Bet and Get Promotions: How to Convert the Bonus Bets
A bet and get promotion puts almost all its value in the bonus bets, not the qualifying bet. How to hedge both passes, and what a $200 offer can keep.
A bet and get promotion trades one small qualifying bet for bonus bets, and almost all of its value sits in the bonus bets. Placed through a tight pair, a $5 qualifying bet costs cents. The bonus bets are worth less than face value, because a bonus bet never returns its stake, and hedging them at a second book is what turns them into cash.
These offers are almost always for new customers only, and each sportsbook's terms decide the minimum odds, the qualifying market, and when the bonus bets expire. Matched betting is never truly risk free, so only bet money you can afford to lose.
Please note: Every figure and screenshot in this guide is an illustrative example, taken at one point in time, and does not represent any individual user's results. Odds change quickly, sportsbook terms vary, and user error can occur. You are solely responsible for following each sportsbook's terms. SmartStake is not affiliated with any sportsbook.
Try It: Bet and Get Converter
Enter the qualifying bet and its two prices, then the bonus and the two prices you would put it on. Watch Net across both passes. Then change the bonus bet's +400 to +100 and see which half of the offer the number really depends on.
Bet and get converter
Illustrative only, not a prediction of any result. Both hedges are sized by the same function the SmartStake Promo Converter seeds a real matched bet with: low hold mode for the qualifying bet and free bet mode for the bonus bets. Each figure is the worse of the two outcomes, assuming both legs are accepted at the prices shown. It does not model a price that moves before you bet, a rejected or limited stake, a voided leg, an offer that pays only if the qualifying bet wins, or terms that forbid hedging. Every bet in a conversion is a real bet that can win or lose.
Both hedges are sized by the same function the SmartStake Promo Converter uses to seed a real matched bet. The rest of this guide explains each pass and walks the full conversion.
What a Bet and Get Promotion Is
A bet and get promotion pays bonus bets for one qualifying bet. "Bet $5, get $200 in bonus bets" is the classic form. You place the qualifying bet with your own cash, it settles, and the book credits the bonus bets.
On most offers the bonus arrives whatever happens to the qualifying bet. A few variants pay only if the qualifying bet wins. Read which kind you have before you bet, because a win-only offer is priced differently and the hedge sizing below assumes the bonus arrives either way.
A bonus bet (also called a free bet) returns only its winnings, never its stake. A $200 bonus bet at +400 that wins pays $800. A $200 cash bet at the same price would return $1,000. That missing stake is why a bet and get is worth less than its headline, and the free bet converter guide covers the rule in depth.
Where the Value Sits
Every bet and get has two passes, and they are not equal. The qualifying bet costs a little. The bonus bets carry the offer.
The qualifying bet is a low hold bet: you back the required side at the promo book and the opposite side at a hedge book, so the pair settles close to even. What you give up is the hold, the amount by which the two prices together overshoot 100%, charged on the payout. Run through the converter above:
| Qualifying bet | Pair | Hedge stake | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| $5 | −110 and +100 | $4.77 | $0.23 |
| $50 | −110 and +100 | $47.73 | $2.28 |
| $50 | +300 and −350 | $155.56 | $5.56 |
| $1,000 | −110 and +100 | $954.55 | $45.46 |
Two things follow. On a small qualifying bet, the cost is a rounding error next to a $200 bonus. And because the cost is a share of the payout, a longer price on the qualifying bet costs more at a similar hold. Qualify at the shortest price the offer's minimum odds allow, then save the long prices for the bonus bets.
Converting the Bonus Bets
The second pass is where the money is. You place the bonus bet at the promo book and hedge the other side in cash at your hedge book. Because the bonus bet returns no stake, the hedge is sized on its winnings alone. With decimal odds:
What you keep either way is the bonus bet's winnings minus that hedge:
Take the converter's default, an illustrative $200 bonus bet at +400 hedged at −450. The hedge is $654.55. If the bonus bet wins, you collect $800 and lose the hedge, keeping $145.45. If the hedge wins, it returns $145.46 above its stake and the losing bonus bet costs you nothing. Together with the $0.23 qualifying cost, the offer nets about $145, or 73% of its face value, as long as both legs are accepted at those prices.
The free free bet calculator runs the same math on any pair, and the free low hold calculator prices the qualifying bet.
Picking Odds for the Bonus Bets
Longer odds on the bonus bet help, up to a point. A longer price means more of the payout is winnings rather than the stake the book keeps. But the hold is charged on the payout too, and a long price means a big payout and a big hedge. Here is the same $200 bonus bet across pairs that all sit near a 3% hold:
| Bonus bet | Hedge | Hedge stake | Kept | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +150 | −170 | $188.89 | $111.11 | 55.6% |
| +250 | −290 | $371.79 | $128.21 | 64.1% |
| +400 | −500 | $666.67 | $133.33 | 66.7% |
| +600 | −800 | $1,066.67 | $133.33 | 66.7% |
| +900 | −1400 | $1,680.00 | $120.00 | 60.0% |
The share climbs, flattens, and falls. At a fixed hold the best price sits near one over the square root of the hold, about +477 at a 3% hold, which the matched betting Canada guide derives step by step. In practice that makes +300 to +600 the range to search.
The hedge side matters as much as the price. The same +400 bonus bet keeps $145.45 hedged at −450 and $123.08 hedged at −550. That $22 gap is the whole case for choosing a hedge book with sharp prices, and for having more than one book to pair against.
Split Bonus Bets
Many books pay a bet and get as several smaller bonus bets, such as $200 as four $50 bets. Click through the split buttons in the converter: at the same prices the total barely moves. Four $50 bonus bets at +400 against −450 each keep $36.36, or $145.44 together, one cent under the single bet after rounding.
A split changes the work, not the rate. Four bets mean four pairs to find, four chances for a price to move between slips, and four expiry dates to track. It also shrinks each hedge, from $654.55 on one bet to $163.64 on each of four, which helps when a hedge book limits your stake or your bankroll is small.
Bankroll and the Promo Recommender
SmartStake's Promo Recommender plans a bet and get at 70% of its face value, above a no sweat bet (50%) and below a deposit match (75%). That rate is a planning average across offers. The example above lands higher because its pair is tight, and a wider pair lands lower.
The Recommender also asks for a bankroll of 3 times the stake at risk: the bonus, or the offer's maximum bet size when it has one. A $200 bet and get asks for $600. Notice that the single +400 hedge above needs $654.55 at the hedge book on its own, so a long price on an unsplit bonus can ask for more than the rule suggests. For how the three promo types compare side by side, see sportsbook sign up promotions 101.
Step by Step: Converting a Bet and Get in SmartStake
Start from the Promo Recommender. Pressing Get Started on a bet and get marks it in progress and opens its Promo Guide, which numbers the steps below. The sportsbook promo walkthrough covers the same flow for every promo type.
1. Sign Up
Open the sportsbook through the guide's signup link. If the offer needs a signup code, the guide shows it with a copy button. Some books ask for the code at deposit rather than at signup, so keep it handy.
2. Deposit
Deposit the figure the guide names. It is the amount that earns the full offer rather than part of it. A debit card deposit usually lands instantly, which matters when prices are moving.
3. Find a Low Hold Bet
Press Find Bets beside Find a Low Hold Bet. It opens the Promo Converter in low hold mode, already filtered to your promotion's book and stake.
Each matched bet card shows the promo leg, the hedge leg, both stakes, and the projected result for each outcome. The Hedge Books filter defaults to books you have already opened, and the Promo Min Odds filter can hold the promo leg to the offer's minimum price. Find both legs on the two books and check that each betslip matches the card.
If a price has moved, rerun the pair through the calculator or pick another card. When both prices hold, place both bets and record them from the card so they land in your Bet Tracker.
4. Convert Your Bonus Bets
Once the qualifying bet settles and the bonus bets arrive, press Find Bets beside Convert your Free bet. The converter reopens in free bet mode, sized to your bonus. Pick a card with a high conversion percentage, confirm both prices, and place the bonus bet at the promo book and the hedge at your hedge book. Repeat for each bonus bet if the offer was split.
Check each bonus bet's expiry in the book's promotions tab. An unused bonus bet is worth nothing.
5. Complete the Promotion
When every bonus bet has been placed, press Complete Promo. You can enter the bonus you actually received, and SmartStake records it in your Bet Tracker so the promotion counts in your Performance page.
Which Bet to Place First
Bonus bet hedges can be large, like the $654.55 above. A sportsbook can decline a stake that size, and the worst position is one leg placed and the other refused.
Check the maximum bet at both books before you place anything. If only one book shows its limit and it covers your stake, place the other leg first. If that bet goes through, you know the second one will. If it is declined, pick another card.
Do not cash out the qualifying bet to escape a bad fill. Cashing out can disqualify the bet from the offer. Tips and tricks for matched betting has the full order of operations, and what triggers a betting limit explains why books cap stakes in the first place.
Video Guide
This walkthrough shows an earlier version of the converter screen. The mechanic it teaches is unchanged.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a bet and get promotion?
A bet and get promotion is a sportsbook offer that credits bonus bets after you place one qualifying bet with your own money, as in "bet $5, get $200". The bonus bets usually arrive whether the qualifying bet wins or loses, and the offer is almost always for new customers only.
How do you convert a bet and get promotion?
You convert a bet and get promotion in two passes. First, place the qualifying bet and the opposite side at a second book so the pair costs as little as possible. Then place each bonus bet and hedge it at the second book, sized so both outcomes keep about the same cash.
How much is a bet and get bonus worth?
A bet and get bonus is worth less than its face value because a bonus bet never returns its stake. SmartStake's Promo Recommender plans a bet and get at 70% of face value. In an illustrative $200 example hedged at +400 against −450, the SmartStake calculator keeps $145.45, about 73%.
What odds should you use for bet and get bonus bets?
Use longer odds on the bonus bet, around +300 to +600, paired with the tightest price you can find on the other side. At a hold near 3%, the calculator keeps about 56% of a bonus bet at +150 and about 67% at +400. Past roughly +600, what the hedge gives back starts to outweigh what the longer price adds.
Is a bet and get promotion risk free?
No. The qualifying bet is your own money, and every hedge is a real bet at a second book. Matched betting narrows the gap between outcomes, but prices can move before both legs are placed, a bet can be declined or voided, and every bet can still win or lose.
Comparing tools for the job? The matched betting tool comparison covers what else is available.
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