What to Know Before Claiming Sports Betting Sign-Up Bonuses in 2025
You’re seeing the ads everywhere, right? It’s an absolute flood of them. Especially with new states like Missouri finally launching legal betting and every major sports season—the NFL, NBA, and college hoops—hitting all at once, your phone is blowing up.
They’re all screaming about getting “$1,500 in bonuses!” or even “thousands” in potential value. These sports betting sign-up bonuses are everywhere right now, and the way they’re advertised makes them sound like easy, free money.
But let’s be real, just you and me: it’s not cash. It’s not “free money.”
It’s a marketing coupon with a really short expiration date. It’s designed to do one thing: get you in the door and keep you betting. Think of me as the friend who grabs your arm right before you click “Claim” and says, “Wait. You really need to read the fine print first.” Because in 2025, that fine print is loaded with traps designed to take your real money.
The Big Three: Understanding the Type of Bonus You’re Getting
Okay, so you know what a “bonus bet” is and you know “risk-free” is a lie. Now, let’s look at the three main “welcome bonus” packages you’ll be offered.
Type 1: The “Bet & Get” (e.g., Bet $5, Get $200)
This is the most common offer you’ll see in 2025, and it’s especially popular for big events like the NFL season or a state launch. The pitch is simple: You sign up, make a small first bet (usually $5), and you “unlock” a much larger, fixed amount of bonus bets, like $150, $200, or $300.
But you have to read the fine print, because there are two very different versions of this offer, and one is a trap.
The Guaranteed Bonus (Win or Lose)
This is the gold standard. bet365 is famous for it: “Bet $5, Get $200 in Bonus Bets Win or Lose”. It’s exactly what it sounds like. You place your $5 bet, and it doesn’t matter if it wins or loses. You get the $200 in bonus bets. Period. This is, by far, the most consumer-friendly offer on the market.
The “Win-Required” Bonus
This is the sneaky one. Look at the 2025 offers from DraftKings (“Bet $5, Get $300 if Your Bet Wins”) and FanDuel (“Bet $5, Get $150 If Your Bet Wins”). That little four-letter word changes everything. If your first $5 bet loses, you get… zip. Nothing. The entire promotion is void. It’s not a “Bet & Get” bonus; it’s just a bet with boosted odds.
Type 2: The “First Bet Safety Net” (e.g., Up to $1,500 Back)
This is the rebranded “risk-free” bet we just talked about. BetMGM is the most common example, offering a “First Bet Safety Net” up to $1,500.
But let’s be crystal clear on the two big catches:
- If your $1,500 first bet wins, the promotion is over. You get… nothing. No bonus. Just your normal cash winnings. The bonus only triggers if you lose.
- If you lose, you don’t get your $1,500 cash back. You get $1,500 in bonus bets (which, as we learned, are worth much less).
This offer isn’t for a casual player. It’s built for a high-roller, someone who is comfortable depositing and betting $1,000 or $1,500 on their very first wager.
Type 3: The Deposit Match (The Unicorn… and The Trap)
This one sounds like the best deal of all. “100% Deposit Match up to $1,000!” You’ll more commonly see a “20% Deposit Match” from books like DraftKings.
But 99 times out of 100, it’s a trap. And the trap is called the “Playthrough Requirement,” or “Rollover.”
Here’s what that means. A simple “Bet & Get” bonus from FanDuel has a 1x playthrough. This is great. It just means you have to bet your bonus credits one time before you can withdraw any winnings from them.
Now, look at the Deposit Match. That DraftKings 20% match, which is part of its $1,300 bonus package, comes with a massive 25x playthrough requirement.
Let’s do the math on that:
- You deposit $1,000 to get the max.
- DraftKings gives you a $200 bonus (20% of $1,000). Your account looks great.
- But that $200 bonus is locked.
- To unlock it, you must wager 25-times the bonus amount.
- $200 (bonus) x 25 (playthrough) = $5,000.
You read that right. You have to place $5,000 in total bets just to unlock that $200 bonus. It’s not a bonus; it’s a cage for your money. One user on Reddit reported losing their entire account balance—deposit and all—because they didn’t meet a 20x rollover requirement in the (very short) time limit.
My advice? Unless you are a high-volume, professional-level bettor, stay away from any offer with a high playthrough requirement.
The 4 Bonus-Killing Traps Hiding in the Terms & Conditions
Okay, you’ve picked your bonus type. You’re ready to go. Now, I’m going to show you the five landmines you’re about to step on. These are the exact mistakes that make most new users forfeit their bonus.
Trap #1: You Panicked and Hit “Cash Out” on Your Qualifying Bet
This is the easiest mistake to make. You placed your $500 “Safety Net” bet on the Cowboys. But in the 2nd quarter, Dak throws a pick-six, and the other team is driving. You panic. You see the “Cash Out for $350” button, and you click it to save some of your money.
You just voided your entire promotion.
The terms and conditions for both BetMGM and FanDuel are crystal clear: if you use the “Cash Out” feature on your qualifying wager, you are no longer eligible for the promotion. The second you cash out, the sportsbook considers the promotional contract broken. You get nothing.
Trap #2: The 7-Day Ticking Clock
So, you got your $200 in bonus bets. Great! The problem is, there’s a ticking clock.
For almost every major sportsbook—DraftKings, BetMGM, and FanDuel—you have seven days (168 hours) to use those bonus bets. If you don’t use them, they expire and vanish from your account.
This isn’t an accident. It’s a psychological trick. It creates a sense of urgency. It pressures you to log back in and make fast, often bad, bets on random Tuesday night soccer or NBA games just so you don’t “lose” your bonus.
Trap #3: You Bet on a “Sure Thing” (Minimum Odds Requirements)
This one trips up everyone trying to be clever. You’ve got that “Bet $5, Get $150 If You Win” offer from FanDuel. You think, “I’ll just bet $5 on the heaviest favorite I can find, like a -1000 moneyline. It’s a lock!”
Nope. The books are way ahead of you.
Many offers have a “minimum odds” requirement on the qualifying bet. For example, the DraftKings and bet365 offers both require your first bet to be on odds of -500 or longer. Other books might require -200. This means you can’t bet on that -1000 “sure thing.” They are forcing you to take a real risk to qualify for the bonus.
Trap #4: Misunderstanding How “Safety Net” Bonuses Are Paid Out
Let’s say you took the big $1,500 “First Bet Safety Net” on BetMGM. You made your bet, and it lost. You’re probably expecting one giant $1,500 “coupon” to use on the Super Bowl.
That’s not what you get.
BetMGM’s terms explicitly state that if your losing bet is $50 or more, you get your bonus back in five (5) separate bonus bet tokens, each worth 20% of your stake. So, your $1,500 loss gets you five $300 bonus bets.
Why do they do this? It’s simple: it’s better for them and worse for you.
- It forces you to make five separate bets, increasing your exposure to the “vig” (the house edge).
- It prevents you from loading up that full $1,500 on a single bet you really love.
You’re not getting one big coupon; you’re getting a sheet of smaller ones.
