Sports book apps are offering me ridiculous “bonus bets.” What’s the catch?

The Game Room
1

Missouri voters recently passed a constitutional amendment that would allow sports betting. The sports betting apps (Fanduel, DraftKings, a couple of others) are bombarding me with ads. One such ad offers $300 in “bonus bets” if I bet an initial $5. That makes absolutely no sense to me. I’m to understand that I’m effectively betting the casino’s money, but here’s the thing: if I made 60 $5 bets on 1:1 propositions, statistically I can expect to win $150, minus the vig.

So either they expect me to get hooked, and the $150 I’m going to win is their loss leader to get me through the door (so to speak). That, or they think I’m going to bet the $300 on some wild proposition that’s almost certainly a loss.

Is there something I’m missing here? Surely the casino isn’t going to risk $150 to get me hooked, are they?

2

You are absolutely correct on this either/or. Most people will bet the $300 on a parlay that would pay big dollars, and they will lose. Some people like yourself will bet smart and make $150. Some people like me will win $150 and close half of my accounts.

3

The disclaimer typically has something like this:

They take out the bonus bet from the winnings which reduces the payout.

4

They’re hoping you take the bait, and get hooked (no pun intended).

5

Couldn’t they potentially lose tens, even hundreds of millions of dollars? Is it that much of a sure thing that folks will blow the 300 or get hooked and gamble away more than what they win with the 300?

6

There’s a thread somewhere where someone made a little money betting one side with one casino and the other with a different one.

7

Certainly could, but they obviously haven’t yet. Every sportsbook has done this in every state that has recently legalized gambling.

Bet365 recently did this here in Kansas. Bet 5 bucks and get $150 in free bets. I did this and got my $150 free bets. I bet 4 $37.50 2-leg parlays on the same game:

Team A to cover, and the over
Team A to cover, and the under
Team B to cover, and the over
Team B to cover, and the under

Obviously I lost 3 of those and won 1. The bet I won paid me $120. I also won my original $5 bet, which paid $9.50. I made another small bet which lost, and I cashed out $125 and closed my account.

8

Yes, it absolutely is. Mobile sports betting is an absolute plague on society, and the casinos will profit 100 fold as it bankrupts untold numbers of people in your state.

9

And a lot of people will bet on the wild proposition (aka, the parlay) that promises 1,000 to 1 if, for example, you pick the three quarterbacks who have the most passing yardage this weekend.

Take a look at some of the largest payouts ever, and try to imagine the odds of any of those parlays hitting.

I’d rather take my chances with Powerball.

10

It’s not legal here and I’m not a big gambler myself. Although I am going to Vegas in December it’s mostly to see inlaws. I don’t find much of that place enjoyable anymore.

11

There’s an outfit called Kalshi that is a sports (and other) gambling site that for now is legal in the entire US. They don’t take a vig. They take a set transaction fee per bet which is a private transaction between betters. They have been able to register with the Federal Government as a brokerage. I probably have some details wrong but that’s the gist of it. Texas and California have tried to sue and Kalshi’s response is “fuck off. You don’t have jurisdiction. This is Federal”.

Litigation will take years I imagine. Fan Duels and Draft Kings are staying out of it for now to not piss off the States. Gambling is heading in the direction of fentanyl in terms of societal damage.

12

Here’s a good article. What’s particularly insidious is that since it’s trading contracts rather than gambling, you only have to be 18 to play