Let’s face it, sports bettors are not always the most astute fine-print readers. Take it from one guy who learned the hard way, make sure you know all the details before you get involved in online betting.

That’s not to say that it’s not safe; it definitely is far more secure than it was 10 years ago, but just know what you are getting into.

Rollovers are the biggest catch when it comes to opening a sportsbook account.

Sure, they are willing to give you a 100% bonus and double your bankroll before you even start, but thinking logically for a second, who gives away money for free?

What is tied to these big bonuses is what is called a rollover. It means that you have to bet a certain amount of money with the sportsbook before withdrawing that big bonus. The bigger the bonus, the bigger the rollover.

A reasonable rollover for a bonus is about three or four times. So if you deposited $100 and received a 20% for doing nothing, it’s reasonable to expect that you have $480 worth of action before you try to take out that bonus. But if the sportsbook is asking you to roll over your money 10 or 15 times, you need to look elsewhere.

Keep an eye out for these types of restrictions from sportsbooks because they can make a difference when you go to withdraw. You might be thinking that you’ve beaten the book when in fact it’s the opposite until you meet their requirements.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 9:12 pm and is filed under Betting Tips |. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.