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After risk-free free bets, deposit match bonuses are the second most popular sportsbook intro promo for new customers. Depending on the sportsbook, you will usually get a match bonus of anywhere between $100 and $1,000.
The bonus is very simple.
You make your first deposit and the sportsbook matches that deposit by a certain percentage. It’s typically 100% but can be higher or lower depending on the book and offer.
You can then use the bonus credits to bet on any number of events and markets, but you’ll have to meet the wagering requirements before requesting a withdrawal.
This guide will show you how deposit match bonuses work, which of their terms to pay attention to, how they compare to other sports betting bonuses, and, most importantly, where to find the best deposit bonuses.
Current First Deposit Match Betting Offers
First deposit match bonuses are pretty common. Below, you can see a list of all such offers currently available on legal U.S. sports betting sites.
| Sportsbook | States | Intro Promo |
|---|---|---|
AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, LA, MA, MI, NH, NJ, NY, PA, TN, WV, WY, VA | 20% deposit match up to $5,000 ($1,000 total max value) | |
CT, NJ, PA | 100% up to $250 deposit match | |
AZ, CO, IL, IN, IA, LA, MI, NY, PA, VA | 100% up to $250 deposit match | |
NJ | 100% deposit match up to $500 |
How Deposit Bonuses Work
The second most popular form of intro bonuses for new customers is a deposit match. Some sportsbooks may also offer deposit matches even after you’ve been betting with them for a while and have already taken advantage of the welcome bonus.
Deposit matches are pretty straightforward. Sportsbooks will match your first deposit by a certain percentage (usually 20% to 100%) up to a certain amount of money.
For example, a sportsbook may offer a 100% deposit match up to $500. This means if you deposit $500, the sportsbook will add $500 to your account as site credit. Or, as another example, a sportsbook may offer a 50% deposit match up to $1,000. This means if you deposit $1,000, the sportsbook will give you $500 in site credit.
You then have to bet the site credit a certain amount of times—called the playthrough or rollover requirement—before you can withdraw any winnings from it.
The deposit match is typically issued as site credit—not a free bet. This is ideal because you don’t have to risk the entire bonus on a single bet like you do with many risk-free bet promos.
First Deposit Match Example
There are two different ways to receive a first deposit match bonus—immediately upon depositing or as you start making cash bets.
To explain how each of these works, we’ll use examples from BetRivers and DraftKings, two of the top U.S. betting operators.
Example 1: The welcome bonus on BetRivers is a 100% deposit match up to $250. If you deposit $250, you’ll get another $250 as a bonus and have $500 in your balance. If you deposit more than $250, you’ll still only get $250 as the maximum bonus amount. Of course, you can choose to deposit less than $250, but this means you’ll also get a lower bonus. With BetRivers, you will receive your deposit bonus within 48 hours of making your first deposit.
Example 2: The match deposit bonus on DraftKings is 20% up to $5,000 ($1,000 max bonus), but it works a bit differently. Namely, you won’t get a bonus right after you deposit. Instead, the bonus credits will be added to your balance as you make cash bets, at the rate of $1 of bonus money for every $25 wagered in your own money. The maximum bonus you can receive this way is $1,000, but since it’s a 20% match, you must deposit $5,000 to become eligible for a $1,000 bonus.
Things to Pay Attention to With Deposit Bonuses
Every deposit bonus comes with a set of terms and conditions that you must be aware of to use the bonus correctly. Here are some of the most crucial of those terms:
- Deposit bonus limit. Every match bonus will have a defined limit. This will usually be anywhere between $100 and $1,000. So, if you receive a 100% bonus up to $500, you can only get a bonus of $500, even if you decide to deposit more than that.
- Deposit match percentage. This number dictates how big of a bonus you’ll receive relative to your deposit. If you get a 20% match like on DraftKings, your deposit of $200 will only come with a $40 bonus. However, most match deposit bonuses are 100%.
- Payout method. You can get a bonus in two ways, either through site credit or a free bet. The former is preferable because you can choose how much to wager and how often. With the free bet, you’ll have to wager the bonus all at once.
- Validation period. Check the fine print to see how long you can use the bonus. This period is usually between one week and one month, and it relates to both using the bonus funds and meeting the wagering requirements.
- Minimum odds. Another thing to pay attention to is the minimum odds associated with using the bonus credits or making bets necessary to receive the bonus. For example, only wagers on odds of -200 or longer (-110, +150, +500, etc.) may count towards your playthorugh requirement.
- Playthrough requirements. This number indicates how much you need to wager your bonus before you’re allowed to cash out. It is usually 1x, but some match deposit bonuses with a different structure (like the one on DK) can have playthrough requirements of 25x or more.
Pros & Cons of First Deposit Bonuses
Pros of deposit match bonuses
Deposit matches are great because you are given site credit no matter what. You don’t have to lose a bet to receive it as you do with risk-free bets. You simply deposit real money and receive site credit as a result.
In addition, as mentioned before, deposit matches are typically issued as site credit—not a single free bet. This means you can wager the site credit on as many bets as you’d like, in whatever increments you’d like. You don’t have to risk all of the deposit match on a single bet like you would with most risk-free bets.
Cons of deposit match bonuses
Compared to risk-free bets that almost always have a 1x playthrough requirement, you often have to bet the site credit from deposit matches 5, 10x, 20x, or even as much as 25x before it converts to cash. This means if you earn $1,000 in site credit, you may have to bet as much as $25,000 before you can withdraw it.
What makes these often large rollover requirements even worse is that you typically only have a certain amount of time—such as 30 days—to meet them. In the example above, you would have to bet $25,000 in 30 days to receive the full $1,000 in bonus money.
First Deposit Bonuses vs. Other Betting Offers
Let’s check out how match deposit bonuses compare with other common sports betting promotions.
First Deposit Bonuses vs. No Deposit Free Bets
No deposit free bets have an advantage over deposit bonuses since you don’t have to risk anything to receive them. On the flip side, no deposit free bets usually have very low value (around $10), while match deposit bonuses can give you hundreds or even thousands of dollars in bonus credits.
First Deposit Bonuses vs. First Bet Matches
First bet matches are inferior to deposit bonuses as they force you to make a large bet to max out the bonus amount you can receive instead of just making a deposit and becoming eligible for the bonus right away.
First Deposit Bonuses vs. Risk-Free Bets
Your qualifying bet must lose for you to receive credit from a risk-free bet. With a deposit bonus, you get the bonus regardless of the outcome of your subsequent bets, making this type of bonus better than a risk-free offer.
First Deposit Bonuses vs. Free Bets from Wagering or Hitting Other Requirements
These are two very different bonuses and concluding which is better depends on what you’re looking for. A free bet from wagering means you can, for example, receive a $5 free bet if you wagered $50 or more during the promotional week. This is smaller than any amount you can receive from a typical match deposit bonus. Still, the advantage of these free bets is that they can be claimed by all customers, while match deposit bonuses are reserved only for new users.
First Deposit Bonuses vs. Deposit Matches for Current Customers
The deposit match bonuses we’ve talked about on this page are for new customers. Some sportsbooks, however, will offer reload bonuses to existing customers. For example, say you’ve been betting with BetMGM for a year. They may offer you a one-time promotion of a 100% deposit match up to $200. If you’re offered a promo like this, you can take advantage of it regardless of whether you’ve taken advantage of the intro promo already or not.
