When you download a sports betting app and launch it for the first time, you are likely to see some sort of betting bonus flashing at you.
These bonuses range in amount, and can be as high as $1000.
Typically, many rookie bettors are drawn to this, expecting to get some free money just by signing up on the betting app.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t really work that way- in most cases anyway.
The majority of betting apps bonuses are subject to terms and conditions, which often involve making a deposit and placing a wager on the app.
Hence, what’s available on most betting apps are deposit bonuses, as against free money.
Some apps do give “No Deposit Bonuses”, but this happens only once in a blue moon, and is usually awarded to customers who have placed numerous wagers on the app.
It is after you meet the conditions and wagering requirements that you become eligible for the bonus. So, free money is an extreme rarity on a betting app in the United States.
This is the case for both sign up bonuses and existing customer offers like referral bonuses, loyalty bonuses and parlay bonuses.
Take referral bonuses for example, where the new player being referred is often required to make a deposit before the bonus is awarded. Some sportsbooks even demand that the referred player places a wager on the site before the bonus is given out.
As the saying goes, “nothing goes for nothing”. This is certainly the case with betting apps bonuses.
Don’t forget that these sportsbooks are also business organizations, with the primary aim of making money from the services they render. Hence, it doesn’t make business sense for them to go around gifting “free money” to people.
Given the rapid spread of mobile betting in the USA, the competition for US bettors is at an all-time high. America also has some of the strictest betting laws in the world, along with high licensing fees and tax rates.
It takes a brave betting site to break into the American market. The last thing they want to do is to throw away free money.
Think about the millions of bettors in the United States. If a betting company shares as little as $100 to 1,000 bettors, that would amount to $100,000. That’s not exactly smart business!
Even when you do meet all the requirements for claiming a deposit bonus, you may not be able to withdraw the money from your betting account.
American betting apps generally give their bonuses as bonus bets, which cannot be converted to real cash.
These bonus bets can only be used to place bets on the app. If you are lucky enough to win wagers placed with bonus bets, you would then be able to withdraw your winnings from the app. However, the value of the bonus bets used in placing the wager will be deducted from your eventual payout.
In order to guard against the possibility of new and inexperienced bettors being misled by betting bonus advertisements, US regulators have instructed betting apps to be very clear with their terms and conditions, making the key requirements visible on their bonuses and promotions.
Significantly, the US has also banned the use of terminologies like risk-free bets and free bets, contending (rightly) that betting apps offers are not free.
As a result, betting apps have had to adjust their promotional terminologies, with many settling for alternatives like “second chance bets”, “bonus bets” and “bet credits”, which are all non-withdrawable bonuses.
We all love freebies, and would love to be able to claim free money from our betting apps, but that, unfortunately, is very unlikely to happen!