If you’ve considered dabbling in online sports betting, or are thinking of diving in with both feet, there are several factors that must be taken under consideration before making that leap.
Does the site you are thinking about signing up with cater to your favorite sports? If you’re an NFL fan, that answer is almost always going to be a resounding yes. However, if it’s more of a niche sport upon which you desire to wager, such as rugby or cycling, it’s best to scan the different sportsbook websites in order to determine how deep their markets go in these less popular sports.
One thing you will find when scouring the ever-growing number of online sports betting sites at Sportsbook Bonus is that they will all be offering some sort of signup bonus in an effort to entice new players to join up with them. On the surface, all of these offers will sound attractive – after all, it’s free money, and who doesn’t like that?
However, again it’s best to dig a little deeper to unearth exactly what the bonus offer consists of and how it works. There are terms and conditions that go with every available sportsbook bonus, so be sure to read the fine print and determine whether those factors are something that will suit your needs.
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Types Of Sportsbook Bonuses
In general, an online sportsbook bonus will fall under one of three categories. There are no deposit bonuses, matching first deposit bonuses and risk-free first bet bonuses.
A no deposit bonus is self explanatory. It’s also the rarest of sportsbook bonuses offered, because the site is basically giving you money to wager with them. Usually, this will be a rather small stipend. The standard fare is around $20-25. While that doesn’t seem like much, it’s still free money. It means that it’s not going to cost you anything to make your first wager. If you place that $20 no deposit bonus on a game and it’s a winner, great. If the wager doesn’t come through, at least you’ve been given the opportunity to make that first play without coughing up any of your own cash.
A second, more popular signup offer is the matching first deposit bonus. With this bonus, the betting site offers to players a percentage of their first cash deposit to their account as a bonus. Some sites will even offer a 100 percent match, although there’s always a cap on the maximum amount they are willing to match. For example, Bovada offers new players a 50 percent matching first deposit bonus worth up to $250. So if you were to deposit $500, they’d give you $250 on top of that deposit. BetUS provides newcomers with a 125 percent matching first deposit that can gain a new player up to $3,125. There is a 100 percent matching first deposit bonus up to $2,500 in their sportsbook. They’ll also provide newbies with a 25 percent matching first deposit in their online casino that maxes out at $625.
The third popular signup bonus is a risk-free first bet, also known as a free bet. The betting site will allow a new player to place a first bet with what basically amounts to an insurance policy. If the bet proves to be a loser, they’ll refund the amount to the player’s account in the form of free bet credits. There will always be a maximum amount covered with this type of offer.
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Free Is A Relative Term
Calling it a risk-free bet is a bit of a misnomer, a marketing spin if you will. You don’t get the cash you risked back after all, but free bet coupons. So you’ll be required to wager the money again, and this time without a money-back guarantee.
Checking the terms and conditions of all of these bonus offers before signing up is sage advice. Every one of them will come with rollover requirements attached. That’s the number of times the money must be wagered at their site before a bettor is permitted to withdraw the funds. Sometimes, this will mean that taking less money as a signup bonus could prove to be the wiser approach. A $250 bonus with a 5x rollover is more likely to survive the playthrough requirements than a $1,000 bonus with a 15x rollover.
Other sites may place a time limit on how long a player has to meet all the requirements of the bonus offer. As well, there could also be limits on what odds bets must be wagered in order to clear the bonus through these rollover numbers.
