Bookmaker Bonus Bets - What You Should Know
Most punters welcome bonus bet offers from bookmakers. They typically arrive in your email in box in the form of an offer along the lines of ‘Deposit $x in your betting account and we’ll match your deposit with a bonus bet’. Sometimes the offers can be amounts of up to $1,000 or more. Deposit a ‘grand’ in your account and a bookmaker will give you a $1,000 bonus bet - what’s not to like!
However, there is often more to these offers than meets the eye – as I found out recently when I deposited $100 into my betting account with Luxbet and received a $100 bonus bet. I thought I would sit on the $100 bonus bet for a little while and action it when I had a ‘good thing’ to wager on.
I found what I thought was a good thing in Veuvelicious in the Fernhill Handicap at Randwick during the Autumn Carnival. The horse came out and won like a good thing too - bolting in by over three lengths – the only problem was that my bonus bet had also ‘bolted’ - when I accessed my account to put the wager on, I found that the bonus bet I had been given by Luxbet had ‘expired’.
An expiry date on a bonus bet? And it was a shorter expiry date than you’d find on a tub of yogurt. The expiry date dilemma with bonus bets doesn’t end there. According to Luxbet your deposit and any profits accrued from a bonus bet must be wagered within 30 days or the bonus bet and any bonus bet winnings will expire. I’m sure that most punters wouldn’t realize that a bookmaker can reclaim not only your bonus bet but also the winnings from a successful bonus bet if those winnings are not reinvested by some random expiry date.
Bonus bets often come with plenty of other provisos too. Luxbet also require that when you use your bonus bet - the bet must be wagered at odds of $1.50 or more. There’s no chance of backing a short priced ‘good thing’ under those odds. The bonus bet must also be wagered as a single bet and cannot be broken up into smaller wagers. So if you invest your bonus bet of up to $1,000 or more on a non winner - the whole amount can disappear as quick as gossamer.
With bonus bets it obviously pays to read the fine print. Sure, consider taking advantage of any attractive bonus bet offers that come your way - but always read the terms and conditions - even if they are hidden away on some hard to find page on the bookmaker’s web site.
Each bonus bet offer can differ. Sometimes the events that must be wagered on are specific or the bet may have to be wagered at a prescribed odds level. The bonus bet may have to be wagered as a single bet and not be broken up into smaller bets. Also factor in that the dividend you receive from any winning bonus bet will not include the original wager - the bookie holds onto that - so if for example you wagered a $100 bonus bet on a $4.00 winner, you'd only get an amount of $300 credited to your account. And of course keep an eye on those expiry dates - whether they be for bonus bets or yogurt - as both can potentially leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.
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