The best free bets and betting offers in sport this August

The UK betting market is awash with free bets for new and existing customers, so we’ve picked some of our favourites

Free betting offers are used to entice new customers (iStock)

Betting on sporting events is a hobby for millions of Brits and one of the best ways to get started is with free bets. We’ve collated the best free bet sign-up offers from betting sites and we have reviewed each of them.

So whether you’re into football, horse racing, tennis or golf, there should be something below to get your juices flowing.

What is a free bet and how do they work?

The concept of free bets is pretty simple – they’re a promotional tool used by bookies to allow customers to bet online on events without putting their own money on the line. It’s a taste of the betting experience without the financial commitment.

The betting company will deposit a certain amount of credit into the customer’s account, which can then be bet on the outcome of an event. If your bet wins, then you keep the winnings (although the free bet stake is usually retained by the betting company).

There are often limits to what a free bet can be used on. For example, it may only be eligible for a particular sport such as football or a particular event such as the Grand National.

Free bets are generally split into two types: welcome offers, which are only available to new customers to encourage them to sign up, and existing customer offers, which are available to regular users.

There may also be certain requirements to earn a free bet such as ‘deposit £10 to earn £30 in free bets’ or ‘bet £20 in the next seven days to earn a £5 free bet’.

To find out more about our process and gambling responsbily scroll down this page.

Best free bets welcome offers August 2024

We’ve scoured many betting offers and come up with five of the best free bet sign-up offers out there right now.

BetVictor: Bet £10 on football and get £40 in free bets

Let’s start with an offer which is right up the street for anyone looking for a football betting site. At BetVictor, if you sign up, opt in, then deposit and bet £10 on any football market, you’ll be rewarded with £40 worth of free bets.

The rewards for this bet £10, get £40 offer consist of:

• £10 accumulator free bet (minimum of four selections)
• £10 bet-builder free bet for football
• £10 in-play free bet
• £10 free bet for any sports market

As is typical of betting sign up offers, there are a couple of caveats. The initial £10 bet must be on a football market with odds of at least evens (1/1) or greater and the £40 of free bets will expire in seven days. But meet those conditions and it’s a pretty good way to get started.

Betfred: Bet £10 and get £50 in free bets

Similarly to BetVictor above, this offer at Betfred will give you £50 in free bets when you bet £10.

There’s a promo code this time, so you just need to enter ‘SUMMER50’ when you register and deposit (using a debit card) to be eligible for the free bets. Once you’ve done that and placed a bet of at least £10 on any sports market (again, at odds of at least 1/1), you’ll be rewarded with the £50 of free bets.

Those will be 3x £10 free bets for any sports market and 2x £10 accumulator free bets, all of which have to be used within seven days.

BetMGM: Bet £10 and get £60 in free bets

The largest value of free bets comes from BetMGM, a new UK bookmaker with one of the best betting sign up offers. It’s the same process as the two deals above in that you need to place a £10 qualifying bet after you’ve signed up, on any market with odds of at least 1/1.

If you do so, you’ll receive £60 of free bets, with the typical seven-day expiry. Those are: 3x £10 horse racing free bets, a £10 football free bet, a £10 accumulator free bet and a £10 bet builder free bet. So plenty to get your teeth into.

BetUK: Bet £10 and get £30 in free bets

Our fourth recommended free bet welcome offer comes from BetUK, who require the usual sign-up and £10 bet to qualify, although that initial bet only needs to be at minimum odds of 4/5 rather than evens.

Once that’s done you’ll be credited with £30 of free bets across a couple of sports. You’ll be given a £10 horse racing free bet, a £10 football free bet and a £10 free bet builder (with at least three selections and with minimum total odds of 3/1). Another one worth having.

William Hill: Bet £10 and get £30 in free bets

Finally for this section, we’re highlighting one of the UK’s best-known bookmakers, William Hill. The stakes and value of their welcome offer are the same as BetUK above – a bet £10, get £30 of free bets.

What makes this one of the best free bet offers is that William Hill have the shortest odds requirement for the qualifying £10 bet. Your selection only needs to be 1/2 or greater on any sports market, allowing you to bet on an outcome that you consider more of a sure thing.

Once that is done, you’ll get £30 of free bets as three lots of £10 bets.

Free bet offers for existing customers

Betting site offers with free bets for existing customers come in many forms, including ‘money back’ promos if your selection loses, ‘acca insurance’ if one leg of an accumulator bet lets you down or ‘first scorer insurance’ where you get money back if your selection fails to score the first goal but does net in the match, as well as simple free bets for using their site. Here are some of our favourite free bets for existing customers.

BetUK: Bet £10 on football bet builder and get a £5 free bet

For you accumulator lovers out there, BetUK have a free bet offer worth considering. All you have to do is opt in via the ‘My Offers’ page and then stake at least £10 on any football bet builder market at odds of evens or greater.

You will receive a £5 free bet that can then be used on any market, not just football, and there is no minimum odds requirement although you will not receive the free bet stake in your winnings. There is a maximum of one £5 free bet per week.

BoyleSports: Acca Insure

A simple accumulator insurance policy from BoyleSports. When putting on an acca, you have the choice of Acca Boost or Acca Insure. Boost will increase your prospective winnings, while Insure means you get your money back as a free bet if just one leg of the accumulator lets you down.

You need a minimum of five selections in the acca to qualify for the insurance promotion and the maximum refund is £20.

Kwiff: Football Acca Shield

The niftily-named Football Acca Shield from Kwiff is pretty similar to the BoyleSports offer above. After putting a pre-match football accumulator on (minimum four selections with minimum total odds of 4/1), you’ll receive your money back as a free bet up to £20 if one leg lets you down.

The twist with Kwiff – who pride themselves on doing things a bit differently in the UK betting market – is that the free bet will be what they call a ‘surprise bet’. That’s a bet generated by their algorithm so could be on any sport or bet type – as the customer, you’re not in control. This may be considered a downside by some and a charming quirk by others, so judge for yourself accordingly.

Unibet: Money back specials

Unibet is one of the top betting sites with free bets and they have a horse racing-specific money back offer that covers you when your horse is so near but yet so far.

If you place a single bet on any of the day’s selected races and your horse finishes second, then you’ll receive your stake back as a free bet (up to a maximum of £20, with a minimum £1 stake).

Unibet also sometimes run a similar offer where you’ll get your money back as cash (rather than a free bet) if your horse finishes second or third in selected races. They post the eligible races for both these offers on their site every day.

Bet365: Soccer Substitute Guarantee

There’s nothing worse than betting on a player to do something in a match and then watching them get hobbled by a reckless challenge in the opening 10 minutes. Luckily, Bet365 have you covered on this front.

If your player is substituted before half-time, they will return your stake as a free bet on single markets (provided the market hasn’t already been settled) and for multiple bets, your remaining selections will be left to run.

So if you’ve bet on a player to be the last goalscorer or take a certain number of shots or to be booked and they are subbed in the first half, you’ll get your money back as a free bet.

Free bets UK: Best free bets clubs

Free bet clubs are generally opt-in deals for existing customers where you earn free bets by staking money throughout the week. The amount that needs to be staked and the amount of free bets given in return obviously varies from bookie to bookie, but we’ve picked five of our favourites here.

Betway Free Bet Club: Bet £25 on trebles or greater and get £10 in free bets

After opting into Betway’s Free Bet Club, you need to stake at least £25 on trebles, accumulators or bet builders (in any sport) between midnight GMT on Saturday and 11.59pm GMT the following Friday to qualify.

Do that and you’ll earn £10 in free bets in two £5 free bet chunks, with the first paid on the Saturday after qualification and the second paid on the Monday. If you’re into your accas anyway, this is a good deal to get involved with and the fact it’s available on any sport, not just football, is handy for betting all-rounders.

BetVictor Loyalty Club: Place 5x £5+ bets and get £1-£25 in free bets

If you enjoy a random element to your free bets, then BetVictor have added a fun gimmick to their Loyalty Club. If you make five bets of at least £5 throughout the week (midnight GMT Monday to 11.59pm GMT Sunday), each at odds of 1/2 or greater then you’ll earn a free bet.

To find out how much that free bet is, you ‘open the box’ and an amount between £1 and £25 is revealed. You’ll then have the flexibility to use that amount as one free bet or a number of smaller free bets as you wish, on any sports market. Incidentally, BetVictor also have one of the best betting apps with free bets.

BetUK Free Bet Club: Bet £15 on horse racing and get a £3 free bet

One for horse racing betting site punters here. If you opt in to BetUK’s Free Bet Club and bet £15+ on horse racing between Monday and Sunday (at odds of evens or greater), you’ll earn a £3 free bet.

The £15 must be a single racing bet but you can do it on two occasions during the week, so could earn £6 of free bets for placing £30 of initial bets.

BoyleSports: Bet £50 and get £15 in free bets

If you enjoy betting in person in a physical bookmakers, then BoyleSports have an offer that could be right up your boulevard.

If you bet £50 across a week (Monday to Sunday), with at least one of those bets being in-shop using a BoyleXtra card then you’ll receive £15 in free bets the following Monday.

The free bets will be valid for 14 days (so longer than the standard seven days) and will consist of a £5 free bet to use online, a £5 free bet to use in-shop at the counter and a £5 free bet to use in-shop at the self-service betting terminal.

FafaBet Daily Free Bet: Get a free bet worth 5% of your daily in-play bets up to £10

A bit of a different offer from FafaBet to finish us off. You can earn a free bet worth up to £10 with them, based on your daily in-play bets.

To qualify, you need to place in-play bets on any sport between £5 and £10. FafaBet then track the total value of your in-play bets across a 24-hour period and give you a free bet worth five per cent of that total the following day. I.e if you made five £10 in-play bets on a number of sports across a single day (£50 in total), you would receive a £2.50 free bet. That free bet can be used on any market within seven days.

Free bets no deposit offers

Sometimes you don’t even need to make a deposit in order to qualify for a free bet offer. Here, we outline five free-to-play games that can provide free bets for customers without the need for any deposit.

Goals Giveaway (Bet365)

Bet365’s Goals Giveaway offers you the chance to win up to £50 in free bets every week as a result of the number of goals scored in certain football fixtures.

There’s no need for a deposit, you can simply reveal a match every weekday from 2pm and then you will be awarded free bets depending on the amount of goals there are in that match. So sit back and root for a high-scoring thriller!

From 2pm each Friday you can see exactly how much you can win by clicking the ‘reveal prizes’ button. Free bets up to £50 will be deposited into your account in randomised amounts and you’ll then have seven days to use them.

Stat Attack (William Hill)

Stat Attack is William Hill’s weekly, free-to-play prediction game. There’s arguably more knowledge required than for Bet365’s Goals Giveaway above, as you’ll be answering stat-based questions about that week’s football.

There are normally five questions about the weekend’s biggest game, such as ‘how many goals will be scored’, ‘will there be over 10.5 corners in the match’ and ‘how many cards will be shown in the second half’.

The more answers you get right, the greater the amount of free bets you’re credited with. A great way to show off your football knowledge and earn some free bets.

Footie 4 Play (TalksportBet)

TalksportBet’s free-to-play predictor game is called Footie 4 Play and runs during each weekend of Premier League action. The exact format could well change for the 2024/25 season but for the previous campaign, it worked as follows.

Customers submitted their score predictions for four Premier League matches (with no deposit required) and were awarded a £1 free bet if two scores were correct, a £10 free bet for three correct scores and £500 cash for all four scores being correct. The bets were eligible for any sports market and expired three days after accreditation if not used.

If you’re an ace predictor, it’s well worth your time.

Scratch & Win (Grosvenor Sport)

Grosvenor Sport’s Scratch & Win game is a pretty simple concept where you simply receive a daily scratch card for free and if you match three icons, you’ll win a prize.

Prizes vary from free bets to boost tokens and other bet enhancements, depending on the icons revealed and a new scratch card is available from 8am UK time daily. The latest run of the game ended on 14 July, 2024 but may return soon.

Correct Score Predictor (NetBet)

NetBet, who are currently promoted by former Arsenal star and England international Ray Parlour – who has one of the best football nicknames of all time in ‘The Romford Pele’ – offer a predictor game that is almost identical to TalksportBet’s Footie 4 Play above.

Their less snappily-named Correct Score Predictor does what it says on the tin. You predict four scores ahead of the weekend’s football and earn free bets or cash prizes if at least two are correct.

Their scaling of free bets is a £5 free bet for two correct scores, a £20 free bet for three and £500 cash for all four being right, although that will be split between winners if there is more than one. NetBet ran the game throughout last season and Euro 2024, and are expected to continue for the upcoming campaign.

How we rank and review free bets UK

Operators must meet a number of important attributes before being considered by our team when we’re compiling our list of the best free bet offers, such as:

Regulation

Only gambling sites who hold a valid licence from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) are considered when we evaluate free bet offers. Bookies who are not regulated are considered unsafe and we strongly recommend you to avoid engaging with them. Anyone can check the UKGC register for confirmation of a bookmakers’ licence to trade.

Reputation

There are lots of good new betting sites emerging in the UK, but reputation still goes a long way and it shows in our rankings as we’ve given preference to brands we’ve built up a solid level of trust in over a number of years. That’s why household names like Betfred, William Hill and BetVictor figure highly on best free bets list, although we do highly rate some newcomers such as BetMGM.

Customer experience

We put the customer service teams at leading bookmakers through the ringer during our testing phase, with preference given to those who resolve issues quickly and with a minimum of fuss. We mark bookies down if they have inefficient bots sending users around in circles. We also test betting apps and consider other users’ feedback on iOS and Google Play versions.

Being responsible

Promoting responsible gambling is something we take very seriously and we’ll mark down bookmakers who don’t give users every opportunity to stay in control of their betting. All regulated gambling sites are required to offer safer betting tools but visibility and usability can vary from site to site. Preference is given to those who prominently promote their safer gambling tools and make them easy to use.

Promotions

Rewarding new custom is a given in the bookmaking industry and customers can expect to receive anything from free bets to price boosts upon registering. We factor in the welcome package when rating free bet offers, while we also consider their ongoing promotions once a user has moved beyond the new customer phase.

Responsible gambling

The most important thing to remember is to gamble responsibly. You’ve probably heard the slogan ‘When the fun stops. Stop’ plenty of times but it still rings true.

Betting can add further enjoyment to watching sporting events but there are certainly no guarantees you’ll make money out of it, no matter how much you think you know about sport.

When betting, always assume you’ll lose and therefore, only bet what you can afford to lose. If you win, then that’s simply a nice bonus.

Make sure you use the responsible gambling tools offered by betting companies such as deposit limits, reality checks, loss limits and time outs. These can stop gambling getting out of hand.

If you have gambling-related concerns, then seek independent help. There are several UK charities and institutions that offer support, advice, and information, with a few listed below:

• GamCare
• GambleAware
• Gamblers Anonymous
• NHS

Best free bets offers summary

On this page, we’ve picked some of our favourite free bets and all recommended bookies are regulated by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), so they are safe to engage with. There are plenty of illegitimate gambling companies out there, so be aware.

While our recommended free bets will be perfect for some people, you should always choose bookmakers who provide free bets that cater to your specific needs. Make sure you fully read the terms and conditions when signing up so you’re clear on how to qualify for the offers.