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If a sportsbook gives you a free bet, you can guarantee yourself profit by wagering it on one side of a bet and taking the other side with money in your account. This is also called free bet conversion.
Our Free Bet Calculator shows you how much to bet on the other side of your free play in order to maximize your guaranteed profit. You can also see how much you will profit regardless of the outcome of the event or how much you would profit if you decide to bet a different amount than we suggest.
Free Bet Calculator
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Hedging free bets is one of the only ways to guarantee yourself profit when sports betting. This form of arbitrage betting will always result in you making money as long as you wager the correct amount on the other side of the market that you placed your free bet on.
In order to use this sports betting strategy, you need to place two bets: (1) the free bet on one side of a two-way market (such as a spread, total, or moneyline bet), (2) a cash wager on the other side of the same market.
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While you won't win as much as you would if you only bet the free play and won, you will always win some money with this strategy.
Using the top section of our Free Bet Calculator will show you how much to wager in order to maximize your guaranteed profit. You can use the bottom section to see how much you would win if you wager a different amount than the top section suggests. In the second case, you could win more or less depending on the result of your free bet and other wager.
This strategy is also called free bet conversion. The idea is that you can convert some percent of that free bet amount into guaranteed winnings by betting the other side with another sportsbook. Typically, a free bet conversion of 70% or more is considered good. The tool above an also be used as a free bet conversion calculator or risk-free bet calculator.
Strategies for Placing & Hedging Free Bets
- Always place the free bet on the side of a two-way market with longer odds.
- For example, you're better off placing a $100 free play on +225 odds and hedging it with $165.79 on the -280 side (guaranteeing profits of $59.21) than placing the $100 free bet on -280 odds and hedging with $10.99 on the +225 side (only guaranteeing $24.73).
- The reason for this is that with the free bet, you don't receive the amount wagered back, whereas you do with the hedge bet. Using the same example above, your max potential winnings from the free bet risked on the longer odds is $225. The max profit from the free play on the shorter odds is only $35.71.
- The higher the potential winnings from the free bet, the more you have to hedge against.
- Choosing big underdogs for your free bet is usually the best move.
- The reasoning for this is very similar to the reasoning above. You want the max potential payout from your free bet so you have more to hedge against.
- We say usually because it still comes down to the odds. The closer the odds between the underdog and the favorite are, the better. For example, it's better to have a free bet on +500 odds if the other side is -700 than if the hedge odds are -900. There are instances when placing your free bet on a huge underdog won't produce the most profit if the odds on the favorite are very unfavorable relative to the underdog.
- If you're not sure which market will give you the highest potential payout, use our free play calculator to compare guaranteed profits.
Other Betting Resources
We have many other resources and tools other than our free bet conversion calculator that you can use to help you along your sports betting journey. Check them out:
- Compare Free Bets & Betting Offers: See the current sports betting offers, including free bets and risk-free bets, at the top online sportsbooks.
- No Deposit Free Bets: See which sportsbooks currently offer no deposit free bets and learn how to take advantage of them.
- Betting Odds Calculator: Enter your odds and bet amount in any format and see what your payout and profit would be if it wins.
- Odds to Probability Calculator: Enter in the odds of your bet to see the implied probability of it winning.
- Parlay Calculator: Calculate the payout of a parlay based on the odds of each individual leg.
- Hedge & Arbitrage Calculator: Find the ideal hedge bet amount and guaranteed profit based on your original odds and bet amount.
- NFL Odds Calculator: See the projected payouts of your NFL bets.
- NBA Odds Calculator: See the projected payouts of your NBA bets.
- MLB Parlay Calculator: See projected odds and payouts of your MLB parlays including moneyline, run line, totals, and more.
- Odds Converter: Convert between the three odds formats including American, Decimal, and Fractional.
- How to Read Betting Odds: Learn how to read odds, calculate your payout, and calculate the implied probability of your bet winning in each odds format (American, Decimal, Fractional).
- Types of Sports Bets: Learn about how each of the main types of sports bets works and find links to our full guides for each.
