Free Bets

Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson are adamant that the best things in life are free, and we’re inclined to agree. Happily, so are UK online bookies, which means British punters have plenty to choose from when it comes to free bet offers.

The popularity of free bets is largely down to their simplicity, and the fact that you get your winnings paid in cash in most, if not all, cases.

Unsurprisingly, the more established betting sites have the best free bet offers, but some new bookmakers also have excellent free bet promotions and bonuses because they need to give new punters (who might already have accounts with the big dogs) a strong incentive to sign up with them.

Betting site free bets (sometimes also called free bet ‘tokens’ or ‘credits’) are one of a number of different welcome bonuses that UK online bookmakers give to new customers.

Existing customers of sportsbooks can also be the beneficiary of free bets, perhaps as a reward for loyalty, or a way for bookies to re-engage you.

Lots of bookies, like Paddy Power and Betway for example, now have some kind of free bet ‘club’. If you opt in to these promos, you can earn free bets if you wager a certain amount each week.

If your free bet wins, you usually receive the winnings as cash rather than bonus funds, but you won’t have the stake returned.

Generally with free bets, you’re credited with the bet by the bookie after meeting certain requirements, and you can place it on any event - though there may be restrictions on the markets you can use your free bet on and the minimum odds at which your free bet wager can be placed.

A ‘risk-free’ bet is a variation of a free bet which requires you to place a wager with your own money to begin with.

What makes it 'risk-free' is the fact that you get your money back if your bet loses.

Depending on the terms of the offer, you could get your refund in cash or as a free bet.

Of course, it’s better if you get your money back as cash: If your stake is returned as a free bet, there is still the risk that you'll lose with that free bet.

These types of promotions are quite commonly seen both as sign up bonuses or existing customer promotions. The new customer offers tend to be better, but if you register with a bookie that provides these deals regularly over time, that’s obviously a huge plus.

‘Bet Get’ offers are a personal favourite of mine. They are simple to understand and often quite lucrative.

Essentially, Bet Get offers are free bet offers under a different name. Over recent years they have become arguably the most popular type of sign up offer at UK online bookies.

As the name suggests, you’ll get rewarded with a certain amount of free bets if you make a qualifying deposit or bet. The most common variation is probably Bet £10 Get £30, but there are loads of other bookies that offer similar deals with more valuable freebies or lower qualifying deposits/bets.

You can check out this section of our betting offers page for more info on the top Bet Get offers available at the moment.

If you are going to go through the process of registering with a bookmaker, you want to make sure that they, and the free bets they offer, are worth your time.

Not all betting site free bet offers are the same. There are a variety of things you should look out for when determining which free bets to claim.

Football is the most popular sport in the world. Naturally, lots of people want to bet on it.

This gives gambling companies a chance to bring in new customers by offering free bets and free bet offers that are specific to football.

Probably the best time to bag yourself a free bet on the footy is around the start of competitions where bookies are trying to drum up interest in the event.

The Premier League and Champions League are obvious candidates and major international tournaments like the World Cup and European Championships are great too - you’ll see lots of bookies popping up with free football bets and welcome offers around these events.

Not only do sportsbooks give punters the chance to claim free football bets, they also run regular promotions and odds boosts to keep bettors engaged and provide constant value.

For example, enhanced odds sign up offers are commonplace in the UK. For these promotions, the betting site offers high odds on a likely outcome and typically pays out the extra winnings in free bets.

We've got a dedicated Football Betting Sites page if you want more info on footy betting:

Die Meister, Die Besten, Les grandes équipes...

The Chaaaaaaampioooonss do do do do do dooo

Every footy fan loves the Champions League, even the “MoNeY’s RuInInG tHe GaMe”/”OiL cLasSiCo” brigade (including me).

Bookies know everyone loves the Champions League, so you’ll often find decent free bet offers specific to the UCL and other European competitions (like the one above at 888Sport).

Horse Racing and betting go hand in hand. Always have done, always will. And where there’s betting, there’s also almost certainly going to be free bets.

Like with footy and other sports, bookies regularly offer freebies to racing punters.

These come in different shapes and sizes, for example sign up offers or money back offers for existing customers who place bets.

The Grand National is by far the most bet-on horse race of the UK & Irish calendar.

My siblings know nothing about horse racing but will always stick some money on one of the runners. I imagine there are similar stories across the land about casual punters getting involved and, surprise surprise:

When bookies know there are casual punters about, they ramp up the free bet offers.

This sort of context means that the Grand National is a fantastic event to pick up great free bet offers, whether you’re an experienced bettor looking to eke out an extra percentage point on your ROI, or you just want to stick a tenner on the jockey with the fanciest silks.

We've written loads more useful words about the National and Horse Racing betting sites in general on our dedicated racing page - which you can access via the link below:

Online betting is mostly done on mobile devices these days. Maybe someday Zuckerberg will work out some way to integrate sports betting into the Metaverse and do one of his quite discomforting launch videos about it but, for now at least, mobile betting means phones and tablets.

Online sports betting works brilliantly on mobile devices, especially with the advent of in-play markets and cash out over recent years which really enhance the second-screen style experience when punters are watching events live.

Lots of bookies have spent significant time and money developing shiny new dedicated mobile apps, and they want you to use them.

That means some bookies offer free bets that are only available via mobile devices.

We’ve talked a lot so far about sign up offers for new customers. As mentioned, these are almost always the most lucrative offers on the table as the most important thing for an online bookie is to get your through the door and use their site.

However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t important for the bookies to retain your custom after you’ve exhausted (or maxed out) your welcome bonus - there are plenty of opportunities for existing customers to earn free bets, too.

Look out for event-specific or time-limited offers that are regularly available for existing customers.

Loyalty and reward programs are another way that existing customers can cop some free bets.

In short - yes.

In long - there are so many sites that proclaim to have free bet no deposit codes for new customers coming out of their ears, when in reality they aren’t being entirely truthful.

It is very, very rare in the UK market to find a sign up offer for sports betting that gets you free bets without you having to spend a penny (however, rest assured that My Betting Sites is the place to find them if they do pop up).

As an existing customer, the easiest and best way to bag yourself free bets without depositing any money is by playing free-to-play games (like Betway's 4 To Win and Paddy Power's Beat the Drop):

These free-to-play games often dish out free bets or casino spins as prizes, and you can even win cold hard cash if you’re extremely lucky. Here’s a quick rundown of sites with the best free-to-play games:

Bookies with Free to Play Games

• Paddy Power - Beat the Drop, Skill Zone
• Betway - 4 to Win, 4 to Score, Prize Wheel
• 888Sport - Up for 8, 10K Drive
• William Hill - Scratch of the Day, Free or 4
• Ladbrokes - 1-2-Free, 5-a-side
• Coral - Racing Super Series
• LiveScore Bet - LiveScore Bet Squads
• Virgin Bet - Virgin Bet Fives

Most online sports betting sites available to UK punters also have top-quality online casino products.

Pretty much all of these offer free spins to both new and existing customers.

I’m not going to bore you with the details here as it’s a pretty wide-ranging topic and to be honest you’re here for free bets, not free spins. But if you are interested in learning more about this stuff, check out the in-depth overview of casino bonus offers at Bookies Bonuses (our sister site):

Free bets are understandably one of the most popular betting offer types going. As we’ve proved on this page, you don’t have to go on TV like Kim Kardashian to get free stuff - the online bookies of the United Kingdom already have you well supplied with bets on the house.

Just promise me that you’ll make sure to always read the terms and conditions before you go ahead with any of the offers we’ve discussed above!