Of all the American sports, the most popular betting one is football. It is once a week, and exciting.
For football betting, the NFL is the most popular league. That is why sportsbooks are competing over customers at the beginning of the season.
With so many competing sportsbooks, they attract customers by offering sign-up bonuses. Below, I discuss how to take advantage of sign-up offers and the different types of offers.
Benefits of NFL Betting Promos
The house always wins in sports betting, but with betting promos, the customers have an edge. In theory, the customer will take advantage of a bonus and then become a loyal customer who, over time, will give their money back to the sportsbook in the form of losing bets.
Some common benefits of NFL betting promos include:
- A larger bankroll
- Boosted odds
- Free bets
- Risk-Free Bets
Best Betting Sites with Football Signup Bonuses
BetRivers Sportsbook
In my opinion, the best new user offer is from the BetRivers app. BetRivers new user offer is the best because it is the most generous with the easiest terms to understand.
If you are a new user, BetRivers will match 100% of your deposit up to $250 with the requirement that you only bet your initial deposit amount once on odds of -200 or better. That means with $250, you can have a sports betting bankroll of $500.
DraftKings Sportsbook
One of the best and most popular NFL betting sites is DraftKings. Started primarily as a daily fantasy sports site, DraftKings has a wide range of betting options available. In fact, a typical NFL game will have hundreds of bets available.
As a well-known company that wants to be the most widely used sports betting app, DraftKings offers its new users up to a $1000 first deposit match. However, this deposit match offer is a little bit different than usual.
While most deposit bonuses result in getting your money right away, the DraftKings bonus requires that you bet first before you get your deposit bonus, known as a bet and get offer. For DraftKings, first time depositors get $1 added to their account balance for every $25 bet. While this means that new bettors must wager $25,000 to get their $1000 deposit match, over time this is easy to reach.
Without the deposit match promo, your expected loss on a $100 spread bet is $4.55. However, with the deposit match, your expected loss is only $0.55 for a lower house advantage than any form of gambling.
BetMGM Sportsbook
Like DraftKings, BetMGM is a well-known company that is trying to be the most popular sports betting app. In the last year, BetMGM has increased its offering to its new and existing users.
The BetMGM app has great features such as being able to use the search bar in their menu to find the game that you are looking for. Additionally, they have an easy-to-navigate betting menu for each game.
In addition to the great features on the BetMGM app, they also offer a generous sign-up bonus in the form of a risk-free bet up to $600. The way a risk-free bet works is that you can bet up to the maximum amount, which in the case of BetMGM is up to $600. If your bet loses, you get your bet back in the form of a free bet. If your bet wins, you win a large sum of money.
bet365 Sportsbook
If you live in a legal sports betting state as I do, then chances are that you have seen the TV ad featuring Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad fame mentioning that bet365 is the world’s most popular sportsbook. Not only is Jesse Pinkman right about bet365, but bet365 also has a great sign-up offer.
bet365 will match your first deposit up to $500 in the form of free bets. In order to qualify, you must make a deposit of at least $10 and then place that amount of money in bets. It could be one single bet, or several bets, as long as the odds on each bet are at -500 or better. Once your bets settle within 30 days of registering your account, you are rewarded with your free bet credits.
You can choose to disburse your free bet credits in whatever form you like. It could be on a single bet or in several smaller bets.
PointsBet
PointsBet, as an Australian Sportsbook, is a relative newcomer to the American market. As a result of their lack of brand recognition in comparison to more well-known competitors, PointsBet has a generous sign-up offer. Depending on your state, PointsBet could give you up to $2000 in risk-free bets. As a rule, PointsBet gives customers at least a maximum of $500 for a risk-free bet.
Football Betting Promotions
Football Betting No-Deposit Bonus
As a sports bettor, I have not seen many no-deposit bonus offers, but obviously, they are beneficial to the bettor. In exchange for signing up for a sportsbook account, the app will give you a free bet without the requirement of making a deposit.
Theoretically, this is good for the bettor, but the problem is that the no-deposit bonuses are tiny. Typically, the no-deposit bonus is only for a $25 free bet, and that is why usually no-deposit bonuses are offered in addition to other sign-up bonuses that are much better for the bettor in terms of the size of the bonus.
Deposit Bonus
In my opinion, the best football betting promos are deposit bonuses. As a bonus, they are the easiest to understand as you make a deposit and get a percentage of it matched. Additionally, it is most beneficial to bettors as they can choose how to use it whether it is conservatively as multiple small bets (my preference for beginners), or as one large bet.
Bet & Get
Bet and get bonus offers are also great as the terms are as simple as the name. If you make a bet, you get a bonus. Unfortunately, bet and get offers are less common than Risk-Free bet offers.
Additionally, one negative toward bet and get offers is that $200 in free bets is different from $200 in a deposit bonus. This is because typically, with a $200 bonus, you get your stake back in addition to your winnings. Whereas for $200 in free bets, you only get your winnings but not your stake.
For example, if you bet on a +100 money line with a $200 bonus, if your bet wins you would get $400 (your stake plus your winnings). However, if you did the same with a $200 free bet or free credit, you would only get $200 in winnings but only if your bet wins.
Risk-Free Bet
Risk-free bets are the most common welcome offer for NFL sportsbooks. While risk-free bets are good for the customer, in my opinion, their name is as misleading as it sounds as they are risk-reduced bets rather than completely risk-free.
The way a risk-free bet works is that up to a certain amount, usually at least $100 and up to $1000, if your first bet loses you are rewarded with credit. Typically, that credit is rewarded in the form of one single free bet, which cannot be broken up.
If that free bet loses, then you lose your whole risk-free bet. That is why I prefer to use the term risk reduced as it is reducing the risk of your bet but not eliminating it.
Special Welcome Bonuses For New Signups During the Football Season
During the NFL season, sportsbooks periodically have special offers such as bet $1 and get $200 in free bets if your team scores a point. The key to taking advantage of these low-cost promos is to be on the lookout for these offers.
How To Pick the Best NFL Sportsbook Bonus
Low Rollover Requirements
Frequently, to withdraw all of your account balance, you must meet the rollover requirements in order to have access to your bonus amount. This can include betting up to five times your initial deposit or only one times your initial deposit for BetRivers offer.
Type Of Bonus
As a sports bettor, you should pick a sportsbook that has the best sign-up offer for your NFL betting preference. If you are practicing conservative bankroll management, you are best off with a deposit match or bet and get offer where you can spread your risk. If you are a high-dollar bettor who likes placing a few wagers of $100 or more, you are best served by the risk-free bet offers.
Fewest Requirements
Part of the reason why some of these bonus offers appear too good to be true is that they have a long list of requirements to have to be met to receive the bonus. That is why I like the sign-up bonuses that have the fewest requirements.
How To Use Football Betting Bonuses
Cash Deposit Bonus
If you get a deposit bonus that comes in the form of cash, you should use it on several low-risk bets. By a cash deposit bonus, I am referring to a bonus where you receive your stake back in addition to your profits.
For the BetRivers offer, for example, your best way to utilize their bonus is to deposit $250 to get the full $500 in matching funds. Then split your $500 up into 25 $20 bets to spread your risk.
Free Bet Deposit Bonus
If you get a deposit bonus that comes in the form of a free bet, you should use your free bets on underdogs with a high payout. Since you will only get your bet winnings and not your stake, your best course of action is to bet on something with a big payout.
Risk-Free Bet
For risk-free bets, you should make a risky bet such as on a longshot. The longshot could win and you could get a big payout or the longshot losses and at least you get a free bet back in return. For that free bet, you should use it on a more modest longshot.
NFL Sportsbook Promo Codes vs Bonus Codes
With plenty of different NFL sportsbooks, several of them use different terms for the same thing. A good example of this is the interchangeable use of the terms promo code and bonus code. Is there a difference between a promotion or a bonus? Not really.
A bonus is a form of a promotion, and for getting a sign-up bonus, a promo code and a bonus code are the same things.
Do You Need A Promo Code?
Sometimes you need a promo code, and sometimes you do not. For some NFL sportsbook promos, they require that you enter in a promo code to get the sign-up bonus. For example, BetRivers require new bettors to enter in a promo code when making a first-time deposit to get the matching deposit bonus.
An easy way to find out if you need to enter a promo code is to check our sportsbook offers page and it will list if a promo code is required or not, or if you are on a site offering you a promotion and it simply tells you to click “Get Bonus" or that a bonus code is unnecessary.
Where Can I Legally Bet With Sportsbook Bonuses?
Current Legal Online Betting Locations
- Colorado
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Michigan
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- Washington D.C.
- West Virginia
Future Legal Online Betting States
- Arizona
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- New York
- Wyoming
Look for More than One NFL Sportsbook Bonus
The best thing that any football bettor can do to limit the sportsbook’s advantage is to use multiple betting sites. Different sites offer different betting odds and as a result, you can get the best price by shopping around for the best odds.
For example, on Sunday, January 3, 2021, the Indianapolis Colts were heavily favored against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
On PointsBet, The Colts were favored by 15.5 points, while on BetMGM, the Colts were favored by only 14 points. The final score was Jaguars 14, Colts 28. If you had bet on Indianapolis on PointsBet, then you would have lost. However, if you bet on Indy on BetMGM, then you would have gotten your bet back in a push.
Additionally, for bonuses, it is beneficial to have multiple accounts to take advantage of every single sign-up offer.
