Online casino bonuses make for a nice incentive but can be frustrating to reap their benefits. They tend to be generic and usually have certain wagering requirements that must be satisfied. The same cannot be said of online sportsbook bonuses. They are often very creative, and they tend to give sports bettors a fighting chance to claim some real value.
For the benefits of online sports bettors like you, the following information is going to focus on the most common types of online sportsbook bonuses. You’ll find that this information applies to online sportsbooks all over the world.
Online Sportsbook Welcome Bonuses
The competition within the online sports betting community for new customers always begins with welcome bonuses. As you can guess, welcome bonuses exist for one reason only, to entice new customers to register and start betting.
While online casino welcome bonuses will typically feature no deposit bonuses, matching deposit bonuses, and free spins, online sportsbook welcome bonuses are slightly different. They typically feature matching deposit bonuses, free bets, or insurance rebates.
Matching Deposit Bonuses
Matching deposit bonuses are made available after new customers finish the registration process and make their initial cash deposits. The amount of a matching deposit bonus is typically based on some percentage of the initial deposit, usually 100% with a cap on the amount of bonus new customers can claim.
In most cases, the playthrough or rollover requirement on a matching deposit bonus is only 1x the bonus amount. That’s quite a bit better than online casino welcome bonuses that come with 10x-20x rollover requirements and lots of other restrictions.
Most sportsbook matching deposit bonuses do come with conditions or restrictions on the sports betting process. For instance, free bets made with free money might have to be made with a minimum odds limitation.
Free Bet Bonuses
Instead of giving free cash for free bets, some online sportsbooks prefer to give free bet tokens only after new customers have made their initial sports wagers. For instance, the terms might state that the welcome bonus will be awarded in free bet tokens based on some percentage of the customer’s very first sports bet (win, lose, or draw).
Again, most sportsbook free bet bonuses come with conditions or restrictions on the sports betting process. Such as the initial free bet must be made on a specific betting market.
Insurance Rebate Bonuses
Insurance rebate bonuses are very similar to free bet bonuses with one major exception. The free bet tokens that come from insurance rebate bonuses are only awarded if the initial sports bets are losing bets. In such cases, the amount of insurance rebate bonuses will be based on some percentage of the losing bet amount.
Online Sportsbook Regular Free Bet Bonuses
Regular free bet bonuses are handled in the same way as welcome free bet bonuses with a few subtle differences.
First, regular free bet bonuses are only available for established customers. Second, they are intermittent bonuses that can pop up at any time. Finally, the free bets often come with more wagering restrictions like:
- Less time to use them before they expire
- Betting market or betting option restrictions
- Sometimes carry higher rollover requirements
Online Sportsbook Regular Insurance Rebate Bonuses
Regular insurance rebate bonuses are handled in the same way as welcome insurance rebate bonuses with a few subtle differences.
First, regular insurance rebate bonuses are only made available to established customers. Second, they are intermittent bonuses that don’t come about very often. Finally, they often come with more wagering restrictions like:
- Lower rebate percentages
- Limited access to rebate distributions
- Rebate amounts sometimes carry higher rollover requirements
Online Sportsbook Profit Boost Bonuses
When an online sportsbook offers profit boost bonuses, they are offering to pay participants more money on a specific type of sports bet. For instance, the online bookmaker might be offering a 25% profit boost on wagers made on NBA basketball games. The profit boost percentage gets paid only on winning bets and usually gets paid as additional cash added to the winning bet amount.
There is one caveat associated with profit boost bonuses. The profit boost is only applied to the net profits, which does not include the actual amount of the qualifying wager.
Other Things to Know About Online Sportsbook Bonuses
If you want to claim online sportsbook bonuses, you have to read and understand each offer’s terms and conditions. Compared to online casino bonuses, online sportsbook bonuses tend to come with more wagering restrictions. Of course, those extra wagering requirements are offset by lower rollover requirements. That’s where the real value lies.
It’s true that it’s easier to claim real value from online sportsbook bonuses than online casino bonuses. However, the price of that benefit is having to spend more time reading terms and conditions.
