Easy to Claim – offers can usually be activated simply by making a deposit or a bet.
This can be done by backing a result on one site and then laying the same result on a betting exchange site. This means that regardless of the result, they stand to make at least a small profit. In fact, it is possible to continue this betting practice long after you have used up your free bet, just as long as your mathematics is astute! Getting access to free money is usually a simple task. All you need to do is register with a site offering this type of bet and then deposit enough money to activate the free bet offer, which is usually going to be no more than £50.
When you are making the bet, ensure that you have checked the correct boxes – if there are any – to signify that you are using your free bet, otherwise it could be a costly mistake! There’s no best way to use free bet offers. Some like to gamble it up and some like to play it safe. This type of sign up deal can seem generous and attractive on the surface and they certainly can provide a boost to your betting. But as with all bookmaker promotions, there are pros and cons. Sign up Incentive – the best offers can sometimes be a very strong incentive to sign up to a site. Wide Use – The free bet can usually be wagered on a wide range of markets.
Obviously, the size of the free bet offer will be the first thing to catch your eye and one of the first factors to consider. Generally, you will want to claim the biggest free bet deal you can find, but bigger is not always better, at least, not if you only go by the headline figure. This figure will usually be the maximum amount of bonus that you can claim, but this may not be the most relevant factor. For example, a £100 free bet bonus offer might sound better than a £50 deal. But almost all welcome bonuses will be based on a percentage match, so you need to know this figure before you can make a judgment.
If the £100 maximum offer is a 50% match, you would need to deposit £200 to claim it, while if the £50 offer was a 200% deposit match, you’d only have to deposit £25 to get the maximum. Most welcome bonuses will be deposit match offers of the type described above, though this is not always the case. In bet all uk betting sites list fact, some sportsbooks will give you a no deposit bonus, which is credited to your account simply for signing up. These bonuses are relatively rare, however, and will usually be small. The key thing to look out for is whether the free bet offer requires you to simply make a deposit, or to make a bet before you can claim the offer. Good for Testing – A free bet can be a good option for checking out a new betting site.
If you plan to use this method then read our Skrill bonuses or Neteller bonuses pages. While the focus of much of the sportsbook world is on attracting new customers, you will find that the best sportsbooks also offer a range of bonuses and promotions to regular players and customers. Here are some of the most common existing customer promotions you will find. One welcome innovation for sports betting fans is the rise of the prediction competition. In this type of promotion, which is usually open to all customers, you can put your betting skills to the test by predicting the outcome of a range of matches or events, with the winner often rewarded with free bets.
Football prediction competitions are the most common, but you can find competitions associated with a variety of sports, including golf, US sports and tennis. Regular customers may also be able to claim Bet and Get offers of the type detailed above. Unlike the welcome bonus version of this promotion, the deal for regular players will usually be tied to a particular event or market, often to promote activity around the time of a major tournament, such as a World Cup or the Super Bowl. This type of promotion is therefore usually topical and short term, and so regularly checking the promotions page of your sportsbook can help you spot them in time. Unfortunately, loyalty programs are not as common for sports betting customers as they are in the casino sector. Versatile – It is usually possible to split up your free bets into smaller bets.
Wagering Requirements – You often have to satisfy a wagering requirement of x10 or higher.
Still, there are some sportsbooks that will offer loyalty or reward schemes for regular customers. As with other forms of retail loyalty schemes, registered customers will receive points every time they use a site, and those points will eventually add up to rewards. These rewards are often in the form of free bets, and the further into the scheme you progress, the bigger the free bets and perks. As with the Bet and Get offers, sportsbooks sometimes make Odds Boost promotions available to regular players and just newcomers. And, as with the Bet and Get promotion, these will usually be aimed at particular events.
For example, you might get boosted odds when you bet on a quoted accumulator or in the winners market of a big event such as the World Cup or Champions League final. Again, these are the type of promotions that are offered at short notice so you may have to move quickly to claim them. Note: you can find the best existing customer offers in our latest betting promotions section. There are hundreds of free bet offers out there, most of them aimed at new customers, so it can sometimes be difficult to sort the good from the bad and the ugly. To help you navigate a successful course through the maze of free bet deals, here are some key things to look out for. Low Stakes – most deals are generally aimed at low stakes punters.
| Payment Method | Typical Processing Time | Eligible for Bonus? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa/Mastercard | Instant | Yes | Most widely accepted |
| PayPal | Instant | Yes | Fast withdrawals |
| Online Bank Transfer | 1-3 business days | Yes | High limits |
| Skrill/Neteller | Instant | Sometimes | May exclude bonuses |
Best Bonuses up Front – many sites focus only on bonuses for new, not regular customers.
Can’t Claim Stake – with a free bet, you can’t claim your stake back even if your bet is a winner.
Some deposit match bonuses require you to go on and make a bet of the same amount as your deposit before claiming the free bet, while others are paid when you make your deposit. Both can be good offers, but the latter is less complicated than the former. Finally, this is something that punters also overlook. If a site does not cover the sports or markets that you are likely to want to bet on, or doesn’t suit your needs in terms of site design, banking options, customer service record or any other requirement, there is little upside to claiming a welcome bonus. Some welcome bonuses require you to make an initial bet or subsequent deposits, and may even have wagering requirements that mean you have to use their site a number of times before claiming your bonus.
If you wouldn’t ordinarily use a particular site, don’t sign up to it just to claim a bonus, because that is exactly what the bookmakers want you to do. There are a number of different ways that people like to use free bonuses and all of them have their merits. Most unseasoned gamblers will treat them as exactly what they are – something for nothing. For this reason they will bet on something with high odds and if it comes in, they will win a lot of money; if it doesn’t then no harm has been done. Other people like to be a lot more careful with the way that they use their free bet and they will often play the system to ensure that they make a profit. The terms and conditons attachched to betting bonuses are the single biggest con, or downside if you prefer, of these type of deals. One of the biggest complaints that sports punters make against sportsbooks and other online gambling companies is the use of wagering requirements, sometimes known as turnover or playthrough rules. A wagering requirement is a rule that demands you wager the full amount of your bonus and deposit a set number of times before you can make a withdrawal. And it can make a huge difference to a bonus offer.
A deposit match bonus of up to £100 may not appear so attractive once you realize you have to wager that £100 forty times before you make a withdrawal! The good news for sports punters is that wagering requirements are far more common with online casino sites than with sportsbook operators, and when sportsbooks do apply this rule, the wagering figure is usually relatively low.
With stake not returned free bets/offers, the original stake that you would have had to place if it had been a normal bet is not given to you, therefore meaning that all you get is £50. Some would say that this is fair enough, as your original stake was, in effect, nothing, therefore why should the bookmakers be expected to pay you a stake that you never placed in the first place? Others, however, think that this is a bit of a cheat and that the free bets should work exactly like a regular bet would. At the end of the day it’s still a bonus just not quite as good for punters as a stake returned deal would be. Just incase you’re still not sure… The basics of this question are probably very easy for you to work out, as the difference is that a stake not returned offer basically means that, should the free bet you get credited turn out to be a winner, the bookmaker will only pay out the winnings and not give the stake to the punter as well.
This obviously means that, at first glance, a stake returned bonus is a much better offer than a stake not returned. You have to be careful when comparing offers though, as there are times when a stake not returned free bet from one site can be better than a stake returned free bet from another. This is because it is regularly the case that the former type of bet is for a larger amount – say £15 instead of £10 – and that the winnings therefore more than make up for the fact that the stake is not given to the winner as well. It might be easy to say that bookies offering stake not returned free offers are being tight with their money, but you really have to look at the deal objectively before jumping to any conclusions. NOTE: deposits made using Skrill and Neteller are usually banned from claiming any type of free bet or welcome bonus. Still, it is important to look out for the wagering requirement before claiming any bonus as this can be a nasty surprise if you aren’t aware of it.
