Best Sports Betting Welcome Offers - Mar 2025
If you are new to sports betting, then you will undoubtedly be looking for a welcome bonus to start your journey, and OddsPortal is here to help with an abundance of betting offers available for you to claim with a click of a button.
Discover all of the welcome offers we have available below, and provided you are a new player with the suggested online betting sites, follow the links to lock in your betting bonuses today.
What Is a Welcome Bonus?
A welcome bonus is a promotion provided by online bookmakers that can be claimed by new players only, meaning you must have never signed up with that specific site before. If you are new to sports betting then this shouldn’t be a problem for you seeing as you will have never signed up with online bookmakers and claimed a welcome bonus before.
An example of a welcome bonus could be as simple as something like bet 10 get 30, which would require you to deposit 10 and stake that amount to receive 30 in free bets or bonus bets.
For those of you who have signed up with online betting sites before, you might encounter some cases where registering with one site prevents you from claiming an offer with another due to them being connected, so that’s always something to look out for.
Types of Welcome Offers
We already referred to the bet and get welcome offer, which we go into more detail about below, but there are several other types of welcome promotions that you might come across on our page and elsewhere when you are looking for sports betting offers for new players.
Below are just a few of the most common welcome offers that you will find with OddsPortal if you are interested in some betting bonuses as a new player.
Bet and Get
The most common type of welcome offer that you will come across is the bet and get, which usually requires a deposit and stake of 5 or 10 whichever currency you are using after after signing up.
You can sometimes receive up to 6x the value of your opening bet in free bets or as bonus funds when you claim a welcome offer through OddsPortal.
An example of this can be seen with the current BetMGM UK welcome offer where you can deposit and stake £10 and it will guarantee you receive £60 in bonuses at the online betting site.
Other examples which require less of a stake include the Ladbrokes welcome offer, which is bet £5, get £25 in free bets at the moment.
Deposit Match
A deposit match as a welcome offer is simple, the amount of money you decide to add to your account when you first sign up will be matched in free bets or bonus funds.
More often than not, this will be capped at a certain amount. It could be up to 50 of your chosen currency, and will be a varying percentage of your first deposit. Most of the time, it will be a 100% deposit match but can sometimes be 50%, 200%, 300%, or another figure.
Although it wouldn’t be a deposit match, a similar type of welcome offer that you will come across is a matched bet. This applies to your first wager at an online betting site
Money Back
You will rarely find welcome offers in sports betting that give you cashback, but they can often provide you with a way to get your first stake back as a bonus or free bet instead.
In some cases, like with the Bwin UK welcome offer at the moment, you can get up to £20 back as a free bet if your first bet loses. Similarly, other betting sites have been known to offer similar and sometimes even more in a profit boost as part of their welcome offer.
Profit Boost
A fairly new welcome promotion that has recently been made available is the profit boost, which rewards you if your first bet is a winner with the selected online bookmaker.
For example, with LeoVegas welcome offer at the moment you can get a 100% profit boost up to £100 with a maximum stake of £10.
How We Rate Welcome Promotions
We could just offer any welcome promotions currently available, but there are plenty of steps we take to ensure you are getting the best offers available.
Moreover, OddsPortal also tries to secure unique offers just for our players, meaning you can sometimes be claiming extra with welcome offers at our website.
Overall, there are a few things we consider when deciding whether to include a welcome bonus on this page and on our site in general, and they are described in greater detail below.
Bonus Offered
When deciding whether to include a welcome bonus on our site, we carefully consider whether it matches up to the industry standard and ensures players get a healthy bonus amount for what they deposit after signing up.
This is why we have offers that can sometimes grant you 3x, 4x, 5x, and even up to 6x your deposit and stake in bonus funds, making sure you get to enjoy plenty of betting on the online bookmaker before having to make another deposit.
Deposit & Stake Required
Not everyone is looking for a deposit match and to add a substantial amount upon signing up with an online betting site, which means we had to make sure to have welcome offers that require a minimal deposit and stake.
For example, the bet and get offers we have available will typically require a small deposit and stake to earn you free bets or bonus funds, and are perfect for players who don’t want to spend a lot when first signing up.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t have matched bets, money back, or deposit match welcome offers for those of you who would like to make a bigger deposit and bet when you sign up.
We ensure that we cover all bases so that all players can enjoy the welcome offers we have available.
Limitations on Usage of Bonus
Some people would be glad to see a welcome offer that is restricted to use on a football bet builder only, or maybe an accumulator. However, others would prefer to have a welcome bonus that can be used on all sports because they like to bet on football, but other things too.
This is why we have the perfect combination of some offers that grant a welcome bonus which are for specific markets, while others can be used for any sportsbook market with our recommended online betting sites.
How To Claim Welcome Offers
Claiming welcome offers is a simple process, especially with OddsPortal. It can be broken down into just a few steps, and the exact process will vary depending on which welcome offer you have decided to claim, but the below confines it into a step-by-step guide for you.
- 1. Firstly, click on either the operator logo or the “Claim Bonus” button for the welcome offer that you want to claim and know that you are a new player for
- 2. You will then be transferred to the welcome offer with the selected online betting site, where you will be more than likely find a button to “Join”, “Sign Up”, or something similar
- 3. Enter your personal details, including your name, date of birth, address, email address, and anything else required
- 4. Now your account has been created, it’s time to make a deposit with your preferred payment method to ensure that you claim the welcome offer, unless it is a no deposit welcome offer
- 5. Make the minimum deposit required as detailed in the T&Cs of the welcome offer, and then finally the stake required with the minimum selections and odds as described in the T&Cs
- 6. You will now either receive your welcome bonus in free bets or bonus bets, or wait for settlement of your first bet to ensure you receive the entitlement of the welcome offer with your chosen online betting site
- 7. Finally, you are now free to use your welcome bonus on either any sportsbook markets, or what the offer is eligible for!
FAQs about Welcome Offers
Which Bet Has the Best Welcome Bonus?
It will depend which region you are in and whether you are a new player to decide which betting site has the best welcome bonus. Similarly, it also depends on which type of offer you are searching for, because some people might be more interested in a bet and get offer than a deposit match, or vice versa.
Who Gives the Best Free Bets?
Currently in the UK, Betfred is the online betting site that is granting the most free bets with £50 after you make a £10 deposit and £10 bet at minimum odds of 1/1 (2.0).
What is a First Bet Offer?
A first bet offer is the same as a welcome offer, with you being rewarded with bonus funds provided you meet the requirements with your first bet at the online bookmaker you have chosen. A first bet offer can also apply to existing players, with rewards provided for your first bet on a specific market.
Are Bonus Bets Free Money?
Bonus bets cannot be withdrawn, so can’t typically be referred to as money. However, they can be turned into real money via a winning bet. This means that bonus bets are not free money, but they are technically free money to use on a betting account only.