It is not uncommon for bookmakers to put in their small print for an offer that you will be ‘paid in free bets’. This is their way of letting you know that any winnings you receive from the bet will not be paid in cash and will instead be put into your account as free bet tokens. Such tokens can only be redeemed by the bookie that you placed the bets with and can’t be withdrawn to your bank balance as cash. Instead, you’ll need to meet certain wagering requirements in order to be able to convert the free bet tokens into withdrawable cash.
It is very much a phrase that it is important to understand, on account of the fact that you might end up losing your free bet tokens if you don’t use them in time. Those that think that they’re going to be paid in cash if their bet is a winner might not check their account in the immediate aftermath of the bet being settled, meaning that the tokens might have expired by the time that they log back in. Equally, it is important to understand what requirements you’ll need to meet in order to be able to cash out your free bet tokens.
Free Bets Versus Cash
When it comes to taking advantage of offers made by bookmakers, you always want to keep an eye out for those that promise to pay you out in cash. This is normally done for wagers that promise you a ‘risk free’ or ‘no risk’ bet, which is a topic that we’ve covered in more detail on another page on this site. It is obviously preferable to be paid out in cash, simply because this allows you to then withdraw the money to your own bank account, should you wish to. You can’t do that with free bets, which makes them less appealing.
When it comes to free bet tokens, these will have requirements attached to them that you will need to meet before the token is converted to cash. It might be something quite simple, such as the bet must be wagered on something with odds of Evens or greater. There might be rules that say that the free bet must be staked on the same sport as the one that you bet on to win it in the first place. Different bookmakers will have their own rules and regulations for how their free bet tokens work, but it’s important information to look out for.
‘Paid in Free Bets’
Bookmakers that offer promotions that will see you paid a certain amount of winnings in free bets are essentially saying that you won’t be paid your winnings in cash. In some instances, you’ll be paid cash up to a certain amount and then paid out in free bets on the remainder of your winnings. The important thing to realise is that there will be terms and conditions attached to the free bets that you’ll need to meet. The key thing to look out for straight away is whether there is a time limit on when the free bets need to be used by.
As mentioned already, it is not uncommon for punters to place their bet and forget about it, returning to their account weeks or even months later. If they don’t realise that their winnings aren’t going to be paid in cash, they might think that this is fine because they money will just be waiting for them the next time they login, but usually free bets have a time limit of something like seven days in which they must be used. Keeping track of this information is important if you want to make sure that you don’t lose your free bets.
Another key part of free bet tokens is the wagering requirements attached to them. There will be important things like the minimum odds you can play, as well as whether or not the bet needs to be used in its entirety. In other words, if you’ve got a £10 free bet, can you stake £2 of it on one event, £5 on another and the remaining £3 on something else? Or must all £10 be staked on the same event in one go, giving you no room for manoeuvre? That is the kind of thing that will be explained in the small print.
Which Promotions Tend to Say ‘Paid in Free Bets’?
If you are keen to avoid situations whereby you end up getting shed loads of free bet tokens, it is helpful to have an idea of the sort of promotions where the bookmaker is going to tell you that you will be paid in free bets. One of the most obvious instances in which this is the case is when you take a bookie up on an enhanced odds offer. Enhanced odds are offers where you’re told you’ll be paid out at, say, 40/1 for a result that the bookmaker would usually be offering Evens or less on. It is designed to entice people in to use the bookie’s services with an unrealistic offer.
What then happens is that the bookmaker has something in their small print that says that you can only bet up to £20, for example, and that only the first £1 will be paid out at the enhanced odds and it will be paid in free bet tokens. Everything else that you stake will be paid out at the original odds, which are often much lower than the enhanced ones. In other words, you’ll get £40 in free bet tokens, but the other £19 will be paid in cash in line with the genuine odds that are being offered away from the enhanced odds offer. This is the sort of thing that you need to keep an eye out for and why it’s important to read the small print.