In times gone by sportsbooks and casinos were very separate things but as online betting has evolved you now see that all major sites now offer sports betting and real money gaming in parallel.
The way that people bet has changed as a result with few people now just betting on one single product. Because of this many of the welcome offers now offered by betting sites include both free bets for sports and bonuses for casino as part of the package. That is what we are covering right here.
Below you can find some of the best introductory offers that include free bets and casino elements. These sites have been carefully picked as the ones that offer the best all round products to suit those that like to play games but also utilise other aspects such as sports betting.
Best Casino Free Bets (December 2023)
What Are Casino Free Bets?
In general casino-only bonuses tend to go up to a higher amounts compared to sports-only offers or casino free bets where the bonus is only one element. If you solely play casino then a casino free bet will not be right for you and you can claim higher amounts by looking at casino-only bonus offers.
Casino free bets are designed to suit a specific type of customer who enjoy playing slots and other casino games but also want to bet on sports and other products. The idea of this type of sign up deal is to attract those that enjoy multiple different facets of betting and gambling.
There is no one offer type that is better than another, it depends what you want to do with the offer. If you are a sports bettor only then claiming a casino bonus is not worthwhile, likewise if you are a casino player then free bets will be useless to you. For those that like both, however, these offers provide a good means for you to try out many aspects of a betting site, which is ultimately they point of a welcome offer.
Within this it is worth thinking about what types of games you want to claim an offer for. Many casino free bets provide bonuses specific to slots (e.g. free spins) or split up into smaller bonuses that can be used on different products (live casino, instant win, etc.). If you want to use your bonus to play table games, for example, you will need to look for a more general bonus that will cover that – although beware wagering requirements are often higher for these games.
How To Use Casino Free Bets
The first thing to note is that the terms for the free bet will be different to the terms for the casino bonus or free spins.
The free bet will be provided as a single token, or split into multiple tokens, and can be used once on a sportsbook single bet. It is highly likely you will need to place a qualifying bet to claim them and this bet will have a minimum stake and usually minimum odds attached. In some cases the minimum stake is higher than the minimum deposit amount.
Free bets will have an expiry, usually 7 days, if you win the winnings are given in cash but the stake itself is not returned. Often your qualifying bet needs to settle for your free bets to be awarded, bear this in mind if betting on something in advance.
If the offer comes with free spins then these will generally be open to all slots but sometimes restricted to a specific slot. The spin value can vary but will typically be £0.10 or £0.20 each. On occasion you may be awarded ‘golden spins’ that are usually valued at £1. Spins are typically short lived and may only last for 24 hours so use them soon, typically most free spins are valid for at least 3 days.
Winnings from free spins are almost always cash these days, especially with these types of casino free bet offers. Some will, however, award winnings as a bonus that then needs to be wagered so many times to covert to cash, this should be less than 10x.
Casino bonuses are often more open and can be used on a wider variety of games, although some will be specific and if so will be marked ‘slots bonus’, ‘live casino bonus’, etc. Bonuses will almost always have wagering requirements, although with casino free bet offers like this they are often lower than casino-only bonuses, still expect at least 5x to convert to cash.
Bonuses tend to have a longer expiry in general, however, with casino free bet promos like these they often mirror the validity period of the free bet.
While your free bets may not be awarded until your qualifying bet settles quite often the casino element is awarded immediately. It is worth checking this so the bonus does not expire before you get around to using it.
All In Or Spread Your Bonus?
How you use your bonus depends what you want to get out of it. If your main concern is to try to win real money from it then you are better placing less bets and staking more each time (although be aware maximum staking limits may apply). This is because the house has an edge on every bet and the more bets you place the more you compound that edge.
The best chance of winning in the end is by placing less bets with the whole bonus amount each time, but it also the best way to lose the bonus quickly. You need to remember that the bonus will have a wagering requirement and if this is 10x, for example, then even if you bet the whole amount each time you will still need to bet 10x the total bonus amount. This requires several winning bets in succession. Ultimately using this strategy you will lose with most bonuses you play with anyway.
The point of a casino bonus from an operator perspective is not really to give you chance to win free money it is rather to give you chance to try out the games without risking as much of your own funds to do so. If your main motivation is to try the casino with the bonus then you are better splitting up your promo funds and using them on the various products and games you are interested in. In the end you are more likely to lose than win after the wagering requirements have been met so the point is to use the bonus to get the most enjoyment you can and experience the games you want to.
Know The Wagering Requirements
Knowing the wagering requirement is critical to getting the most form any casino bonus and not understanding them is the most common reason that people either lose their bonus or don’t get as much out of it.
Wagering is simply the number of times you need to turnover a bonus amount before it becomes cash. Often this is termed as either a rollover of the deposit + bonus or just the bonus itself. The offers we are looking at on this page typically involve just rolling over the bonus amount.
The number of times you need to wager the bonus will be stated in the significant terms. If you have a £10 slots bonus, for example, with a 5x wagering requirement it means you need to spend a total of £50 playing slots with the bonus before the bonus amount and any winnings are turned into cash.
Wagering is not always the same for all games. You might find with a general bonus there is a 10x wagering for slots but table games, or some bets on table games, may contribute less, e.g. 25%. In this case a 10x WR on table games would actually be a 40x wagering requirement. Bear this in mind and if you are looking for a bonus you can use on table games you need to choose on that allows you to wager them on those games at fair rates.
There is often a maximum bet contribution to the play through requirement. This might be, for example, £5 per bet. Meaning if you had a £10 bonus then you could only stake £5 of it on any one bet and it still all count to the turnover terms.
Some bonuses also have maximum limits on what you can eventually withdraw if you do win. For example, you may have a £10 bonus with 10x wagering but a maximum win of £100. This means if you win more than £100 after the 10x turnover then you will forfeit the winnings above £100.
Free Spins Or Bonus?
There are usually two types of casino free bet deals, those that give bonuses and those that give free spins. Again, neither is particularly better it depends what you want your bonus for.
If you want to play slots or a specific slot then free spins can be better, they often give cash winnings or if they award winnings as promo funds the wagering requirement on this tends to be lower compared to a bonus.
The key thing with free spins is being aware of how much in free funds you are getting. If you are awarded 10 free spins but the spin value is £0.10 then this equates to £1. If you have 50 free spins worth £0.20 per spin this adds up to £10 in promotional funds. In general you get a lower amount with free spins versus comparable bonus offers but they are much easier to use and tend to have less terms attached.
Bonuses are of course more flexible, they tend to be higher amounts and they also generally have longer expiration times. You can still use these bouses on slots and they could end up giving you more spins, although of course you may need to wager the bonus more times and more spins doesn’t necessarily equate to more winnings at the end of the day.
