Free Bets

Free bets, also referred to as credits or tokens, are one of many incentives bookmakers have on offer to entice potential customers. They can be part of a welcome offer, which is given to new customers when they register, or part of an ongoing promotion. Despite these offers being labelled as 'free', free bets cannot be withdrawn as cash.

You must meet certain stipulations before you can receive your free bets, including placing a qualifying bet with specific odds or on specified markets and you'll typically receive your free bets once your qualifying bet is settled, along with any cash winnings.

Your free bets may still have restrictions so that you can only use them on certain markets or events after receiving them. If this is the case, those eligible markets will be set out in the T&Cs.

Free bet stakes are not returned after your qualifying bet is settled, unlike cash bets.

Existing customers can also get free bets through promotions for specific sports or events, or simply as a loyalty reward. Betway’s Free Bet Club and Paddy Power’s Rewards Club are a couple of examples.

New Customer Free Bets

Let's be fair, the idea of a welcome offer is to convince new customers to join. As a result, free bets are among the most popular incentives out there and offer a great chance at turning those credits into cold hard cash.

Given that there's no shortage of bookies to sign up with who are offering free bet welcome offers, there's ample opportunity to cash in as a new customer time and time again. New customer free bets can be easily claimed if you are a UK resident and don’t already have an account with the betting app in question.

It's worth bearing in mind that some betting apps advertise even better free bet welcome offers than usual in the run-up to major events like the Cheltenham Festival and Champions League final.

We here at Bettingapps.com love a free bet. What's not to love?

I mean, everything is insanely expensive right now (not to be that guy, but remember when Freddos were 10p?) So getting a little extra does feel pretty good.

We put together a list of our favourite free bet offers available from UK bookies right now and a little bit about the offers you can get when signing up with each of their apps.

The term 'free bets' is simple enough, but there are a few different types of free bet offers that you will come across.

'Bet £10 get £30' offers

Some variation of a 'Bet Get' offer is one of the most common incentives that new customers can expect when signing up with a bookmaker.

A common Bet Get offer is Bet £10 get £30, where the £30 bonus can be credited in one large chunk or broken down into smaller free bets. It is also quite common to have sportsbook free bets and casino spins and tokens combined in the same bonus.

'Bet £10 get £20' offers

A variation on the above bonus, where the amounts change but the premise is the same. More often than not, your £20 bonus will be split into two £10 bets, but this varies between bookies, with some splitting it down to four £5 bets.

'Bet £5...' offers

Another very common offer is 'Bet £5...' free bets.

As above, you essentially are getting a free bet (or series of) after placing your qualifying bet. The difference is that you only have to wager a fiver to be eligible for your freebies.

'Bet £5...' free bets are perfect for those of you who want to make a lower initial deposit, but still want to get a great welcome offer.

A matched free bet is pretty much what it says on the tin. You place a wager with your own money and if your bet loses you will be refunded your stake, up to a certain amount which is mostly always stated.

You can either get a refund of your bet in cash or as a free bet, but this is dependent on the terms of the particular offer.

These free bets can also come with stipulations that you must follow to receive your free bets. A common money-back promo that can be found in horse racing is 'money back if 2nd' - which can be found on both Betfred and Kwiff - where your stake will be returned as a free bet if your horse places second.

These types of bets can be part of an ongoing promotion for existing customers or part of a sign-up offer.

At first glance, free bet offers and bonus offers might look the same and both are offered regularly by bookies.

Bonus offers work initially the same way as a free bet, in that you place a qualifying bet and when the bet is settled the stated bonus amount will be credited to you. But, it is worth knowing the few differences between them that you should always look out for when signing up for a new betting brand.

Bonus offers often will involve casino tokens or free spins element.

For example, you may see an offer for ‘Bet £10 get £40 in bonuses’. So, this differs from a standard 'Bet £10 get £40' offer in that you’ll get £30 worth of free bets to use on the sportsbook, plus a £10 casino bonus.

Sometimes there will be an added extra with free spins on selected slots, as can be seen in the BetVictor welcome offer.

When considering a free bet welcome offer, it is important to go over the fine print and assess the requirements of each individual one. This goes for all sign-up bonuses and offers, not only free bets.

Below are some of the key factors to consider when determining what's right for you.

Given that it’s the most popular sport in the world, of course, football dominates the world of online betting.

As a result, betting brands cater a lot of their free bet offers to football fans and pretty much all free bet offers can be used on a multitude of football markets worldwide.

The obvious examples are the Premier League and the Champions League, as well as major international tournaments, such as the World Cup and European Championships.

You will often see brands promoting lots of free football bets and great welcome offers around the time of major championships and significant matches, so it's certainly worth keeping an eye out for them.

I've put together a few of the best football free bet offers, which I think are worth football fans checking out.

After the dust has settled you want to make sure that you can still get those free bets. Many bookmakers also have ongoing free bet and money-back promotions which are tailored towards existing football punters.

Unfortunately, there are not any specific champions league free bets at the time of writing.

Bet365, Ladbrokes and William hill are some of the best apps out there for football bettors, with strong welcome offers and a great variety of champions league betting markets on offer.

With horse racing being another cornerstone of betting in the UK, it’s not surprising that many bookies focus on massively catering to horse racing fans.

As with football, nearly all sign-up offers and bonuses can be used on various markets worldwide. There are also plenty of ongoing promos out there, where you can score some free bets or take advantage of money-back offers.

I've put together a list of some of the best free bet offers for horse racing fans, based on bang for your buck and markets they can be used on.

Despite these offers being specific horse racing promos, it is worth noting that there are certain promos that apply to all sports which are great for racing punters. By which I mean Betway's Free Bet Club and Paddy Power's Rewards Club can also offer horse racing fans a tonne of free bets.

As we've discussed, there are plenty of free bets out there for existing customers.

This isn't surprising, as the idea of your welcome offer is to get your feet through the door and signed up. So now that you're there, why should you stay?

There are plenty of event-specific or limited-time offers that you can take advantage of and many bookies out there have loyalty clubs where you can get all sorts of free bets, including BetUK's ACCA Club, Betway's Free Bet Club, Paddy's Rewards Club and William Hill's Acca Club.

While it might sound too good to be true, there are in fact some actual free bet no deposit offers out there. They are just not what you may think...

I'm not talking about those codes that you see popping up around the place, where sites assure you that you can get some free bets without having to dip into your own pocket, as this is just not realistic.

What I mean is free-to-play games like Betway's 4 To Win and Paddy Power's Beat the Drop where, as an existing customer, you can grab yourself some free bets without depositing any money.

These free-to-play games are a great opportunity to pick up free bets and casino spins, as well as cash prizes if your luck's in! I've put together a list of some of the best free-to-play games on which you can win some free bets:

Best Free-to-Play games for free bets:

• Betway - 4 to Win, 4 to Score and Prize Wheel
• Paddy Power- Beat the Drop and Skill Zone
• Sky Bet - Super 6
• William Hill - Scratch of the Day and Free or 4
• Ladbrokes - 1-2-Free and 5-a-side
• Coral - Racing Super Series
• LiveScore Bet - LiveScore Bet Squads
  

With nearly every UK sportsbook app comes a top-notch online casino offering for punters to get stuck into.

With everything we've talked about today, it can come as no surprise that there's a bunch of freebies to be had, except they are usually referred to as 'Slot Bonuses' or 'Spins'.

It is very common for bookies to have welcome offers that combine free bets, which can be used on the sportsbook, with free spins that can be used on an app's casino offering.

BetVictor currently offers one of the strongest welcome bonuses for those who are both sports betting and casino fans. By placing a £10 qualifying bet at minimum odds of 1/1 (2.00) you will get 3 x £10 free bets, a £10 slot bonus and 100 free spins on the Fishin' Frenzy slot.

I won't go on as casino bonuses are a huge topic and you're here for free bets, not spins. So we'll pick that up another day but, for now, I've put together a few of my favourite welcome offers for casino betting fans.

All in all, it's not hard to see why free bets are among one of the most popular offers around.

As a welcome offer, they give you a great chance to explore and take advantage of the benefits a bookmaker's app may offer, while still making sure you get something useful out of the equation.

Once you have signed up, the free bets that are on offer through promos will allow you to feel that you're getting your money's worth.

As we've shown, there's plenty out there to choose from to get you started and you can still keep getting free bets after signing up. You don't need to feel stressed if you don't know what you should go for, it's just about making sure you get off on the right foot and snag the best free bet out there, as we all want to beat the bookie.

So, next time you're bombarded with sign-up adverts for multiple betting apps while waiting for your tea to brew at half-time, just remember you're already one step ahead after checking out bettingapps.com. Be sure to pop back regularly for updated offers and reviews.

Do me a favour though. Just make sure to read all terms and conditions before you pull the trigger on any of the offers above.