Best Matched Deposit Betting Bonuses

Matched Deposits Explained 

Matched deposit bonuses are pretty straightforward — your bookmaker will match a percentage of your first deposit in the form of bonus funds. Most bookies offer between 50% and 100% deposit matches, but some bookies go as high as 200%. The bonus funds you can earn are usually capped at a certain amount, so you might see these advertised as ‘100% matched deposit up to £100.’ You could deposit over £100, but you would only receive the max bonus amount of £100. Matched deposits will offer punters some of the highest sums when compared to other bonuses, but high wagering requirements on certain bonuses can make it quite hard for players to see their winnings. As such, matched deposit bonuses with sizable wagering requirements are not the most player-friendly promotions.

Why Claim this Betting Offer?

The best thing about matched deposit welcome offers is that you can give your bankroll a healthy boost. This means you can take chances on markets you might not have risked with your own cash, such as backing an underdog instead of the favourite.

Matched deposit bonuses also offer punters flexibility because they don’t need to deposit a hefty amount to activate the bonus — all you need to do is meet the min deposit requirements. Whether you want to claim the maximum bonus funds in your ‘100% up to £30’ bonus, or prefer to claim using just £15, the choice is yours.

But for the sake of balance, let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of matched deposit bonuses.

Keep an Eye on the Wagering Requirements

Wagering requirements are often part of the deal when it comes to matched deposit bonuses, but they can vary quite significantly, especially when it comes to casino bonuses. In sports betting, wagering requirements determine the amount of money you must bet before you can convert your bonus funds into withdrawable cash. These requirements may apply solely to the bonus amount or extend to both your deposit and bonus. 

For instance, let’s say a bookmaker offers a 100% bonus up to £100, with a 5x wagering requirement that applies only to the bonus amount. You make a deposit of £100, earning £100 in bonus funds. This means you’ll need to bet £500 before you can withdraw any winnings. However, if the wagering requirements applied to both the deposit and the bonus amount, you’d need to bet £1,000 before cashing out. 

Other Terms and Conditions that Will Impact Your Matched Deposit

Matched deposit welcome offers will often come with other terms and conditions that will need to be adhered to. These can have an impact on how much you have to spend before you can access your winnings as well as how quickly you have to fulfil the wagering requirements. So before you enter the bonus code and claim the welcome offer, make sure you know what else you’re signing up to.

Minimum Odds

Matched deposit bonuses often come with minimum odds restrictions, which often also apply to the wagering requirements. These restrictions mean that you can only use your bonus funds to place bets over a certain price, specified by the bookmaker. In a similar fashion, some sportsbooks will only allow bets placed above a minimum odds threshold to contribute towards the wagering requirements.

For example, if the min odds are 4/5, you’ll only be able to satisfy the wagering requirements with bets higher than this. The good news is that once you’ve met the wagering requirements, you’ll be able to use your winnings without any min odds restrictions.

Time Limits 

There will usually be a limited amount of time in which you can complete the wagering requirements of a matched deposit bonus. This will be clearly displayed in the terms and conditions and will vary between sportsbooks, sitting anywhere within 60 days of registration. If you don’t manage to complete the wagering requirements in this specified time period your bonus funds will expire, along with any winnings you made.

Minimum Deposits 

When you claim a matched deposit bonus, you will often have to meet a minimum deposit limit. These will often be around the £10 mark, but minimum deposits can go as high as £20. The size of the minimum deposit limit can affect how you play with that bonus, especially if the wagering requirements take into account the bonus and the initial deposit. The larger the minimum deposit limit, the more you’ll have to play through.

Market Restrictions

You usually won’t be able to use your matched deposit with totally free rein when it comes to betting markets. Generally speaking, all the biggest markets will be included — football, tennis, basketball, etc — but it’s worth double checking if there’s a specific sport you’re hoping to bet on. Likewise, if the matched deposit offer is associated with a particular event like the FA Cup, you might be restricted to just that market. 

Payment Exclusions

Unless you’re planning to make your deposit using a debit card — which almost always makes you eligible for betting bonuses — you should scrutinise the T&Cs for any payment exclusions attached to the promotion. For example, making initial deposits using e-wallets like Neteller and Skrill can often disqualify you from receiving the bonus offer at betting sites. Prepaid cards are usually allowed, as are payment intermediaries like Trustly, but check before you deposit or you risk missing out.

Game Restrictions

If your matched deposit can be used at a betting site’s online casino, you should check for any game restrictions. Slots are usually a safe bet for a matched deposit, but there might be a list of exceptions — progressive jackpot games sometimes find themselves left out, as do particular branded slots or titles with unusual features. There’s also a chance you won’t be able to use your bonus credit on live casino games, although RNG table games should be fair game. 

Winning Caps

One restriction which has the power to seriously devalue a bonus offer is a winning cap. This is the maximum amount you can take home from a promotion, and any winnings over the threshold will be forfeited. Say you win £50 but there’s a win cap of £10 — the other £40 is lost.  

Although this seems frustrating at first glance, we like to view these caps as a marker that your session was a success. After all, walking away with any profit from a bonus is a great result, no matter how little. Winning caps aren’t so common when it comes to matched deposits. They’re more often found on casino offers like free spins, but it’s always wise to check so you aren’t unpleasantly surprised.

Free Bet Offers

While matched deposits are a popular choice among new customers, free bets present a fun alternative. Simply put, free bets are free sums of cash provided by betting sites for wagering on various markets. These bonuses aren’t exclusive to new customers; existing ones can also benefit. However, there may still be wagering requirements and other conditions to meet before you can pocket any winnings. Wagering requirements for free bets typically apply to the winnings you make from the bonus and will often be more lenient than for matched deposits, with an average of just 1x wagering needed. Additionally, you may be required to use your free bet on a selection with specific minimum odds or higher.

First Bet Bonus

If you find the idea of a deposit match bonus appealing, it’s also worth exploring first bet bonuses. These sign-up bonuses are prevalent on many betting sites and share some similarities with matched deposits, but with a twist. Rather than rewarding your first deposit, with first bet bonus offers, you’ll receive a free bet once you’ve placed your first wager. These promotions often take the form of ‘bet x, get y’ offers, like ‘bet £10, get £10 in free bets’. First bet bonuses can be profitable, though as with matched deposit bonus offers, be sure to watch out for any terms and conditions like wagering requirements, minimum odds, and expiry times.

Accumulator Bonuses

Matched deposits are a popular choice for many, but accumulator bonuses can open up exciting betting possibilities. Accumulators are a huge part of online betting, allowing you to combine various bets from different sporting events into a single wager. With an accumulator bonus, your potential winnings can skyrocket if your accumulator bet succeeds. But how do they stack up to matched deposits? The obvious difference here is that, unlike matched deposits, which require an initial deposit, accumulator bonuses depend on your betting skills. Whether wagering requirements will be in play largely depends on how the bookmaker pays the bonus. Some pay bonuses as free bets with wagering demands attached to the winnings, while others pay out in cash. Minimum odds will almost definitely apply; either to your individual selections or to the combined betting odds for the entire acca. Accumulator bonuses are not just used to welcome newcomers; they often form part of a betting site’s regular lineup of offers. 

Money Back Bets

While deposit match bonuses offer you some bonus cash to bet with, money back bets focus on ensuring your first bet is risk-free. With money back bets, the process involves depositing and placing a qualifying bet, usually on any sport but often at specified minimum odds. If your first bet wins, you receive your profits as you would with any regular bet. However, if you haven’t backed a winner, you won’t be left empty-handed. Instead, you’ll get your stake back, either as a free bet credit or credited to your cash balance. This approach differs from matched deposits, where your bonus is tied to the amount you deposit. Money back bets offer a safety net for your first wager, making them a good choice if you prefer to minimise the risk of losing money. However, the max bet refund for these offers is usually quite low, often sitting at around £10, so it’s certainly possible to find more lucrative deals. 

Free Spins 

Casino players aren’t limited to matched deposit welcome bonuses when they sign up to a new site. New players can also opt-in to free spins welcome bonuses which give slot lovers the opportunity to play their favourite games for free. In a similar way to free bet offers, free spins can also come attached to larger bonuses like matched deposits. Some free spin bonuses will come with wagering requirements attached to the winnings you accrue, which means that you will need to subsequently wager the value of your winnings a set number of times before you can claim them. As such, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the full terms and conditions before you claim. 

No Deposit Bonuses

Often seen as the best value bonus available to punters, the no deposit bonus is as straightforward as its name suggests. Unlike with a matched deposit bonus, no qualifying wager needs to be placed in order to boost the size of your bankroll. These welcome bonuses can often come with more stringent conditions such as wagering requirements as high as 50x. Nonetheless, they are a good option for punters who want to get to grips with a new site. 

Low Wagering Bonuses

A low wagering casino bonus refers to any offer where the wagering requirements are either low or zero. They’re favoured by players as it’s easier to convert the bonus into real cash which can be withdrawn. Generally speaking, we’ll consider anything below 20x wagering requirements as low, but the most player-friendly deals will see wagering requirements of 5x and below. 

As low wagering refers to the specific wagering requirement terms, you can find these bonuses in a variety of forms including:

• Free spins, with low wagering on resulting winnings
• Cashback, where you get money back as bonus credit with low wagering requirements
• Bonus credit, earnt through a loyalty scheme

No Wagering Bonus 

There are some bonuses that come with no wagering requirements whatsoever. Play Ojo is one particular casino that offers casino bonuses with no wagering requirements to fulfil. There will be other terms and conditions, however, such as game weightings and restrictions. Game weightings dictate how much particular games will contribute to the fulfilment of the wagering requirements, with some as high as 100% while others may be as low as 10%. There are some games that are entirely restricted from use with a bonus, however. Any funds used on one of these games will not contribute towards the wagering requirements.

Betting Promotions for Existing Customers

After you’ve opened a new account and picked up a match deposit bonus, there are plenty of other deals to take advantage of. Let’s check out some of the best betting promotions available for existing customers.

Best Odds Guaranteed

Best odds guaranteed is a common promotion available to horse racing punters, but you’ll see it pop up on other sports markets too. Essentially, if you place a bet well before the race starts and the odds change by the time the horses reach the starting gate, you’ll get paid out at the improved odds. This means you don’t have to think so much about the inevitable fluctuation of odds during a race day, and you won’t miss out on any last minute payout increases on your chosen selection.

Acca Insurance

Accumulators allow you to stick together multiple bets on different sporting events — they’re a great way to increase your potential payout and create some anticipation as each match kicks off. For the acca to win, every single selection you choose has to come in. Naturally, this has players reeling when their 8-fold accumulator misses out by one selection, leaving their payout tantalisingly out of reach. With acca insurance, however, you’ll receive your stake back if just one leg of your bet lets you down. This may be returned as withdrawable cash, or as a free bet, so be sure to check the terms and conditions when the offer is advertised.

Free Bet Clubs

Free bet clubs are a great option for punters who have used up their first betting deposit bonus. You’ll be able to pick up free bets weekly, just for doing your usual thing. Paddy Power’s Rewards Club is a good example – with them, you can opt in and qualify for a range of different rewards than run on a weekly basis. For example, if you place five bets of £5 or more between Monday and Sunday, you’ll bag a £5 free bet the following Monday. If you instead place five bets of £10 or more, the free bet will increase to £10. There’s another option too that requires just one £5 bet, where you’ll be given a Power Up to use on any market — increasing the price of your selection.  So, there are plenty of options available depending on your preferred betting habits.

Cashback

Cashback is a popular offer thanks to the relatively player-friendly terms and conditions — there usually aren’t any wagering requirements involved, so you can recoup some of your losses as withdrawable cash on a regular basis. The level of cashback will be set to a particular percentage, for example 10% of your net losses over a given period. Some sites focus their offering to new and existing customers on cashback rather than more complicated betting deposit bonuses, but there are plenty of operators that add it alongside a bunch of other great promotions.

Reload Bonuses

If you enjoy claiming matched deposit bonuses from new sports betting sites, you’ll love reload bonuses. These bonuses essentially offer the same thing as deposit match bonuses — the key differences are that reload bonuses are aimed at existing customers, and they may not offer a percentage match that’s quite as generous as what’s available from sign up offers. Some sportsbooks feature long-running reload bonuses, while others may offer them as short-term promos, which you can often find out about from the promotions page or by setting up push notifications on the bookie’s mobile app.

Event-Based Promotions 

During popular sporting events like major tennis tournaments or in the run up to headline heavyweight fights, you’ll often see sportsbooks running special promotions. This is great news for bettors, as bookies often compete to ensure they’re putting the best offer on the table for new customers. During the World Cup 2022, for example, online bookies were touting everything from free bets to cashback. Before the tournament even kicked off, 10bet had proudly announced it was offering the UK’s best fixed odds on England to win the World Cup. 

Cash Out

Available at top UK sportsbooks, cash out is a feature that allows you to settle a bet early before an event has ended. This is a great perk that can help you out in one of two main ways. If a bet is winning, but you’re wary of a last-minute upset, cashing out your bet allows you to lock in profit early. On the flip side, if your bet is looking in bad shape, a cash out offer allows you to cut your losses and get a bit of your money back. Lots of bookies also offer a partial cash out option, but you can’t usually cash out bonus bets.

Use Your Betting Deposit Bonus on These Top Sports

Once you’ve claimed a match deposit bonus, there usually aren’t many limitations on the sports events you can use it to bet on. Online bookmakers offer a huge range of markets, covering a variety of sports and competitions from around the world. Naturally, some are more popular in the UK than others so let’s check out some of the most commonly found sports that you can use your betting deposit bonus on.

Claim a Matched Deposit Bonus on the Go

The best online sportsbooks will offer customers a native app that they can download onto their smartphone. This means that punters can bet on their favourite markets, cash out and live stream the best sporting action from wherever they are in the world. It also means that new customers can join a bookmaker and claim their matched deposit sign up bonus right from the palm of their hand. Not every bookmaker on our list will have a native mobile app, but each one will at least provide a fully-optimised mobile site.

Payment Options

In order to claim a matched deposit bonus, you must first place a qualifying stake. As such, you will need to use a banking method that suits all your needs. That’s why we’ve laid out some of the key payment options available to punters. All you need to do is pick your favourite.

Bet Responsibly with Your Bonus Funds

When you claim sportsbook bonus funds or free bets, we recommend that you treat them exactly like you would real money, and not play fast and loose by placing ill-considered or downright dodgy bets. By doing so, you’ll be maintaining responsible gambling habits and putting your freebies to good use. 

Some Top Tips for Responsible Betting

Need a reminder of how to gamble responsibly? Here are some of our top tips:

• Gamble within your means and with a predetermined budget
• Balance online gambling with other activities
• Avoid betting when you feel anxious or depressed
• Never bet while under the influence of alcohol or drugs
• Don’t chase your losses
• Think of gambling as entertainment, and not as a means of earning an income
• Choose bookies with helpful tools like deposit limits and time outs

Sign Up and Claim a Matched Deposit

Now that you understand the basics of matched deposit bonuses, it’s time to choose your bookie. Not sure where to start? We’ve whittled our list down to the best betting sites in the UK, so we’re sure you’ll find one in our list to suit you. Take a look, compare different sportsbooks and claim your betting welcome bonus!

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