Sportsbooks offer some phenomenal promotions to New York bettors. But they can also cause confusion.
Every NY sports betting app is in competition for your business, and gaming operators try grabbing your attention with flashy new-user bonuses. This is only intensified with the March Madness Final Four coming this weekend, and the Masters following soon after. Sportsbooks get a ton of handle from each event.
While the new-user welcome offers — and various other bonuses and promotions — seem great on the surface, each one lists important details in the fine print.
Because those crucial stipulations are buried in a long paragraph of terms and conditions, they can be easy to miss. To help make you a more informed New York sports bettor, we’re going to break down the background information associated with each welcome offer.
FanDuel Sportsbook: $1,000 No Sweat Bet
At FanDuel Sportsbook NY, new users can have their first real-money bet paid back in bonus bets if their first wager loses. This means if you lay down $50 on the UConn Huskies moneyline odds and they lose, FanDuel will credit you with a $50 bonus bet.
To access this promotion, your first wager must be $10 or greater. Any bets less than that amount won’t be refunded if you lose. On the flip side, the maximum amount FanDuel will repay in bonus bets is $1,000.
One thing that’s good about FanDuel’s offer is that if you lose and receive the bonus bet, you can break it into multiple wagers. For example, if you received a $50 bonus bet from that UConn loss, you can then place two $25 wagers with your bonus cash. Some sportsbooks force you to use the entirety of your bonus money on a single wager. (Of course, always remember to gamble responsibly and try not to chase losses.)
FanDuel also gives you 14 days to use your bonus bets. If you haven’t used it all within that time frame, it will be taken from your account. This seems harsh, but is actually longer than most other sportsbooks give.
One last thing to note is bonus bets can’t be withdrawn for cash. This is the case with every sportsbook in the industry. Bonus cash can only be used to bet on more games or markets.
DraftKings NY: Bet $5 to win $150 in bonuses
This offer is only available to new users. To redeem it, you must enter a promo code or sign up through a link promoting the offer.
Once you’ve created a DraftKings Sportsbook NY account and deposited $5, you must place a pregame moneyline wager of at least $5 on any eligible market of your choosing. DraftKings is very specific about this. So if your opening wager is a parlay or live bet, it won’t qualify for this offer.
You will only receive the $150 in bonus bets if your moneyline wager wins. (You’ll get the regular cash winnings, too.) If your first bet loses, you’re out of luck because no bonus bets are coming your way.
DraftKings pays out this promo with six $25 bonus bets, equal to $150. Those funds are valid for seven days after they’ve been sent to your account.
This offer doesn’t reach the heights of FanDuel’s bonus bet offer of up to $1,000. But it can be a safer wager if you pick a team with favorable moneyline odds. It won’t return much in the way of cash winnings. But it’s more likely to secure you a winning bet and the $150 in bonuses.
Caesars New York: $1,250 bonus bet
Noticing a theme yet? Caesars New York deploys a similar offer to FanDuel, except you can get up to $1,250 back in bonus bets if your first wager is a loss.
But one major difference is that promo code LEGALFULL is required at sign up to redeem this promo. As is a $20 minimum deposit to qualify for the offer.
Another important distinction with Caesars is that you must use the entirety of your bonus on a single wager. You can’t divide it up between multiple wagers like FanDuel allows.
If your opening wager wins, you’ll get the cash winnings like usual. But if it loses, the bonus is valid for 14 days after the credits hit your account.
The biggest takeaway from Caesars’ welcome offer is the extra $250 in bonus bets being offered if your initial wager loses. But you’ll also get far less wiggle room when it’s time to spend that bonus cash.
BetRivers NY: $100 second chance bet
That’s right, we’ve got another welcome offer allowing new users to receive bonus bets if their first real-money wager loses.
BetRivers Sportsbook NY requires promo code PLAYRIV to be entered during account creation to redeem the offer.
From there, BetRivers will refund the entirety of your first real-money wager up to $100. But it’s important to note that a minimum first-time deposit of $10 is required at sign-up.
While BetRivers’ bonus payback isn’t as high as the competitors, the bonus bets are valid for 30 days before expiration. Plus, you can split the bonus bets up however you’d like when placing a wager with them. The only rule is that odds must be -200 or longer on straight bets, and for parlays, each leg must be -200 or longer.
So BetRivers is far more flexible when it comes time to spend your bonuses.
