Bonuses
A sportsbook bonus is a marketing cost, and the book expects to get it back. Whether you come out ahead depends on the terms, and you can work it out before you deposit.
Why books give them
A book pays to get a player through the door. It can pay an advertiser, or it can pay the player, and a bonus is the second kind. From the book's side the sum is simple: the bonus costs a known amount, the terms make the player bet a known amount before he can withdraw, the vig on those bets brings some or all of the bonus back, and after that the book has a customer.
None of that makes a bonus a trick. It makes it a deal, with a price on each side.
The kinds you will see
- Deposit match. A percentage of your deposit added to the account, for new players or on a reload.
- Free play or free bet. A stake you can bet and can't withdraw. A winner pays the winnings only. See cash and free play.
- Money back on a losing first bet. The refund is nearly always free play, not cash.
- Loss rebate. A share of your losses over a period, returned.
- Odds boost. A better price on a bet the book has chosen, usually a parlay.
- No deposit. Covered on its own page: no-deposit bonuses.
What the rollover costs
The rollover is how much you must bet before the bonus and its winnings can be withdrawn. The basics are on the page What is a 20x rollover?
Here is one offer at four different rollovers. You deposit $500 and get a 50 percent bonus of $250. The rollover applies to the deposit plus the bonus, $750, and you bet at -110, where the vig costs 4.55 percent of what you wager on average.
| Rollover | You must bet | Average cost in vig | What is left of the $250 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3x | $2,250 | $102 | $148 |
| 5x | $3,750 | $170 | $80 |
| 10x | $7,500 | $341 | Less than nothing ($91 short) |
| 15x | $11,250 | $511 | Less than nothing ($261 short) |
On these terms the bonus pays for itself up to a rollover of about 7x. Beyond that the average player gives back more in juice than the bonus was worth.
What you were going to bet anyway changes the sum. If you were going to bet $7,500 this season, the vig was coming out of your pocket with or without a bonus, and the $250 is a rebate on it, so I'd take it. If you were going to bet $1,000, the bonus is paying you $250 to bet seven and a half times what you planned, and that is the book's side of the deal working exactly as intended.
The small print that decides it
Read these before anything else:
- What the rollover is counted on. Bonus only, or deposit plus bonus. The second is far more betting.
- Cash or free play. A free-play bonus is worth about half the same amount in cash.
- Which bets count. Heavy favorites are often excluded, and so is betting both sides of a game.
- Time limit. If it runs out, the bonus goes, and often the winnings with it.
- Maximum bet while the bonus is active.
- Withdrawals. Asking for a payout before the rollover is finished usually forfeits the bonus. Your own deposit can be tied up as well, so read that line twice.
Money back and boosts
"Bet $100 and get it back if you lose" sounds like a bet you can't lose. Work it through. If the bet loses, you are out $100 in cash and you hold a $100 free play, which is worth about $45. You are down $55 and the book has a customer.
An odds boost is easier to judge: work out what the bet should pay without the boost, then with it. Some boosts are real value, and they come with a low maximum stake for that reason. A boosted parlay often does no more than hand back part of the extra cut the parlay carried in the first place (which is a funny sort of present).
Why the terms are tight
Books write tight terms because people abuse loose ones. There are players who open accounts in five names, bet both sides and withdraw the bonus, and every rule in the small print was put there after somebody did the thing it forbids. I don't blame a book for protecting an offer. I do blame one that buries the terms or changes them after the deposit.
Before you take the bonus
Do the sum in the table for the offer in front of you before you click, and then compare it with price. A book dealing -105 gives you a rebate on every bet, for good, with no terms, and for a regular bettor that usually beats any sign-up bonus. That is the one I'd pick.
If you may want your money out quickly, decline the bonus; most books let you. Check how the book pays before you care what it gives, and the withdrawals page says what to look at. And never deposit more than your bankroll calls for to reach a bigger bonus. A bonus that pushes your bets above the size you set for yourself has cost you already.
Take the bonus if it fits the betting you had planned. Don't change the plan to fit the bonus.