Betting Review

Sportsbooks offer bettors a wide range of enticing bonus offers in a bid to stand out in an extremely competitive market. You can therefore benefit from all manner of free bets, boosted odds promotions, risk free wagers and more. These sportsbook bonuses can really help you swing into a profit over the course of the year, so it is important to snap up as many of them as possible. However, there are wagering requirements, terms and conditions that you need to bear in mind, so we have created this sportsbook bonus page to help you understand what is on offer. Read on to learn more about the exciting offers you can take advantage of today at some of the best sportsbooks in the world.

Hundreds of betting sites are all vying for your business and they must work hard to stand out from the crowd. The vast majority of sports betting sites provide attractive betting sign-up offers in an effort to tempt new customers. These are the key welcome bonus offers that you should familiarize yourself with.

You generally have to deposit some of your own money into a new account before you can unlock a sports betting bonus. This is called a match bonus. For example, betting sites might offer you a 100% cash bonus if you sign up for a new account. That means it will give you 100% of the amount you deposit in the form of a free bet. If you deposit $100 of your own money, you will receive $200 in credit to play with.

Alternatively, a sportsbook could offer a 50% match deposit. In that case you could deposit $100 and receive $150 to play with. Some sports betting offer 150% or 200% matched deposits, while others might go to 300% or 400%, but they may only allow you to deposit a small amount when seizing this free bet bonus.
You will notice that each betting site has a minimum and maximum deposit amount for anyone that wants to take advantage of a first deposit free bet bonus offer. For example, one site might offer a 100% matched deposit up to $250, while a rival site could offer a 50% bonus up to $1,000. In the first case, you would be able to deposit $250 and receive $500 to play with. In the second case, you could deposit $1,000 and receive $1,500 to play with.
You can only qualify for a sign-up bonus if you are a new customer. You often have to enter a promo code to unlock these bonus funds.

This is a risk free bet promotion. It essentially allows you to place a risk free wager without having to deposit any of your own money. If your risk free bet wins, your winnings will be added to your account balance and you can keep on playing. If your risk free bet loses, you can walk away without having lost any of your own money.

Why would a betting site offer a risk free bet? The idea is that you will be so impressed with the sports wagering platform after betting for free that you will decide to remain a long-term customer, deposit real money and play it on various different markets. Some sports betting operators believe that getting your foot in the door is half the battle. They lure you in with a risk free bet, and then try to sell themselves in a short space of time, encouraging you to stick with them.

You may find that a sports betting site then offers subsequent bonuses after giving you a risk-free bet in order to give you another incentive to stay. A no deposit risk free bet is a really appealing bonus offer for anyone that bets on sports, and it is well worth snapping them up when you see them. We will always highlight no deposit risk free bonuses alongside match bonus offers and other free bets at SBR.

Another form of bonus is badged as a “risk free bet”, but you actually have to deposit your own money. You might be encouraged to deposit $30 and place a wager. If you win, you the winnings are added to your balance. If you lose, you will be given a $30 free bet, allowing you to have another go. The sportsbook might refer to this as a “risk free bet”, although it does actually require you to risk your own money.

Many sports betting operators will offer boosted odds promotions in a bid to generate new business when a big sporting event looms. This is particularly common among European betting sites. If Liverpool has a big game against Everton in the Premier League and it is the heavy favorite to win, you might see a sports betting operator offer boosted odds of 50/1 on Liverpool winning.

The offer will be limited to new customers, and you will generally only be able to wager a small unit such as $1 at those boosted odds. You will also have to deposit some of your own money to unlock the bonus. If you win, you will be paid in the form of free bet credit as opposed to real money that you can instantly withdraw. These boosted odds bonuses are often available on soccer and tennis, but you can find some NFL or UFC boosts too, and you might also find these promotions available onpolitics markets in the build up to the presidential election.

Sportsbooks will run other creative bonuses to tempt new customers. You might find you can bet $10 on the first quarter-final clash at the US Open tennis tournament, and then receive a subsequent free $10 bet on each of the remaining quarter-finals. You might alternatively receive double the odds on your first bet. These free bet offers are again more common among European sportsbooks, but US facing betting sites increasingly offer such free bet offers, which are also referred to as bet free, bet for free or freebet.

Most sports betting sites also have an online casino section. They might offer you a matched deposit, free spins or a combination of both in order to encourage you to sign up. Even if you only intend to play at the sportsbook, you may find that a site will offer you a matched sportsbook bonus and throw in free spins as an extra incentive. It simply gives you free spins of an online slot game, such as Starburst.

A sports betting operator will generally offer you various incentives to stay loyal to the site. A reload bonus is one of the most common ways to reward customers for their ongoing loyalty. They are very similar to the free bet welcome bonus offers, but they are aimed at existing customers and they generally come at a lower percentage than the sign-up sports betting bonus. For example, you might be given a 100% bonus on your first deposit, and then a 25% reload bonus. Once again, you will find wagering requirements attached to a reload bonus, and you can always opt out if you find them too onerous.

The top betting offers can broadly be divided into two categories: free play bonuses and cash bonuses. There is one key difference between them: if you receive a cash bonus, your stake will be returned to you as part of your winnings if your bet is successful. If you take a free play bonus, the stake will not be included when your balance is topped up after a successful bet.

Let’s say you receive a $100 cash bonus and you use it to bet on the Dallas Cowboys to cover the spread in a big NFL game. You would generally get odds of -110 on a bet like that. If the Cowboys covered the spread, you would make a $91 profit. If you placed that bet with a cash bonus, your account would be credited with $191 ($91 profit and your $100 stake returned as your bet was a winner). However, if you placed that bet with a free play bonus, your account would only be credited with $91, as you do not get the stake back on a free play bonus.

A cash bonus is therefore generally more appealing than a free play bonus when you sign up at a sports betting operator and place your first bet. However, you might find higher rollover requirements on a cash bonus, so read the small print before deciding which free bets promotions to take advantage of. As a general rule, risk free bet offers are free play rather than cash bonuses.

You will generally only have a short period of time in which to claim your bonus. If you leave it there for more than 14 days, it will probably disappear. You might also be restricted in terms of the betting markets that you can use your free bet bonus on. For example, it might only be valid when betting on the spread or totals, or it might only be valid for certain sports.

A common condition on a free bet bonus is a minimum odds requirement. You cannot simply bet your bonus on a few overwhelming favorites at odds of -10000 and expect that to take care of your rollover requirement. You will generally find that you have to wager it at minimum odds of -200, -150 on +100. This is another important point to bear in mind when weighing up how attractive these free bets and risk-free bet promotions actually are. Some players prefer to simply avoid free bets and risk-free offers altogether, but they can be very lucrative if you get it right.

A number of sportsbooks will run loyalty programs to encourage customers to stick with them. You will earn reward points every time you bet on a sporting event, bet at a table game or bet on a virtual slot. The number of bet points you earn may differ depending on the bet you place.

For example, a site might give gives customers 1 point for betting $1 on either video poker or table games, 5 points for a bet of $1 on slot games, 3 points for betting $1 on sports singles (moneyline, spread etc.), 15 points for betting $1 on teasers, 25 points for betting $1 on a sports round robin or a parlay, 40 points for a $1 straight bet at the racebook or 60 points for a $1 exotic bet or multiple at the racebook. You would therefore earn $600 points by betting $10 on an exacta for the Kentucky Derby.

You can then exchange these reward points for free bets or other prizes. You will typically move up through the loyalty program tiers by betting a high volume or placing large wagers, and your rewards will improve the higher up the ladder you climb. High rollers and players with VIP status can expect to benefit from a personal account manager, enhanced free bet rewards and bonuses, exclusive promotions, faster withdrawals, cash back on settled bets, and other incentives, such as trips, gadgets and bespoke hospitality invitations.

Sportsbooks will often host contests to keep players excited over the course of the year.

These contests allow bettors to hone their handicapping skills and compete against one another for cash prizes, free bets, trips and other exciting rewards.

SBR also runs various exciting contests for our members. You can win points and then exchange them for free bets at our top online sportsbooks.

Sports betting sites will also run prize draws, put on promotions around seasonal events such as the NBA finals or the Super Bowl and provide many more reasons to remain loyal.

You should bookmark this page to ensure you constantly remain abreast of the latest matched deposit offers, risk free bet promotions and other bonuses on offer. However, you should always stick to safe, reliable, reputable sportsbooks. There are a number of scam sites and shady operators vying for your business. They will offer highly attractive risk free first bet offers and promise you all manner of free bets, but they have no intention of actually paying you out if you win your bet.

If a risk-free bet offer or a matched first bet promotion sounds too good to be true, it probably is. For example, if you find a high cash bonus on a first bet, with no rollover requirement attached, it should set alarm bells ringing. It could be an extremely generous sportsbook, but that is highly unlikely.

One way to identify scam sites is to visit our blacklist, which details all the different sites that have stiffed players over the years. Many of them use free bet offers to lure you in, but you should avoid them and stick to the trustworthy sites listed on our top sportsbooks page. Many of them offer great bonuses, so you are bound to find more than one that appeals to you. It is always worth signing up with more than one sportsbook, as that ensures you benefit from more than one bonus offer.

This refers to the number of bets you must place before you are permitted to make a withdrawal. It applies to sign-up free bet bonuses and reload free bet bonuses. A typical rollover requirement would be 6x, which means you must wager your credit six times (place at least six bets) at a certain minimum price before you can make a withdrawal. The rollover requirement generally applies to the cash you deposit as well as the free bets you receive.