Sports Betting Bonuses and Promotions
Placing your sports bets using the internet is not only more convenient than other alternatives, but also comes with the added advantage of being able to benefit from the generous sports betting bonuses that online gambling sites offer. Most of the top sports betting sites will give you a decent bonus just for signing up and making your first deposit, and many of them will offer you additional bonuses and rewards if you continue to bet with them too.
Whether you are someone who bets big all the time or you just like a small wager from time to time, these bonuses can be an excellent way to get some extra value from your gambling and increase your betting bankroll. To help you do this we have compiled a selection of sports betting sites that are particularly good for bonuses and promotions, which we have listed below. We have then also explained about the different types of bonus and reward that these sites offer.
Sports Betting Sites with Best Bonuses & Promotions
Having researched a great many gambling sites, we have found the following to be among the very best in terms of the bonuses and promotions on offer. They all also meet our very high standards in other important areas, and we consider them to be reputable and reliable places to bet. For anyone looking to get the best value out of their online sports betting, these are our top recommendations.
| Rank | Betting Site | US? | Bonus | Get Started | |
| #1 |  |
TopBet |  |
50% up to $250 | Bet Now! |
| #2 |  |
Bovada | |
50% up to $250 | Bet Now! |
| #3 |  |
BetOnline | |
25% up to $900 | Bet Now! |
| #4 |  |
JustBet | |
80% up to $400 | Bet Now! |
| #5 |  |
Bet365 |  |
100% up to £200 | Bet Now! |
Sign Up Bonuses & Free Bets
Pretty much every sports betting site will offer new customers some kind of incentive to join, and the sign up bonus is the most common way to do this. Typically you will have to make an initial deposit to be able to claim it, although some sites do offer a small no deposit bonus. They can appeal to those wishing to try things out without risking any of their money, but making a deposit is usually the best way to get some decent added value.
This added value can be provided in a couple of ways. The most straightforward option is when the bonus is added directly into your account as funds for you to use however you want. There will be some wagering requirements attached to these funds, which means you will have to place a certain value of bets before you can make a withdrawal. For example, if there is a “10 times” wagering requirement on a $100 bonus then you will need to make $1,000 worth of bets before the bonus is released. Please be aware this doesn’t mean that you need to lose $1,000, just that you need to make that amount of bets. Once you have done that, the bonus and any winnings are yours to keep.
An alternative is that the bonus is credited as free credits, or free bets. The principle is basically the same as above, but you only get to keep any winnings you make from your free bets and not the actual stake itself. This might seem less attractive, and it is fair to say that to some extent it is. However, free bets or credits tend to have lower wagering requirements so there are advantages as well as disadvantages.
It is also worth noting that other terms and conditions may apply. For example, only wagers of a certain type or on certain sports may count towards the wagering requirements. This is why we suggest that you always read the terms and conditions before accepting this (or any other) type of bonus at a gambling site, to make sure you understand exactly what the relevant rules are.
Reload Bonuses & Reward Schemes
In addition to incentives for new customers, the leading sports betting sites also provide added value for existing customers too. There are a number of ways in which they do this, with the one of the most frequently used methods being reload bonuses. These are basically funds or free bets that are added to your account when you make a deposit after your initial one. Reload bonuses are used by many sites and they are particularly common at US betting sites.
Some sites will offer a reload bonus on your first deposit of each month or each week and some will even offer one on each deposit make. They can give you some great extra value and are well worth taking advantage of. Terms and conditions again apply, so make sure you check those out so you know what any requirements are.
Also common at sports betting sites are reward schemes, which can work in a variety of different ways. Generally speaking the idea is that you are given rewards (such as cash added to your account or additional free bets) based on your wagering activity, meaning that the more you wager the more you are likely to receive. Reward schemes can be particularly valuable for regular and high stake bettors, but recreational bettors can benefit from them too.
Sports Betting Rebates
Another method that some sports betting sites use to reward their customers is offering rebates, or cash back. A rebate in this context is an amount of money that is put into to your betting account, usually at the end of a week or the end of a month. Typically the amount of money is a fixed percentage of your losses for the relevant period, although some sites do offer a (smaller) percentage of your total wagers. Rebates are particularly common at horse racing betting sites.
Promotions at Sports Betting Sites
In addition to the bonuses and rewards we have mentioned above, sports betting sites often run special promotions and contests for their customers too. These are generally based around a specific sport, or a specific event, and come in a variety of different forms. For example you might find a football betting site offering reduced juice lines on “Monday Night Football” games, or a golf betting site offering enhanced odds on certain players during the four majors. Sites may run prediction contests for a number of different sports.
You should always keep an eye out for any promotions and contests being run as these can be a great deal of fun as well as potentially providing even more value. Some places will send out regular newsletters to customers with details of all the current and upcoming promotions, while others will have a section of their website with information about all the promotions.