FREE BETS
The term "free bet" is widely used nowadays by the online bookmakers and can have different meanings, therefore there is a big number of bettors, especially the beginners, who can get confused by reading marketing materials of online bookmakers containing this expression.
First of all, many people think that a free bet is actually a FREE bet, meaning that you have the chance of placing a bet without making any deposit. Even if, theoretically, this is the actual meaning of this term - very few online bookmakers really offer a free bet or in other words: a bonus without deposit.
In most cases, in order to receive a free bet you need to do the following:
1. Make a minimum deposit into your online betting account.
2. Place a bet with a certain stake.
Most UK online bookmakers are popular for offering welcome free bets to their customers, instead of match up first deposit bonuses. Some examples at the time of writing this article are BetVictor, Betfred and Coral.
BetVictor offers a free bet up to 25 GBP if you deposit and place a first bet on selections with odds of evens (2.00) or greater. No matter if you win or lose the first bet, BetVictor will match your first bet stake with a free bet up to 25 GBP (e.g. if you bet 5 GBP, you receive a 5 GBP free bet).
Betfred offers a free bet up to 50 GBP if you deposit and place a first bet on selections with odds of evens (2.00) or greater. The condition is to place a bet with a stake of at least 5 GBP).
Coral is similar to Betfred and BetVictor, offering a free bet up to 50 GBP if you deposit and place a qualifying bet.
As you can see, all of these 3 UK online bookmakers have similar promotions with similar requirements (a deposit and a first bet placed on certain odds). What's important to know is that a free bet bonus, once credited into your account, must be used and played in a specific period of time which is different for each online bookmaker (the free bet from Betfred expires in 30 days, while the free bet from Coral expires in 7 days if you don't use it).
When playing a free bet - you must know that in case you win the bet, the stake is deducted (you only receive the profit). E.g. if you place the 25 GBP free bet from BetVictor on a single bet with odds of 1.50 and you win, you'll get back only the profit: 12.5 GBP.
Even if most online bookmakers are using this term to intentionally mislead the customers into thinking that they will receive a FREE bet if they will register (without depositing), there are a few exceptions among online bookmakers who really offer free bets with no deposit required (at the time of writing this article), e.g. Skybet in sportsbook and Paddy Power in games. Skybet offers a 10 GBP sportsbook welcome free bet with absolutely no deposit required, while Paddy Power offers a 2 GBP games welcome free bet with absolutely no deposit required (the only requirement is to register an account on Paddy Power from a mobile phone/smartphone - then play an eligible game).
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