What is Cash Bonus? Cash Bonus Explained in 2 minutes
Mike Goodpaster Last Verified
31/03/2021
A cash bonus is an amount offered by online bookmakers as an incentive to try and get people to sign up to their services. The term cash bonus is something of a misnomer, because this isn’t an amount of cash which the bettor can walk away with. Instead, it is an amount, usually paid on top of the original deposit, which can then be used to place bets with the bookmaker. It might also be referred to as a Free Bet or a Bonus Bet.
Plenty of online bookmakers offer cash bonuses to incentivize bettors to use their sites. For a full list of the best promotions head over to our Betting Offers Page.
How is a Cash Bonus used in Sports Betting?
In almost all cases a cash bonus will come with several conditions attached. These will relate to the period during which it can be used, the types of wager which can be placed and sometimes the sports which can be bet on. In most cases the bettor will have to bet any profits made a set number of times before being allowed to make a withdrawal. The amount involved and the stringent rules applied mean that a cash bonus shouldn’t really be the decisive factor of which bookmaker a person chooses to bet with. Other factors such as the odds offered, the speed of pay out and the range of sports and bets covered are all far more important.
That said, a cash bonus is still a free gift, and some bettors, known as bonus hunters, like to try and use their bonus to generate a profit. The system in question involves placing a bet using the bonus, and then placing the opposite bet with another bookmaker. No matter what the result, one side of the wager is going to win, and given that the original bet came free of charge, there’s a chance that a profit could be made. The time and trouble involved in finding just the right bet, when weighed against the relatively modest amount of most cash bonuses, means that bonus hunting like this is a minority activity and most bettors treat the cash bonus as simply the chance to have a little free fun and perhaps experiment with bets they wouldn’t normally risk.
