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Saturday, March 31, 2007

Who's the best bookmaker for signup bonuses?

Who is the best bookmaker for FREE Bets ?


Now we move onto one of the most common questions I'm asked by punters via email and on the forum ...

Who is the best bookmaker for FREE Bets ?

Ahhh ... free money.

It's true that money that is won by sports betting seems to be twice as sweet as money that is earned through hard graft - and nothing seems as sweet as that initial deposit bonus that online bookmakers offer.

BEWARE OF THE ROGUE BOOKMAKER
However it's also true that there is never a free lunch - and many of the rogue bookmakers out there will advertise huge bonus offers in order to entice unsuspecting punters to deposit their money ... knowing that they'll never actually payout.

So how do you avoid this trap? By being smart of course - and only using the bookmakers that we're prepared to endorse on the main site.

We offer a EURO €1000 guarantee for all accounts that are opened using the links on the main GoonersGuide.com betting site (as well as this blog). We stand behind punters who use and support this site.

Why bet online if you're not going to be paid out - don't take risks - play smart and use only the bookmakers that we've selected.

OK - with that out of the way lets get on with the awards.

OUR METHODS - SAFETY - SECURITY - GOOD ODDS
Over the course of the last five years we've checked out over 200 bookmakers and betting exchanges and from that we've selected the best twenty (or so) sites to be recommended on our site.

The most important criteria are things like safety, security, good customer support, and good betting odds. Having a good signup bonus is NOT a criteria is itself (as we've discussed above some of the biggest bonuses are offered by the worst type of bookies).

So after finding the best 20 sites - we now are prepared to answer the question about best bonuses - for these twenty sites. As we KNOW that you will not be ripped off.

GBP £20 to GBP £30 OFFERS
The first thing that we did was eliminate all bookies who are offering between GBP 20-30 to join up.

While that's a reasonable deal for small depositors, especially as most are 100% deposit match deals, it's small potatoes and not worth of the award.

Bookmakers in this group included : Betfred, Betfair, Globet, Gamebookers, Interwetten, Paddypower and SportingOdds.

So if you're betting with a small bankroll then you won't go wrong using these sites, and you can see that if you opened one account each weekend you could quickly get access to around £120 to £150 over a couple of months.

Nice! But you want more don't you? We thought so !!
;-)

GBP £50 to GBP £100 OFFERS
Then we move into the mid-tier bookmakers who are more serious about taking on action from punters. They'll offer a little bit more to you in the form of a free bet - but will often have some wagering restrictions to handle.

CenterBet will offer you a matched stake bet of up to £50 as long as your first bet is at odds of 1.90 or more. You'll also have to turnover the winnings 1x before withdrawal.

VCBet will also offer a matched £50 bet but your first bet must be at even money (2.00) or more and there is no turnover restriction.

Again we think that these are useful bonuses to collect - but they were not good enough to win the award - we wanted more !!
;-)

WINNER - BEST BOOKMAKER FOR SIGNUP BONUSES
(1) Canbet (Australian Bookmaker)


Canbet stood out and won the award for having not one but THREE offers to choose from on their sports betting side plus a further two more in Casino and Poker.

Sports Betting HIGHROLLER Offer
Register and make your first deposit at Canbet of £600 (€1050) or more and receive a 10% deposit bonus of up to £200 (€350). To redeem this bonus, simply enter the Promotional Bonus Code: HIGHROLLER, when registering an account.

There is a 4 x deposit + bonus turnover requirement, so if you Deposit £2000 you get an extra £200, and must play 2200 x 4 = £8800 before withdrawing it.

Sports Betting PLAYER Offer
Register and make your first deposit at Canbet of £60 more and receive a 20% deposit bonus of up to £60. To redeem this bonus, simply enter the Promotional Bonus Code: PLAYER, when registering an account.

This has a 3 x deposit + bonus turnover requirement, So £300 deposit earns a £60 bonus which must be turned over 3x (£1080) before withdrawing.

Sports Betting FREEBET Offer
The usual recreation bonus. Register and make your first deposit at Canbet of £20 or more and receive a £30 free bet. To redeem this bonus, simply enter the Promotional Bonus Code: FREEBET, when registering an account.

We felt that CANBET had tailored three pretty good offers to different segments of the market - and that the turnover requirements were not onerous at all

(Some US / Costa Rica bookamkers have 10x turnover restrictions)

HIGHLY COMMENDED BOOKMAKER FOR SIGNUPS
(2) PinnacleSports (Netherlands Antilles Bookmaker)


PinnacleSports actually offer a higher bonus of up to $500 if you deposit $5,000 (10%) and only a 3 x turnover restriction ...

But they also have a little clause that states that you can't withdraw your deposit or bonus for 30 days and you must depsoit a minimum of $250 to claim any bonus at all.

Still giving away $500 FREE is good enough to earn PinnacleSports the #2 spot.

HIGHLY COMMENDED BOOKMAKER FOR SIGNUPS
(3) Bet365 (UK bookmaker)


Bet365 offer non-UK customers a 15% first dpeoist bonus up to $500 with a 3x deposit + bonus turnover requirement

(see how quickly you get used to all the terms and conditions)

However, current UK restrictions mean that they cannot do the same for UK customers and instead provide their Bet Basket which offers up to four £25 FREE Bets after you've made several qualifying bets.

This geographic split and the complicated terms of the Bet Basket meant that Bet365 finished in the #3 spot.

SUMMARY
So there we have it - all the free bet signup bonuses explained in one easy place (webmasters feel free to link to the blog post) - and the top three bookmakers for signup bonuses are spelt out.

(1) Canbet (Australian Bookmaker)
(2) PinnacleSports (Netherlands Antilles Bookmaker)
(3) Bet365 (UK bookmaker)