As the number of legal sportsbooks in the United States continues to rise, the competition for a share of the US betting market has inevitably shot up, with betting operators working overtime to steal a march on their rivals.
While there have been unique strategies adopted by different operators, one thing has remained constant with most sportsbooks – betting bonuses.
Hardly is there any sportsbook in the United States without a betting bonus, with the majority of the offers targeted at new customers.
These sign up bonuses are usually the flagship offers on most bookies, proudly displayed on their sites and pushed on most advertising campaigns.
On the surface, sports betting bonuses look all nice and shiny, but are they really as valuable as they seem?
A typical sports betting offer in the United States is awarded as non-withdrawable bonus bets. Hence, these shiny betting bonuses cannot be converted to real cash. They can only be used to place bets on the site.
Of course, bonus bets are great, as they allow a customer to place wagers without pumping more money into the site, but betting bonuses would be more valuable if they could be withdrawn from the sportsbook.
Most bettors would prefer to have the option of having their bonuses as real cash, even if they would re-invest all or part of the money into the sportsbook.
As a new customer, especially one with not much experience in sportsbook bonuses, it is important to always bear in mind that most betting bonuses cannot be withdrawn.
Indeed, several American state regulatory bodies, like the New York State Gaming Commission, have been working to tighten their gambling laws, including those on the advertisement of betting bonuses, tasking operators to make the terms and conditions of the offers as clear and comprehensible as possible.
Another good way of measuring the true value of a betting bonus is the amount of money needed to be deposited or wagered on the sportsbook in order to get the bonus.
While there are one or two no-deposit bonus offers sprinkled in and around the American market, those things are extremely rare. Most sportsbooks require customers to make a deposit, and even place a wager on their sites before giving out their bonuses. Such wagers are called qualifying or eligible wagers.
The relationship between qualifying wagers and the bonus amount gives an idea of the true cost or value of the bonus.
Caesars Sportsbook, for example, has one of the highest sign-up bonuses in the American market, offering up to $1,250 to new customers. However, the actual bonus amount received by a customer is only equivalent to the value of the customer’s qualifying wager.
Hence, in order to receive the maximum $1,250 bonus bets, a customer would have to deposit and wager that amount on the site.
On the other end of the scale is bet365, who are currently offering a maximum sign-up bonus amount of $200.
While this is nowhere near the Caesars offer, the bet365 $200 bonus is available to every new customer who places a $1 qualifying wager on the site. Hence, it can be argued that the bet365 bonus is more valuable than the Caesars bonus.
Other factors that weigh in on the true value of a bonus include the minimum odds requirement for the qualifying wager and the expiry date of the bonus.
The most valuable bonuses have no minimum odds requirement and are valid for a long period of time.
Leading affiliate marketing site, www.bettingbonus.com, does a great job of breaking down the top sports betting bonuses in the country, ranking them according to key barometers like size, value and validity period.
In the end, the true value of a bonus is down to not just one thing, but a combination of factors.
Ideally, we want an offer with low deposit amount, high bonus amount, no minimum odds and long validity period, but that perfect bonus is hard to find.
There often has to be that trade off, depending on the taste of the user and how much they are willing to risk in order.
