Bonuses with wagering requirement is not a trap because all the terms for the bonuses is mentioned clearly. It is a trap for those who do not read the terms only. If gamblers read the terms before taking the bonuses, it cant be called as a trap or gamblers call it as a trap because they do not understand the terms. Anyway not all bonuses comes with wagering requirement, there are many other bonuses/rewards that can be achieved due to our gambling activity and it comes with zero wagering requirement but of course in order to get the these kind of bonus, you need to be an active gambler who wagers regularly.
I did not mention that bonuses with wagering requirements are trapped in any way but I was just trying to point out the limitation to some players using bonuses since it comes with high wager requirements, there is no doubt that bonuses terms and conditions are always mentioned, but then just as you rightly said it only becomes a trap for those who don't border to read bonus terms and conditions before jumping on them.
Unlike me personally, I dislike any form of bonus since I know there are always accompanied by wager requirements that can be sometimes unbearable.
I think it's reasonable for casinos to have a wagering requirement for any bonus that they provide no matter what kind of a bonus it is. It would be strange only if the casino requires a high wagering requirement for the money that gamblers deposit on the platform which is insane because a platform shouldn't have a wagering requirement of at least 1x in general.
Many casinos do not give wagering requirements on rewards that is earned through wagering such as cashback, rakeback, and rewards from tournament and wagering races. But bonus from deposits is reasonable enough to give a mid-wagering requirement such as 10x to 20x but giving 40x and above wagering requirement is overkill IMO.
Most players don't bother reading the terms and conditions of either the bonuses or the platform in general, and that is the reason why they face problems later on when they can't withdraw funds or anything that they might try to do but can't.
For those players who has experience and had learned from others always read the terms and rules of the said bonus. Since there are lots of issues and problems that arises from not reading the terms, players are learning now that they always check the requirements and terms when there is new bonus announcement.
I must confess that every month when I open my email and I see the email from stake.com with the following title: " Slowdeath00, monthly bonus + win 25k! ". on that day of the month my day is much happier, so I open the email and see: Claim every day for five days
"Claim your Monthly Bonus below!"
I already know that it is 5 days to claim my bonus, and it is 5 days that I will be making multibet bets, definitely stake.com is the best casino in this industry and this is the best bonus for me in my opinion, obviously that bonus is not profit, It's not something that people should think it should be a lot of money to recover losses, bonus should not be seen that way, bonus should be seen as a gift that the casino is giving to the players and the players will be able to play more. Why do I see the monthly bonus as the best? answer: in the monthly bonus I don't need to meet any requirement to be able to withdraw the monthly bonus, all I need to do is continue playing at the casino normally
Aside from the monthly bonus Stake also have challenges and weekly bonus that coincide with the weekly code drop. I also agree that bonuses should be viewed as a gift from the platform in return for our continuous patronage of their service.