Free bets or matching bets can be used to good advantage when there is a short priced favourite you want to back. A good example is tonight’s Champions League 2nd round tie between Arsenal and Olympiakos. Arsenal are being quoted at 1/4 and they are fair odds given they are at home and the form of the two teams.

However, 1/4 are not great odds. That’s a bet of four units to receive one back as profit (five back in total). Of course, a 25% profit is a pretty good profit in anyone’s books. The risk is moderate that Arsenal may draw or, shock horror, actually lose. It is what I would class as a reasonable risk with a fair return.

Now if you agree with me that 1/4 is a reasonable return for this match, you would have to agree that 1/2 sounds even better! And it does. So how do you get odds of 1/2 when the going rate is 1/4? Easy – free bets or matching bets.

Online bookmakers William Hill are offering a £25 Free Bet when you open an account. Now if you think about it, if you place £25 on Arsenal and use a free bet to place another £25 on them – you have a total bet riding on Arsenal of £50. At odds of 1/4 your return will be £62.50 for a profit of £12.50.

YOUR investment was £25 – your profit £12.50 or odds of 1/2. You have effectively used your free bet to improve the odds in your favour. Some online bookmakers offer up to £100 in free bets once you join. However, you often have to cycle that free money several time before you can draw on it. Back the top four in easy home games – yes, the odds will be very short, but then by using the free money, you are cycling it as required, you are winning, and you are winning with much better odds. Too easy!

There are times when I come across a contest and I really cannot decide who will win. Both teams, or both players, seem to be equally well credentialed and with my luck, whichever one I back, the other will win. However, this is one situation where free bets really do make the effort worthwhile.

Almost every online bookmaker has a free bet offer of some sort. If not a free bet, then a matching deposit bonus. Either way, you are getting an equivalent amount for free. If that is the case then you have the option of backing both players.

Will you make a profit? Well, sort of. You won’t make a loss, however. Let’s take the Federer-Nadal match in the Australian Open. Two big names, both playing well, and both looking to win. Nadal was at 2/3 to win whilst Federer was at 5/4.

Using a matching free bet, you could back Nadal to win using your own money – he is favourite after all. Let’s say you bet 100 units on him – your return would be around 166 units.

You can then use your matching free bet to back Federer. The 100 units at 5/4 would return 225 units. If Federer loses, which he did, you lost the matching bet – however, you still have 66 units profit. If Nadal loses, you have lost your 100 units, but you have made 125 units profit from the free matching bet – that’s the 100 units you lost plus 25 units profit.

Free bets have their place if you know how to use them to your advantage. It is just a matter of finding a bet that is a sure-fire winner that involves any contest where there are only two outcomes – a winner and a loser.

Ladbrokes is one of Britain’s most respected online gambling firms having built a strong reputation for reliability and fairness over many years.

One of the key features with Ladbrokes is the ability to bet in your own currency with a wide range of currencies to select from. There are currently 18 currencies listed including US, Australian, New Zealand and Hong Kong dollars, with other currencies from Asia, Africa and of course, Europe.

Ladbrokes are famous for their offline betting shops with over 2000 shops spread throughout the UK. With the advent of online gambling, Ladbrokes joined the party and now offer everything from the traditional horse and greyhound racing bets to the now popular casino games. They also run a sportsbook on all major sporting events.

Joining is easy and depending on where your interests lie, they have many promotions. The current promotion at Ladbrokes is a free £10 bet with every £10 bet you make. The online casino has more signup offers. Ladbrokes accept all major credit cards, debit cards and PayPal payments. Withdrawals up to £2000 can be done quickly and efficiently with no hassles, and no long waiting periods.

Become a part of one of Britain’s most trusted online gambling sites and make your bets in the knowledge the site is secure, your bets are safe and you can have a great experience with ease.

Ever wondered how the bonuses worked when joining an online casino or gambling site? There are many different types of bonus available but they generally fall into four bonus types.

Sign up bonus: As the name suggest, this is a bonus that is paid when you sign up as a new account holder. They take the form of either matching deposit amounts or set amounts. There are generally upper limits to these bonuses but they are often very generous.

Reload bonus: This is a bonus that is paid to existing account holders and paid after depositing additional funds into their account. As with the sign up bonuses, reload bonuses come in many different shapes and sizes including matching 1 for 2 and have quite generous maximums.

Referral bonus: Referral bonuses are paid when you refer a friend who opens a new account. The bonus is normally paid after the ‘friend’ has earn a set number points or played a set amount of money.

Bonus points: Many online casinos use a reward system where you earn reward point by playing. The more you play the more points you can earn. Some sites offer the bonus points site wide, others pay bonus points only on designated games or at designated times. Bonus points can often be exchanged for money (into your account) or merchandise.

Each site has their own rules determining how and when bonuses are earned and paid. They set qualification criteria to ensure the system is not being scammed. UK Betting Central has more information on current bonuses and their eligibility requirements – check them out.

Free bets. Almost every online betting site has some type of free bet offer. They are normally in the form of sign up bonuses and take many different forms. Most are matching bets. Open an account with £25 and receive £25 as a bonus.

Others will match your first bet. Open an account and bet £25 on your selection and they will match it with either a further £25 on the same selection or a free £25 bet on another selection of your choice.

The free bet bet offers are obviously there to attract you to one particular site, however if you are looking to place a bet online then you would be crazy not to find the best deal available – free money is free money.

As with all free offers, make sure you read the conditions attached to the free offer. Some casinos offer matching deposits but have very strict rules relating to when you can draw on those funds, for example, you may have to turn over your own funds three or four times before you can draw on the free money. You need to read the conditions carefully. In this case, to turn over your funds four times and you have deposited £25, you will need to have made £100 worth of bets first. With a £25 deposit + £25 matching deposit, it only takes a win or two and you will have made your £100 in bets on the first day.

Free bets, you can double your fun, double your return and even make a nice profit using someone else’s money. Sounds pretty good to me. For more information on free bets check out UK Betting Central.

How free are free bets? Well, the answer is probably that some are more free than others. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, they say. Maybe you could say something similar about free bets. But then again, if you play by the rules of the individual bikmakers, you certainly can get generously rewarded.

Is that a free bet? Yes, if that’s how you define it. But you will not be able to log into a betting site that you have never participated in before, and collect a sizeable free bet just like that. That’s not how it usually works.

The most common way to collect a free bet is by making a deposit of a stated amount, then the bookmaker in question will usually match the deposit amount. If you choose to deposit less than they state, you probably won’t get your free bet.

“Online Bookies are falling over themselves with Free Bet Offers for new sign-ups. Free Bets range between £10 and £100 so there’s a definitely a Free Bet to suit most wallets.” www.freebetoffers.co.uk

You’ll notice they say, “a Free Bet to suit most wallets.” That pretty much sums it up, but if you’re making a deposit anyway, then why not double your money. So I guess the free bet you receive is indeed better than a poke in the eye! And of course, you might even win while using your free bet…

“…there’s actually a way to ensure that your Free Bet makes you money. Basically it’s a way to Beat The Bookies and it’s called Matched Betting. Thanks to the immergence of Online Betting Exchanges, Matched Betting can be done fairly quickly and easily over the Internet.” www.freebetoffers.co.uk

Now, there’s something to whet your appetite. Why not head over to UK Betting Central and see what they have to say on the subject. They usually have a handle on everything to do with betting.

We all love the idea of being able to place a free bet. It’s someone else’s money, so if the bet loses, so what! Nothing lost for us! But if it wins, then yippee! Free money from free money, and that’s something to shout about.

So, just how free are the free bets that are being offered around by all the bookmakers? Well, they are free, but not necessarily as free as “FREE,” if you know what I mean. OK, you probably don’t… Let’s put it this way, you will have to make a deposit into the particular bookie who is offering the free bet before he will give you the free bet.

Most of the online bookies offer free bets. Quite often it works by you making a stated minimum deposit. After that the bookmaker will match your deposit, hence the “free” bet! Sometimes they use other methods of giving you a free bet. For example, you may have to make a certain number of regular bets above a minimum size, then for every nth bet, you will receive a free bet.

There are other, usually very complicated, ways of offering you a free bet. You will always have to come up with at least some money first, but it certainly can be worth doing. And as stated earlier, if you win… Anyway, why not check out UK Betting Central. They know all the best free bets on offer.

Free bets are exactly the kind of bets we all like to hear about. All the sportsbooks are offering them, as are the casinos. But are they really free?

Well, kind of… It depends on the deal on offer. Often the deal is a match bonus. You deposit say, £25 with the sportsbook or casino, and they will match it. Sometimes it’s a little more complicated though.

The free bet on offer can sometimes depend on the bets you place. There may be a match bonus for say £25, and then when you spend another £25 on bets, they will give you another free matched bet.

There are other ways of making up the bonuses, and they usually only apply to the joining bonus. That is, when you join for the first time you will be eligible to the free bet bonus on offer, whatever it is.

Some of the sportsbooks, notably BetFred (The Bonus King), will regularly offer all kinds of bonuses. Usually you have to qualify for them in some way, but it’s also usually a good deal for the punter. After all, the punter won’t bite unless he or she thinks they will get something out of it!

If you’d like to wade through the maze of free bets and joining bonuses, and decide for yourself what’s best and what’s not, take a look here!

BetFred, the Bonus King, has long been known as the place to go for great bonuses. It’s not just the signup bonus, which if course is excellent, but there are other great bonuses too. If you are new to BetFred, then you can claim up to £100 in free bets!

Free bets with the sign up is nothing new. They all pretty much do it. But at BetFred you get a matched bonus up to £50, then when you place five more bets, each one with at least a stake of £10 or more, BetFred will give you another £50 – absolutely free!

There are other promotions on offer too. There’s the caption competition where you can win a £50 free bet if you come up with something funny, snappy and short that they like. There’s golfing Play-Off-Pay-Off. That one’s best described by BetFred itself: “If the golfer you back is beaten in a play-off, Betfred will give you a free bet to the same stake (up to £250) on any of the following week’s golf tournaments.”

BetFred is always having generous promotions filled full of bonuses worth going for. If you spend a lot of time at a computer, then maybe you should get the BetFred i-bar. This is BetFred’s own browser toolbar. It will keep you bang up to date with the latest sports news giving you, “…instant and direct access to over 4000 news feeds and all of the Betfred sports markets and promotions.” Now, that’s something worth having.

Looking for the best joining bonus? Want to get your hands on some free cash? You can at many of the online bookmakers, but the best bonuses on offer that we have found at the present time is at Bet365!

You can currently get either one of two joining bonuses. They are geotargeted. That’s just a fancy word meaning that you will be offered the bonus that suits you best depending on where you live.

You actually do better with this deal if you don’t live in the UK. Bet365’s 15% First Deposit Match is a cool $500 US. Or $500 CAD, €500, £250, 1,000 DKK, $500 AU, $12,500 Taiwan, and so on.

You need to register and make a deposit of at least $25, £10, €10, or equivalent, at which point Bet365 will email you your Bonus Offer Code. This will end in “NCDBR” so it is very important that you supply a good working email address to them – not some free throwaway address. Be serious about this and you will do well. Along with the Bonus Offer Code will be the necessary instructions to get you going.

There are conditions about how to claim your bonus, but theses are pretty relaxed compared to some. You have a generous 90 days to make the claim, which should be ample for everyone.

If you’re from the UK, then you can claim a £100 bonus in The Free Bet Basket. This is a match bonus which covers your first bet of £25, followed by another three free bets of up to £25 each after you have placed more bets with Bet365 of 5, 10, and 15. You also have 90 days to claim the bonuses.

Check it all out here!