A Guide to Risk Free Bet Offers in United States
Welcome to your one-stop-shop for risk free bets at trusted online sportsbooks. We list the top risk free bets available to players across the world. For more information about risk free bets – from strategies to explanations – please scroll past our list.
What is a Risk Free Bet?
If a bet is risk-free it means that, if you lose, you will get the value of your stake back. You will be refunded in credits you can use at the bookie or casino. If you win, you keep your winnings.
Bookmakers like to offer risk-free bets as a sign-up bonus because of how attractive they are to new players. For bookies, the long term benefits of increasing participation outweigh the potential short-term losses.
Are Risk Free Bets Worth Claiming?
Yes. We believe risk free bets are definitely worth claiming. Here are the pros and cons of claiming a risk free bet:
- Two bets for the price of one.
- Increased chances of winning.
- Betting restrictions.
- Not entirely ‘risk-free’.
How to Claim and Use a Risk Free Bet
One way of thinking about risk-free bets is as a type of insurance on your first bet. After you make a bet using your own money, the sportsbook will cover the value of your bet if you lose. Remember, though, that this ‘cover’ will not be in real money but credits or ‘bonus cash’ you can use at the sportsbook.
Here’s a step-by-step guide illustrating how risk free bets work:
- You sign up to a trusted sportsbook and claim the risk free bet.
- You make a real money deposit.
- You place a bet in line with the terms and conditions.
- If you win, you keep your winnings. If you lose, the sportsbook will refund the value of your stake in bonus cash.
Risk Free Sports Betting Terms and Conditions
We recommend that all our players review the terms and conditions of any risk free bet before they claim it. The terms and conditions of risk free bets can vary significantly from bookie to bookie. Here are a few of the t&c’s you need to be aware of:
- Expiration Dates – Your risk free bet will expire after a set period of time. Please ensure that you wager your bet within the allotted time frame.
- Betting Limits – If you claim a risk-free bet you cannot make a bet over a certain value.
- Odds Restrictions – You cannot make bets that have odds heavily weighted in your favour. Risk free bets must be made within a range of reasonable probability.
- Betting Types – You may be limited to making certain types of bets. Most will allow you to make a straight bet or one parlay bet with a risk free bet.
- Rollover Requirements – Sportsbooks require a certain amount of betting on your part before you can withdraw your winnings. You may have to wager the value of your ‘risk free’ bet before it turns from ‘bonus cash’ to real money.
Top Tip
Top Tip: Please try to use the entirety of your risk free bet in a single wager. If you don’t (and you don’t have to), the remaining funds will be forfeited.
How to Maximize Risk-Free Bets
If you want to make the most of your risk free bet, we recommend you follow the same rules you would for any free bet offers:
- Bet the Maximum Amount – To make the most of your risk free bet, you have to wager the full amount. Unless specified, you will lose the remaining funds of your risk free bet if you don’t use it in its entirety in your first bet.
- Low Rollover Requirements – If you win with your first bet, this doesn’t matter. However, it’s always worth claiming a risk free bet with low rollover requirements just in case you end up receiving bonus cash.
- Use A Matched Betting Risk Free Calculator – Gambling experts use matched betting risk free calculators to determine which risk free bets they claim and what they wager on. When used correctly, you will be able to learn such things as: how to calculate the potential profits, and how much you ought to back and lay.
- Don’t Bet More Then the Max Bonus Amount – Let’s say you find a risk-free bet that will refund you up to $1,000 – any funds you bet over $1,000 will not be covered by the risk-free benefits. When it’s likely you will encounter odds restrictions with a risk-free bet, you should save your extra funds for a more desirable bet.
- Work Out The Expected Value (EV) of Your Risk-Free Bet – There is an equation you can use to find out if your risk-free bet is likely to yield a profit. In the industry, the result of this equation is called the ‘expected value’ or ‘EV’, and it is used by the pros to decide which bonuses to go for, and which bets to make.
How to Work Out the Expected Value (EV) of Risk-Free Bets
As we have already said, you can use EV to figure out which bets are likely to yield a profit. To work out the EV of a risk free bet, you need the following variables:
- The probability of winning.
- How much you would win.
- The probability of losing.
- How much you would lose.
Once you have these variables, you can enter them into the following equation to find out the EV of your bet:
(Probability of Winning) x (Amount Won) – (Probability of Losing) x (Amount Lost)
If your final figure returns a positive (+) value, it means the bet is theoretically likely to return a profit. If your final figure returns a negative (-) value, it means the bet is theoretically likely to return a loss.
If you are still unsure how expected value works, we can walk you through it using an example:
Example
Let’s say you make a $100 bet on a -200 favourite. If you win, you will receive a total amount of $150 ($100 stake + $50 in winnings). The implied probability of this bet is 66.7%. For argument’s sake, let’s say the juice brings the probability down to 65%.
This means that 65% of the time you’ll win $150, and 35% of the time you’ll lose $100. Now that we have all the variables we need, we can enter it into our equation:
Probability of Winning (0.65) x Amount Won ($150) – Probability of Losing (0.35) x Amount Lost ($100) = Expected Value (62.50)
In conclusion, the total expected value for this bet comes to 62.50. Due to the result being a positive value, making a bet in these circumstances would, more often than not, return a profit.
Risk Free Betting Strategy
If you’re looking to profit from a risk-free bet (and who isn’t?), we can introduce you to a strategy that actually works.
Arbitrage Betting
An arbitrage betting situation arises when you find two competing sportsbooks that allow you to make a ‘risk-free’ bet on opposite outcomes. Such opportunities are rare, but if you stay alert and do your research, you may come across ‘odds boost’ offers to exploit. Here’s a hypothetical example of how the strategy works:
Arbitrage Betting
Let’s say you have recently signed up to FanDuel Sportsbook. You notice that FanDuel SB offers you odds of +150 for the Atlanta Falcons to beat the New England Patriots. At most sportsbooks, the Patriots are -200 to win, but you find that, at BetMGM, they are offering an odds boost that changes the odds of the same bet to +150.
The math can be broken down as follows:
- FanDuel SB offers odds of +150 for the Atlanta Falcons to win.
- BetMGM offers an odds boost for a New England Patriots win, which takes the odds from -200 to +150.
- If you bet, say, $500 on both outcomes, the results of your bets would be as follows:
If the New England Patriots win:
$500 x 1.5 = $750
If the Atlanta Falcons win:
$500 x 1.5 = $750
Of course, one of these bets has to lose, which means you will lose $500 from one of these bets. However – supposing the game does not end in a draw – you are guaranteed to win a total of $750 with one of these bets. Ultimately, you end up with a risk-free profit of $250.
Most Popular Risk Free Bets
According to our analytics, the following free bets are the most popular among our players:
FanDuel Risk Free Bet
At FanDuel Sportsbook, you can receive a risk free bet worth up to $1,000. This bet is one of the most generous on the market right now. Not only do you get a high maximum bet, but, in terms of what you’re allowed to bet on, you get a lot of freedom.
Bet on spreads, moneyline, parlays and more. FanDuel Sportsbook says “If you can dream it, you can (probably) bet it.” Payouts include the stake and the winnings and you don’t have to bet the full value of your bonus on a single wager.
DraftKings Risk Free Bet
DraftKings is another leading online sportsbook with a fantastic risk free bet. When you sign up, you can receive a risk free bet worth up to $50 and a deposit bonus worth up to $1,000. You cannot withdraw the free bet amount and the bonus amount is equal to 20% of your first deposit.
BetMGM Risk Free Bet
BetMGM currently offers a risk free bet worth up to $1,000. To effectively claim this bet, you have to own a smartphone operating on the iOS platform or the Android platform. If you deposit the maximum $1,000 and your first bet loses, you will receive 5 free bets with each bet worth $200.
Paddy Power Risk Free Bet
Paddy Power is giving away a free bet worth £20 to any player that uses the bonus code YSKAEE. Paddy Power, unlike the other sportsbooks in this section, refund your original bet in CASH, not credits. Only deposits made by card or Apple Pay are eligible for this promotion.