We have seen previously that is mathematically advantageous to use your free bets on longer odds wagers, especially those that have odds with positive EV relative to the market odds. There is a way to guarantee yourself some of the value of a free bet, however, with zero risk! The way we do that is by “converting” our free bets using matched betting on another site. The strategy might be a little complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it’s very simple to convert your free bets into cash. The strategy involves finding a low hold between books, placing your free bet on the side of the low hold with the longer odds and placing a hedge bet to guarantee yourself a return on a different book (as always, we recommend you sign up for as many books as are available in your state, in order to take advantage of these opportunities). You’ll want to look for a two-way market that has long odds on the side with the book where your free bet resides (we recommend you avoid any wagers that could push, such as a whole number spread or total; often, a book won’t return a free bet on a wager that pushed or voided, or you may have to contact support to get it back). The longer the odds, the better, but the more capital you will need on the book with the hedge bet to offset the free bet.

From here, head to our Bet Calculator, plug in your free bet amount, the odds of the bet with the free bet and the corresponding odds on the hedge book, and our calculator will spit out the amount you should place on the hedge side. Again, look for longer odds wagers for your free bet with a relative low hold on the other side. Using this strategy, you can easily guarantee yourself 65%-80% of the value of a free bet, with no risk! Check out the below example for how this works or email me at info@sportsbettingintel.com if you would like help with converting your free bets.

You have a $100 free bet on DraftKings from completing a mission. You would like to convert this somewhere above 70%, so you can guarantee yourself at least $70 from this free bet.

You see from our low hold page that the Nets are playing the Pistons this weekend, and the Pistons money line is +350 on DraftKings while the Nets are at -375 on FanDuel. Since this is a two-way market, one side has to win and the other has to lose. You enter these values into our Free Bet Calculator and see that you should place a hedge bet of $276.32 on the Nets.

Now, if the Nets win, you lost your free bet on DK but you made $73.68 from your bet on FD ($350 total payout less your stake of $276.32). If the Pistons beat the Nets (hey, stranger things have happened), then you lost your FD bet on the Nets, but your free bet on the Pistons on DK paid out $350, so you still made $73.68. You just created a 73.68% conversion and guaranteed yourself $73.68 from a $100 free bet, all with no risk!