The Big Betting Sign Up Offer FAQ

Even experienced punters can get caught out by offers sometimes. And whilst in reality it would be nice to just get something from a betting site with no strings attached, this is very unlikely. After all, a bookmaker or casino that hands out cash to customers without any restrictions would go out of business pretty quickly as people would simple take the money and run. 

In this section we’ll cover the most commonly asked questions about betting sign up offers:

Q. Can I Claim Both Sports and Casino Bonuses?

A. This depends. Sometimes yes, but sometimes no. Unfortunately this is something that varies by brand – for some they want you to try the different products so are happy for you to move between them and claim all of their welcome offers, if you were so inclined, but others pride themselves on having such generous bonuses that they can’t allow customers to claim more than one. The only real way to know is to read the terms of the offer.

Because some sites only allow you to claim one bonus, in our main list (above) we show both sports and casino sign up bonuses. This should allow you to pick which one you’d rather claim first so that if it’s a site that only permits one bonus per person you won’t have missed out on something that is potentially more lucrative.

Q. Can I Claim Bonuses From Multiple Sites Owned by the Same Group?

A. Thankfully we’ve not come across too many instances of restrictions that stop you claiming welcome offers from a brand if you’ve already claimed a bonus at a sister site. However, they do exist and some of the more cautious groups have been known to implement such rules from time to time. So as always, check the terms before claiming.

We should also point out that whilst most bookmakers don’t stop you claiming welcome bonuses from multiple sites in the group, if you have a restriction placed on one of your accounts it is possible that these restrictions will also apply to the other accounts. So if you’re bonus banned or limited at a site, there’s a good chance you could have the same thing happen to any other accounts you might have with the same group.

Q. Are Wagering Requirements Bad?

A. It would obviously be better to not have wagering requirements – or any rules whatsoever for that matter – but as we mentioned earlier they’re hard to avoid, especially when it comes to the casino offers. Without any kind of requirement the savvy player would simply withdraw their bonus and walk away, meaning the site would quickly bleed cash and not be in business for too long.

Q. What is an Acceptable Wagering Requirement?

A. Sports and casino do tend to be treated a little differently though and what’s good for one would be terrible for the other so it’s better to talk about them separately:

Sports

When it comes to sports there are generally two types of offer:

• Free Bets – A free bet by it’s definition must be bet at least once. In many cases that’s where it ends and any winnings are yours to keep, however the stake itself tends to be swallowed up in the process meaning you only get the winnings. This isn’t always the case and sometimes you’ll find a free bet where the stake is returned but these are few and far between these days. We suggest that you look for free bets that don’t have any additional wagering requirements on top of this though.
• Bonuses – Bonuses almost always come with wagering requirements which can either be before or after the bonus is awarded. For bonuses that are given upfront (eg: deposit £100, get £100 bonus) you may have to turn your deposit over once to ‘activate’ the bonus which is then credited to your account. Once added you’ll then need to turn over the bonus a set number of times before the bonus is turned into cash – somewhere in the region of 5x to 8x seems to be the norm, with anything about this a bit high for our liking.
  Alternatively you could be given the bonus in chunks as you bet. In this scenario the bonus is often added as cash or with a low 1x wagering requirement but you’ll need to place a certain amount of bets before that happens. For example, imagine a £100 bonus that’s given as twenty £5 bonuses each released after you’ve bet £25.

Casino

Just like sports there are multiple types of promotion:

• Free Spins – Free spins are a bit like free bets in that they need to be wagered once to actually perform the spin. After this it becomes a bit less consistent. There is increasing pressure from the ASA at the moment for free spins to be truly free, meaning that what you win from them is yours to keep in the same way as if you’d spun the reels with your own money. We call these ‘no wagering spins’ and many sites are starting to adopt this, although the number and value of the spins tends to be lower than on sites that apply wagering requirements.
  On all other sites the winnings from the free spins will have wagering requirements attached to them.
• Casino Bonuses – If you’re mainly used to offers for sports betting, don’t be alarmed when you see the size of the wagering requirements for a casino bonus as the casino WR tends to be much higher than for sports. If you can find a casino bonus with a wagering requirement of 25x the bonus or less that is excellent. Realistically you’re more likely to find them in the 25x to 50x range. Anything above this is getting a bit high and there will almost certainly be better offers available. Note: For these ranges we’re talking about slots, if you’re playing other games – particularly those with a very low house edge such as blackjack – you’ll often find much bigger wagering requirements.

Q. Can I Bet on Whatever I Want?

A. Weirdly no. Most free bets come with restrictions on what markets you can bet on, although there doesn’t seem to be any real rhyme or reason behind it. Some don’t allow horse racing. Others only allow horse racing. Some cannot be used to place accumulators whilst others can only be used on accas.

The same thing can be said for casino offers. With free spins they’re usually restricted to a set group of games, whilst casino bonuses may have certain games that you can’t play. In the casino you’ll also find more restrictions around the size of the bet you can place and most will have a maximum that’s allow – so that you don’t put the whole thing on one spin in a glory hunting ‘all or nothing’ style move.

We’ve said this a couple of times already on the page but you’re going to need to check the specific terms of the offer to really know what you can and can’t do – never assume you know what you’re allowed to use your free bets on or what rules you need to follow in the casino.

Q. What Does Paid in Free Bets Mean?

A. The answer to this question is very much in the name – here you get free bets, not cash. And as you learnt earlier on, free bets need to be bet at least once.

These kinds of rules tend to crop up in conjunction with enhanced odds offers, where instead of a simple free bet or bonus you receive significantly inflated odds on a market. Normally these offers are on heavy favourites and are along the lines of 25/1 for Chelsea to beat Bournemouth or a horse that’s odds-on favourite being offered at 50/1.

Obviously there are going to be some restrictions on the maximum stake, otherwise you could quite happily throw thousands at it and, more often than not, clean up. The more generous the odds the smaller the stake will be – so if 1/2 has become 25/1 then you’re unlikely to be able to bet more than £1 on it. 

Q. What Should I Do If I Didn’t Get the Bonus?

A. Contact customer support.