Sports Betting
Sports Betting
Guide
Gambling

Can You Cash Out on Bonus Bets?

Learn how to cash out bonus bets and understand key terms like wagering requirements, minimum odds, and max win caps. Discover how to maximize your sports betting experience with bonus funds.

Alyx Tzamantanis.
A. Tzamantanis

Last Updated: 2024-09-23

James Pacheco

5 minutes read

a wad of cash

Image Credits: Pechanga

Bonus bets are a great way to enjoy an online sports betting site, often for free, but can you actually cash out your winnings? Today, we’re going to tell you all about bonus bets, including what they are, how to use them and how to cash them out successfully. 

Ready to understand more about bonus bets? Let’s go! 

What Are Bonus Bets?

Bonus bets are a popular promotion given out by all good online sportsbooks. These offers are designed to either attract new customers, or reward loyal returning customers back to the same sports betting site. 

Bonus bets come in many different forms including: 

  • Free bets: the sportsbook gives you a free bet to use on a selection of games or a specific event 

  • Match deposit bonuses: the bookmaker matches your deposit amount with a percentage of bonus funds to use on the sportsbook

  • Reload offers: a popular type of match deposit bonus, usually offered weekly 

As you can see, there are many ways to pick up bonus bets, and the leading online sportsbooks will always have an offer available where you can bet for free.

Bonus funds vs deposited funds - what’s the difference?

When you take on a free bet or a bonus that gives you extra money to bet with, you enter the realm of ‘bonus funds’. 

Bonus funds are different from the money you deposit at a sports betting site because they have various terms and conditions attached. Therefore, using a free bet or bonus funds to place a wager does not automatically mean you can cash out winnings from that bet.

Terms and Conditions that Affect Your Bonus Bets 

There are many different terms and conditions that will affect your bonus bets, and these will vary depending on the type of bonus you have and which sports betting site you use. 

That said, there are some caveats that appear on most bonus bets, so let's take a look at some of those in more detail.

Expiry dates 

The first thing to be aware of is that any bonus bet you accept will have an expiry date attached to it. Therefore, it's essential that you know how long you’ve got until the bet runs out so that you can use it in good time. 

Wagering requirements

Also known as a playthrough requirement, wagering affects most bonus bets unless you see the words ‘no wagering’ in the T&Cs. Wagering refers to the amount of times you must play through any winnings from bonus funds before you can cash out successfully. 

For example, if you see a 10x wagering requirement and you win £50 on a bet, you will have to bet this £50 ten times over before you can cash out any winnings.

Minimum odds

This is another very popular caveat attached to most bonus bets. This is where the sportsbook will only let you bet on a match or event where the odds are above a specific limit. 

For example, you may be given a bonus bet but it can only be used when the odds are a minimum of -200 or higher. In essence, these minimum odds force your hand to make a riskier bet in order to use your freebie.

Max win caps 

Finally, the max win cap is the term most likely to trip up inexperienced punters. As you can probably guess, ‘max win cap’ refers to the maximum amount you are allowed to win by using a free bet or bonus funds. 

For example, you may see a max win limit of £100 in the T&Cs. This means that if you use a free bet and you win £500, the maximum amount you would be able to withdraw would be £100. You would lose the other £400. 

For more tips on sports betting tactics, make sure you always come to us here at SportsBoom.com. We keep you in the know with our latest news, reviews and guides. 

Alyx Tzamantanis.
Alyx TzamantanisSports Betting Editor

With 10 years of experience in content writing, Alyx has produced countess guides, reviews and articles covering a wide range of topics in the iGaming industry. She loves anything to do with online casinos, as well as UK and international sports betting.