Betting Sites Offers

Normally these enhancements are on heavy favourites (often who are odds-on) which have been significantly boosted to almost unbelievable prices. Many bookies will also dish out a free bet if your bet loses, meaning that either way you walk away with something.

For example, Arsenal playing Stoke at the Emirates may have regular odds of 1/2 (or even less) to win. But for new customers signing up through a special promotion you may be able to get 4/1.

Whilst it does sound a little too good to be true, they can only be claimed by new customers and so the cost of the promotion is worth it to the betting site to get you on their books and hopefully earn your business for many years to come. You’ll also find that the maximum stake will be limited to £5 or £10. Or for the really generous offers, £1.

These alternative welcome bonuses have become incredibly common and many of the major bookmakers offer them on a regular basis. We hand select the best ones and include them in our offers list found at the top of the page. Enhanced odds are shown in the list only when available – they are usually only offered in the day or two leading up to a big match or event, so if none are listed check back at a later date. As a general rule of thumb we always have something by Friday for weekend games and Tuesday for mid-week.

Free Bets & Betting Offers For Existing Customers

Most of the offers listed on this page so far (ok, all of them) have been for new customers only. These types of promotions, known as sign up offers or welcome bonuses, are great when you don’t have an account with the bookie, but what if you’re already a customer?

Thankfully there are a number of bonus sites who also offer free bets to their existing customers, which you can find details of below. Some of these promotions are ongoing loyalty programs and can be claimed every week/month, whilst others are one-off and limited to specific events.

You’ll generally find that the value of these offers is lower than the introductory betting offers that you can claim when first signing up, but if you were planning on placing the bets anyway they act as a nice little reward for your loyalty.

Odds Boosts

The first type of offer you’ll see are odds boosts. These are the existing customer equivalent of an enhanced odds offer, except instead of the odds going from 2/1 to 25/1, you’ll be seeing 5/1 go to 6/1.

Some sites offer enhanced odds on specific bets or combinations of bets, whilst others offer up a set number of odds boost tokens which can be use to slightly beef up the odds on a bet of your choice.

The nice thing about these boosts is that generally speaking it just gives you better odds and there aren’t normally any additional catches or terms.

Money Back & Free Bets

Money back offers are the staple of most bookies promotional pages and they offer you money back (normally as a free bet) when your bet loses. These promotions are usually linked to a specific event (such as an upcoming football match) or type of event, such as any Premier League football. For racing it’s very common to get free bets if your horse finishes second or if they fall.

Alternatively on the other end of the spectrum, you could find yourself at the receiving end of free bets if you manage to hit a winning bet that meets certain criteria. A good example of this is getting a free bet on the next race when your horse wins with an SP higher than a set margin (often 3/1 or 4/1).

Sometimes you’ll even get free bets just for placing a qualifying bet. So if you bet £25 on the Champions League final you could get a £5 free in play bet. Another great offer that we sometimes see at the start of the season is to bet on the top goalscorer and then get a small token free bet each time that player scores.

Obviously all of these offers vary between bookmakers and regularly change so keep an eye on the promo pages of your favourite sites to see what’s currently on offer.

Free Bet Clubs

It’s hard to believe that free bet clubs didn’t even exist a few years ago as they’ve exploded onto the scene and are a favourite way for bookies to reward loyalty. Here you can claim free bets on a regular basis – such as weekly or even daily – when you meet set criteria such as placing a certain number of bets.

For example, you may be able to receive a £25 free bet if you place five £10 bets within any given week. Or five £5 in play bets on the same day might trigger a £10 bonus.

The nice thing about free bet clubs is that they’re normally consistent and long running, meaning you’ll get to know where to place your bets and when in order to redeem the freebies.

Accumulator Offers

Another different type of promotion that is very common are accumulator offers, and they tend to fit into one of a handful categories that are quite different from each other:

Straight Accumulators

1. Acca Insurance – Acca insurance is a classic offer that repays your stake if an accumulator loses by only one leg. So if you placed a five leg acca and four won but one lost, you would trigger the acca insurance.
2. Acca Bonuses – On the other hand if your acca wins you might qualify for an acca bonus. This is where the payout of your accumulator is boosted by a set percentage based on the number of legs, with more legs resulting in a higher bonus.

Permutation Bets (Lucky 15 etc..)

1. One Winner Bonuses – Where offered, the one winner bonus specifically applies to permutation bets such as a lucky 15. Here you will receive an enhanced payout (often double the odds) when only one of your legs wins.
2. All Correct Bonuses – Similar to an acca bonus, except this time for a permutation bet. An all correct bonus will boost the payout of a lucky 15 (or similar) when you manage to hit all of the legs.

Often a bookie will run multiple types of acca offer alongside each other, although by definition they will be mutually exclusive – ie: you can’t trigger acca insurance and an acca bonus on the same bet.

Rewards Programs

The final type of offer is a classic rewards program that awards points for your betting activity which you can then redeem for free bets, bonuses or even cold hard cash. Sometimes the site will also have a shop where you can buy merchandise or gadgets.

These kinds of schemes are often linked to tiers, meaning that the more you deposit and bet the higher your tier and the faster rate at which you accumulate points. The top tiers often unlock additional benefits such as dedicated account managers or invitations to hospitality events.

Not all sites offer this kind of scheme and in some cases they are invitation only and hidden away behind the scenes. They are also coming under a bit of flack from the UKGC and ASA and various problem gambling groups meaning that they may not be around for much longer, at least not in their current form.

Bonus Sites Explained

By this point you should all be familiar with the concept of a sign up bonus. But one question we’re often asked is why these sites dish out so many bonus offers, especially since they will be costing them money. Is it all a big scam and will you get paid if you win?

The reality is that the kinds of bonus that you receive when you register with a bookmaker do come at a cost to the site, but the hope is that you will keep betting long after the welcome offer has been claimed and used. Of course, this isn’t always the case and some people will simply take the deal and run, but the bookmaker business is all about averages and turnover.

When placing bets, some people will win and some will lose but the bookie builds in a margin to eek out a cut for themselves whatever the outcome. This means that, generally speaking, over time all they really need is turnover. The higher volume of bets they take, the more the bookie will make for themselves, without being affected too much by the actual result.

The same concept is probably true of bonuses. Some punters might not stick around, whilst others could end up betting with them for years. The average of all of these players likely puts the bookie in a favourable position, otherwise they wouldn’t do it.

Sports Betting Sites & Bets

Boxing

Cricket

Darts

Formula 1

Football

Golf

Horse Racing

Rugby

Snooker

Tennis

Betting Guides

We offer a number of betting guides to help you find the best betting site for your style of betting, including:

Live Horse Racing Streaming – There’s no longer any need to head down the bookies just to watch a race you want to bet on and instead you can stream it live for free. Many betting sites offer live streams of races via At The Races and Racing UK – some can even stream it direct to your phone!

Betting Exchanges – Betting exchanges give you the opportunity to bet against other punters, rather than against the bookie. This often results in better odds, but comes at the cost of less promotions and bonuses.

Betting Loyalty Programs – Some bookmakers run loyalty schemes where you earn points every time you bet. These purpose of these points varies between site, but usually involves them being swapped for free bets or used to purchase rewards from a ‘loyalty store’. Great if you place bets on a regular basis.

Betting Articles – What is handicap betting? When was the Tote first established? When are the major horse racing events? You’ll find answers to all of these questions, and many more, in our betting articles section.

Why Bet Online?

The old days of trapsing down to the local bookies in the rain on a saturday morning are long gone, and now more and more punters are choosing to bet from the comfort of their own homes (or even the pub!). Here are just a couple of reasons why betting online beats standing next to the sweaty guy in the dirty mac who doesn’t have any teeth:

1. Free Bets – All of a sudden you have choice, and you’re not just going to settle for the nearest bookie any more. So they have to compete for your business, which is done with free bets. Most of the time these are given as a matched bet so if you deposit and bet £25, you receive a second £25 for free. Some betting sites (OK, one) are so confident (cocky?) in the service they offer that they give away a no deposit free bet.
2. Betting Promotions – As well as free bets, any bookie worth their salt also offers ongoing and event specific promotions. These vary by site and by event but include things like free bets, money back specials, enhanced odds, treble payouts and accumulator bonuses.
3. More Choice – We’ve touched on this slightly already, but there are way more bookies online than on the high street. Some big brands have even been getting involved, such as Sky (yes, the TV people).
4. You Can Still Watch Live Racing – We asked a few people and the reason they gave for visiting a traditional bookmakers was to watch the races. Did you know that these races are all available to stream online? To access them you’ll need to a computer that was built this century, a betting site that offers the races and a 50p bet on the race.
5. No More Mistakes – The bets are placed by clicking boxes and not scribbling names and numbers down on a bit of grubby paper. So there’s no more arguing with Mable behind the counter over a mistake on a betting slip.
6. Betting Exchanges – Something that you’ll never come across on the high street is a betting exchange such as Betfair or Betdaq. These sites match you up with punters who want to bet against you meaning that you can bet on an event not happening (such as Liverpool not winning the champions league) – this is known as a ‘laying’ (rather than backing). Another benefit of an exchange is that it often offers better odds than traditional bookmakers, although the flip side of this is that the free bets and promotions tend to be a bit thinner on the ground.