What is sportsbook bonus?
Among other things, it’s one hell of a way to pad out your bottom line. Many sportsbooks provide their customers with a variety of bonuses that can help you to increase your winnings if you know the best way to use those bonuses and make successful picks.
Bonuses, however, can be a bit confusing, which is why bettors need to have bonuses explained before they know how to take advantage of sportsbook promotions. It is a good idea to gain insight into different types of bonuses that are offered by sportsbooks as well as the nomenclature they prefer when they are offering bonuses.
Best Sportsbook Bonuses
Online Sportsbook | Bonus |
---|---|
BetOnline Sportsbook | 100% up to $1,000 |
MyBookie Sportsbook | 100% up to $1,000 |
GTBets Sportsbook | 100% up to $500 |
XBet Sportsbook | 100% up to $300 |
Lucky99 Sportsbook | 50% up to $5,000 |
BetUS Sportsbook | 125% up to $2,500 |
BetAnySports Sportsbook | 35% up to $500 |
Risk-Free Bet
The concept of a quote-unquote risk-free bet can be somewhat misleading, but that’s another reason to have bonuses explained and ultimately answer the question, “are sportsbook bonuses worth it?”. Sportsbooks in the US often offer risk-free bets to new customers in order to lure them in. What it comes down to is this: if you make a bet and lose, you will receive a credit that is equal to the amount that you lost on your bet.
It’s not literally risk-free since you can lose money regardless. Then again, it will afford you some wiggle room in case you lose. Maybe you bet $100 on the Vikings to cover but the Packers won the game. After the game is over, the sportsbook will credit you $100 to use on other wagers.
You will not be able to take withdraw that money from your account. But you will be able to place one or more bets using that $100 to help you get back on track. Any winnings from that $100 credit will be available to withdraw from your account as your earnings.
Only the winnings
Only the winnings, though, will appear in your account, not the money from the credit with which you made the secondary bet. Technically speaking, the bet isn’t entirely “risk-free,” but if you’re going to make several bets, you’d do well to take advantage of a “risk-free bet” bonus.
As a matter of fact, you should bet the maximum that the sportsbook allows with this bonus because one of two things will happen: 1) you will win more or 2) you will get back the same amount in credit. The only drawback is that a “risk-free bet” yields no bonus at all if you win the initial wager. Chances are you won’t really care about that if you win the bet.
In summary, this type of bonus is “risk-free” only in the sense that you will have credit from the sportsbook to win back the money you may have lost if you are lucky and/or savvy enough to make winning picks.
Free Bet
Similar to but not the same as a risk-free bet. A sportsbook may offer you a free bet that will be equal to your initial deposit. For instance, if you were to deposit $200 into your account, you would get a $200 “free bet.”
Let us say you use that $200 to wager on the Eagles to cover against the Cowboys. If the Eagles win and cover the point spread, you would get $181.60 in profit (assuming that the money line is -110) credited to your account.
However, being a free bet, you wouldn’t get to keep the $200 used as your stake in the bet. Instead, you would get $381.60 from the $200 you originally deposited plus the $181.60 in winnings. This is what they mean by “free bet stake not included.”
Like many bonuses, if you can win on a free bet, it will be a good deal. Of course, there are no free lunches nor such a thing as a “free bet.” For example, it might take a couple of days for the bonus wager to be processed and transferred into your account.
There could also be a period of time for when you can use the free bet. Moreover, remember that you’ll want to pick wisely when making your selection with a free bet because it can mean a big payoff should you make an accurate pick.
Welcome Bonus
This is pretty self-explanatory, but for the sake of completion let’s have these bonuses explained. In a traditional welcome bonus, a user will get bonus funds that will match the initial deposit that they made when they opened their account.
However, these bonus funds will arrive gradually based on how much money you wager. For instance, if you were to deposit $200 and get a $200 welcome bonus, you won’t the full $200 welcome bonus right away.
You may have to bet $1,000 or more until the full $200 welcome bonus kicks in. Each sportsbook has a different set of sportsbook bonus cash rules for awarding a welcome bonus. There may be some conditions for which bets will help you receive your welcome bonus.
For example, some sportsbooks require a Moneyline of -200 or higher for wagers that help receive your bonus funds. There may also be a minimum amount of money that you have to bet every time you place a bet to get your welcome bonus.
You will have to look at the terms and conditions for each sportsbook to have these bonuses explained. This could be a good bonus for customers who want to commit long-term to a specific sportsbook because it might take time and a number of bets to earn your full bonus.
If that’s all right with you and you follow those terms and conditions, a welcome bonus can ultimately become a good way to play with house money.
No-Deposit Free Bet
Not a lot of sportsbooks offer this kind of bonus and those that do demand that certain stipulations be met. For example, you have to make your free bet within a period of no longer than a week. Many sportsbooks will not let you claim any other bonuses when you first sign up, many of which may be more lucrative than a $10 free bet.
You may also be required to use the amount you get on a single bet, and you may only receive the profit from your bet should you win. Depending on the sportsbook, there may be some rollover requirements if you win your first bet with the no-deposit free bet.
This may prevent you from receiving your profit without having to make additional wagers that put said profit at risk. However, this is more frequently the case with online casinos, while reputable sportsbooks are unlikelier to do this.
Reload Sportsbook Bonus
Many sportsbooks offer a bonus to entice you to place your first bet, but others will offer a bonus for your second wager. This is called a reload bonus. For instance, if you were to open an account and bet $50, the sportsbook gives you credit to place a second $50 bet.
You won’t get the stake back if you win your wager with the reload bonus, just your profits. Some websites require a rollover before you can receive your winnings. Whether or not you win your first bet, a reload bonus entices you to continue placing bets, and that is just what sportsbooks want.
Loss Bonus
Not too many sportsbooks reward losing with a bonus, but you may find this type of bonus once in a while. A sportsbook might reimburse you with a percentage of the total money you lose on a wager. Some sportsbooks call this a rebate bonus or offer cashback on bets.
This means that winning or losing, you get some of the money back that you bet. Sometimes, this can change the betting strategy. These bonuses are often tied to horse racing. Remember that you’ll probably get no more than 5% of your money back. However, every little bit counts.
Casino Bonus
Many sportsbooks have online casinos. If you use a sportsbook often enough, you could get offers to play online casino games. If you are interested in casino games these bonus offers may be worthwhile.
Referral Bonus
Sportsbooks will give you a bonus if you refer a friend. Your friend will have to make a deposit and make at least one bet before you receive your referral bonus. The size of the bonus depends on how much your friend deposits.
You shouldn’t be surprised if there is a limit on the bonus. If you have friends or relatives looking to start betting on sports, why not kill two birds with one stone and get yourself a referral bonus? You can even help your friend have this and other bonuses explained.
What is a Play-Through or Rollover?
You can’t have bonuses explained without talking about rollovers. A rollover is the amount of money you have to bet to before you can withdraw the money that you earn from your account. For instance, if you make a $200 deposit to your account with a 50% bonus and a 5x rollover, you have $300 available.
However, you will not be able to withdraw that bonus money until you have wagered a total of $1,500. You can calculate this amount by adding your deposit to the bonus amount and multiplying it by the rollover.
Let’s say your deposit is $200 and your bonus is $100. You multiply $300 by five to get $1,500. There can be a few variables to how different sportsbooks calculate rollovers, so make sure to double-check before committing to a bonus.
Restrictions on Rollovers
Many sportsbooks place restrictions on rollovers that can make them as tricky to figure out as having bonuses explained. For instance, if you make a $10 bet and lose, the sportsbook may credit the full $10 toward your rollover.
But if you win a $10 wager and earn $9.09 in profits, you may only be credited $9.09 toward your rollover. This means that it will take more time and bets to receive your full bonus if you win more wagers than you lose.
There are some restrictions on teams you can bet on that help to clear your rollover. Many sportsbooks won’t let you bet on heavy faves to earn credit toward a full bonus. This means that you’ll have to make bets higher than even money.
There could also be time limits on bonus rollovers. Sportsbooks do this so that you place bets in a short period of time as opposed to waiting for the right bets. Always check for time limits on bonus offers and calculate how many bets it will take to clear the rollover.
Refunds vs. Site Credit
As you have probably noticed from having these bonuses explained, sportsbook bonuses can come in several forms. Some will prefer to give you site credit; that means the money in your account can be used to make bets but can’t be withdrawn unless you have earned a profit from a winning wager and cleared your rollover.
Other sites prefer to give you a free bet that you won’t be able to break up into several bets, instead going into one single bet. Furthermore, the value of the refund will not be returned to you if you win the wager, just the payout from the winning bet.