The Complete Guide to Bonus Bets
By: Virgil Townsend
Tags: Football, Betting, Betting Tips, Csgo, Sports Betting

What Are Bonus Bets?

Today, foreign operators and even startups have flooded the bookmarking industry by storm. The bonus bethas become part of the punting landscape. You get the bonus bet for signing up, signing in, having a bet, not having a bet, and also contacting the customer service.

You also get a bonus bet for when your horse runs second or when your team loses by a kick. You also get one when your multi bombs out. For the bookies, this is a simple business because the chances of you to stake with them is higher than with other dozen options.

Whether they have to give you the bonus, you will still be back to use nonetheless, whether they flog you with more offers or not. Even when your bonus beta actually wins, they have turnover requirements on the winnings that restrict you getting the cash and being done with.

In some cases, you even have to stake the winnings more times before you can withdraw the money. They are also always ahead of you when it comes to the betting slots by putting minimum prices for the turnover bets.

Bonus bets seem to look like free money. However, that’s not always the case because the odds of your average mug turning into real cash in your pocket is very low. However, the beauty of bonus bets is the fact that you won’t risk any of your capital.

With bonus bets, instead of hoping that the bet comes in, you can use your edge to cover both a bet and still guarantee yourself of a positive result.

How Do Bonus Bets Work?

Compared to free but stakes bonus stakes are returned. When a free bet you placed wins, you may receive he winnings, but you won’t acquire the free bet stake. With a bonus bet, the bonus stake is returned along with your winnings when you place a bet on something, and it wins.

However good that sounds, there is a catch! Before you can withdraw the bonuses, they have to be rolled over a number of times. This is referred to as the wagering or rollover requirement. Only after you meet the wagering or rollover requirement or when you lose all your bookmarker funds into the exchange account will the rollover be complete.

Bookmakers use the bonus bet money to attract customers and always to offer promotions when you join or when conditions like losing money are met. The bonus bets are meant to encourage betting. However, the ultimate goal here is to turn the bonus money into real cash.

So the real question is, how you can make most of your bonus bet which is the bookmarker welcome bonus. When you sign in you, receive a free bet or a deposit bonus. On most betting sites, you can’t withdraw the bonus until you bet the entire amount of the bonus at a set minimum odds and a number of times.

How to Use the Bonus Bets Effectively

How Can You Convert Your Bonus into Real Money

Most people will tell you that creating a sure bet from the bookmaker bonus is one of the surest ways to win the bet. So how can you convert the bonus bet?

Have an Account with a Betting Exchange

Opening an account with a betting exchange (e.g. Betfair) will allow you to act in the role as that of your bookmarker. You will not only be able to place the bets yourself, but you will also lay bets. Choose a betting exchange you prefer.

Once you select your betting exchange consider the amount of commission you will have to be paying on the exchange bets. To be on a safer time, go for the lowest commission rates.

Place a Surebet with Your Bookmaker

In theory, the sport you choose doesn’t really matter, however, place a bet with your bookmarker on a major football league like the Premier League.

Make the Opposite Bet with Your Betting Exchange

Once you place the bet with your bookmaker, put the opposite of the bet using your betting exchange. For example, if you bet on Liverpool to win in an upcoming Premier League game with a bookmaker, bet against Liverpool with your betting exchange account.

Just as a bookmaker does, you will be able to lay a bet with another customer. The advantage of placing a bet with a major league or a major sporting event is because you can be assured the ability to lay your bet on the betting exchange of your preference.

You may not find someone willing to take your lay bet on your betting exchange if you choose an obscure tournament or league. Even worse, the particular tournament or league may not even any listed markets on the exchange.

You may also need to offer slightly higher odd on your betting exchange that the odds you get with your bookmarker for the bet. The closer your betting exchange odds are to the bookmarker’s betting odds, the better for your winning odds.

Bonus Bet Example: Arsenal vs. Liverpool

Let’s assume that you have opened an account your preferred sporting account and you have deposited a certain amount of money like $100. This means that you are expected to get a 100% bonus, an extra $100. You are paying $100 in, but now you have $200 to play with.

Bonus Small Print

As we said, you can’t cash out the bonus immediately. The number of times you must bet your bonus before withdrawing it as cash is different from bookmaker to a bookmaker. There are those that demand a single bet. This means that you need to bet the total of your bonus only once. There are also those that require you to bet your bonus a number of times.

The fewer times you bet your bonus, the better. If you bet your bonus upwards more than five times, it will have a massive impact on the total amount you will withdraw as cash after you bonus bet is complete. Whether or not you are betting conservatively, every round of betting you are risking your bonus, and you will also allow the bookmarker commission to eat into your bonus.

This is the reason why most bookmakers set 1.50 odds as the minimum.

So, if your betting exchange demands that you need to bet the total of your bonus three times, it means that you require a total bet of $600. Since you can bet below 1.50 odds, the risk of losing all the bonus will be much higher in the traditional way.

If you need help with staking be sure to check out our staking guide in our blogs section

Select Your Bet

Using our prior example, betting on Arsenal home win against Liverpool.

Say the odds of Arsenal are winning the match are at 1.75. Should Arsenal win, you may have a profit of $150 if you bet all your deposit plus bonus on those odds, the total return will be $350? Remember, bet the opposite on your betting exchange.

Betting the opposite would mean that you lay bet against Arsenal. Remember, you want your liability to be the same as the amount that you can profit from the bookmarker’s Arsenal bet. So in this case, $150($350 return — $200 bet stake).

The best way to enter the amount you want as your ‘Backer’s Stake’ is to enter the amount until the liability equals the same amount you stand to win or profit from your bookmaker bet. In this case, if you lay Arsenal at 1.776 odds, the maximum liability is $150. This means that it’s the amount you might lose with the bookmarker if Arsenal wins.

What if Arsenal Draws or Loses?

Bookmaker

Balance

Net Profit

Points

Account A

$100 + ($100 bonus)

$0

-$100

Account B

$150

$343.52

$193.52

Total

$250 + ($100 bonus)

$343.52

$93.52

In this case, you have no cash left in Account A. Instead, you now have more money in your Account B, so efficiently you have transferred most of your Account A bonus ($100) to your Account B ($93.52). And you can cash out the money anytime.

What if Arsenal Wins?

Bookmaker

Balance

Net Profit

Points

Account A

$100 + ($100 bonus)

$250 + ($100 bonus)

$150

Account B

$150

$0

-$150

Total

$250 + ($100 bonus)

$250 + ($100 bonus)

$0

Even if this is the least desirable outcome, it’s not a disaster. Even though you lost your $200 with Account B, you made a $200 profit on your Account A so essentially you broke even, and there was no harm done.

If you are up for it, you can repeat the 3 step process with another bonus bet until the bonus finally ends up in your Account B account, or you meet the wagering requirement for Account A and can withdraw your bonus from there.

Stick to The Same Pattern

You can always repeat the routine with every bonus bet as long as you keep in mind that the lay bet with your betting exchange needs to be pretty close to your bookmaker’s odds. Anything other than that is a waste of money.

You also need to make sure your maximum possible loss with your betting exchange needs to match the amount you may profit from the bet you place with the bookmaker.

Low Odds or High Odds?

There is never really a right or wrong answer in this case because the two options have their own pros and cons.

When the odds are low, the advantage is that it may not eat into your bonus bet as much as the high odds. However, the disadvantage that there is an increased chance of a complete rollover because of a winning streak.

When the odds are high, there is a high chance of losing your bonus straight into your exchange account. The downside is it may eat into your bonus bet more than the low odds would and if your bet wins you’ll have more funds tied up at your bookmaker.

This means that it’s only a matter of your personal preference. It’s incredible when you place a bonus bet at high odds, and it loses because your lay bets will win and you’ll have managed to transfer your bonus straight into your exchange account in a single bet.

It may be less unlikely to get a losing bet at very low odds. However, some cases could happen. The best preference would be to see a bet with tight odds that you think will not come in.

Standard Lay Method

There is a reason people are comfortable using the standard lay method, it’s a more natural method for beginners, and it’s also the same method most qualifying bets use. You can use the ‘Free Bet- Stake returned’ setting or a ‘Qualifying Bet’ setting. Even though the display the results differently, they have the same for both sets.

Use the qualifying bet when placing back and laying your bets to qualify for a free bet. If you are looking to extract profit from a bonus, use a free bet. The risk-free bet allows you to calculate the lay stake for a bonus bet.

Underlay Method

When it comes to laying the bonus rollover bets, the underlying method could be the best option. The charm of this technique is that if your bonus bet does win, you will retain the entire value of your bonus. So without sacrificing your $100 bonus, you will be $200 of the way through the rollover condition

If your bonus bet does lose, you will have lost slightly more of the bonus. However, the good news is that your profit will move straight into your exchange account and you don’t need to rollover any more funds.

In this case, if Arsenal wins, you’ll have retained your full bonus plus profit. However, you will need to place another $1000 worth of bets before you can withdraw your bonus. This means if Arsenal doesn’t win, you will have successfully transferred the remaining amount of your bonus straight into your exchange account.

If the match results in a draw 0–0, placing your initial bonus rollover bet on Arsenal would have worked out very successfully indeed. That’s all there is to it, as long as you always read the terms thoroughly and you’ll crack it.

Utilize the Free Bet Strategy

There is a reason people place free bets at very high odds. This is because when you receive a free bet, your primary goal should be to extract your profit. Most of the free bets mean that you only receive the winnings back but not the free bet stake

For example, if you have a $10 free bet that wins at 3.00 odds, then you will win $20 cash and the $10 free bet stake won’t be returned.

However, you can maximize your extracted profit by placing your free bets at high odds, which will account for the fact that the free bet stake isn’t returned.

What You Have To Keep In Mind

The good thing about this bonus bets trick is that you will be able to save a considerable portion of the bonus with minimal or almost no risk. It is wise to keep in mind that there could be instances where things could go wrong.

For instance, there is a chance of making an error when you are entering your bonus bets. This means that you should triple check to make sure the entries are all right. For example, you could accidentally bet on Arsenal win with both accounts. You could also place a bet of more money than you wanted even with a risk-free bonus transfer.

Some bookmakers have different rules for repayments in the instances where the games are canceled. Betting on football leagues is much better because cancellations are rare and therefore the rules tend to be very consistent.

However, in tennis, things are different. This is why you need to be very familiar with the specific rules of the bookmakers before placing your bonus bets to avoid any surprises.

Conclusion

It is always crucial to always note the exchange liability figures. The exchange liability is the amount you stand to lose from your betting account in the event that your lay bet loses. It is clear that the higher the odds, the more cash you need in your betting account to place the lay bet.

There may be occasions where you won’t quite have enough exchange funds to go for the highest and most profitable option. There is no mistake in placing the bets on outcomes that have smaller exchange liability; you will still make a more modest profit.

Laying your outcomes on your betting platforms is the key to successfully getting and cashing out your bonus bet. When you lay, you are betting on something that’s not to happen. For instance, if you were to lay on Manchester United in the 2017/18 Premier League, you are not betting on it not to win, you will only lose your stake if Manchester United did win.

In the bookmaking world, you can effectively lay across other bookies if you don’t want to be restricted to one account. For example, in a Win-Draw-Win game, you can use your bonus bet on a single option and then cover the other two on different platforms.

You can read the full article via BetterBets