Free bets are bets that you can make at a UK sports betting site without using your own money. This page will explain to you which sports betting sites in the UK have the best free bet offers, where else you can find them, and what you need to do to claim them.
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The UK sports betting sector is a highly competitive one. With several top sports betting sites vying for your custom, many will offer you free bet sign up offers as an incentive for you to open an account. When you receive a free bet you can use it to bet on any market within the confines of the terms and conditions of the free bet offer. If your free bet wins, then you can collect your winnings although 99 times out of 100 your free bet stake is not returned to you.
Claiming free bets can seem unnecessarily complicated but it doesn’t need to be. Once you have claimed your first free bet, claiming subsequent ones is easy. This page will show you all that you need to do.
There are a few types of free bet offers, and we’re now going to go through all of the most common types.
A matched free bet is by far and away the most common type of free bet. You will see in them in the form of ‘bet X get X’ – for example ‘bet £10 get £10’. This means you need to place a bet of £10 using your own money (with terms and conditions attached) to receive a free bet of £10.
A no risk bet is practically the same as a matched free bet except that you only receive it if your qualifying bet is a losing one. For example, you could be offered a no risk bet worth £10. You will have to place a qualifying bet of £10 and if that bet wins, then you do not get a free bet. However, if your qualifying bet is a losing one, then you do get that £10 free bet.
These are freebets you receive ‘over the odds’ for selected events. For example, let’s say the free bet offer is for Manchester City to beat Barcelona in the UCL. The normal odds of a City win are Evens, but there’s an enhanced offer up to £10 at 3/1 (4.00). Say you take up the offer and City do indeed win – your normal returns are £20, but your enhanced returns are £40. You will get your £20 as normal, but the excess (£20) as part of your enhanced returns is usually paid in free bet money.
With some bets you can get your stake back as a free bet if you were ‘oh so close’ to a winning bet. The most common ones are your stake back as a free bet if one leg of an acca fails, as long as the acca had the minimum number of legs. With horse racing betting, it could be if your horse is beaten by a nose, or if your horse was not the favourite but was beaten into second place by the SP favourite, or came under starter’s orders but then failed to start, or pulled up or unseated the jockey within the first five fences. With football betting, it could be if your backed team was leading after 90 minutes but then lost the lead during time added on. No matter the terms of your cash back free bet offer, you will get your cash back as a free bet.
Almost as common these days as Everton scoring a goal, no deposit free bets are just how they sound – free bets today that you receive without having to make a deposit of your own. These might sound good, but usually they come swathed in such unfriendly terms and conditions that once you have completed them, you are unlikely to have much in the way of free bet money remaining. Punters have worked out that something that sounds too good to be true is usually the case with this one, and free bets no deposit UK deals seem to have been quietly phased out.
These types of free sports bets are for existing customers only. A sports betting site will place some kind of expectation, such as making a minimum of £50 in bets using their sports betting software during a single calendar week. Every week that you meet that criteria, you will be awarded a free bet or free bets. Be aware that with some of these loyalty clubs the first week you miss hitting your target, your membership of the club is revoked and you won’t be able to re-join for a specified period, sometimes forever!
Getting your head around all the free bet UK terms and conditions may induce migraines at first, but the greater the number of free bets you claim, the easier claiming them becomes. Here we go through all the most common terms and conditions that you are going to find attached to free bet offers, time and time again.
It is always best to make your first deposit at a sports betting site you’ve just signed up with using a debit card. Many free bet offers do not accept alternative payment methods, especially eWallets. The reasoning behind this is simple – it is too easy to set up multiple PayPal, Skrill or Neteller accounts and therefore claim a free bet offer from the same betting site multiple times. Some sites may accept ApplePay or Google Pay as qualifying deposit methods as such methods are usually linked to debit cards.
Your qualifying bet is the bet you need to place using your own money to qualify for your free bet. It will come with a minimum amount (usually between £5 and £20) but there will be no maximum. No matter how much you bet, you won’t get a free bet higher than the one that is on offer.
Other common T&Cs include the minimum odds at which you must place your qualifying bet (this is to prevent you from placing it on a red-hot dead cert like England beating Gibraltar in the Euros, and so minimising the risk to yourself), the time in which the bet will be settled (up to seven days is common) and market limitations (such as it can only be placed on football, horse racing or greyhounds).
Free bets do not hang around forever, and neither do your chances of claiming one. For example, with a welcome bonus free bet you will have a limited time to claim your free bet from your point of registration, and then a limited time to use it. If you fail to claim it in time, then your chance of ever acquiring it vanishes. Once you have it in your account, if you don’t use it in time then it will be taken away. In addition, if your free bet comes with play-through (see below) then you’ll have a limited time to meet those requirements as well.
Expiry dates for free bets at bookies online are usually relatively lax, from seven days to thirty days. Just make sure you use your free sports bets in time!
Free bets sometimes come with restrictions too, the most common one being minimum odds – the same as your qualifying bet. If a bet you attempt to make does not meet the minimum odds criteria, then you won’t be able to use your free bet to place the wager. You may get play-through or wagering requirements too, although these are rare on free bets. Say a £10 free bet has a 3x play-through requirement. That means you will need to make £30 in bets using your own money (as 3 x £10 is £30) before you can withdraw your free bets bookie winnings.
Don’t forget one rule that is common to all free bets online – when you use it and if it’s a winning wager then your free bet stake is removed from your account. You will be able to use your winnings though, either to place further bets or withdraw and spend elsewhere.
For some free bets you may find the amount you can win from the bet is capped. For example, let’s say a £20 free bet comes with a £100 cap. You place your free bet on a horse that’s priced at 10/1, and it romps home in first place. Normally you would expect to get back £220, however as your free bet has a £100 cap, only £100 is paid into your sports betting account.
Sports betting sites are often keen to give away horse racing free bets. In addition, there should be no limitations on you using a free bet such as a welcome bonus free bet on horse racing. Just use your free bet as normal, placing it on a win or place bet. You should be able to use a horse racing free bet when each way betting on horse racing too.
Because horse racing is so popular, free bets for horse racing are popular too. Sites often give away horse racing free bets on a very regular basis. Common ones include a free bet if your horse is beaten to the post by a small distance such as a nose or a short head, or if your horse is beaten into second place by the starting price favourite. In such cases, you normally get your wager back (as long as it meets minimum bet thresholds) as a free bet.
Football is another common sport for which free bets are frequently handed out by sports betting sites in the UK. Again, you will be completely free to use a welcome bonus or new customer free bets on football as long as you meet free bet UK terms and conditions. Indeed, some free bets that are given out must specifically be used in football, and some on specific football bets such as bet builders.
There are some special free football bets deals that you might encounter. For example, if you place a bet on first/anytime/last goalscorer and that player fails to make the squad or is substituted early in the match, then you may get your stake back as a free bet (again, as long as it meets the minimum bet criteria). You may also get your stake back as a free bet if a winning bet turns into a losing one during time added on for stoppages.
Football free bets are also commonly given out as enhanced odds free bets, as explained above.
Free bets are not just handed out for horse racing and football. As we keep mentioning, if it’s a new customer free bet or a welcome bonus, then you should be able to use your free bet any way that you want, including eSports. It is always best though to check the terms and conditions to make sure you are able to use the free bet on the sport you wish.
The best time to check a sports betting site for the best free bets beyond football and horse racing is when a major event is up and coming. This could be the Snooker World Championship, one of the majors in golf or tennis or PDC darts. Sites are aware that more people bet during these times than usual, so they are eager to acquire their betting custom. Free bets are usually handed out by sites in the week or so before these major events as incentives to get new customers to join. We’ll take a look at some of these below.
As we have just mentioned, sports betting sites in the UK are keen to hand out free bets for notable sporting occasions as their betting sign up offers. This is because people are more likely than normal to be looking to place bets during these events. Details of specific events are given below.
Deemed the most important festival in the annual National Hunt horse racing calendar, the four-day Cheltenham festival takes place in mid-March each year at the Cheltenham racecourse in Gloucester, usually timed to coincide with Saint Patrick’s Day. The chief races of the festival are the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the Champion Hurdle, the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the Stayers’ Hurdle. Expect sites to offer Cheltenham free bets during this time for use on some or any of the races.
The Grand National is the most popular UK horse race, with many people placing their single horse racing bet made every year on the event. The race takes place in April at the famous and testing Aintree racecourse in Merseyside. It is part of the four-day Aintree festival which features several other prominent National Hunt races. Because of the event’s popularity and prominence in Bristish culture, it’s hardly surprising that sport betting sites offer Grand National free bets every year.
The Royal Ascot festival is flat racing’s equivalent of the Cheltenham festival. It is held over five days in June and because of its summer setting is popular with the upper classes, some of whom wouldn’t know one end of a horse from the other. The festival has plenty of top-class races, including the Queen Anne Stakes, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the Gold Cup and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. Search out sports betting sites for Royal Ascot free bets as bookmakers offers every June.
The World Cup is the football world’s leading men’s international competition and the most popular sporting contest in the world. Held every four years, the 2026 World Cup will be played in the US, Canada and Mexico, with the 2030 tournament shared between Morocco, Portugal and Spain (with some games played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to mark the competition’s centenary). The next Women’s World Cup will be held in 2027, with the hosts yet to be determined. Because of the intense interest in these competitions, free World Cup Bets as online bookmakers offers are as inevitable as England’s easy qualification for the latest tournament followed by an underwhelming performance at the finals themselves. Men, that is.
The UEFA European Championships, or the ‘Euros’ as they have come to be known, are held every four years. The next men’s tournament will be in 2024 in Germany, and the next women’s tournament in 2025 in Switzerland. England are the current holders of the Euros, having beaten Germany in the final at Wembley in 2022 thanks to a Chloe Kelly goal. The men’s team reached the final in 2021 (delayed a year due to COVID) but lost to Italy on penalties. As with the World Cup, you can expect plenty of Euros free bets to be offered by UK betting sites in the run-up and during the tournament.
Free bets are just one type of betting offer commonly handed out by betting sites. Here we go through some other common types of betting offers.
With this deal, the more legs you add to your accas, the bigger the percentage boost you can add to any winnings. For example, with a three-leg acca you may get a 2.5 per cent boost, with four legs a 5 per cent boost up to a 50 per cent boost for 15 legs. Of course, if your acca fails, you get nothing.
With this acca deal you will get your money back if all but one of your acca legs win. You will have to make a minimum number of selections to qualify. Sometimes you get your cash back, but sometimes you do indeed get your acca stake back as a free bet.
Usually when betting on horses, if your chosen selection is declared for the race but then is withdrawn or fails to start then your bet is a losing one. With a non-runner no bet deal if your selected mount is declared a non-runner you get your stake back. Again, sometimes your stake is indeed returned to you as a free bet.
Another deal for horse racing betting that may see your stake returned as either a free bet or cash is when your selected mount is beaten into second place by a short distance. The distance could be a nose, short head, head, neck or half a length. Distances greater than that usually do not qualify. Sometimes, this deal is only triggered if your horse is beaten into the runners-up spot by the SP favourite.
Most of the UK’s best betting sites offer ‘best odds guaranteed’ on horse racing (and often on greyhounds too), or ‘BOG’ for short. With BOG, your winning bets are paid at the best price – the starting price or the price at which you placed the bet. For example, if your horse was priced at Evens when you placed your bet but the starting price was 5/4, you would be paid out at 5/4.
Free bets are not all the same. Some are ideal for betting purposes, but some are simply not worth making the qualifying deposit for. Here is our quick guide of what to look for in free bets.
Claiming free bets is not hard, but here is a quick step-by-step guide on how you go about claiming and using one that you have found.
Here now is a quick table outlining the best free bet offers in the UK for new customers at sports betting sites.
| Bookie | Free Bet Offer | Min. Deposit | Min. Odds | Expiry | Play-through? |
| Bet £10, Get £40 | £10 | 1/2 (1.50) | 28 days | None | |
| 50% Cashback up to £25 | £30 | Evens (2.00) | 24 hours | None | |
| Bet £10 Get £50 | £10 | Evens (2.00) | 7 days | None | |
| Bet up to £50 Free Bet | £10 | Evens (2.00) | 7 days | None | |
| Bet £10 Get £10 Free Bet | £10 | 4/5 (1.80) | 14 days | None | |
| Bet £10 Get £20 | £10 | 1/2 (1.50) | 28 days | None | |
| Bet £10 Get £30 | £10 | 1/2 (1.50) | 30 days | None |
Now let’s take a look at free bets at our favourite sports betting sites in the UK that are on offer for existing customers.
| Bookie | Free Bet Offer | Min. Deposit | Min. Odds | Expiry | Play-through? |
| Free Bet Refund up to £100 | £10 | None | 24 hours | None | |
| Money Back as a Free Bet | £0.50 | None | 7 days | None | |
| Money Back as a Free Bet | No minimum | None | 7 days | None | |
| Daily Free Bet | £5 | 2/1 (3.00) | 7 days | None | |
| Money Back as a Free Bet | No minimum | 1/4 (1.25) | 7 days | None | |
| Money Back as a Free Bet | No minimum | 1/2 (1.50) | 7 days | None | |
| £5 Free Bet | £40 | Evens (2.00) | 3 days | None |
Let’s sum up the main pros and cons of free bet offers for new customers at sports betting sites in the UK, and hopefully for existing ones too.
What We Like:
What Annoys Us:
While it is unlikely that you will get rich grabbing free bets from the leading sports betting sites in the UK, you are getting something for free and they are a great way of trying out betting at UK online bookmakers without having to spend any of your own money. Why not try out a few of the free bets we’ve uncovered for you? The best things in life are free, after all!