong game and you are driving 20mph in a 40 zone: technically moving, practically wasting time.

What are the standard wagering multipliers in 2026?

The UK market clusters around three bands. Low-wagering offers sit at 1x to 10x and appear mostly on no-wager brands like MrQ and PlayOJO. Standard offers run 20x to 40x across Bet365 Casino, William Hill and Ladbrokes. High-wagering offshore packages stretch to 45x or 50x on NineWin, NYSpins and Rolletto.

Converting those multipliers into real play shows the gap. A £30 bonus at 4x requires £120 of turnover. The same £30 at 40x requires £1,200. At an average bingo ticket price of 25p and a return-to-player of around 95%, you would expect to lose roughly £60 across that £1,200 turnover before the bonus clears. The headline £30 has cost you real money to release.

Some operators publish wagering on the deposit as well as the bonus, doubling the effective figure. A "30x bonus + deposit" clause on a £10 deposit and £40 bonus means 30 × £50 = £1,500 of required play. Always check which base the multiplier applies to.

Which games are off-limits while a bonus is active?

Roughly 15% to 30% of a casino's catalogue is usually excluded from bonus play. Progressive jackpot slots from NetEnt and Microgaming frequently appear on the ban list because a single spin could pay out a seven-figure prize funded partly by bonus money. Live dealer tables from Evolution are another common exclusion, as are certain high-RTP blackjack variants.

Bingo-specific exclusions are narrower. Most rooms allow all 90-ball and 75-ball games to count toward wagering, but side games inside the bingo client (instant win scratch cards, mini-slots) often count at 10% or not at all. If your sign up bonus is ticket-based, the restriction usually appears as "valid rooms only" with a named list.

Cross-check the exclusion list before depositing. A player who registers at 888 Casino expecting to clear a bonus on blackjack will find the game contributes 10%, effectively multiplying the stated wagering requirement by ten. That is a lane change nobody signposted.

How do maximum conversion caps limit what you keep?

Conversion caps are the speed cameras. Even if you clear 40x wagering on a £50 bonus and turn it into £400, a cap of 4x bonus value means you can withdraw only £200. The rest is removed at withdrawal. Caps typically run from 2x to 10x bonus value across UK-licensed brands and are often absent or vague offshore.

Worst-case scenario: a £10 no-wager bonus with a £20 cap. You hit a jackpot on a Hacksaw slot, the balance reads £900, and the cashier shows £20. Legitimate, disclosed, and deeply frustrating. Gala Bingo, Heart Bingo and Sun Bingo all publish caps in the 2x to 5x range on their current 2026 offers.

Offshore operators like Donbet, Velobet and Fat Pirate frequently advertise "unlimited withdrawals" on bonuses, which sounds generous until you read the fine print on maximum win per spin or per round. The cap has not disappeared; it has moved.

What happens when you break a bonus rule?

Penalties range from forfeiting the bonus to voiding the entire balance, deposit included. Common breaches include exceeding the maximum bet limit (usually £2 to £5 per spin while a bonus is active), opening multiple accounts to claim the same offer, or using restricted payment methods such as Skrill or Neteller which are excluded from welcome bonuses at Bet365, Unibet and Betway.

The maximum-bet rule catches more players than any other. Bet £6 per spin on a 50p-slot habit with a live bonus and the operator can void everything, including winnings accrued before the breach. It is the equivalent of a 30mph zone you crossed at 35: minor on the road, fatal to the balance.

Licensed UK operators apply these rules consistently because the UKGC audits complaint handling. Offshore rooms apply them opportunistically. The difference is not moralising; it is enforcement capacity.

Comparing Sign Up Offers Across UK Bingo Brands

Which bingo sites offer the largest headline bonuses in 2026?

Headline leaders this year are Sky Vegas at £50 in matched credit, Double Bubble Bingo at £50 in free tickets, and Gala Bingo at £20 in tickets plus 30 free spins on a selected Pragmatic Play slot. Ladbrokes Bingo and Coral Bingo run £30 matched offers, while Paddy Power Bingo and William Hill Bingo sit at £20 to £25 with lighter wagering.

Offshore rooms overshoot the UK figures substantially. MyStake advertises a 100% match up to £500, GoldenBet runs £750 across the first three deposits, and NineWin pushes £450 plus 250 free spins. These numbers exist because the operators are not funding UKGC licence fees, responsible-gambling levies or the £5.4m annual compliance costs that come with a British licence.

Size alone does not rank an offer. A £500 package requiring 50x wagering across five deposits is a worse deal for most players than £30 at 4x with no game restrictions. Rank by expected value after conditions, not by the number on the banner.

How do free bingo rooms compare to matched deposits?

Free rooms give you a fixed block of games with zero risk. PlayOJO, MrQ and Heart Bingo run daily no-deposit rooms where tickets cost nothing and winnings up to £5 to £20 land as cash. The prize pools are modest, usually £10 to £100 per game, but nothing is wagered away afterwards. That is a real, spendable pound.

Matched deposits scale better for volume players. Deposit £50 at Ladbrokes and receive £50 in bonus credit; play 40 hours of 90-ball across a month and you will likely clear the 30x requirement. Casual players who visit twice a month will not, and for them the free-room model returns more actual cash per hour of play.

The honest comparison looks like this: free rooms return small guaranteed value, matched deposits return conditional value that scales with play frequency. Neither is free money. Both are acquisition costs amortised across a player's expected lifetime deposit.

What do no-wagering bingo offers look like right now?

MrQ remains the reference point. Its welcome package hands out free bingo tickets or free spins with zero wagering, capped at £10 to £20 in withdrawable winnings. PlayOJO does the same on its casino side with OJO's Rewards, and Double Bubble Bingo runs periodic no-wager ticket drops for new registrants.

The trade-off is arithmetic. An operator offering £20 with no wagering cannot also offer £500 with 40x, because the expected cost per acquired player would exceed the marketing budget. Low headline, clean terms, or high headline, heavy conditions: pick one. Operators choose based on whether they are chasing volume or chasing depositors.

For players, no-wagering offers are almost always the better expected value unless you were going to deposit and play heavily anyway. The exception is high-volume players who clear 40x comfortably, for whom a larger matched bonus at standard wagering returns more total pounds.

Which brands bundle free spins with bingo tickets?

Gala Bingo pairs £20 in tickets with 30 spins on a Pragmatic Play title, typically Big Bass Bonanza or Gates of Olympus. Sun Bingo and Fabulous Bingo attach 10 to 50 spins on NetEnt or Hacksaw games. JackpotJoy and Monopoly Casino attach spins to their mixed welcome packages with 40x wagering on spin winnings specifically.

Spin winnings carry stricter terms than ticket winnings almost everywhere. Expect 40x wagering on spin value, a 7-day expiry, and a £50 to £100 conversion cap. Tickets in the same bundle may have no wagering at all, which means the bundle headline overstates the accessible portion.

Provider matters for clearing speed. High-volatility Hacksaw titles clear wagering faster on average because swings produce larger single wins, while low-volatility NetEnt titles grind through the requirement more predictably. Neither changes the expected loss; both change the variance of your experience.

How does the offshore offer stack against the UK-licensed one?

Offshore rooms win on headline value and lose on recourse. A Curaçao-licensed brand such as Mystake or Goldenbet can advertise £500, skip affordability checks, and process withdrawals in 15 minutes with crypto. A UK-licensed brand like Ladbrokes or Gala must verify identity within 72 hours, publish RTP, and route disputes through IBAS.

Cost per pound of bonus differs too. Offshore operators typically allocate 25% to 40% of first-deposit value to bonuses because licence fees run a fraction of UKGC costs. UK brands allocate closer to 10% to 15% after compliance overhead. That ratio explains the headline gap without implying generosity.

The practical question is what happens when a withdrawal goes wrong. UK-licensed brands answer to a regulator that can fine or revoke a licence. Offshore brands answer to their own terms page. For a £30 bonus that is a rounding error; for a £2,000 balance it is the whole ballgame.

Marketing Tactics Behind Oversized Bingo Bonuses

Why do offshore operators advertise £500 and £1,000 offers?

Because the cost of saying a big number is zero. An offshore bingo or casino room running on a Curaçao licence pays licence fees in the low thousands of dollars per year, skips the UKGC's application process entirely, and avoids the responsible-gambling contributions that fund GamCare and GambleAware. Every pound saved on compliance can be redirected into a louder banner.

The economics work like this. A UK-licensed operator acquiring a depositing bingo player spends roughly £40 to £80 on marketing and bonus combined, after compliance costs. An offshore operator with lower overhead can spend £150 to £250 on the same acquisition and still show a healthier margin on a player expected to deposit £600 over 12 months. The bigger headline is simply where that budget becomes visible.

Scale matters as well. Brands like MyStake, GoldenBet, Donbet and NineWin run affiliate programmes paying 30% to 45% revenue share, compared to 15% to 25% typical on UK programmes. The affiliate writes the glowing review, the operator writes the £500 banner, and both are funded by the same acquisition maths.

What is the real cost to the player of a huge bonus?

Time and exposure. Clearing 45x on a £400 package means £18,000 of turnover. At a typical 95% RTP slot returning £0.95 per £1 staked, expected loss across that turnover is around £900. You are risking £900 of real money to release £400 of bonus money, and the expected value of the exercise is negative before you account for variance.

Deposit requirements inflate the cost further. A "£1,000 across four deposits" offer demands £1,000 of your own money entering the account. Even if you never clear the wagering, the operator has your £1,000 sitting in a balance where the standard house edge applies. The bonus headline is the bait; the deposit ladder is the trap mechanism.

Expiry windows add pressure. Seven-day limits on Coral Bingo and JackpotJoy, 14-day on Ladbrokes, 30-day on some offshore packages. Tight windows push you to play faster, and playing faster means bigger stakes per session, which means variance does more damage. Rushing is expensive.

How do wagering requirements make big bonuses smaller?

Run the numbers on a headline £500 offer at 40x. You need £20,000 of turnover. On a 90-ball bingo game with a 5% house edge, expected loss is £1,000. On slots at 4% house edge, expected loss is £800. Either way, you are paying several hundred pounds of your own money to unlock £500 that started as the operator's marketing spend.

Compare that to a £30 offer at 4x: £120 turnover, expected loss of roughly £5 to £6. The smaller headline costs you almost nothing to release. The larger headline costs you more than the bonus is worth in expectation. This is the core arithmetic that banner ads never show.

Operators know the maths. Their bonus terms are priced so that the expected cost per clearing player stays inside the acquisition budget. A player who clears faster than average is offset by the majority who never clear at all, usually around 70% to 80% of registrants by industry norms.

Which hidden terms do players miss most often?

Four keep appearing in complaints. Maximum bet during bonus play, usually £2 to £5. Payment method exclusions, with Skrill, Neteller and sometimes PayPal voiding the offer entirely. Game weighting, where bingo counts at 50% and table games at 10%. And maximum conversion, which silently truncates a big win at withdrawal.

The fifth is geographic. Some offshore offers exclude UK players from the largest tier while still advertising it on UK-facing pages. The banner says £500; the terms say "not available in the United Kingdom" three paragraphs down. Registration succeeds, the bonus does not apply, and the deposit sits in a standard account.

Reading time is the cheapest insurance available. Terms pages run 8,000 to 15,000 words. The five clauses that matter are usually findable in under three minutes with a browser search for "wagering", "maximum", "excluded" and "expiry". Three minutes against a £500 commitment is a decent trade.

Why do some brands offer no-wagering instead of big numbers?

Because the customer segment they want does not respond to size. MrQ, PlayOJO and Double Bubble Bingo build their pitch around transparency: what you see is what you withdraw. Their players skew toward regular, moderate depositors who value clean terms over headline value, and who churn quickly when they feel misled.

It is a positioning choice with a measurable cost. A no-wagering £20 offer costs the operator roughly £20 in expected value per converting player. A 40x £50 offer costs closer to £8 in expected value because most players never clear it. The transparent brand spends more per acquisition and earns it back through retention and lower complaint volume.

Neither model is dishonest. They simply target different people. The £500 banner attracts deposit-chasers; the no-wagering £20 attracts term-readers. Knowing which you are decides which offer actually suits you.

What role do affiliates play in promoting oversized offers?

Affiliate sites earn 30% to 45% of net revenue from players they refer, paid monthly, on offshore programmes and 15% to 25% on UK programmes. That commission structure rewards volume and headline appeal: a page ranking for big-bonus terms converts better with a £500 claim than with a £30 one, regardless of which is genuinely better for the reader.

The result is predictable. Comparison pages list offers by headline value, bury conditions in expandable sections, and rarely compute expected cost after wagering. Nothing here is illegal under UKGC rules for licensed brands, and offshore programmes have no equivalent standard at all.

Reading three or four independent reviews before registering costs ten minutes and routinely surfaces terms that the top-ranking pages omit. The operator's own terms page remains the only authoritative source; everything else is marketing with a byline.

Choosing the Right Bingo Sign Up Bonus

What should you check before claiming any offer?

Five things, in order. The wagering multiplier and whether it applies to bonus only or bonus plus deposit. The maximum conversion cap. The expiry window. The game weighting table. And the excluded payment methods. Miss any one of those and the offer's real value changes materially.

Also confirm licence status. A UK Gambling Commission licence number appears in the footer of every licensed brand, verifiable on the Commission's public register. Gala Bingo, Sky Vegas, Ladbrokes, Coral, William Hill, Paddy Power and Betfred all hold current licences. Offshore brands display Curaçao or Anjouan seals instead, which means a different ruleset entirely.

Check the minimum deposit too. Most UK offers require £10, some accept £5 like Paddy Power Bingo, and a few offshore packages require £20 or £25 to unlock the top tier. Deposit more than you planned just to hit a threshold and the bonus has already cost you money before the first game loads.

How do you calculate the true value of a bingo bonus?

Take the bonus amount, multiply by the wagering requirement, that gives required turnover. Multiply turnover by the house edge of the games you will actually play, and you have expected cost. Subtract expected cost from the bonus value and you have expected value before caps and expiry.

Worked example: £30 bonus, 30x wagering, you play 90-ball bingo at 5% house edge. Turnover needed is £900. Expected loss is £45. Net expected value is minus £15. Now take £20 free tickets with no wagering and a £50 cap: expected value sits around £8 to £12 depending on room RTP. The smaller offer wins by a distance.

Run the same calculation on the £500 offshore package at 45x: turnover £22,500, expected loss at 4% slot edge £900, bonus £500, net expected value minus £400. That is the real cost of the biggest banner on the page.

Which offer suits a casual player who visits twice a month?

Ticket-based, no-wagering offers. Double Bubble Bingo, Heart Bingo, Paddy Power Bingo and Fabulous Bingo all run packages where free tickets carry no playthrough and winnings up to £50 to £100 are withdrawable. You play your games, keep what you win, and never face a wagering meter you cannot realistically move.

Avoid matched deposit offers with 30x or 40x wagering at that play frequency. Two sessions a month at roughly £20 of stakes gives you £480 of annual turnover, nowhere near the £900 to £1,200 needed to clear a standard bonus. The offer expires before the requirement is met, every time.

Free bingo rooms are the other sensible route. MrQ, PlayOJO and Heart Bingo run daily no-deposit rooms with small but real prize pools. Winnings land as cash. Nothing expires. Nothing is wagered. For a twice-a-month player this is where the actual free value lives.

What changes if you are a high-volume player?

Matched deposits start to make sense. Clearing 30x on a £100 bonus needs £3,000 of turnover, which a regular playing four sessions a week hits inside a month. At that volume the larger headline beats the smaller no-wagering offer in total pounds retained, provided conversion caps are generous.

Look for brands with 4x or higher conversion caps and 30-day expiry windows. Ladbrokes, William Hill and Bet365 Casino all publish caps in that range on current offers. Offshore rooms with uncapped conversions become interesting here, though the absence of UKGC recourse still applies to your full balance, not just the bonus.

Volume players should also track reload offers, not just the sign up bonus. Gala Casino, Grosvenor Casinos and 888 Casino run weekly promotions worth £10 to £50 that repeat indefinitely, which over a year outearns any one-time welcome package regardless of its headline.

When is it better to decline the bonus entirely?

When the wagering requirement exceeds 40x and you play table games or low-weight bingo variants. Declining means your deposit sits as cash, fully withdrawable, no conditions attached. Most UK-licensed operators allow this at the cashier by simply not ticking the bonus opt-in box.

Decline also makes sense if the expiry window is shorter than your normal play pattern. A 7-day limit on Coral Bingo or JackpotJoy is unworkable for someone who plays twice a month. Forcing yourself to meet it means either depositing more than planned or playing longer than planned, both of which cost money.

One exception: no-wagering offers are almost impossible to decline sensibly. Free tickets or free spins with zero conditions and a stated cap are pure expected value. Take those, always.

How do you avoid common mistakes when claiming an offer?

Do not deposit with an excluded method. Skrill and Neteller void welcome bonuses at Bet365, Unibet, Betway and Paddy Power; use a debit card or bank transfer instead. Do not exceed the maximum bet while the bonus is active, usually £2 to £5 per spin or ticket. Do not open a second account, which triggers account closure and balance forfeiture under UKGC identity rules.

Do not start playing before reading the terms. Three minutes with a search for "wagering", "maximum", "excluded" and "expiry" surfaces the clauses that matter. Do not assume the banner equals the balance; check the cashier immediately after registration to see what actually landed.

Finally, set a deposit limit at registration. Every UK-licensed bingo site offers this tool, it takes 30 seconds, and it applies whether or not you claim the bonus. Offshore brands are not required to provide it, which is worth knowing before you deposit at all.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a bingo sign up bonus actually free money?

No. It is promotional credit or free tickets with conditions attached. Wagering requirements, conversion caps, expiry windows and game restrictions apply before anything becomes withdrawable. A no-wagering ticket offer comes closest to free, but even those carry win caps, usually £50 to £100, and named room restrictions.

What is the typical wagering requirement on a UK bingo bonus?

UK-licensed bingo and casino brands cluster between 20x and 40x in 2026, with no-wagering brands like MrQ and PlayOJO at 0x and low-wagering offers at 1x to 10x. Offshore rooms run 45x to 50x. Always confirm whether the multiplier applies to the bonus alone or bonus plus deposit.

Can you withdraw a bingo bonus immediately?

Only if it carries zero wagering. Free bingo tickets on Double Bubble Bingo or Paddy Power Bingo produce winnings you can withdraw right away up to the stated cap. Matched credit must be wagered the stated number of times first, and some operators require identity verification within 72 hours before processing any withdrawal.

Do offshore bingo sites offer better bonuses than UK ones?

On headline value, yes: MyStake, Goldenbet and NineWin advertise £450 to £750 against £20 to £50 from UK brands. After wagering, caps and expiry, expected value often favours the smaller UK offer. The trade-off is recourse: UKGC-licensed operators answer to a regulator, offshore brands answer to their own terms page.

How long do I have to clear a bingo bonus?

Seven days on Coral Bingo and JackpotJoy, 14 days on Ladbrokes and Sky Vegas, 30 days on some offshore packages. Free ticket offers usually expire when the named room closes, sometimes within 24 hours. Missing the window forfeits the bonus and any unconverted winnings attached to it.

Which payment methods exclude the welcome bonus?

Skrill and Neteller are excluded at Bet365, Unibet, Betway, Paddy Power and William Hill. Some brands also exclude PayPal for the first deposit. Debit cards, bank transfer and Apple Pay are accepted for bonus eligibility at nearly every UK-licensed bingo site. Offshore rooms commonly add cryptocurrency deposits to the excluded list.

What happens if I break a bonus rule by accident?

Typical penalties: the bonus is forfeited and, in stricter cases, the entire balance including winnings. The most common accidental breach is exceeding the maximum bet limit, usually £2 to £5 per spin while a bonus is active. UK-licensed operators must handle complaints fairly; offshore operators apply terms at their discretion.

Read the terms before you deposit, run the expected-value arithmetic on any offer bigger than £50, and pick the bingo sign up bonus whose conditions match how you actually play rather than the one with the loudest number on the banner. The banner.

The loudest number on a homepage is an acquisition cost, not a gift, and the terms page is where the real price sits. Three minutes of reading beats three weeks of chasing a wagering meter you were never going to finish, and your deposit stays yours either way.