Free Bets and Offers
Find free bets from UK bookmakers on Tipsfix. Sign up for bookmaker free bet offers and improve your chances of winning at sports betting with a free bet.
It makes sense for any serious sports bettor to hold betting accounts with a variety of bookmakers. TipsFix recommends doing so in order to find the best value odds for your betting tips and to take advantage of the edge you receive from free bet offers.
We’ve collated the best free bet offers and encourage our readers and followers to use free bets to get the maximum return from your betting. You’ll find guides explaining how to claim free bets online along with details of free bet codes and how to apply them.
What is a free bet?
It is a reward given by bookmakers for meeting a predetermined condition which may be for opening an account and placing a bet, placing a losing bet or a number of bets. The free bet will usually have some restrictions applied to its use; typically selections will be subject to minimum odds and bet type may be limited to singles only. Some bookies restrict which markets they can be used on and the terms and conditions protect the bookmakers from freebies being used in such a way as to guarantee a profit eg betting both outcomes in a two way market.
It’s important to understand that the stakes on free bets are not returned in the event of backing a winner. For instance, if you use a £10 free bet when backing a 4/1 winner, the returns will be 4x the stake, £40 and not the £50 you’d receive if using your own money.
Some bookmakers give a welcome bonus simply for making a deposit and care should be taken as to the nature of the ‘bonus’. The bonus may be awarded as a free bet or it could be additional funds added to the initial deposit, this is real cash but is always subject to meeting rollover requirements before the bonus funds can be withdrawn.
Four essential free betting tips
Sign up for as many free bets as possible
There are over 60 licensed bookmakers promoting sign up offers in the uk. If you are serious about betting to win, then you owe it to yourself to register with most, if not all of these bookmakers. The sign up process only takes about five minutes at the outside and some operators will require validation documentation with photo id and proof of address. Sometimes accounts can be verified by the payment provider if depositing with a debit card.
The advantage of having so many betting accounts comes with greater choice of odds and of course access to promotions. On a practical level, you’ll end up using a handful of bookmakers to obtain best odds unless there’s a promotion elsewhere where getting a free bet provides better value.
For example. If a new bookmaker is offering 9/2 for my fancy when it is 5/1 elsewhere, I’ll gladly take the shorter price if it guarantees getting another bet free.
Check terms and conditions
Always check the terms and conditions of offers before making a financial commitment. Make sure you understand the criteria required to qualify for a free bet in addition to terms and conditions applied to their use.
The main conditions to look for; what type of bet qualifies, singles, multiples, any? The minimum odds for the qualifying bet, payment methods allowed and which countries are excluded from the promotion. The offers on this site are targeted at UK residents so this is a very important factor for visitors from other territories where betting legislation differs from the UK.
There will be minimum odds restrictions and in some cases, maximum odds too. They may be restricted to certain bet types (singles, multiples etc) and some sports and other betting products like bingo and casino and may be excluded. Some betting firms exclude certain markets and they will have an expiry date, so ensure you don’t allow them to lapse. Take the time to read the full T&Cs to ensure there are no surprises in the small print.
Use your normal selections to qualify
It’s most likely you will get better long term value from free bets by sticking to your normal bet selection methods. Whether you are following tips or using your own betting system, they will genuinely be ‘free’ if you already planned to place the qualifying bet.
If your bet meets the qualifying requirement, simply sign up, place your bet and claim the freebie.
There may be times when your normal betting pattern doesn’t align itself to qualifying, there remains great value in the sign up offers as long as the qualifying selections are well considered and not just random picks.
Bigger odds are best for free bets
This advice applies for punters who intend to use a lot of sign up offers. Because the free bet stake is not returned on winning selections, there is more value in using them on bigger odds than the minimum odds required. The downside, is you’ll back fewer winners but with patience and average luck, should make more money backing 5/1 shots than even money chances.
For example, if you bet 5/1 shots, you would expect one winner every six attempts on average. That would give a return of £50 for six £10 free bets.
Using them on even money chances would give three winners from six on average for a return of £30.
The calculation assumes average luck which tends to get more volatile as the odds increase.
Where bonus funds return the stake, it’s all about getting best value odds ie close to fair odds or better no matter what the price.
Why do bookmakers give away free bets
Online sports betting is huge business and continues to grow year after year. New bookmakers are joining the market on a regular basis so the competition gets stronger and stronger. This is great for sports bettors, not only for the chance to get better odds thanks to competing sportsbooks but also the incentives to use betting sites can be very compelling.
The most popular method for encouraging new customers to try their sportsbook is to offer a free bet or bonus for registering and placing a bet or series of bets. Operators spend small fortunes on advertising their presence on the internet and know they must give a good reason for punters to give up their valuable time to register details with another bookmaker.
The vast majority of bookmakers licensed in the UK provide welcome offers that include free betting in one form or another. It may be a complimentary bet token on placing a bet or bonus funds added to the first deposit. Each bookie has their own take on sign up offers so it’s important to understand what’s required in order to earn the reward and the terms and conditions relating to their use. TipsFix explains the key conditions for all the free betting offers listed on the website so you can consider the pertinent facts before clicking through to the bookmaker site.
By giving these incentives, UK bookmakers hope you’ll enjoy using the betting site and make it your preferred destination when looking to place bets in future. Many of the major bookmakers provide promotions for existing customers which often give the chance to pick up more freebies. TipsFix recommend you opt in for betting promotions from your bookmakers in order to stay up to date with latest offers and other betting promotions that can provide some excellent value.
Experienced sports bettors understand it can be quite a slog trying to stay in front with the bookmakers and this is why you should not underestimate the edge you get from free bets and the positive impact they can have on your results.
Types of free bet offers
Bookmakers present their sign up offers in a number of different ways and one way to distinguish them is as follows.
Free matched bet – receive a complimentary bet to the same stake as your first bet, limits generally range from £10 to £50 maximum free bet.
Bet and get – place a bet and get a free bet of a different value to the real money stake. It could be bet £20 get £10, bet £10 get £20, bet £10 get £30 – you get the idea.
Free bet if you lose – previously advertised as ‘risk free’ until the ASA took exception. Place a bet and get the stake (or part of the stake) refunded as a free bet if the selection loses.
Multi step offers – a little more complicated than the above offers. They involve placing a series of real money bets and receiving a free bet at various stages eg every five bets or on completing the full series eg place six £25 bets and receive a £25 bet.
Deposit bonuses – free bets or bonus funds awarded for making a deposit. These offers come with wagering requirements which must be met before the bonus is released and/or a withdrawal can be made. The wagering can be from as little as 3x the bonus to onerous levels like 10x the combined amount of the deposit and bonus.
How to use free bets
It is usually very straight forward. When making a selection it is added to the bet slip where there is an option to use the free bet. As long as the selection meets the qualifying criteria, simply choose the option.
Some betting sites require you to enter the stake amount before applying the free bet while others do it automatically on choosing the option. Check that it has been applied to the selection before confirming the bet.
The process or bonus funds is different. Once the qualifying criteria has been met the bonus is typically added to the account as bonus funds, sometimes the deposit and bonus is bundled together. Whichever method is used, the balance is ring-fenced and cannot be withdrawn until the rollover requirements have been met. Placing bets will reduce or increase the balance, depending on success, and the balance can be withdrawn once the rollover requirements have been met.