Bookie Sign Up Offers

We’ve covered the key points in our claiming guide earlier in the page. Basically you need to make sure you’re eligible, that you deposit the minimum and follow the instructions given by the bookie. Normally this involves placing a qualifying bet at minimum odds, or turning your deposit over a set number of times.

Sometimes you may also need to use a bonus code but this will clearly be stated on the bookies site and we usually make a note of it in our description.

Once you receive your free bet you can use it however you wish, although many bookmakers place restrictions on the type of bet you can place. Again this will be stated in the terms and conditions of the offer.

Yes. Although they tend to fit into one of the following categories:

• Free Bets – The simplest of all of the offers are the free bets. Here you’ll receive a free bet in exchange for placing one with your own money. The value of the free bet varies from bookie to bookie and is usually either for a fixed amount, such as bet £10 for £30 in free bets, or matched against your first bet, such as bet £10 for £10 free.
• Risk Free Bets – Risk free bets also require you to place a real money bet, however this time you’ll only trigger the offer if your qualifying bet loses. There are two types of risk free bet, the true risk free bets which refund your losing bet in cash (and yes, these do exist) and pseudo risk free bets where you’ll receive it as a free bet.
• Enhanced Odds & Profit Boosts – The opposite of a risk free bet is a profit boost. Here your winnings will be boosted should your first bet win, but you’ll get nothing if it loses. Some bookies with these offers will boost any winnings whilst others dictate a specific bet but with greatly inflated odds – such as 33/1 for Arsenal to beat Fulham.
• Deposit Bonuses – Unlike the first three types of offer, the deposit bonus is based on your first deposit rather than your first bet. Here you will receive a bonus after betting your deposit a set number of times, although it can normally be split into multiple smaller bets if you like. Once released the bonus can be used to bet as normal, but you’ll most likely need to place a minimum amount of wagers before being able to withdraw it.

Generally speaking, yes. All of the offers we list are from bookmakers who are registered with the UK Gambling Commission who enforce strict rules on how the bookies must operate. The only real risk to your funds are if something happens to the bookmaker that caused them to bust. 

Whilst bookmakers must legally separate client funds their own operating funds, they aren’t legally required to safeguard funds in the unlikely event that they become insolvent. They are, however, required to publicly state whether or not your funds are protected based on three specific ratings:

1. Basic – No protection. Funds considered part of the business.
2. Medium – Arrangements made to ensure that customers funds are returned in the event of insolvency. This could be some kind of insurance policy.
3. High – Funds are kept in an account considered to be legally separate from the bookmaker and controlled by an independent auditor.

You can read more about how your money is protected on the Gambling Commission website.

No. In fact there are plenty we don’t include in our list. We have decided to only list the offers that are worth claiming so that rather than having to sift through endless promotions from terrible white labels you can get straight to the good stuff.

The value of the offers on this site will vary and some are more punter friendly than others, but generally speaking if it’s on the list we’d be happy to claim it ourselves (and we probably have).

For a larger list that includes many of the offers that we’ve decided against, see our friends at bookiesfreebets.co.uk.

No. We constantly check for new offers and pretty much know everything that’s available. If you represent a bookmaker that has a sign up offer that we haven’t listed then either we don’t think the offer is worth claiming, or we have another issue with the site that means that we’re not willing to recommend it to our readers. We also only list offers from bookmakers who are licensed in the UK. 

We mentioned white labels briefly earlier. Simply put a white label bookmaker doesn’t operate the site themselves. Instead they outsource the running to another company and put their name on it. This is commonplace for well known companies who way to utilise their brand name in the market but don’t have the expertise to do it themselves. For example, imagine Tesco wanted to set up a bookie called Tesco Bet they may turn to a white label provider to supply the platform and manage the odds.

This is the reason that many betting sites look very similar – it’s because they’re actually the same site but with a different ‘skin’.

The problem that white labels produce is that it causes the barrier to entry to be much lower, meaning anyone with enough start up capital to pay the white label fees – roughly £20,000 – could set up an online bookmaker. And this includes you, your neighbour Steve and even your granny if she wanted to. 

For this reason white labels can often be a bit unreliable and close down as quickly as they opened. And whilst there’s no real risk to your funds – because they’re the responsibility of the underlying platform, not your granny – it is a bit annoying.

White label bookmakers also tend to be quite restrictive when it comes to sign up offers as they don’t have the same kind of budgets that the big boys do. That’s why the free bets tend to come with higher odds, more restrictive terms or bigger wagering requirements.

And that’s why you won’t find too many of them on our site.