While the majority of online sports books offer new players matched free bets or an enhanced odds offer, some sports betting sites give new customers a matched deposit bonus, like you might receive from an online casino.
With this kind of signup offer, you make your first deposit and the bookie matches it. They use these offers to entice new customers to open accounts with them. The match rate is generally 100%, although 200% is not unheard of. On occasion you can also pick up matches on your second and third deposits as well.
Deposit bonus examples
Although free bet bonuses remain the most common online sportsbook offer, there’s certainly
many betting sites now offering bonuses that resemble that of casinos. New entrant Pokerstars Casino being a good example.
- Betbright sports betting has a similar offer, where you get a 100% match on your first deposit up to the value of £100.
- At Betsafe, you can also get a sportsbook matched deopsit offer, where your first deposit up to the value of £30 is doubled.
- A similar offer with a match bonus up to £30 is available at Betway as well.
These sorts of offers are not available everywhere, but they are around if you look for them. With help from sites like The Sure Bettor, you can easily track down and profit from these offers online.
However, can you take advantage of matched betting with a deposit bonus, in the same way that
you can with a free bet?
In short, the answer is yes.
However, it does become a little more complicated due to the wagering requirements that come with matched deposit offers. We’ll come onto this below.
Wagering requirements
The wagering requirement (also known as the rollover or playthrough) is the number of times you have to wager the deposit and/or bonus amount before you can cash out any bonus or winnings. This varies between bookies so it’s vital to check before placing any bets.
You also need to make sure that you take note of the minimum odds the bookie applies to bets with bonus funds (usually around 1.80 or greater). Any bets placed at lower odds won’t be making a contribution to the rollover requirement. A further point that you need to be aware of is that there is a limited time frame applied to the rollover. That is, you have a certain amount of time to complete the rollover requirement. So your matched betting strategy needs to take this into account as well.
Smart matched betting
When you’re using deposit bonus cash for matched betting, the aim is essentially to lose your deposit and bonus amount at the bookie. This means you don’t have to complete the rollover as you no longer have any money in your account. This doesn’t mean we lose any money. Anything we lose at the bookie, we’ll win back at the betting exchange.
Obviously this isn’t always possible so it’s important you have a big enough bankroll to cover your back and lay bets should you land a number of bookie wins in a row and be forced to complete the rollover.
However, you also need to ensure that if your bonus bets with the bookie do win they don’t end up costing you money because you have to meet the play-through to get your hands on those winnings. This is why most punters recommend underlaying when you are matched betting with bonus cash.
Underlaying is essentially a form of protecting yourself against having to bet more to meet the wagering requirements if your bookmaker bets come in. It means you make a little less on a winning lay bet but a little extra profit on each back bet win at the bookies as a form of compensation for having your money tied up for longer as you meet the rollover.
Most matched betting calculators have an underlay setting that automatically calculates how much you have to bet. This is a valuable feature that you should definitely consider using when you are matched betting with matched deposit offers.
If you have any questions just pop them in the comments section below and I’ll get back to you.
Until next time.