Bonus bet
What does "bonus bet" mean in sports betting?
A bonus bet is sportsbook credit you can wager but not withdraw. If it wins you keep the winnings, but the stake itself is not returned.
Books give bonus bets through welcome offers, referrals and no-sweat promos. Because the stake never comes back, a bonus bet is worth less than the same amount in cash, and it's worth more on plus-money prices than on favorites.
Before the vig, a $50 bonus bet is worth about $16.67 at -200, $25 at +100 and $33.33 at +200. Most bonus bets expire, often within 7 to 14 days, so an unused one is worth nothing.
Example
You place a $50 bonus bet at +200 and it wins. You get $100 in withdrawable winnings. The $50 bonus stake does not come back. The same bet with $50 cash would return $150 total.
Related terms
Implied probability
Implied probability is the win chance a price suggests. It turns odds into a percentage so you can compare them with your own estimate.
American odds
American odds show how much you risk to win $100 (minus numbers) or how much you win on a $100 bet (plus numbers).
Expected value (EV)
Expected value (EV) is the average amount a bet would win or lose per play if you could make it many times. Positive EV (+EV) means the price is better than the true chance.
Hedge
A hedge is a bet on the other side of an earlier wager to shrink how much you can lose, at the cost of how much you can win.
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