Sports Betting Bonuses South Africa

Apart from the three most popular sports, there are also considerable following for sports like basketball, boxing, golf, netball, swimming, tennis and athletics. When it comes to sports betting, horse racing is one of the most popular sports betting markets in South Africa.

Since the legalization of online sports betting, several licensed online bookmaker websites have been deployed to serve South African punters. In order to compete with one another and get the upper hand, the use of sports betting bonuses to attract new players and to retain existing punters is a common practice at these bookmakers. For bettors, these bonus offerings are a great way to make some free money and boost their winnings, if they know how to use it wisely and capitalize on every offer that comes their way.

As we mentioned earlier, online bookmakers use bonuses not just to attract new players and get them to sign up but also to increase activity amongst their existing user base. To get players to make more deposits and wagers, online sportsbooks will offer bonuses to incentivize betting. There are different types of bonuses used for different purposes. Whether you have just signed up with an online sportsbook or are a seasoned punter who’s been playing for years, there are always exciting bonuses up for grabs for everyone. Let us look at some of the most popular types of South African sports betting bonuses in 2022.

Welcome Bonuses

The welcome bonus is the most common type of sportsbook bonus you will come across. Virtually any online sportsbook offers one in some form or shape. The reason for its popularity is because it serves two purposes very effectively. To begin with, it helps the sportsbook lure in new users and helps them convert a visitor to a registered member. Secondly, the player who is new to the sportsbook gets a good boost right at the start. There are different types of welcome bonuses as well. Some sportsbook offers a free bet as a welcome bonus, some offer bet credits on your first deposit, etc.

No Deposit Bonuses

No deposit bonuses are growing in popularity in recent years among online casinos as well as online sportsbook. This kind of bonus has been aptly named ‘no deposit bonus’ because it is a bonus awarded without the player having to make a deposit of money. Usually, a no deposit bonus is offered as part of the welcome package to a new player. Since virtually every online sportsbook offers some kind of bonus when a player makes his or her first deposit, a few online betting sites go a step further and offer a bonus simply for the player signing up, no deposit required. While not as common as a deposit welcome bonus, the no deposit bonus has become popular since an increasing number of South African bookmakers have started to offer it.

Reload Bonus

The welcome bonus, be it a deposit bonus or a no deposit bonus, is usually exclusively available only to new members.  However, a reload bonus targets existing players who have already used up their welcome bonus. If you are a funded player who has already played through your welcome bonus, a reload bonus offers you free money or a free bet when you top up your online sportsbook account with funds. As with any deposit bonus, a reload bonus will be subject to a minimum deposit and will also require players to complete certain wagering requirement in order to cash out any bonus money.

Cashback bonus

Betting on sports may involve some foresight and knowledge of the sport and the current form of players or teams involved. However, there is undeniably a huge element of luck involved in the equation. Some days you get lucky and you win your sports bets, but there are definitely going to be days when lady luck isn’t on your side. Thankfully, a lot of South African online sportsbooks offer cashback bonuses for when you’ve had a rough week. The most common structure of a cashback bonus is when the sportsbook pays you back a certain percentage of your total net losses incurred over a period of time, usually over the prior week.

FICA Bonus

With the legalization of online sportsbooks and online gambling in South Africa, a lot of legislation has been put into place in order to regulate the market and ensure it is safe, fair and secure for consumers and the operators. One of the biggest challenges faced at real money online gambling websites is that of money laundering or identity theft. In order to effectively curb such cybercrimes, South African legislators require licensed online sportsbooks and players to abide by Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) regulations. In lieu of FICA, players are required to upload certain identification proof documents, address proof documents and proof of payment documents for verification and security purposes. Understanding that the process is cumbersome, online sportsbooks in South Africa offer bonuses as incentives for players to complete the FICA process. Any bonus which is awarded to a player for completing FICA is usually referred to as a FICA Bonus.

Free Bets

Free bets are exactly as they sound. This is a kind of bonus where the reward a player receives is a free bet or a number of free bets. Free bets could be awarded as part of the welcome bonus, or even to existing, funded players for making deposits, completing certain weekly challenges, etc.

To place a bet on any sport, you will need to put your own money on the line as the stake amount. A free bet is when the casino lets you make a bet on the house. Therefore, the bet is essentially risk free, because even if you lose, you don’t actually lose any of your own money. A free bet usually has a value to it, for example a free bet of ZAR100. Free Bets come with certain limitations on which sports you can use the free bet on and also what the minimum odds of the bet taken must be. These details can be found in the bonus terms and conditions.

Reduced Juice Bonuses

Another innovative bonus offer that is now being adopted by plenty of South African online bookmakers is the reduced juice bonus. Basically, any bet that you take at the bookmaker will come with a commission which is charged by the betting website or app.

Juice basically refers to the commission itself. In some cases, the sportsbook will offer certain bets at reduced bookmaker fees or ‘reduced juice’. This way, you can save a little money on every bet that you make during the promotion period, provided you abide by other terms and conditions dictated by the promotion.

Enhanced Odds

An ‘Enhanced Odds’ bonus is similar in concept to the reduced juice bonuses. However, instead of the sportsbook cutting down on their commission, they will basically offer certain bets on specific sporting markets at enhanced odds. So essentially, the amount of money you win if the bet is a winning bet is enhanced compared to what odds would be offered otherwise.

Referral Bonuses 

A referral bonus or refer-a-friend bonus is yet another bonus which is like a double-edged sword in the sense that it serves two purposes. First, it is a great way for the sportsbook to market itself through its existing member channels and secondly, it is an easy way for players to make money for free.

A referral bonus usually works along these lines – a player who is a registered user at a sportsbook gets a unique referral code that can be passed on to a friend. The friend signs up with the sportsbook using the referral code and then proceeds to make his or her first deposit. At this point, the member who made the referral will receive a bonus. The bonus could be a free bet, a fixed amount of casino credit, or even a certain percentage of the first deposit made by the friend.

Sports betting bonuses come in all forms. Some offer more value than others. How good a sports betting bonus is will not only depend on the details of the bonus itself, but also the punter’s requirements and playing style. A good sports betting offer will match the requirements of the player who claims it. For example, a South African punter who is only interested in betting on football will find a football based free bet of ZAR10 to be much more valuable than a free bet of ZAR20 on ice hockey.

There are a few main things to consider when choosing a sports betting offer.

1. Qualification criteria: what action needs to be taken in order to claim the bonus? Is it practical?

2. Wagering requirements: are the wagering requirements so high that it voids out any profit incurred through the bonus?

3. Restrictions: are there restrictions on which sports markets, bet types of limitations of betting odds when using the bonus money, bonus credits or free bets.

4. Validity: how long are the bonus credits valid for? Can it be realistically used up in the given period of time?

5. Sportsbook: If you are signing up with a sportsbook just for the sake of one bonus, you should also consider the overall quality and features of the sportsbook – is it something that suits you and your sports betting requirements?

When online betting bonuses were newly introduced, some players would exploit the bonus. For example, a player could sign up and receive a free bet. He would then use the free bet to win some money, withdraw the money and then never set foot at the same online sportsbook again. The player would then proceed to do the same at some other sportsbook website. In order to avoid losses and curb such bonus exploitation, online casinos and online sportsbooks have made wagering requirements mandatory.

Basically, the wagering requirement tells a player how much money of their own needs to be wagered and played through before bonus winnings from a certain bonus offer can be withdrawn or cashed out.