Sportsbook Bonuses Explained | How to Use Them

Brian Sausa, Last Updated: June 20th, 2024 - NJ Sports Betting - Free $3,250 For Sports Bets In New Jersey

Plenty of bettors will tell you that one of the best parts about signing up for an online sportsbook is receiving a generous bonus to get started with.

These welcome gifts improve the gaming experience from the get-go and give players a chance to get ahead of the game right from the start without having to worry about losing their own money.

Before we tell you the best way to use these bonuses, let’s lay out the differences between each of them.

Sportsbook Bonuses Types

There are several types of bonuses and even though they all help you in their own way, they do vary slightly. Here are the ones you’ll encounter when signing up for a site:

• No Deposit Bonus: Following the completion of the signup process, this is awarded without requiring an initial deposit. In most cases, it must be used within a week of being issued.

• First Deposit Match Bonus: This bonus is awarded following a player’s first deposit and matches the initial investment in site credit. Some sites offer a partial match while others offer a 100 percent match, usually giving somewhere between two weeks and a month to use the site credit.

Regardless of which type you get, there are ways to go about using your sportsbook bonus to get the most value out of it. That’s where we come in.

How To Use Sportsbook Bonuses

Once you consider that most online betting sites in NJ, PA, and several other states allow site credit to be used for a huge range of bet types, you can see there’s a seemingly endless number of ways for bettors to go about using their sportsbook bonus.

There are only a few ways, however, which maximize the value of the bonus and give you the most chances to win the largest payouts possible.

Sportsbook Bonus Parlays

Parlay bets are a favorite among bettors because their low-risk, high-reward nature makes them lucrative. Potential winnings get bigger with the more sides that are added and a small investment could equate to a potentially huge payout, although each added side to a parlay makes it tougher to win.

The great thing here is that one bonus can fund several parlays, giving you several chances to convert that site credit into withdrawable funds.

Sportsbook Bonus Futures

Another low-risk, high-reward option is betting futures, where all the odds are juicy and the payouts are high. We’d recommend betting on teams before or during the regular season on many occasions, but we don’t have that luxury here because bonuses expire and won’t last all season.

For that reason, a playoff series could be a short-term futures bet that won’t expire while events for individual sports are another option, such as golf and tennis. For example, every golfer has high-paying odds before a tournament begins and a small wager can get a huge payout.

One bonus can fund multiple selections for the winner of a tournament or even for a finishing position wager, which can still be lucrative and provide a rooting interest for several days of action.

Live Betting Sportsbook Bonus

Odds for live betting, also called in-play betting, are constantly adjusting according to the flow of the game and sometimes, the score isn’t very close.

When a team gets down big, odds skyrocket on their live line and so does the value. But if you’re betting on a team that is already down, you need to make sure they have a chance to come back, and it’s on the bettor to select the correct sport.

Both college and pro basketball are known as games of runs, meaning both teams tend to take turns controlling the contest at different points. It’s very common for one team to be down big early in the game just for that deficit to be erased at a later point.

When it comes to finding value for your bonus, consider using it to live bet on basketball teams that are down early, especially if they are the better team. With plenty of time to come back, you snagged a much more valuable line than you would’ve before the game.

Sports Betting Bonus FAQs

How Do You Bet On A Bonus?

Because the site credit isn’t returned to your account with your winnings, the way to get the most out of it is by going after high-paying wagers which pay out far more than they cost to place. This would include betting underdogs, parlays, or props with high odds.

Are Sportsbook Bonuses Worth It?

Yes, sportsbook bonuses are definitely worth it. Even though there is a wagering requirement involved, the free funds give new players the chance to bank some real profits by using the site’s money rather than their own until the credit runs out.

What Is A Sports Betting Wagering Requirement?

Wagering requirements alert you to the amount of money in bets that will need to be placed before funds can be withdrawn from your account. These can be as low as 1x but can get as high as 30x, although most fall somewhere in the middle.

What Is a 10x Wagering Requirement?

A 10x wagering requirement means that however much your sportsbook bonus is for, you must bet that amount 10 times before you can take out any funds. So if your bonus was for $100, your bets need to total $1,000 in risk before you can withdraw winnings from it.

If your requirement was only 1x, $100 in bets would be enough to unlock winnings. If it was 20x, the bets would need to equal $2,000.

ABOUT Brian Sausa

Brian Sausa is BonusSeeker’s Copy Editor and lead sports betting pundit. A journalism graduate with an extensive sports background, Brian has been employed by multiple professional leagues including MLB, MiLB (Minor League Baseball), and the NHL. MLB, NHL, IBTimes, Brooklyn Cyclones, FanSided