Online Bookies Free Bets
Free bets that you find at online bookmakers are essentially free money. But that’s if you know what do with them. Free bets are, or should in theory, be that, a bet given to bettors for free which they can then go ahead and place with a chance of winning real money. In reality though, you need to note that it’s more complicated than what it sounds with the terms and conditions varying from one sportsbook to the next.
To put it in another context, a free bet is that type of bet or a wager where you don’t have to pay anything for at all. As a bettor, you can go ahead and place such bets safe with the full knowledge that if they lose, you haven’t lost a penny of your own funds. With bookmakers all over the globe competing to attract as many customers as they can, most of them offer free bets to entice them. Now, you’ll find online bookies free bets across plenty of bookmakers all over the globe.
Free bets come in many forms and sizes. Plenty of bookmakers don’t mind taking a loss on free bets since they are aware that in the long run, they’ll make far more profit, especially from non-savvy bettors. As such, online bookies free bets are a common thing that you won’t miss to find, especially at top online sports betting sites.
Plenty of free bet offers will require a bettor to deposit some funds first before taking advantage of such offers. Again, the initial or qualifying bet will most likely required to be placed at certain odds that vary from one bookie to the next. For example, you may come across a condition that says, “The qualifying bet must have min odds of 4/5.”
Most often, the initial bet that a player gets to wager is the qualifying bet and the amount of that wager will be matched (up to a certain stated amount) with a free bet of exactly the same amount. But again, you need to remember that there are plenty of variations from the simpler Bet £20 get £20 free bet to Bet £10 get £30 in free bets and so on.
Free bets that you find at bookmakers are mostly credited in the form of a ‘token’ that can then go ahead and be selected on a player’s betslip. Most of these free best are ‘stake not returned’, meaning that you’ll only get your winnings back and not the stake from the free bet. Players can always withdraw their free bet winnings without any sort of restrictions.
Getting free bet offers isn’t something that will take you too much time to find. These offers are not in short of supply as bookies are constantly trying to outwit each other for your custom. In trying to stay relevant in the face of increased competition, almost all bookmakers offer customers plenty of offers, free bets being one of them.
Plenty of punters fail to find the best free bet selections due to several reasons. There are a few important things that you need to consider when you are about to place a free bet at a bookmaker of your choice. For instance, have you checked the terms and conditions of the free bet offer? You need to check any terms associated with the free bet offer to see if you are able to meet the required criteria. Some may require you to use them on certain sports, or on some specified maximum or min odds. Some may only be valid for days before expiry. Therefore, make sure that you check the terms of the free bet that you find.
Also, you need to factor in the concept of high odds. As opposed to qualifying bets that are mostly placed at low odds, free bets need to be placed at high odds. The reason for this is simple to understand. Since your free bet stake won’t be returned, why not place these free bets at high odds and maximize your chances of a high profit? But there’s no harm in placing your free bets at low odds if your intention is to make a small profit.
Lastly, there’s the factor of close back and lay odds. Just as the entire matched bets, the back and lay odds need to be as close as possible. To put it in simple terms, the closer the odds, the more cash you stand to make from your free bet. Concisely, you need to place free bets at odds that are high and very close as possible.
Best bookmaker free bets
The month of July 2021 saw customers at plenty of sports betting sites getting free bets from many bookies. With the Euro Competition taking place in the month of July 2021, followed by the Olympics and the Paralympics a month later, many bookmakers saw the need of offering free bets to attract new customers and retain old ones.
There are plenty of free bets offers –which we’ll later discuss in detail – which you can find across several online sports betting sites. However, in the month of July 2021, we established the following to be the best bookmaker free bets:
- Money Back Special Free Bets
In the month of July 2021, Money Back Special Free Bets worked perfectly, especially in enticing many bettors to join sports betting sites and begin wagering. This is a free bet offer that depends on an event happening. For example, a bookmaker may tell you to wager on a football match and get your money back as a free bet if a specific player scores.
Some may even want you to wager on a certain horse and get your funds back in the form of a free bet if the horse you wager on falls. Mostly, these types of offers are made available to new customers as well as existing ones. But you need to be careful here since you won’t get your money back. Instead, you get a free bet which is quite different since you’d need to win on that free bet in an attempt to get your original stake back.
- Enhanced Odds Sign Up Offers and Price Boosts
This type of free bet offer also did quite well in the month of July 2021. Many bookmakers used them to encourage sign ups, especially around large sporting events such as the Euros. Oftentimes, most or the entire player winnings are credited a player’s account as free bets as opposed to cash. Here, bookmakers offer large odds on popular bets to a certain stake.
Enhanced odds are simple to understand. For example, a certain horse may be boosted from say 5/1 to win to 24/1, for a maximum wager of £1 with the extra winnings being paid in the form of free bets. Therefore, if the selection goes ahead to win, you’d receive your normal returns to a £1 stake but additional £20 in the form of free bet credits. Such offers are attractive and suitable if you intend at making small stakes only. They are one of the best bookmaker free bets that worked also perfectly in the month of July 2021.
- Free Bet upon Sign Up Offers
Free Bet Sign Up Offers are the most common and arguably the most popular type of free bet offers that you’ll find in almost all bookmakers. But of importance to note though, is that free bet sign up offers vary from one bookmaker to the next. Some offer attractive free bet sign up offers, while in others, they aren’t that enticing.
Free bet offers for new customers are simple. With just a minimum stated deposit limit, a bettor goes ahead to initiate a free bet offer which is immediately activated the moment the initial qualifying bet get settled. Free bet sign up offers were also some of the best bookmaker free bet offers in the month of July 2021. A majority of bookmakers that used them realized an increased number of clients signing up with them.
- Bet & Get / First Bet Matched Offers
Lastly, we noticed that matched free bets worked well in the month of July 2021. These are free bets that typically apply to the initial bet paced, sometimes referred to as free bet matched stake offers. Here, your initial bet is often the qualifying bet. For example if the welcome offer says bet £20 to get £20 free bet, but make an initial bet of £5, you don’t qualify.
In the month of July 2021, a majority of sportsbooks used matched free bets, and without a doubt, they gained a lot from this type of bet. Plenty of punters were able to meet the terms and conditions of this type of free bet offer and on the other hand, online bookies realized some increased revenue.
What are free bets for?
Have you ever asked yourself why bookmakers offer free bets to new and existing customers that wager with them? Why would you find free bet offers at almost every other bookie that you visit? Many bookmakers, if not all of them have sort of free bet offers that they award to their customers. While these free bet offers seem to vary from one sportsbook to the next, nevertheless, they are free bets. So, why offer these free bets to new and existing customers?
First, bookmakers offer free bets primarily to attract new customers to wager with them. The sports betting industry is one of the most profitable industries across the globe. Coupled with this, more and more people seem to be hooked to online sports betting every year. In a bid to capitalize on this and attract new players to their sites, among other things, bookmakers see the need to offer players some sort of free bets.
If you try to sample betting sites, you’ll notice that most of them offer free bets to customers. While the type of free bet differs from bookie to bookie, they are all free bets anyway. Bookies are all in the business of making money, and among other strategies that they use to realize increased revenue margins, free bets are one of them. Of course, before you get the free bet, you’ll need to make a deposit. That way, bookmakers get to profit from you in the form of your deposit(s). But on the other hand, you get to benefit in the form of free bets. But overall, a big reason as to why bookmakers offer free bets is to entice you to sign up with them and make deposit to their betting account.
Besides encouraging new customers to sign up, free bets are also for the purposes of retaining old or existing customers. Bookmakers have plenty of means of ensuring that they reward their existing customers. Some use loyalty VIP free bonus offers, while others offer constant promotional offers to ensure that their existing customers do not look elsewhere. Existing clients that wager with a firm for long require some sort of rewards from time to time.
Free bets are what plenty of sportsbook in business use to retain existing customers to continue wagering with them. Those operators that don’t use free bets risk losing their existing customers to competitors who offer their old customers some sort of free bets. While free bets for existing customers tend to be less common, actually, there are several of them out there.
A good example of a free bet for existing customers is the Royal Ascot free bet. The Royal Ascot is the crown jewel associated with the flat racing season that consists of 5 days of thrilling racing for players to get grips with. There’s also the best odds guaranteed free bets available for existing customers that many bookmakers offer with the aim of retaining old customers.
As an existing customer, you shouldn’t fret at all on matters to do with free bets specifically made for you. Many bookies offer these free bets to their existing customers so that they don’t head elsewhere. With bookies looking to boost retention and reward loyalty, most of them offer free bets to existing customers.
Free bets are also for the purposes of encouraging dormant bettors to resume their sports betting activities. Some bettors begin wagering with a firm, only to lose interest midway due to several reasons. A majority of them temporarily stop betting due to the absence of constant offers from their bookmaker.
In a bid aimed at encouraging these dormant players to come back and resume betting, many bookies see the need of offering free bets. Research has shown that bookies who offer free bets realize and increased number of dormant bettors who choose to resume their betting with them. Therefore, besides enticing new customers and retaining existing customers, free bets are also for the purpose of encouraging dormant bettors to resume wagering.
Lastly, free bets are more of a marketing strategy that sports betting firms use to market themselves. With competition across the sports betting scene being one of the fiercest ones, operators use free bets in a bid to edge out their competitors. Some use it to market themselves to bettors, most of who are fond of free bet offers. But mostly, it’s for the purposes of ensuring that they stay well ahead of each other in terms of competition.
Best free bets for beginners
As a beginner to online sports betting, you may be confused when it comes to the best free bet offer for you. You can find several free bet offers at many sportsbooks. Existing players find some of them good, while others find these free bet offers not ideal for them. Now that you are a beginner, what are some of the best free bets that are ideal for you? Some free bet offers may work for you as a beginner, while others may not.
As a beginner to online sports betting, you’ll find Bet Refunds one of the best free bet offer for you. But why, you may ask. First, Bet Refunds are lately becoming popular across several bookies across the globe. You’ll see promotions like “Money Back If Bruno Fernandes” on Manchester United v Leeds or “Money Back if your horse finishes 2nd” for example.
In this type of bet, you’ll get your money back if the event that you are wagering on happens. It means that you won’t lose your money if the bet wins. But of importance to note is that you need to be careful with the terms and conditions of Bet Refunds. Some bookmakers do make refunds as cash, while others refund as free bets in Stake Not Returned format. Overall, though, Bet Refunds is an ideal free bet offer, especially if you are a beginner.
The next ideal free bet offer that you may be ideal for beginners in the online sports betting is the Qualifying Free Bet. A qualifying free bet is that which you are required to place a bet so that you qualify for a free bet. So, for example, you may be see something like Bet £40 to get £20 in free bets. Here, you’ll have to wager £40 in bets on certain stated sporting events and above a certain stated amount to qualify for a free bet.
The qualifying free bet is another excellent promotion that you need to consider as a beginner to online sports betting. It’s a wonderful promotion to do since you can be sure that a free bet will come your way once you’ve gone ahead and placed your qualifying bets. Several top bookies offer this type of bet with bet365 being the best of them all. At bet365, for instance, new UK customers that bet £50, you get 50£. When beginning your journey in online sports betting, you should ensure that you take advantage of the qualifying free bet.
Stake Returned As Free Bet is another free bet ideal for beginners in online sports betting. This type of bet is lately popular with bookmakers almost everywhere across the globe. As a beginner, the Stake Returned As Free Bet is another free bet offer that you should take advantage, especially you’re your bookmaker of choice offers to its new customers.
For instance, you’ll come across sign up offers like “Back Everton and if they lose get your stake returned as free bet.” Mostly, there’s a cap on how much players’ stake will be returned. This is a good offer for beginners since it’s a nice to have yourself a second chance of getting your funds back. As a beginner to sports betting, we believe that Stake Returned As Free Bet is a good free bet offer for you.
Lastly, we have the Matched Free Bet offer. Again, we find this to be one of those ideal free bet offers for those new to online sports betting. Getting a matched free bet mostly happens the moment you get to sign up with a new bookmaker. Beginners to sports betting will find the Matched Free Bet offer ideal for them.
In this type of free bet offer, you may come across an offer such as, Bet £30 and get a 30£ free bet. You really won’t find this offer for existing customers. However, we find to be ideal for beginners. After all, you get to qualify for a free bet that’s matched with the amount that you deposit. If you want to test a site or try your luck on betting with small wagering limits, you don’t feel bad when your bet loses.
Bookmakers all over the globe offer several other types of free bet offers. However, we established the above ones to be the ideal free bet offers, especially for beginners. With them, you stand a high chance of winning your bets or profiting from them too.
How to spend free bets
Now that you have a clear understanding of what free bets are and why bookmakers offer free bets, how then do you about spending these free bet offers? How should you spend your bookmaker free bet offers to ensure that you boost your bankroll? Unfortunately, though, plenty of bettors, especially new ones don’t have a good idea on how to spend their free bets. Most of them spend their free bets in a careless manner, a move that sees them hardly realizing any winnings from these free bet offers.
Are you one of those bettors looking for insightful information on how to go about spending your free bets? Don’t worry, as we will inform you on how to go spending your free bets in an effective manner to guarantee you some winnings. Even though you may not win all the times, but if you spend your free bets in the manner that we tell you to do, you’ll see some positive changes as you’ll begin winning almost regularly. Here’s what you need to do:
- Matched Betting
The first and the most effective way of spending your free bet is through Matched Betting. When bookies initially came with the idea of free bets, a few clever bettors identified a way of realizing funds from these free bets with some little risk. They used the matched betting technique to maximize these bookmaker free bets. Matched betting is where you use the incentives of a bookmaker free bets to back both options to guarantee a profit, regardless of the outcome.
You can go ahead and use a free bet to wager a back bet and thereafter place a counter lay bet, but with a betting exchange. The mathematics behind matched betting can be complex in some way as there are certain procedures that have several steps to follow. You need to follow every step categorically for your bets to be effectively matched. Luckily enough, there are several sites that trawl online betting firms and identify the best free bets to use in matched betting.
- Sports and Markets
Apart from matched betting, you need to spend your free bets on sports and markets to realize some winnings. While you are mostly at will to use your free bet on any available sports market, however, some markets tend to be more speculative and volatile compared to others. As a bettor, you can enjoy small but regular wins from free bets and build yourself a betting bank. Some players aim for significant wins from small stakes.
Free bet offers are effective on those markets that have the potential of producing a high rate stake. Some sites give its customers high odds for winning a wager but at a considerably lower strike rate. Also, some sports tend to be more reliable based on form while there are others with the possibility of producing higher proportions of winning outsiders.
- Match Winner
If you get free bets, you may want to spend them on the match winner market. Among other markets, the match winner market comes in as another ideal option when using a free bet. For example, in a game of football, there are three common markets (Home Win, Draw, and Away Win) and the bet tends to produce high stake rates. It even gets better if used in head-to-head sports where there’s a definite outcome.
Snooker and tennis matches are some of the games that involve two players. One gets to progress to the next round while the other one faces elimination. With the limited of outcomes, it becomes a good opportunity to use free bets that you get.
- Handicaps
Bookies introduce handicap with the aim of attracting two-way business, especially when there’s a clear favorite and an underdog. Here, the objective is none other than equalizing the probability of both outcomes. The expression of handicaps is in the form of half goals or points to do away with the tie. Here, typical odds are 1.91 (10/11) for each outcome. A player needs to ensure that s/he achieves a strike rate of about 55% to break even. Since there are only 2 possible results, handicaps are an excellent market to use when it comes to free bets.
- Totals
As a bettor whose intention is to maximize your chances of winning from a free bet, you may want to try using your free bet offers on wagering on totals. Bettors can wager on the total number of points or goals in a single match. Bookies all over issue their odds in bands and this market comes with three potential outcomes. Players can also choose to place over or under a specified total. Here, the expression of the odds is in half points or goals, meaning that there is no possibility of a tie. Bookies quote 1.91 (10/11) or something similar to that on totals. As a bettor, you’ll require a strike rate of less than 60% so that you break even. With only two potential outcomes, you may want to use your free bet on totals.
Types of free bets
The sports betting industry seem to change with every year that passes. However, there’s one thing that seems to remain constant; the bookies require new customers. With the need to attract new customers and retain old ones, among other things that bookmakers offer, free bets are one of them. This has ended up creating a long list of different types of free bets. It may be hard to know several types of free bets that bookmakers offer, since they are a lot. Some of the free bet offers that you find may be difficult to understand due to the terms and conditions attached to them. Below, you’ll find several types of free bets that you need to know.
- Stake Not Returned (SNR)
By far, this is the most common type of free bet that bookies offer. SNR in short, bookmakers refer to this type of free bet as a “bet credit” or a “bet token.” What this means is that bettors get only the winnings part of the wager and not their stake back. For example, a $10 SNR bet that manages to win at 4/1 (5.0) would return $40 and not the expected $50 (winnings $40 plus $10 stake).
- Bet Refunds
The popularity of this type of free bet seems to be increasing with each passing day. For instance, you may come across promotions such as “Money Back If Romelu Lukaku Scores First” on Chelsea v Southampton or “Money Back If your greyhound finishes second.” On plenty of occasions, bookmakers tend to restrict this type of bet, especially to a certain footballing event. You need to be cautious regarding the terms and conditions of this free bet offer. Some sportsbooks do their refunds in the form of cash, while others refund as free bet offers in the format of SNR.
- Qualifying Free Bet
Just as the name suggests, in this type of bet, you’ll have to place a bet so that you qualify for a free bet. So, if you see something like, Bet £30 to get £10, it means that you’ll have to spend £30 in bets on certain events to qualify for a free bet of £10. The Qualifying Free Bet is one of the most popular format for bookies, and most of them are usually given in the SNR format. Many bettors love this type of free bet offer since they get the assurance of a free bet once they’ve placed their qualifying bet(s).
- Matched Free Bet
Qualifying for a matched free bet mostly happens when you sign up with a new bookie. Bookmakers mostly use this as a strategy to attract new clients to sign up and make deposits to their betting accounts. For instance, you may see an offer such as, Bet £40 and get a £40 free bet. This offer is mostly for new customers, and you normally don’t see it on offer for existing accounts. While not as popular as it once was, nevertheless, you won’t fail to come across it.
- Risk Free Bet
Many bookies offer their customers this type of bet. But you need to be careful with its terms and conditions. Every bookie is different with others defining the term “risk-free” differently to others. With a risk-free bet, though, you cannot lose money on a wager. They tend to be highly popular but one of those rare welcome offers. Many risk free bets come after your qualifying bet.
- Stake Returned As Free Bet
Stake returned as free bet is another free bet offer that seems to be becoming popular with bookies all over. For example, you may see sign up offers like “Back Wolver Hampton and if they lose get your stake returned as free bet.” In most cases, though, there’s a cap regarding how much the bookmaker will return your stake. Many bettors seem to also prefer this type of betting since it gives them the chance of getting their funds back. Plenty of existing players find this free bet offer ideal for them.
- Enhanced Odds Betting Sign Up Offers
Another free bet offer that many sportsbooks offer, enhanced odds are turning out to be a popular type of free offer. With this type of free offer, you’ll see something like “Sign up today and get 33/1 on Brighton to beat Liverpool” when the actual odds are around 8/13. While some of these free offers tend to be crazy in some way, bettors require a sporting event to go their way in order to benefit. Nevertheless, the enhanced odds is another common type of free bet offer that you can find at many betting sites.
- No Deposit Free Bets
No Deposit free bets are also one of those free bet offers that bookies offer their customers. While this type of free bet offers tend to be rare, it means that you don’t always have to make a deposit to take advantage of an initial free bet sign up offer bonus. The No Deposit Free Bets mostly come with some of the most restrictive winning potential for bettors, such as £/$/€10 max.
- Free Betting Credits
Free Betting Credits is another variation of deposit match offers that sportsbooks offer. It’s just a different terminology that has its own terms and conditions. As opposed to receiving some amount of your deposit as your deposit bonus, bookmakers would go ahead and allocate you free betting credits or free bets. You may see stuff such as, Up to £100 In Free Credits for New Customers, or Up to £50 in Bet Credits Upon Sign Up.
As you can see, there a plenty of free bets that you can find available at different bookies. While the names and their terms may differ, they are all some sort of free bets whose purpose we explained earlier in this article.
Can I withdraw my free bet winnings?
Now that you have free bets credited to your account, can you go ahead and withdraw such funds from your free bet? The answer is a resounding no! You cannot withdraw the funds from your free bet offer, at the very least, not straight away.
Online sports betting sites aren’t willing to give away their money for free. But as you may be well aware by now, they use free bet offers to incentivize customers to gamble with them. That’s why bookies tend to attach some certain terms and conditions with their bonus offers.
While it all depends on the terms of the free bet offer, to be on the safe side, you may not want to get your hopes up – in most cases, you won’t be able to withdraw the money without having to wager them a certain amount of times first.
Free bet deals come with conditions, most of the common one being the so-called wagering requirement or rollover requirement. It’s the number of times you need to rollover your free bet to be able to turn it into real money.
Let’s take the assumption that a bookmaker awards you with a €50 free bet, but with a wagering requirement of 5x. It therefore means that you need to wager the €50 on five different occasions. Should you complete the wagering requirement without losing the funds, your free bet turns to funds you can withdraw.
Another factor you need to remember is that you have to place those wagers on certain min odds. How high the minimum odds will be varies from bookie to bookie, but we can tell you that you should expect anything shorter than 1.50. Even at such small odds, a bettor’s implied probability is 66.6%, meaning that there’s a 33.3% of the bet losing.
In short, though, you cannot be able to withdraw your free bet winnings until successfully completing the wagering requirements. Lastly, please gamble responsibly when you get free bet offers.
