How Sports Betting Bonuses Work

What, When, Where & FAQs about Sports Betting Bonus

Sports betting is one of the fastest-growing brands in worldwide entertainment. It allows sports fans and thrill-seeking gamblers the opportunity to risk their wager against the minds of the so-called expert bookmakers.

Sports betting is also a competitive division, however, both for patrons and gambling agents themselves.

Sportsbooks are under constant competition from other betting sites to gain and retain visitors— because of this widespread contention, gaming companies have been forced to come up with ways to entice new and experienced bettors just the same. Their answer to this comes in the form of sports betting bonuses.

What is a sports betting bonus?

A sports betting bonus is not some intangible object nor a permanently-defined item. A sports betting bonus is simply some benefit or promotion designed to improve the bettor’s experience and keep people interested and attracted to a company’s website.

These bonuses can come in different forms and at different times, depending on the sportsbook; however, most tend to operate with the same basic structure.

Where to find sports betting bonuses

Sports betting bonuses often appear during the registration period with a sportsbook. This has been done as a move to attract new customers by flashing a special offering that will make the sign-up process painless, or at least less of a hassle for first-timers that are still unsure whether or not they should take the plunge.

Think of this as a foot in the door technique; flashing these promotions grabs interest and draws prospective bettors in, so even if they opt not to accept the deal, they know about the company and its arms-open approach.

When to find sports betting bonuses

As previously mentioned, bonuses are almost always available for newcomers to betting information sites. Even if you have signed up with one sportsbook, a different one will offer you the same promotional opportunity as if you had no experience at all.

Some casual bettors go around collecting bonuses from different websites and never put any of their own money in. This is fine for a short-term and less serious approach, although the long-term goal is to establish a rapport with a betting agent and build a relationship from there.

Companies also get especially active around major events in the sporting calendar, such as the World Cup, Super Bowl, and NBA Finals. These large-scale events attract interest from all sorts of crowds, casual and experienced, which is why they are a great time to run promotions.

The future of sports fandom seems to be all about engagement and interpersonal interaction, and although betting does not necessarily mandate the latter, it is heavy in the former.

Promotions during major events give fans the chance to back their team or favorite athlete even more heavily than they were before and pledge their allegiance to them by dropping a bet with the chance of winning big. 

What do sports betting bonuses look like?

Ah, the big question. Sports betting bonuses can take the shape of anything the parent company decides to come up with. Here are a few examples:

Risk-free bets

First and foremost, there are risk-free bets. These are bets that require a deposit of real money but provide insurance in the form of credits to the site in case the bet ultimately misses.

What this means is that an incorrect $25 wager would result in the bettor still holding $25 of buying power, but not currency. So, this money can be used to place more bets but is not withdrawable and therefore only valid on the site where the bet was placed.

Although it is not as perfect as walking away with the same money you placed even after missing a bet, it is a great way to ensure you have two bites at the apple, which for most bettors would give them a strong chance of recouping their initial investment.

Odds boosts

Another type of sports betting bonus is an odds boost, which is exactly what it sounds like. Odds boosts simply change the value of a potential payout to a greater amount, increasing the likelihood that bettors will wager on it.

For example, one company frequently runs Super Bowl odds boosts of roughly +150 on the moneyline; this means that if the San Francisco 49ers had a +110 chance of winning the Super Bowl, they would now be boosted to somewhere around +260.

Now, this does not mean the Niners’ chance of winning the big game got worse; it just means that the payout would be increased drastically. Here is a breakdown of how that would look.

At +110 odds, a successful $50 bet would total 105 dollars— at +260, that same bet would earn a $180 payout, over 171% of the original amount. 

Using the same paradigm, consider the Baltimore Ravens were -140 favorites to win the Lombardi Trophy.

An odds boost could make them +210 favorites, which would change the payout on a $50 bet from $85.71 to $155, a 180.8% rise in total value. 

Parlay boosts

A parlay boost is essentially the same as an odds boost, although it can only be applied to parlays.

Parlays are bets with multiple stages (known as “legs”), which require that every component of the bet come true, for even if one is incorrect, the entire bet fails. So, you could bet on ten outcomes in Major League Baseball, and if nine of the 10 are correct, the entire parlay fails because of just one leg.

Parlay boosts typically do not boost the value as much as odds boosts, although that comes down to the sportsbook running the promotion. 

Deposit match

A deposit match is like a risk-free bet in the sense that it rewards bettors with credits to the store. 

These bonuses are typically limited to a certain amount stipulated by the sponsoring company but often hit or exceed $100. So, a new bettor who just made their account may have the opportunity to deposit, say $250 and gain an additional $250 in tokens. This gives that bettor $500 in purchasing power on the sportsbook.

This money also holds no value outside of the particular website and must be wagered entirely before it can begin to be withdrawn as real cash, but it is easy to start to rake in the profits. 

Flat-rate wins

Flat-rate wins are the most common big-event one-time promotional opportunity; they offer massive sums compared to very small investments and are the ultimate foot-in-the-door play by sportsbooks.

Flat-rate wins often only require $5 or $10 and promise payouts of anywhere from $200-1000, depending on the site. You will, again, find these around major events like the Super Bowl, a heavyweight fight, or the Olympics. 

The only rule in these bets is that you must wager a little of your own money— from there, all that is left is to pick the correct moneyline (usually), spread (sometimes), or points total (rarely). 

Free bets

The last of the major sports betting bonuses is simply a voucher for a bet up to a certain amount; this does not require any real money from the bettor, only their credit card information during the sign-up process.

A free bet is a wager with a predetermined and fixed amount decided by the sportsbook that can be placed anywhere on the site; it is native currency, so again, it has to be wagered entirely and return a profit before it can be withdrawn. Want to learn more about Sports Betting Bonus? Follow us on Twitter.