A rollover is an attractive feature in sports betting, which bettors can take advantage of.
Rollovers exist so bettors can't claim a free-money deposit bonus and cash them out immediately. However, some rollovers are considered predatory and if you're not careful, you might never see the money again.
What is a Rollover?
The rollover is the total money that a bettor must bet to meet the requirement for withdrawing the winnings of an existing bonus.
For example, if you deposit $100 with a 12x rollover bonus, you need to make $1,200 worth of bets to receive the bonus money.
It may seem simple as you'll likely deposit at the bookie to bet, not win once and walk away. But if you calculate everything correctly, you'll realize that you may never receive the bonus money.
In some cases, bookies bury their rollover requirements deep in their terms and conditions, which brings a massive disadvantage to new bettors as they won't be getting a fair game.
Examples of Rollover
Let's say that a bookie offers a 1x rollover from its promotions, which is the fairest deal you'll likely get.
If you deposit $100 and receive a $100 bonus, you only need to make $100 worth of bets to receive the bonus as it's only 1x the deposit amount. This means that if you're betting on a $20 match, you need to make five bets before you're allowed to cash out.
With a 10x rollover, then you'll need to bet $1,000 before you can withdraw the money. So, if you're betting $20 per football match, you need to bet 50 games before you can cash out. Even if you hit 50% of your bets over time (assuming they're the odds of 2.5), you'll lose $50, which is half of your bonus. With a 20x rollover, then you'll lose the entire reward.
Rollover Stipulations Vary Depending on the Sportsbook
Some books add up the bets differently toward a rollover and come with rules in place so you won't attempt to play with the system.
For example, if you deposit $100 and claim a bonus with a 10x rollover, that's $1,000 that you need to risk. You should bet $100 on 10 favourites at 1.1 to get the bonus quickly, right? Wrong. Many bookies don't count favourites that are lower than 1.5 against the requirements for your rollover.
Some books might only count your wins towards the rollover. If you bet $40 to win $30 on a favourite League, only that $30 will count. Other books will consider winnings on winning bets and the total risked amount on the losing bets.
Finding the Rollover Requirements
When finding the requirements for rollover, some bookies can be more straightforward than others.
Offshore bookies, which tend to have ridiculous requirements for rollover, bury it deep within their terms of service. Some legal books do it as well and don't even call them a rollover. FanDuel calls them a Play Through Requirement; they offer a favourable 1x rollover on a $500 risk-free bet.
Bookies like PointsBet give you more transparency but have a favourable rollover, so they are focusing on promoting it as a differentiator.
The Rollover Needs to be Fulfilled Quickly
It's the condition that kills every bettor: you have 30 days from depositing to achieve it. Otherwise, you won't have the right to withdraw the profits from the bonus.
Not every sportsbook has this condition, but a time limit to claim the promotion is nothing unusual. To turn $300 into $8000 within a month means that you'll have to bet aggressively and hope that luck is on your side.
How to Claim Bonuses with Rollover
As you can see, it's not that easy to claim the bonuses from rollovers. The more they offer you, the less chance you'll meet their requirements. The bottom line is that you're confident that you're going to claim the bonus to go all in without regret.
Either you lose your initial stake of $200 or you'll quickly win $1000, but don't be conservative as, without the effort, you'll likely lose the $200.
Double-check the rollover number in the conditions and services of the site. If they're not included in the terms and conditions, find them in the voucher or a link. It's always possible to ask what the rollover is and the time frame to claim it. Not knowing these things is the reason why users aren't able to withdraw their profits later.
Checking the Rollover's Status
Sportsbooks with unfriendly rollovers tend to hide them as much as they can. Therefore, they won't offer you a status bar within your account that indicates how much closer you are to reaching the cash-out limit.
DraftKings lets you do this, where you can click "View Bonus Status" and view it in your account.