Best sportsbooks with signup bonus
Sports betting became possible in May 2018, and since then, dozens of online sportsbooks have been launched throughout the United States. With that, each site has a mission to offer the best sportsbook promotions for new players. These sportsbook promos are designed to create an excellent first impression for new players as they don’t have much to go off of other than learning about these betting offers.
The best sportsbook promotions provide value to players right away and come in many different formats. These can include a sportsbook deposit bonus, risk-free bet, or free bets, but there can also be other sportsbook promos made available.
The value of these sportsbook promos is up to the individual player and can be based on your play style and budget. Not all sportsbooks with a sign-up bonus will attract every player, but each sportsbook bonus hopes to bring in as many new players as possible to capture market share, which can lead to even better promotions down the line for existing players, too.
With that, we’ll discuss the best sportsbook promotions below and create a resource for you to use to identify the best signup bonus for sports betting.
As a new bettor, you may not know how to discover the best sportsbook promotions. There really aren’t any directories that stay updated with a comprehensive list of the best sportsbook bonus offers. However, that’s where we at Ballislife come in with our promo guide.
To make it easier, below is a list of steps you can take to find sportsbook promos across the country and in your state.
- Go to our sportsbook promos guide.
- Use your sports bet promos filtering system to find welcome offers, promos, and sportsbook brands.
- Find the sports betting promotions that make the most sense for you, your play style, and your budget.
- Download the mobile app for the sportsbook or sportsbooks you want to play at.
- Create your new account using any applicable sportsbook promo codes (these aren’t always required to claim a sports betting bonus, but they are something to be aware of).
- Verify your account if necessary. Some sportsbooks may need you to confirm your email, send in pictures of government-issued identification, or contact a representative.
- Make your first deposit as per the terms of the sports betting promotions.
- Start betting.
- Complete all necessary terms and conditions to ensure you take full advantage of the offer.
The thing about sportsbook promos is that they’re always more than whatever you see in an advertisement or on the sportsbook site. Within all sportsbook promos is a litany of terms and conditions that you need to take inventory of; otherwise, you may find yourself wondering why you didn’t actually benefit from the offer—after all, you did what the advertisement said, so why didn’t you reap the rewards?
Below are some pitfalls of each offer to keep in mind. Remember, these may not apply to all offers, but most players will encounter these issues, generally speaking.
Expiration dates - Are they there for fun?
Regarding expiration dates with even the best sportsbook promotions, there are several types to keep in mind.
First, the general expiration date. Not all welcome bonuses last forever. They may last a long time, but especially with New Year's Day coming and going every year, some offers may have ended on December 31.
Next, the bonus credits you receive may expire, and the time to complete wagering requirements may have an expiration date—more on that below.
Rollover requirements - What is it and how does it work?
Rollovers, also known as wagering requirements, are something to be aware of when deposit bonuses or bonus/site credits become involved. For example, if a welcome offer is a 100% deposit match worth up to $1,000 and you deposit $100, you’d get a $100 bonus.
However, there are rollover requirements to prevent players from withdrawing those bonus funds and never playing again. This range anywhere from 1x to 15x and more, meaning you’ll need to wager actual money before withdrawing the bonus as cold, hard cash.
Minimum wagering requirements on betting sites
As mentioned, wagering requirements are something to be aware of, and these can change from offer to offer and sportsbook to sportsbook.
Again, this range far and wide, but let’s continue with the example above to illustrate it.
If you deposit the $100, you get $100 in bonuses. Now, if the minimum wagering requirements are 10x, you’ll need to wager $1,000 in real money before withdrawing the $100 as cash.
Minimum odds required to activate the bonuses
With sports betting odds, any player, novice or veteran, can look at a line of -1000 and acknowledge, “yeah, that team will most likely win; just look at the odds!”
While true, you won’t be able to always use bonus funds for the free bets you receive on these games.
Some offers will have minimum odds to prevent players from making a bet with an overwhelmingly massive upside of succeeding.
For example, it’s not uncommon to see sportsbook promos say “minimum odds of -200 or greater.”
So, if you were to use the bonus funds or free bets on something with -201 odds, it wouldn’t count because it wasn’t within the parameters of the terms and conditions.
Betting markets allowed might change from betting site to betting site
While an offer may be a blanket statement, there are betting markets to be aware of, including the following:
- States that it's available in.
- Sports it can be used on.
- Bet types you can make using it.
While a sportsbook may offer something and be plenty of marketing behind it, it doesn’t necessarily mean it's available in your state—always check that out.
Next, some offers may limit which sports you can bet on. This isn’t as common, but some offers may be limited to “football” or “basketball,” for example.
Lastly, bet types. This is something you’ll often see. You may only be able to use free bets or bonus credits on straight bets or point spreads, but not live bets or parlays.
Breakdown of the different kinds of Sportsbook Bonuses
As mentioned at the beginning of this guide, sportsbook bonuses and welcome offers can come in many different ways. Some types are fairly common—deposit bonuses and free bets—but others are out there.
Below, we’ll break down each offer and use examples to illustrate them further.
Sportsbooks with sign-up bonuses also called first deposit match bonuses
While these are becoming less prevalent, especially at the top online sportsbooks, deposit bonuses were most common when online sports betting first started.
A fairly standard deposit bonus offer would be a 100% match worth up to $1,000.
So, you’d essentially double up on your first deposit. For example, if you deposit $500, you get a $500 bonus.
With these offers come several terms and conditions, including wagering requirements, expiration dates on the amount of time you have to complete the wagering requirements, how long it’ll take to receive the bonus funds, and more.
Another example includes “bet & get offers,” like the one found at DraftKings Sportsbook.
You’ll receive a 20% deposit bonus of up to $1,000. However, instead of getting the bonus funds right away, you’ll unlock them when you wager cash.
So, if you deposit $100, you’ll get $20 in bonus funds added to a pool that you can draw on in $1 increments per $25 wagered in cash.
No Deposit Bonus aka Free bets without wagering requirements
A no deposit bonus is a term used to describe bonus funds received simply for creating an account. For example, you’ll receive a $20 bonus. While these are more common with online casinos, they’ve been offered in the past at sportsbooks. These typically come with wagering requirements of about 1x.
Branching off of no deposit bonuses are free bets
Free bets often won’t have wagering requirements. Instead, you’ll have terms and conditions involved, such as acceptable bet types and minimum odds.
For example, if you have a free bet of $100 and wager it on something with odds of +100 and win, you’ll only receive the winnings back as opposed to the winnings and the original wager. To add, if you were to bet $100 in cash on something with +100 odds, you’d get $200 back (the $100 wager plus the $100 in winnings). However, with free bets, you’ll get just $100 back.
Beyond welcome bonuses, sportsbook promos are available for “existing players”—those that already have an account and no longer have access to the welcome offer.
Below, we’ll cover some of the more well-known ones.
We touched on a Bet & Get promo using the DraftKings Sportsbook welcome bonus, but these kinds of offers are also available for existing players. The concept is simple—bet a certain amount of money and receive an amount back.
For example—bet $25 on a live football bet and get $10 in free bets.
Boosted odds bonuses
You’ll often find odd boosts on a daily basis at most sportsbooks. In fact, most platforms have pages dedicated to them. The sportsbook artificially boosts these contests to make them more attractive.
For example, Caesars Sportsbook has a promotion on January 3, 2023, where you can bet on the Washington Wizards, Boston Celtics, and Utah Jazz to all win. The typical odds for this parlay are +603, but Caesars has boosted it to +675.
Referral bonus
Referral bonuses involve inviting your friends to play at your favorite online sportsbook. These vary in sign up bonuses, but the process is more or less the same.
- Use your exclusive link and send it to a friend.
- Wait for your friend to sign up
- Deposit a certain amount
- Wager a certain amount
- Receive a bonus
Where these offers differ in addition to the amount is how much they need to wager, deposit, and if they need to complete any wagering requirements.
Reload betting bonuses
Reload bonuses are essentially smaller deposit bonuses. These are typically smaller percentage matches and overall monetary upside. An example of this could be a 10% match worth up to $100.
Loyalty And VIP Program betting bonuses
Rewards and loyalty programs are something you’ll commonly find in online sportsbooks. However, these vary massively from site to site. These can be something super simple or something a bit more involved.
A simple program would be something like DraftKings Sportsbook and DK Crowns. The concept is simple—every 550 Crowns equates to $1 in bonus funds. You receive crowns based on how much money you wager. That’s it.
Then there are more complex systems like Caesars Rewards that feature multiple tiers, two types of credits/currencies, and rewards for both online and retail play.
With sports betting promotions, there are offers that can be sport-specific. While the offers may be similar, the parameters in terms of what sports are applicable can be different.
Below, we’ll look at some offers across college sports and major United States sports.
With the NFL playoffs approaching and the Super Bowl, plenty of offers will come up to celebrate these monumental occasions. The NFL is the most wagered-on sport in the country, so there’s no telling what kinds of offers we’ll find among the football betting promo codes. However, as of right now, there are Same Game Parlay offers, such as the profit boost found at Caesars Sportsbook. There, you’ll receive a 25% profit boost on a Same Game Parlay with minimums odds of +400.
The NBA has a long regular season of 82 games, and the playoffs feature multiple rounds of up to seven games, headlined by the NBA Finals. With NBA games available almost daily, odds boosts are something you’ll find regularly, such as the Wizards/Jazz/Celtics bonus mentioned previously.
The most well-known and lucrative bonuses for college basketball will come in line with March Madness. This is one of the most entertaining times in sports betting as it comes shortly after the Super Bowl and is a massive tournament featuring 64 teams in a single-elimination tournament. Sports betting promos outside of March Madness aren’t commonly found.
The college football season is exhilarating because it showcases the NFL stars of tomorrow. At the end of every regular season, there is bowl game season. This year, there were 42 bowl games, which include the college football playoff semi-finals matchups. On January 9, 2023, the College Football National Championship will take place.
There are multiple offers available for college football, including Same Game Parlay bonuses. At the time of this writing, there aren’t any National Championship game offers, but as the game approaches, you can expect odds boosts, free bets, risk-free bets, and more.
The NHL isn’t a sport as talked about when it comes to sports betting in the United States, but it’s still one of the “big four” US sports. The playoffs and Stanley Cup Finals are always thrilling actions, but offers aren’t as common during the regular season. However, bet365 Sportsbook has an early payout offer in which you’ll receive an immediate payout if your team leads by three goals or more.
At this time, we’re in the MLB offseason, so no promotions are actively offered. However, the regular season for this sport is north of 160 games. The season starts in February with Spring Training and can go into November with the World Series. There are plenty of offers available for the MLB, but odds boosts are something you can find daily, as there’s always an MLB game being played during that stretch.
Finding the best sports betting promotions takes some work. We have provided a resource here to help find the types of offers you tend to be more into, but you’ll also want to check in on the sportsbook and read the terms and conditions.
By following this guide, we hope you better understand the types of offers available and the common mistakes players encounter when trying to interface with them.
Remember, online sportsbooks have a duty to offer you the most value to capture your attention—find it, identify it, take advantage, and win some money.
❓ What are the best sportsbook promotions right now?
FanDuel is offering a ‘no sweat first bet’ that guarantees your first wager will be risk-free. If you lose, you’ll receive your bet amount back in free wagers.
🌈 Where can I find sports betting promo codes?
The best place to find these codes is at the sportsbook you’re thinking of using. Many of them, including FanDuel, offer clear codes alongside their sports betting offers. The small print here and other sites, such as BetMGM for example, will confirm whether you need a code.
⭐ What is the best sportsbook deposit bonus?
The best first deposit bonus on offer right now is the first bet insurance offer worth up to $1,000 at BetMGM. Make a deposit, place your first bet, and if it loses, BetMGM gives you free bets to the value of your lost wager.
🌞 How do I make use of a sportsbook bonus in the best possible way?
Read the terms for the bonus first. These tell you about any playthrough requirements to claim any bonus funds that are involved. Note any time limits too. Check the latest matches you can bet on to maximize your chances.
🆕 What is a sportsbook bonus no deposit?
A no deposit bonus is usually given in exchange for signing up to a sportsbook. You provide your details to open the account, and the sportsbook provides a bonus without asking for a deposit.
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