Bookmakers are luring clients with deposit bonuses!
The competition on the online sports betting market is really high and even
top online bookmakers have to do their best to attract more clients. Obviously, the main criteria when choosing your online betting operator has to be its sports betting offer, competitive prices, trustworthiness and reliability. However, bonuses and promotions play far not the last role for many punters.
One of the most popular types of promotions are welcome bonuses, which are usually offered in the form of a deposit bonus. How can you claim one of those? What should you pay more attention to? What promotional terms & conditions are the most important, and, most importantly, do we really need these bonuses? Let’s find out together.
First deposit welcome offer
Practically every single top online bookmaker is offering some sort of a welcome bonus. New clients can really benefit from these offers and get some extra free funds right after registration. In the majority of cases, such welcome offers are presented in the form of a deposit bonus, which multiplies your first deposit amount. How big of a bonus can you count on?
Traditionally, online bookies are offering a 100% deposit bonus, which basically doubles our initial deposit. For example, if you deposit €50 and decide to opt-in for the welcome offer, you will get an extra €50 matching your deposited amount.
Keep in mind that a 100% part is not going to match everything you deposit. Bookmakers always state the max. deposit amount that they are going to match with their welcome bonus. It is also quite common that bookies set the min. deposit amount, which will qualify us for the offer (e.g. in order to qualify for the deposit bonus you must deposit at least €5, everything that is less will not trigger the promotion).
What should you pay attention to in terms & conditions?
Just like any other promotion, deposit bonuses have their promotional terms & conditions. If you do not want to miss your chance to claim your free bonus, we suggest you to thoroughly read them through and follow the steps. Please, take a look at the most common requirements you might be asked to fulfil to claim the deposit bonus:
- How much of a bonus can we expect? The most important part, right? You probably would like to know how much you will get before you decide to opt-in. The majority of online bookies usually state the size of a bonus in percentage, along with the currency in which it will be credited (e.g. 100% deposit bonus up to €100). Why is it so important? Well, you can only qualify for this offer once per bookmaker. Therefore, it would be smart to claim you only welcome bonus in the most efficient way and get the max. amount of bonus funds.
- Are there any wagering requirements? Well, things are not that much rosy when it comes to these bonuses. In the majority of cases, bookies would ask us to complete a rollover before your bonus funds become withdrawable. Bonus rollover? Doesn’t sound like something nice, right? Calm down, it is not that big of a deal. Simply saying, a rollover is a sort of safety mechanism that protects bookies from various scammers and bonus hunters.
- How many times the bonus has to be rolled over? Well, since we already know there’s something like rollover. It would also be nice to know how many times the bonus has to be played through. Obviously, the fewer times it has to be wagered, the more chances we have to keep it. Some bookmakers will ask you for an x2 rollover, others for x4 and sometimes even x6. It is crucial to know this beforehand, as it won’t make any sense to claim a huge welcome bonus that has to be wagered through billions of times.
- What min. odds are required for a rollover? Bookmakers always mention which markets qualify for the rollover, and which do not. Sometimes it would be enough to place a couple of bets at the odds of 1.40 (2/5), and the bonus will be yours. However, some operators require the min. odds of 2.00 (1/1), which makes it a bit harder. Being familiar with your promotional terms & conditions will definitely save you lots of time and nerves.
- Rollover deadline? It is not a surprise that you cannot be wagering through your bonus forever, therefore, there should be some sort of a deadline. Top online bookmakers are not very strict about this requirement and do not demand much from their clients, giving a lot of time to finish. On some rare occasions, the deadline is less than 30 days, therefore, nobody should complain about not having enough time to rollover a bonus.
- What markets qualify for the rollover? It is not quite common for bookmakers to give you much freedom when rolling over your bonus. They usually state which markets will count towards the rollover, and which will not. Sometimes it would be virtual sports, another time live Champions League or esports markets. Find it out and get rolling.
- What about acca bets? Some bookmakers allow its punters to rollover the bonus via accumulator bets. Once again, it is better to find this out beforehand, in order to avoid any issues. One book would require at least 2 selections per bet with the min. odds of 1.30 (3/10). Another one would ask for 5 with the min. odds of 1.90 (9/10). The difference is obvious, right?
- Which payment methods qualify? Some online bookmakers hold the right to exclude certain payment methods from the offer. Some operators will only allow credit/debit card deposits, while others will only count deposits made via Skrill or Neteller.
Deposit bonus for existing clients
Besides the first deposit bonus, some top online bookmakers also offer a reload bonus for the second, third and every consecutive deposit. Unfortunately, it is not the case for the majority of bookmakers. We can only hope that more bookies will join the trend and introduce similar
bonuses and promotions to their existing clients.
This type of promotion is currently popular among American bookmakers, their punters can enjoy a so-called Lifetime Bonus, where they get a free bonus every time they make a deposit. Despite being pretty much identical, there are some differences between the deposit and reload bonuses. In the majority of cases, the reload bonus is usually not going to match your deposit (100% bonus) but rather give a 50% of your deposited amount.