Sportsbook bonus rollover explained: How it works

 One of the first thing the players see when they visit the online sportsbooks is the big bonus offer for new customers. And while we believe that the free bets are among the best features of the internet sportsbooks, a condition of the bonus, namely the "rollover", is not as publicized as the bonus itself, yet it also creates the most trouble for the bettor.

 As you already know we visit many sports betting forums and blogs on a regular base to keep tabs on the sportsbooks and it's unbelievable how often people would complain about a sportsbook just because they did not take the time and read the terms and conditions of the bonus. Some of our readers may be tired of us constantly reminding people that they should read the fine print, but we do so for a reason. And today we will take an in-depth look at one of the most misunderstood aspects of the sportsbook bonus - the rollover.

 Let's take the current bonus offered by the popular (and highly recommended) online sportsbook Bovada and use it as an example to show how the rollover works. By the way, you can see a full list of sportsbook promo codes here, if you want to further advance your knowledge of the topic or take advantage of any of the Bookmaker's offers.

 For this example we will take their very basic bonus offer which is 10% on deposits of over $300 for those who have obtained just the Gold Level rewards. Among the conditions of the bonus we find the following:  "required rollovers are 3-time for 10%" as well as "rollover required is on deposit amount only". So what does this mean? In order to understand how the rollover works, we must first explain what is "rollover". In simple terms, it is the amount required from the player to wager before they can withdraw the bonus given to them by the sportsbook. Keep in mind that the amount should be wagered, not necessarily lost, so if you place $100 bet and it's a winner, you already have $100 worth of rollover acquired.

 Using the bonus example above, let's say that we deposit the minimum for the bonus, i.e. $300. Reading the terms and conditions of the bonus we know that the rollover required is only on the deposit, in other worlds $300. Note that some sportsbooks will use deposit+ bonus, which in this case would be $330 ($300 deposit + $30 bonus). which clearly increases the rollover needed before the customer can withdraw the money. We also know that the rollover requirement is 3 times, which means that the bettor must wager 3 times the deposit before they can withdraw. Using a simple math: 3x$300=$900, thus a player must place $900 worth of bets before they can cash out. As you can see, once an example is used - it becomes very clear how the rollover works and why many people who did not read the terms and conditions could be confused when their withdraw is not approved because they did not meet rollover wagering requirements.

 Every online sportsbook will have rollover requirements on their bonuses, but some could be different than the example we used. Some variations include the aforementioned deposit+bonus calculation of the rollover, instead of just the deposit. Other sportsbooks may have higher rollover requirements, while another group may have smaller (but those are used on cash-back bets only). And then we have the sportsbooks which use non-withdrawable bonuses, i.e. once the player reaches the playthgouth limit they can withdraw the winnings, but the bonus amount would be deducted from the withdrawal before it is made. Naturally we don't recommend people playing at those types of online sportsbooks, but you can see how easy it is for the player to be upset if they just assume, instead of reading the rollover requirements.

As to why the sportsbooks have bonus rollovers in the first place, most of you may have already guessed. If the sportsbooks did not put those requirements in place, people would simply deposit, get the bonus and then withdraw, pulling on over the sportsbook. Again, when it comes to the rollover: don't assume, read it!