Sportsbook Bonus Chasing 101
I have been asked enough times to do it that I finally realized I needed to build a "Sportsbook Chasing 101 Guide". If you read through this and still have questions, PLEASE ask them. I will answer to the best of my ability. Chasing sports book bonuses is easy, but there are some guidelines that you should follow. Ignoring them could cost you hassles or even money.
Here are the five basic steps you should follow:
1. Understand the methodology I am advising.
2. Understand the different types of wagers.
3. Understand the parts and annotations on a wagering line.
4. Learn how to pick the right book and bonus for your situation.
5. Learn the nuances of the sportsbook chase.
I do not advise putting any money into any sports book until you thoroughly understand 1 thru 4. I cringe when some one asks me, "I just put $100 on the Browns to win. How much do they need to win by?" That's like saying, "I play poker for money. Which is better, a flush or three-of-a-kind?" If you don't understand the bet you are making, you should not be making it. Step 5 is likely to be a long process, perhaps like poker, it will be lifelong.
Step 1. Understand the methodology I am advising. There are, generically speaking, two ways to make money betting on sports. 1) Become very knowledgeable in sports and sports betting, and then "beat the book" by picking more winners than losers. 2) Scalping: Find opportunities provided by mismatched lines between two or more sportsbooks for small profits, while simultaneously exploiting bonuses. I am advising on the second method - scalping. I rarely understand the contest I am wagering on, nor do I particularly care who wins. Frequently I don't even remember which contests I have put money on! It is not necessary. I just need to be able to recognize the opportunities up front, as they occur. I am not evaluating the contest or the contestants - I am evaluating 'market conditions' by comparing wagering lines on the same contests among different books.
If you want to learn how to beat the book (method 1) the information in this guide will not be very useful to you. For this I recommend Sharp Sports Betting by Stanford Wong.
In a nutshell, my bonus chasing methodology* works like this:
1) Deposit money into two different sportsbooks, getting a bonus at one or both.
2) Find a game at both books where the line is different to the extent that you can place a risk free bet on it by betting one team at one book and the other team at the other book. For example, imagine an NFL contest where the Steelers are playing the Browns, and the spread is 3 points. Bet on the Browns at one book and on Steelers at the other book. Your bets cancel, but you keep the bonus money. There is no risk to your bankroll. If you find arbitrage opportunities, you can even make a small profit from the wagering, but bonuses will likely constitute the lion's share of your earnings using this method.
A more detailed explanation of this method, including some info on arbitrage can be found here and here.
* It's not really my methodolgy, as I have borrowed many of the concepts from others who were kind enough to post their thoughts elsewhere on the internet. Having compiled it, though, I do feel some pride in ownership.
Step 2. Understand the different types of wagers. There are typically several wagers on every betting line. A point spread, a moneyline, and a total game (over/under). It is possible to find scalping opportunities on any of these types of lines. (Not all lines can be scaled, but all types of bets have the potential.)
Why different types of bets? Not all sporting contest involve equally matched teams. If the only bet available was an even money shot on picking the winner, then the betting would be lop-sided on the favorite. By altering the betting terms with spreads and odds, the bookmaker can encourage some wagering on the team less likely to win.
The 'spread" is the number of points by which the winning team must win in order to also win for wagering purposes. If team A is a favorite over team B, then the book will require A to win by a certain margin over B in order for bets on A to win money. The spread is annotated as a negative number for the favorite, and a positive number for the underdog (dog). Thus, if a book decided the spread in the A vs B contest was 3, spread would be written A (-3) / B (+3). A must now win by more than 3 points for bets on A to pay off. B can win or lose by 2 or less, and bets on B pay off. If A wins by exactly 3, all the bets are cancelled and bettors get their money back. To avoid that, books frequently set the spread on a half-point, such as (-3.5). Since a half point is impossible to get, the bet can never end in a tie and be cancelled. Some books use the annotation (-3') to mean (-3.5). That little (') means (.5).
A moneyline line is another way books can weight the contest to encourage wagering on the underdog. The moneyline is simply the payoff odds on your wager, and there is no point spread on the contest. Instead of team A being a (-3.5) favorite, in a moneyline they may be listed as (-200). This means that if you want to earn $100 on your bet on team A, you need to risk $200. If team A wins (no point differential required) then your $200 bet pays back $300 (your $200 + $100 profit). If the dog, team B, is at +180, that means that a bet of $100 returns $180 profit. If team B wins, you r $100 bet pays you back $280 (your $100 + $180 profit). the 3-digit notation I have used (-200, +180) is known as American style moneylines. There is also a European style that shows the moneylines as multiples of what you get back based on the amount risked. Since risking $200 pays out $300 on an American style (-200) line ($300 = $200 risked + $100 profit), the European style of writing this would be (1.5). (1.5X $200 = $300). The European style multiple for (+180) would be (2.8). (2.8X $100 = $280)
A total game, total points or over/under wager is simply another aspect of the game that books are willing to take action on. Their linemaker decides how much total scoring there will be in a contest, and then you can bet on whether you think the final total score will be more (over) or less (under) that particular score. Total points lines are frequently set on a half point to avoid ties.
3. Understand the parts and annotations on a wagering line. Books post their wagering lines on a board, just like the New York Stock Exchange. The bettor needs to know how to read that board to make informed decisions. Typically, a board is read from left to right, and you will find the rotation number. the teams competing, the point spread, the vig on the point spread, the moneyline, the total game, the vig on the total game, runlines and pucklines. (Different books will list these elements in different order.)
Rotation Number. The rotation number is used to identify the wager. You don't bet on "The Yankees", you bet on "Number 952" (or whatever). The same rotation number will be used for a team in the point spread, the money line and the total points columns.
The Teams Competing. Self-explanatory. For baseball, a starting pitcher will also be specified.
The Point Spread. This can be written in a variety of ways. Internet books will usually place the spread next to both teams. If Pittsburgh is a 3 point favorite over Cleveland, the line may read: Pittsburgh (-3) / Cleveland (+3). However, some books will only post the spread next to the favorite, thus the same line may read: Pittsburgh (-3) / Cleveland. It means the same thing.
The Vig on the Point Spread. "Vig" short for "vigorish" or more commonly known as "juice" is akin to the rake at a poker table. When you place a wager at a sports book, you are not really betting against the house. The house is setting their lines to try to attract money on both sides of the bet. That way the winners pay the losers, and the house keeps the juice. (It's to the book's advantage to get more action on the losing side of a line, so few books will have exactly matched betting. That discussion, however, is for another time.) A common standard amount of juice is -110. This means that you must bet $110 to win $100 on the point spread bet. A few books advertise that they are "reduced juice" books, and their standard juice may be -108, -107 or even -105. Some standard juice books may also run "special reduced juice days" to encourage wagering on normally slower days. Reduced juice is a very good thing - so long as the spread has not been changed to compensate for the reduction in juice. If a book is getting more action than they desire on one side of a line, they may adjust the juice to encourage wagering on the other side.
The Moneyline. Explained above. Juice is built into moneyline wagers.
Total Game. Also known as Over/Under and sometimes annotated simply as "o" or "u". Explained above.
The Vig on the Total Game. Same as the vig or juice on a point spread.
Runlines and Pucklines are unique to baseball and hockey respectively. There are typically no point spreads associated with these low scoring sports. In order to reduce the disparity in moneyline wagering, books will assign a 1.5 spread to the game and adjust the wagering risk-payoff numbers accordingly. To save space, most books post their runlines and pucklines in the point spread column.
4. Learn how to pick the right book and bonus for your situation. If you were once a newbie poker bonus chaser, you know that before you understood the finer points of chasing poker bonuses, you went straight for the biggest numbers and most popular sites right away. Only later did you realize that you used up some of the best bonuses without being able to take full advantage (like chasing Party poker with $100 bankroll) or you bit off more than you wanted to chew with a $600 bonus that took forever to clear. The same type thing can happen to sportsbook chasers. If you don't understand what you are doing, you may end up squandering a juicy bonus that could be maximized later, or you might bite off more than you can chew.
There are two over-arching data points about a sportsbook bonus to consider: Maximum amount of bonus and total rollover burden. Of the two, maximum amount of bonus is significantly more important. That's because ideally you will not complete the rollover requirement for all of your bonuses - you will 'lose' them into another book before your rollover is complete. However, for those books where playing out the wagering requirement to meet rollover is necessary, a lower rollover is certainly nice to have.
Rule of thumb: have enough cash outside of a sportsbook to meet the wagering requirement of that sportsbook after you deposit. For example, if I deposit $1,000 into Bodog for a 10% bonus at 3 X rollover, I have incurred a $3,300 rollover requirement. Before I deposit that $1,000 into Bodog I want to be sure I have $3,300 available outside of Bodog to use to clear the wagering requirement at Bodog as needed. If not, it is possible that I will make wagers and win them all at Bodog, getting all my money stuck at Bodog before I have met the rollover requirement. Now all my money is in Bodog and I am not able to withdraw it. Note: you can still get your bankroll stuck in a book even if you have the entire rollover set aside. If you bet moneylines and a few of them hit on the underdog at your bonus book, your money is coming out of your other book at twice the rate of the rollover. For example, if I take Clevelnad at +200 at Bodog for $100, and Cleveland wins, $200 came out of my other book and into Bodog, but I have only met $100 of wagering requirement. At that rate, all my money will be in Bodog and my rollover will not yet be met. I believe, however, that 1 X the rollover in set-aside money should be sufficient in most cases. jsut be careful.
Applying the above rule of thumb to a real book, nine.com. As of this writing, nine.com offers a first deposit bonus of 10% up to $1,000, at 3 X rollover. A $10,000 deposit gets a $1,000 bonus and requires a $33,000 rollover. Therefore I recommend not attempting this full bonus until you have a bankroll of $43,000. (Don't worry, there are plenty of other bonuses. Also, nine.com offers frequent reloads, so if you don't maximize the first deposit bonus, it's no big deal.)
Other things to look for in a book:
1) A good rating from SportsbookReview.com. Very reliable.
2) Free deposits and cashouts. Some books charge for this.
3) No minimum time to withdraw. Some books have 30-day and 60-day deposit to withdrawal rules. Be certain to check for this before depositing.
4) Reduced juice - always nice when you can get it.
5) Reloads.
5. Learn the nuances of the sportsbook chase. I don't think I 'll ever be able to write them all out here. You need to learn how to spot a good opportunity and act on it in a timely matter without rushing and making mistakes. Some mistakes will happen. Its the cost of doing business. I made a $750 mistake once by betting a halftime line against the full game line. Crap happens, it just can't happen so often that it eats up all your profit.
Good Luck!