It is 9:45 pm in Bangalore. You have just finished a long shift at the tech park in Whitefield. The Mumbai Indians versus Chennai Super Kings match starts in fifteen minutes. A mate from your WhatsApp group forwards a screenshot showing a FairPlay welcome bonus offer that looks massive — something about a 300 percent match up to fifty thousand rupees. Your thumb hovers over the deposit button. Stop. That screenshot is from last Diwali. The offer changed two weeks ago. If you deposit now based on that image, you will not get what you expect.
Why Screenshots Lie
Forwarded screenshots are the betting equivalent of stale samosas — they look familiar but the filling has gone off. Promotions update weekly, sometimes daily. The marketing team in Gurugram pushes new creatives every Monday. The terms page on the site updates instantly. A screenshot taken on Tuesday is already outdated by Thursday. I have seen friends in Delhi and Pune lose deposit matches because they acted on a WhatsApp image from a cousin in Hyderabad who swore it was current. The only source that matters is the screen you are looking at right now, inside the app or on the mobile site, logged into your own account.
This is not about FairPlay being sneaky. Every operator in India — whether they serve cricket markets in Kolkata or kabaddi leagues in Patna — rotates offers to manage liability. A welcome bonus that made sense during IPL season makes no sense during the Test series in England. The terms change: minimum odds, wagering multiples, eligible games, expiry windows. A screenshot freezes one moment. The live screen shows the current reality. Open the FairPlay login page, sign in, and tap the promotions banner. That is the only version you can rely on.
How to Read the Live Bonus Screen
When you land on the promotions tab after logging in, you will see a carousel of active offers. The welcome bonus usually sits first if you are a new registrant. Tap it. A modal opens with three tabs: Overview, Terms, and Progress. Overview gives the headline — match percentage, maximum rupee cap, minimum deposit. Terms is where the detail lives. Progress shows how much of the wagering you have cleared. Read the Terms tab line by line. Do not skim. Look for the minimum odds requirement — often 1.50 or 1.80 for sports, sometimes higher for accumulator bets. Check the wagering multiplier — say 5x or 10x the bonus amount. Note the expiry — seven days, fourteen days, sometimes thirty. See which markets count: pre-match cricket yes, live tennis maybe, casino slots often excluded or weighted at ten percent.
If you are on the desktop site in Mumbai, the layout is wider but the tabs are identical. On the FairPlay app the text wraps differently but the numbers are the same. The live screen is the single source of truth. I keep a notebook — yes, paper — where I jot the key figures the moment I see them: match percent, cap in rupees, min odds, wagering multiple, expiry date. Then I compare that note to the terms page on the website. They match every time. A screenshot from a friend never matches.
Key Terms You Will Actually See
- Minimum deposit — usually five hundred rupees via UPI or NetBanking
- Maximum bonus cap — stated in rupees, not percentage alone
- Wagering requirement — bonus amount multiplied by a factor, e.g., 10x
- Minimum odds per selection — often 1.50 for singles, 1.30 per leg for accumulators
- Eligible sports — cricket, football, tennis, kabaddi; horse racing sometimes excluded
- Casino weighting — slots often ten percent, table games five percent or zero
- Expiry — calendar days from bonus credit, not from first bet
- Maximum stake per bet while wagering — often five hundred or one thousand rupees
These are the fields that appear on the live Terms tab. The exact numbers vary by campaign. During the Asia Cup you might see a cricket-specific offer with lower minimum odds but a shorter expiry. During the Pro Kabaddi League you might see a kabaddi-only bonus with higher match percentage but stricter stake limits. The live screen reflects the campaign active at that moment. That is why you must read it each time you consider opting in.
Common Traps in Forwarded Images
The most common trap is the expired headline. A screenshot shows "300% up to ₹50,000" but the live screen now shows "100% up to ₹10,000". The percentage dropped, the cap dropped, but the old image still circulates in family groups from Jaipur to Kochi. Second trap: cropped terms. The sender captures the Overview tab but not the Terms tab. You see the match percentage but miss the 15x wagering or the 1.90 minimum odds. Third trap: region lock. Some offers are state-specific — available in Maharashtra but not in Telangana, or vice versa. A screenshot from a friend in Nagpur does not apply to your account in Hyderabad. Fourth trap: payment method exclusion. The live terms often list "UPI and NetBanking only" or "excludes wallet deposits". The screenshot never shows that line.
I saw a colleague in Chennai deposit ten thousand rupees via a wallet because a screenshot showed a big welcome bonus. The live terms excluded wallet deposits. The bonus never credited. Support could not override it — the terms are baked into the system. He had to wager his own deposit at regular odds. That mistake cost him the bonus and two evenings of frustration. He now opens the FairPlay registration page, logs in, and reads the live screen before every deposit. So should you.
What to Do Next
Next time a forward lands in your WhatsApp — whether it is from a schoolmate in Ahmedabad or a work mate in Gurgaon — thank them and delete the image. Open the app. Tap promotions. Read the Terms tab on the welcome bonus. Write down the five numbers that matter: match percent, rupee cap, min odds, wagering multiple, expiry days. Then decide if the offer fits your betting style. If you bet cricket accumulators on weekends, a 1.30 per leg minimum with 5x wagering over fourteen days might work. If you play live roulette on weeknights, a ten percent casino weighting with 30x wagering over seven days will not. The live screen tells you exactly what you are signing up for. A screenshot tells you what someone else signed up for, weeks ago, maybe in another state.
For a full list of current promotions across sports and casino, check the FairPlay bonuses page. It pulls the same live data you see in the app. Bookmark it. Use it. Trust it. Your wallet will thank you.
More on how we approach numbers is on about FairPlay, and the tools for setting your own limits are on responsible gaming.