Bonuses serve as the ultimate enticement to get players to sign up and eventually become loyal customers. There are many kinds of inducements but the best are reserved for first-time customers because there’s no better way to get you through the door than to welcome you with a free bet or a bonus that matches your deposit.
Before we talk about what some of the best U.S. licensed online sportsbooks are offering, we should define a few terms so we can understand what is required to earn those bonuses.
Sometimes just signing up for an account will get you something along the lines of a $25 bet with no strings attached. No deposit is necessary but proof is required that the person signing up for the account is indeed the actual person signing up.
That will require a valid driver’s license and sometimes proof of residency in a particular state.
Rollovers
Bonuses at virtually all of the U.S. licensed sportsbooks will require, what is referred to as, a rollover. The smaller the rollover the better because this is the amount you will need to bet to get your bonus. Let’s assume you deposit $100 and the rollover to get your matching bonus of $100 is a 20x rollover.
This means that you will need to make $2000 worth of bets ($100 x 20 = $2000) to get your bonus. It doesn’t matter whether those bets win or lose, all qualified wagers are counted towards the rollover.
Rollovers are the sportsbook or casino’s way of making certain that the customer won’t “hit and run”. They want long-term customers, not players who will take the money and run. This is why you will see rollovers that can be as low as 5x or as high as…pick a number. The bonus is paid once the rollover amount is met.
When Do Sportsbooks Run Promos?
Sportsbooks are almost always running a promotion of some kind, especially for first-time customers. Some books are more aggressive than others and will go above and beyond to attract your attention and earn your business.
Oftentimes the biggest bonuses occur in the weeks before the NFL season, Super Bowl, or March Madness. That is when people are looking to bet and the online books know it. And don’t believe that if you sign up with one sportsbook that you can’t have accounts at others.
As a matter of fact, experienced bettors use multiple sportsbooks so they can get the sharpest lines and the best odds. Why bet the Packers -6 when you might be able to get them at -5 somewhere else?
Which Books are Running Promos Now?
The regulated and licensed U.S. sportsbooks run different promotions at various times. That’s why it is best to compare who is offering what because you can only become a first-time customer once and that is when you often get the best deals.
There are reload and loyalty bonuses as well so don’t think that the bonuses end after you sign up. They won’t but they just might not be quite as good as the initial signup bonus.
A sportsbook may be doing business in more than one state which means the bonus plan in place for their online book in New York might not be as good as the one instituted in New Jersey.
The reason is that each state has different tax revenue deals with the books so that the online books in New York, being taxed as high as 51 percent of their gross profit will have fewer, and smaller, incentives than if that same book was operating in New Jersey, a state that is taxing operators at a much lower rate.
BetMGM is giving back up to $1000 on your first bet with them if it loses. DraftKings is matching 20 percent of your deposit up to $1000 for new customers only. FanDuel is offering a no-risk first bet bonus in which they will credit your first bet up to $1,000 if you lose. If you bet $100 and the bet wins, a Promotion Bonus of $100 will be deposited in your account. If the bet loses, you will receive a credit of $100 in your account within 72 hours.
Make sure to check out the bonus promotions above as well as those from these outstanding books: Bet365, Caesars, BetRivers, Pointsbet, SugarHouse, Unibet, SBK, and MaximBet.
