Bonus.co.uk is one of the biggest casino and sports betting bonus sites in the UK allowing you to compare over £20,000 in casino bonuses. We now list and monitor all the leading casino operators, and now many online sportsbooks as well, to compile a comprehensive, up to date archive of the best promotions available.
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Best Sport Sites
How to recognize a great bonus
With so many casinos and sportsbook operators out there, all offering incentives for your business it can be hard to know which ones to choose.
Firstly, you should focus on trusted brands that you recognise from your country. This will give you peace of mind that all your personal and financial details are safe and secure with a reputable and well established company.
Popular high street names such as Ladbrokes, William Hill, Coral and Paddy Power are some such UK companies and while many punters will remain loyal to just one, having multiple accounts is a great way of maximising your betting potential and profits.
Secondly, you need to look for offers that match with your preferences and type of play. For example, if you are a regular or big casino player where turnover is not a major issue then you can look at some of the higher valued bonuses. If you don’t play casino games or slots that often, then perhaps look at some of the lower value ones where the wagering / turnover requirements are probably not so high. Or alternatively, you could target ones that offer prize draw incentives or competitions so you can be in with a chance of a big win, or a nice prize such as an entry into a big poker tournament.
Sports betting Offers
In this section we will be concentrating on sports betting free bets and bonus offers which, although usually smaller, are generally better than casino welcome offers, in that in most cases there are no wagering requirements to fulfill. Casino bonuses can often have a requirement of 30x or more. With free sports bets it’s often just a simple, free matched bet based on your first bet or deposit. The free bet stakes are not returned with any winnings, you just collect the profit, but you are usually able to withdraw this straight away if you wish.
So, if you enjoy betting on sport it is definitely worth working your way around all the sports bookmakers and taking them up their introductory free bet offers. In most cases, if you know what you are doing, it can be effectively like obtaining free money (or a zero risk bet), but we will analyse all the terms and conditions and guide you, telling you both the good and the bad points, about the huge variety of betting offers that are currently available.
Wagering Requirements – Many bonus offers will require that you place a number of bets (known as the wagering or turnover requirement) in order to collect or withdraw the freebies.
Example: Bet365 offer a very generous 100% matched first deposit up to £200 max. but in the small print in states that you must bet through your qualifying deposit first before you are able to bet with your bonus.
In addition, you are also required to have settled bets that come to three times the value of your deposit and bonus before you are allowed to withdraw any bonus funds or winnings. So in the case of the maximum £200 bonus, you would need to have settled bets of £1,200 (£200 deposit + £200 bonus x 3). It may sound a lot but that can easily be achieved, especially if you bet on sports regularly or you can use different bookmakers to ‘trade’ both sides of a football match for example.
Time Limitations – Bookmakers will also sometimes set limits whereby you have to complete the wagering requirements within a certain time period of say, 30 or 90 days, so you need to be aware of this too to fully take advantage of all these bookmaker enticements and not miss out.
Matched betting for free money
More knowledgeable punters can also utilize the betting exchanges to guarantee a win no matter what the outcome, or to help reach their wagering requirements at little to no risk. This is known as ‘matched betting’ and can be a difficult concept for novices to grasp. We can discuss these topics in more detail in future articles.
In any event, it is always advisable that you take a little time out to read through their terms and conditions (although we will always try to highlight the most important points in our reviews) as it is very important you don’t miss something that would mean you lose out on your bonus, as there are often pitfalls if you are not on the ball.
Popular types of sports bonuses
Free matched bet – Many sports books will give you some sort of free welcome bet, usually based on your first bet up to a maximum amount. You will need to check the terms as sometimes there is a minimum price requirement or other conditions.
- First deposit bonus – Also for new customers, in these cases the operator will match your first deposit for 100% or more, rather than your first bet.
- Money-back specials – These types of promotions are usually open to all customers and specific to a certain sport or event. For example, a bookmaker may offer to refund your stakes (usually as bonus funds) if a certain condition is met, or with accumulator bets where one selection lets you down. We will highlight these special offers on our pages.
- Free In-Play bets – From time to time, some online bookmakers will give out extra freebies to get players onto their site during a big event. They do this by offering free “In-Play” bets – that is live betting on an event whilst it’s actually happening. You will normally have to place a pre-match bet to qualify for the free in-play bet.
- Top-up Bonuses – Many bookmakers such as bet365 will offer you a extra bonus on top of your winnings on accumulator bets. The more selections in your accumulator, the bigger the bonus.
- Price boosts – As a marketing strategy to attract new players, bookmakers will often give massively increased betting odds on certain teams or horses. These are usually aimed at new customers but there are also some price boosts available for all existing customers too, but for obvious reasons they are not as attractive.
- Cashback – Although it’s not nice, losing is an inevitable part of the game. Cashback offers, which you usually have to ‘Opt-in’ to, can at least limit the damage and give you some of your losses back.
- Loyalty Bonus – Some bookmakers like to reward their loyal customers by giving out loyalty bonuses after certain criteria are met. In my experience, bet365 are one of the best for giving out these type of bonuses.
- Referral Bonus – If you have friends or family who also like to bet, you can refer them to your favourite bookmakers and get rewarded for introducing them. Betfair are one such company that does this giving you a £25 free bet for each referred player.