Original research · August 9, 2026
A $100 Bonus Bet Is Worth $24 or $73 Depending Where You Use It
By Matt Downs
Every sportsbook runs the same offer at the start of football season. Bet $5, get $200 in bonus bets. The number in the headline is the face value of the credit, and it is not what the credit is worth to you.
A bonus bet pays you the winnings and keeps the stake. That one rule decides most of the value, and the price you use the bet at decides the rest. Run the same $100 free bet at five different prices and it converts to anywhere between $24.07 and $72.73 of cash you keep.
Why a $100 bonus bet is not $100
Place $100 of your own money at +100 and a win returns $200: your $100 stake back, plus $100 of winnings. Place a $100 bonus bet at the same price and a win returns $100. The stake is consumed by the promo either way.
So the value of a bonus bet is the value of its winnings alone. That is why the price matters so much. At -200 you are playing for $50 of winnings, and the stake you never see again is most of what was on the table. At +400 you are playing for $400 of winnings, and the missing stake is a rounding error against it.
How to turn a bonus bet into cash you keep
The standard method is to place the bonus bet on one side and back the other side with real money, sized so you finish with the same amount whichever result lands. What is left over is your conversion: cash, guaranteed, with no result risk.
The size of that hedge is what most people underestimate. Converting a $100 bonus bet at +400 requires $327.27 of your own money on the other side. The profit is locked, but the cash has to exist first, and that requirement is the reason the best conversion rate is not available to everybody.
The sizing is worth calculating rather than estimating. The bonus conversion calculator takes the promo price and the price you can hedge at and returns the hedge stake, the locked profit and the conversion rate. Every figure in this article was produced on it, and the hedge calculator runs the same arithmetic for a live ticket you already have money on.
The same $100 bonus bet, converted five ways
| Bonus bet at -300, hedge +260 | $24.07 | 24.1% conversion, $9.26 hedge |
|---|---|---|
| Bonus bet at -200, hedge +180 | $32.14 | 32.1% conversion, $17.86 hedge |
| Bonus bet at -110, hedge -110 | $43.29 | 43.3% conversion, $47.62 hedge |
| Bonus bet at +250, hedge -300 | $62.50 | 62.5% conversion, $187.50 hedge |
| Bonus bet at +400, hedge -450 | $72.73 | 72.7% conversion, $327.27 hedge |
What that does to a $200 promo
Scale those rates to the offer in the ad. $200 of bonus bets converted at 32.1% is $64.28. The same $200 converted at 72.7% is $145.46.
That is an $81 spread on an identical promo, decided entirely by which price the credit was spent at. No handicapping was involved and no opinion about any game was required.
Three things the promo math does not do for you
The hedge needs real cash. Locking $72.73 means $327.27 sitting on the other side until the game settles. Without that bankroll you take a smaller conversion or you let the bonus bet ride unhedged and accept the variance.
The hedge price has to be fair. If the other side is priced badly, the conversion leaks quietly and the headline rate never arrives. Check both prices before placing either bet.
This is an edge on the promo. It converts money a book has already committed to giving you. It says nothing about who wins the game, and it does not make you a winning bettor on its own.
Frequently asked questions
What is a bonus bet actually worth?
Between roughly 24% and 73% of its face value, depending entirely on the odds you use it at. A bonus bet pays only the winnings and keeps the stake, so a $100 bonus bet used on a -300 favorite and hedged converts to about $24.07, while the same $100 used on a +400 underdog and hedged converts to about $72.73. Industry shorthand of 'about 70 cents on the dollar' assumes you are using longer prices, which most people do not.
Why are bonus bets better on underdogs than favorites?
Because you never get the stake back. The value of a bonus bet is the value of its winnings alone, so you want to be playing for the largest winnings available. At -200 a $100 bonus bet plays for $50 of winnings and the forfeited stake dominates. At +400 the same bet plays for $400 of winnings and the forfeited stake barely matters. Longer price, higher conversion, every time.
How do I convert a free bet to real cash?
Place the bonus bet on one side, then back the opposite side with your own money at another book, sized so both outcomes leave you with the same amount. Whatever is left is guaranteed cash regardless of the result. Sizing the second bet is the part worth calculating rather than estimating, because the required hedge grows quickly at longer prices.
Is converting bonus bets allowed by sportsbooks?
Placing a bonus bet and backing the other side elsewhere breaks no rule, but sportsbooks track promo behaviour and commonly respond by reducing offers or limiting stake sizes for accounts they identify as promo-focused. Read the terms attached to each offer, since expiry windows, minimum-odds requirements and market restrictions vary by book and often rule out the highest-converting prices.
Does a minimum-odds requirement change the math?
It sets a floor rather than a ceiling, and the floor usually helps. Many offers require the bonus bet to be used at -200 or longer, which pushes you away from the heavy favorites that convert worst. Nothing stops you going further out than the minimum, and the conversion rate keeps improving as you do, provided you can fund the larger hedge.