Discover all the best UK free bets and betting offers for March 2024. We have compiled a list of the top sign-up offers from all the major bookmakers to bring you the best possible value.
Whether you are a new customer or an existing player, we will explain all the different ways to get free bets and other bonuses from UK bookmakers below.
CopyBet currently has the best free bet of the week. It is an exclusive BettingLounge.co.uk sign-up offer for new users.
This is a fantastic new betting offer, and it's one that you shouldn't miss. Sign up to CopyBet today and take advantage of this amazing free bet offer!
Free bets are promotional offers provided by bookmakers as incentives to attract new customers. If you go on any of the top betting sites in the UK today, you will find that there is at least one offer aimed at new customers. The free bets allow you to place a wager without risking your own money, giving you a chance to win real cash or bonus funds.
The caveat, however, is that punters who sign up on a betting site usually have to deposit and place a qualifying bet to unlock the free bets. The most common amount is £10 for the deposit, but Coral and Ladbrokes both have a bet £5 get £20 deal on offer. Some punters even tend to jump from site to site, claiming welcome offer after welcome offer.
It is worth noting that while free bets are most common in welcome offers, they can also be awarded to existing customers through certain promotions. Loyalty rewards schemes and bet refunds are two examples but generally, when speaking of free bets, it will be about the many welcome offers available in the UK.
Given just how many welcome offers are out there, it can be a very frustrating process to find the best ones. After personally reviewing over 40 bookmakers for BettingLounge.co.uk, it has become clear to me that while some bookmakers actually have good welcome offers, others will do everything to make them sound like that.
If I were to give your four key factors on what makes a good welcome offer, I would suggest you look at the amount of the free bets, how much you need to deposit for the qualiyfing bet, if the free bets have any wagering requirements and if the free bets are restricted to certain markets. Of course, there could be some more factors such as payment method restrictions and minimum odds, but these are less important in my opinion.
Anyone who is interested in claiming welcome offers will not be able to use e-wallets anyway, as almost all bookies restrict these offers to debit card deposits. Furthermore, the minimum odds (if any) tend to be quite generous.
If you are unfamiliar with the process of claiming a welcome offer in the UK, you can follow our step-by-step guide below:
Thanks to our list at the top of this page, you can see the different welcome offers available in the UK as well as the terms and conditions. Once you have found an offer and a bookmaker that you like, simply tap on 'Claim Offer'. This will bring you to the welcome offer in question and the registration page of the betting site.
Depending on the welcome offer and betting site, the process could vary slightly but it is mostly the same on all betting sites. For this example, we have decided to use CopyBet and its welcome offer. First off, we need to create an account on the site and enter our personal information.
CopyBet, as you can see in the photo below, requires new customers to verify their identity before any of the welcome offers can be claimed. This will not be the case on every betting sites, but we highly recommend you do it first anyway to avoid issues when withdrawing potential winnings down the line.
To unlock the free bets on any betting site, unless we are talking about a no deposit free bet (which CopyBet has), you will need to place a qualifying bet. In CopyBet's case, we need to place a bet of 10+ on any sports market at a minimum odds of 1.9 in the CopyBet app.
Once the qualifying bet has been settled (usually), the free bets will be credited to your account. In CopyBet's case, it will start with a £10 free bet which must be used before the second one is unlocked, and so on. While some bookies may just have a minimum odds requirement for the free bets, some bookmakers will require you to place them on certain markets.
Most free bets tend to expire 7 days after being credited, so make sure to spend them before they are gone (although it will do you no good to rush).
Although most welcome offers might sound good at face value, there are some things which punters should consider before claiming a bunch of them. We have listed three pros and three cons of free bets below, which should help you make an informed decision about whether they are for you or not.
Easy to Claim: Since the competition is so fierce among bookmakers when it comes to free bets and welcome offers, most of them are rather easy to claim these days. If you consider that the minimum odds requirement is not always that high for the qualifying bet, you could actually make a profit with that as well.
No Wagering Requirements: Most of the sports welcome offers will not have any wagering requirements for the potential winnings, unlike a lot of the casino bonuses around. If a bookmaker does have wagering requirements for the sports offer, which can sometimes be the case among new betting sites, then that is a huge red flag.
Low Risk: Those who are new to sports betting will probably find that welcome offers are very beneficial, as you can learn more about the practice without actually spending your own money. The deposit is needed, of course, but sometimes you can get as much as £50 to bet on after a £10 deposit.
Payment Method Restrictions: Most bookmakers in the UK restrict their qualifying bet deposits to certain payment methods, and experienced punters will know that e-wallets such as PayPal are rarely eligible. Claiming several welcome offers, at least, is not for you if you want to use an e-wallet.
Market Restrictions: With some welcome offers, you will have less freedom with your betting selections as bookies can restrict individual parts of the offer to certain markets. For example, you might need to bet £10 on a football acca, and some markets might not be eligible even for more generic free bets (such as each-way bets in horse racing).
Deposit Required: While they are called free bets, punters will have to make a deposit and place a qualifying bet to unlock these. There are a few no-deposit offers around, but these are rare and there is no guarantee that they will be available on the day.
The Betway Free Bet Club is a great promotion for existing customers at Betway, enabling them to claim two free bets worth £5 each every week. To qualify, customers need to wager at least £25 in bets on trebles or more at odds of at least 2/1. This makes it a rather attainable promotion, especially for punters who - for example - like to place acca bets on the Premier League.
Steven is an experienced iGaming content writer who has been working in the industry since 2018. He is passionate about sports betting and enjoys writing about all aspects of the industry, including bookmaker reviews, betting tips and strategies, and news and analysis. If you have any questions about online gambling in the UK, please don't hesitate to contact him.