Don't you think that when you take a bonus that requires a play through that your own deposit should not be included in the play through amount? In my opinion, you should only be required to play through 30X or whatever the amount for that particular bonus is on the amount of money you receive directly from the casino as the bonus. Why should you have to play through your own money. I always thought that was a pretty sneaky thing on the part of the casino. What do you think?
In the vast majority of cases (i.e. where you can't cash-out until the full WR is finished) I don't think it matters if it is just the bonus money or yours as well.
What DOES matter is what the Total WR is and whether the bonus is Cashable or Phantom (Sticky).
e.g. A 100% bonus where the WR is Bonus x30 is exactly the same as one where the WR is (Deposit+Bonus) x15.
Some casinos try to be crafty and just say the wagering is x35 for example, but they don't say if that's Bonus only or Deposit + Bonus.
Obviously the WR is DOUBLE in the latter case (if it's a 100% bonus).
Additionally some casinos don't make it 100% clear whether the bonuses are Cashable or Phantom
Also some players think a 200% or more bonus is better than a 100% one - but actually, if the WR terms are the same high amount - it is worse.
That's because the bigger the bonus, the more total WR it will have. More WR = more cash exposed to the house edge which is what makes the casinos money. (Although, more play-time does also mean more chances to get a big win - so it's not all bad!)
It was because of all this potential confusion that when I started my websites I worked out a way of ranking bonuses for their best value (i.e. the theoretical best chance of meeting the WR the least loss).
Here's some examples of different bonuses from best to worst (IMO):
100%, WR Dx20, Cashable
100%, WR Bx30, Cashable = 100%, WR (D+B)x15, Cashable
100%, WR Bx35, Cashable
100%, WR Bx40, Cashable = 100%, WR (D+B)x20, Cashable
100%, WR (D+B)x25, Cashable
100%, WR (D+B)x20, Phantom
100%, WR (D+B)x30, Cashable
200%, WR (D+B)x20, Phantom
400%, WR (D+B)x25, Phantom
All in all, it's a bit of a minefield really!
KK