Promos, boosts and free bets
The easiest money on this list, and it is not close.
Use every promo, every day. Profit boosts, odds boosts, no-sweat bets, free bets — these are literally money coupons, and they are the single easiest edge available to anyone with an account. A serious bettor treats the promo tab as part of the daily routine.
Profit boosts
A boost turns a price into a better one. Take a player at +124 boosted to +140: de-vig the market, find fair is +130, and that boost has turned a fair bet into a 30% edge. Boosts are also why books cap them — a boosted price is often the softest number on the entire board.
Two habits make boosts pay much better:
- Spend them on plays that are already close to fair, not on longshots the book wants you to take.
- Shop the boosted price against every other book before you fire — the boost has to beat the best price available, not the one it started from.
Fair price is +130 (43.5%). At +140 you're being paid as though it were rarer than it is.
Free bets and conversion
A free bet returns the winnings but not the stake, so it is worth less than its face value and the way to maximise it is high odds. A $50 free bet on a -130 favourite is worth about $38; the same free bet at a long price is worth far more.
Free bet conversion is the reliable version: back your free bet at long odds with one book and cover the other side with cash at another, so you finish with a known cash amount whichever way it lands. Done well that converts 65–80% of the face value into real money — a $50 free bet becoming a solid $35 instead of a coin flip.
A $50 free bet. What is it actually worth?
No-sweat bets
A no-sweat refunds your stake as a free bet if it loses. That makes high odds the right play — you keep the upside and the downside comes back as a token you can then convert. It is not quite as strong as a straight free bet, because the refund arrives as bonus money rather than cash.
Hammering promos is extremely profitable and books know exactly what it looks like. Which is the trade: take the value now, expect the account to tighten later, and open more accounts.
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Where should a profit boost be spent?
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A $50 free bet spent at -130 is worth roughly what?
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What does free bet conversion actually get you?
Promos are money coupons. Use every single one, every day.
Terms from this lesson
Education, not betting advice. 21+. Gambling problem? Call or text 1-800-GAMBLER.