Online gambling is unique in so much that you can get your hands on free money. Before you think that there must be some catch, well there isn't. Have you ever wondered why you don't get free money when you go to a race course? Have you ever wondered why you don't get free money when you go to a casino? The difference is that when you go to these places then you are actually there in person.
The on-track bookies and casino bosses know that when you are physically present that they have your attention 100%. This isn’t the same online. When you go online you will see a plethora of betting sites and in some cases, there will be dozens to choose from.
It is difficult to pick one that stands out from the others. So place yourself in the shoes of the betting site owners. They need to do something to stand out from the crowd and get your business before their competition gets it. They partly achieve this by offering bonuses.
Many bettors have launched successful gambling careers on the back of welcome bonuses and other such bonus types. They give you the flexibility to place more bets
There are numerous different types of bonus. In this guide we will show you.
A bonus is actually two things. Firstly it is an incentive for you to place a deposit or continued action with a betting site. Secondly, it is the sites way of saying thank you for giving them your business. There is nothing underhanded about it or anything like that. Think of it as a high street shop that puts signs in their shop window that say "Half price sale" or "Bargains galore".
It is no different to this. If you went into a shop to buy a pair of trousers then you wouldn’t spend more than you had to would you? If you could have got the same pair of trousers across the road for £10 less then you would go over the road. To stay competitive in what is a very competitive market then online betting firms offer bonuses. In effect, this is a "discount" on your betting.
If we were to tell you about some of the people that we know who have made a lot of money after having started from getting bonuses then you would see how important they are. Bonus money is free money. While you cannot withdraw this free money straight away, it allows you to bet with money that you previously didn't have. It’s a bit like having credit card money to use and bet with but without having to pay the money back.
If you think that bonuses are for beginners and novices then you couldn't be more wrong. Professional and semi-professional bettors get bonuses. Why in heavens name would you ever want to throw money away?
Bonuses are offered in several different ways. However, the betting site, as a rule, places these bonuses on their homepage where they are the most visible. This could be a welcome bonus, free bets, VIP program, match deposit or even refer a friend bonuses. If you go to the betting site in question and click on the relevant banner then you will see what that particular bonus actually does. Some betting firms have specialised bonuses for placing certain types of bets. We will get to those shortly. Suffice it to say, simply choose one of our recommended sites, deposit some funds and see what bonuses they offer.
Never underestimate the power of bonus money. It can add a lot of leverage to your betting activity and creates extra money-making potential when used with common sense.
The process for getting a bonus couldn't be simpler. Step one is to simply commit in the first place and deposit some money into the horse racing site. Before you do that, you will first need to make an important decision as to which site you want to deposit funds with. This is not a straightforward decision or at least it shouldn’t be if you are thinking seriously about your betting. All of our various recommended sites offer bonuses. However, the key thing to remember is that they all don't offer the same bonuses.
Special types of betting bonus only apply to certain types of bets. These may or may not be the types of bets that you specialise in. So take some time to scout the market to ascertain just which types of bets are available
We actually touched on this point in the introduction. The competition with online betting firms is fierce. This is simply because there are so many of them. High street bookies know that their regular clientele will probably still come in and give them business. Even here though, they are in competition with the internet and many high street firms have online betting arms too.
Once one online betting site begins to offer bonuses then the knock-on effect is obvious. The others simply have to follow suit otherwise bonuses that were being offered by other sites would sway online customers to only a handful of sites. So it pays you to know that online betting firms simply have to offer bonuses for three reasons.
There are several different types of bonus. We have the common "welcome bonus". This is simply a bonus that is given to you for downloading the software and opening an account and then depositing money. The bonus is usually paid in increments when you start to place a designated level of action.
Other types of bonus include re-load bonuses. This, as the name implies, are bonuses given to existing customers for depositing money back with the site again. There are also special betting bonuses too. For example, you could get your stake back if your horse falls.
One of our leading recommended sites offers this bonus and it has proven to be very popular. Other types of bonus double your winnings if you land an accumulator for example. Many punters love the thought of the big win for a relatively small sum of money and are why accumulators are so attractive.
