How to take advantage of a bonus from a sports book
Time and time again, one of the easiest ways to make money betting on sports online is by clearing first time deposit bonuses. Though it is easy to become black listed if you continue to deposit and withdraw immediately after clearing the bonus, if you play it right, a deposit bonus can really boost your win rate in both the short term and long term.
Say you deposit $1,000 into Sports Book 1. Instantly, 10 percent of your deposit – $100 – is added to your account, showing a balance of $1,100. But instead if simply betting the free $100 and withdrawing if you win, Sports Book 1 forces you to roll over your deposit three times to withdraw. Now, you must wager $3,300 before you officially clear the bonus.
Now, one option would be to bet normally and over the course of time hope to make enough money to clear the bonus and make a little extra on top of that. But you run the risk of going on a cold streak, losing a few here and a few there and being down on your initial deposit by the time your bonus is cleared.
Option 2 is to try and clear the bonus as quickly as possible, which, for a 10% deposit bonus, would be a very risky play. If you placed an $1,100 bet on a point spread three times, you are more than likely going to end up broke.
Keep in mind that most sports books take the smaller number between your ‘risk’ and your ‘to win’, so that if you are betting $1,000 to win $200, you will only clear $200 of your initial $3,300 bonus. Likewise, if you bet $50 to win $2,000, you are only clearing $50 of your bonus.
The third (and best) option is to deposit money into another sports book and take opposite sides of a bet. It takes some hunting, but you can eventually find a line that is +100 at one sports book and -105 or +100 at another. So you bet $1,000 to win $1,000 at even odds, and then head over to Sports Book 2 to bet $1,000 to win $950 on the other side of the line. If the line that you had at Sports Book 1 covers, you are up $50, and have already cleared one third of your bonus.
If you lose, no big deal because you do not have any money to withdraw at Sports Book 1 and you have almost completely broken even thanks to your bet at Sports Book 2.
Keep in mind that you do not have to bet your entire bankroll on any given bet. You can slowly find arbitrage opportunities at various sports books – which is why it is encouraged to have money in multiple sports books – and make money without risking money over the course of time.
If you are sharp and willing to put in the time, you can find, for example, the Washington Redskins at -3 +105 at one sports book, and minutes, hours or days later, you can find the other side of the bet at +105 as well. If you bet $1,000 to win $1,050 at two sports books, you are guaranteeing $50 profit. It is a risk you must be willing to take in this business, and the more you research sports betting, the more you will be able to spot trends such as line movement.
It is also not a good idea to withdraw immediately after clearing a bonus. It will make you seem eager to just be taking the sports book’s money. Instead, consider placing a few smaller bets and withdrawing at a later date.
