Introduction To Sports Gambling With Good JuJu
With An Initial Investment, The Sportsbooks Will Establish Your Bankroll For You
When you FIRST sign up, you are going to get offered different promotional offers from different sportsbooks. Some will offer you a deposit bonus, almost all will offer you a free bet bonus. Examples:
On Draftkings, you receive up to $1,000 for depositing up to $5,000 (20% cashback on your deposit) AND you get $150 in free bets when you place your first $5 wager.
Here is the catch on the deposit bonus: you only get $1 for every $25 you play. So you have 90 days to play through $25,000 in bets. It may not be practical for many “new” level one bettors to deposit $5,000. Consider lowering your deposit on this book to $500 (for example), which would require play through of $2,500 to get your free $100. Your decision here is predicated on your ability to get volume down responsibly, availability of capital, and tolerance for risk (though small). If you aren’t certain on any of those, reduce your deposit amount.
On MGM and ESPNBet, you receive a risk-free $1,500 bet. If you lose your first wager, you get a free bet up to that amount
A note on free bets: when you bet a free bet and win, you do not receive the stake back (ex. I use a $10 free bet on a +100 and win… I receive $10 in my account, not $20)
Betting free bets at higher odds can make them worth more. Once comfortable leveraging free bets, explore ways to further maximize your edge this way.
Between MGM and ESPN, you would start by finding a discrepancy in lines between the two books. As an example, Bears ML -105 on MGM and Packers ML -105 on ESPN (you most likely won’t find this on mainline NFL wagers).
Bet the $1,500 (or whatever you have allocated for this) on Bears at MGM and Packers at ESPN.
If the Packers win, you now have $2,930 in ESPN and $0 in MGM, BUT you have a $1,500 free bet in MGM.
Now, bet the $1,500 free bet on a -105 at MGM. Bet the other side at -105 on ESPN (again, you are doing this by finding a line discrepancy between the two books).
DO NOT bet $1,500 on ESPN. For this example, only bet 50%, or in this case, $750.
After this bet, if the MGM hits… you just made $1,430 on MGM, and lost $750 on ESPN. Now your accounts are at $1,430 on MGM and $2,180 on ESPN… $3,610. You made $610 while taking on zero risk.
If the ESPN bet hits, you just lost your $1,500 free bet, and your BetMGM account is at $0. But your ESPN account is now $3,645. Either way, you have made over $600 through the exercise
A sneaky little extra you can get out of MGM in the second scenario courtesy of our friend Elihu D. Feustel… reach out to MGM support and tell them you lost your first bet and your risk free bet. They may give you a nice deposit bonus, or additional free bet, etc.
Initially, start by signing up for 2 books. Work the sign up bonuses against each other, and then decide whether to work these books on-going promotions or move on to other books next. Have patience here, but remember your goal is to eventually get on every book so you can line shop most effectively.