Eight sportsbooks are now live in North Carolina and they’re all offering some sort of bonus for first-time users. Some apps give you bonus bets for a small deposit, others offer insurance on your first bet up to $1,000.
But how do you value these offers when they’re all a slightly different style? I broke down
| NC Sportsbook | Welcome Offer | True Max Cash Value* |
| 1. Fanatics Sportsbook | Bet $20, get $200 or $1,000 bet match | $545 |
| 2. Underdog Sports NC | $1,000 first bet mulligan | $400 |
| 3. bet365 North Carolina | $200 bonus bets or $1,000 first bet insurance | $400 |
| 4. ESPN BET NC | Bet anything, get $225 + $500 max deposit match | $270 |
| 5. DraftKings North Carolina | Bet $5, get $250 | $150 |
| 6. FanDuel North Carolina | Bet $5, get $250 | $150 |
| 7. Caesars NC | Bet $10, get $250 | $150 |
| 8. BetMGM NC | Bet $5, get $150 | $90 |
Sportsbooks often promise big bonuses through first bet insurance offers or deposit matches, but what are they actually worth?
Bonus bets: If you optimize your bonus bets by betting plus-money underdogs in the +300 to +500 range, over the long run you’ll convert about 60-70% of your bonus bets into cash. So $200 in bonus bets can be worth ~$130. Most people won’t use bonus bets optimally, however, so sportsbooks only pay out about 30% of all bonus bets. So $200 in bonus bets costs them about $60.
Insurance: These first bet offers are tricky to value — if you make a $1,000 first bet at +250 and it wins, you’ve won $2,500. If your first bet loses, then your ensuing bonus bets lose, you can be left with $0.
There is a hedging method that will lock in about $400 from a $1,000 first bet. It’s a big investment, since you need to bet more than $4,000 on the opposite side of your $1,000 first bet, so most people won’t do it. But I think it’s fair to call the cash value about 40% of the insurance amount.
Deposit match: Most deposit matches come with a rollover or play-through requirement. This means that you can’t just deposit, get a match, and then immediately withdraw.
Some matches have bigger rollovers than others. We estimate the value to be the max offered, minus the money you’d lose if you hit 50% of your bets reaching the rollover requirement, assuming those bets are all -110.
Take the ESPN BET deposit match. Say you max it out by depositing $250 and get $500 in Eligible Cashback. It comes with a 20x rollover, meaning you must wager $10,000 total ($500 x 20) over your first 30 days to get the full match.
If you made 100, $100 wagers all at -110 and went 50-50, you’d lose about $455 in cash. So the deposit match, by this estimation anyway, is really only worth about $45. With ESPN BET, at least you are getting actual cash and not bonus bets.
Bet match: Similar to the deposit match, think about what it would cost you to earn the max match, and assume your bets hit at 50% rate.
If you make 10, $100 bets at Fanatics and go 5-5, you’ll lose about $55 in cash. But you’ll get $1,000 in bonus bets. It’s no guarantee you go 5-5, but that’s what we’ll use as an estimate.
Assuming you turn your bonus bets into 60% cash, you’ll earn $600, minus the $55 you lost, for $545 cash.
Fanatics Sportsbook has a choice of offers.
The bet match is of course higher value, if you bet the max $100 each day and stick with it for all 10 days. As we detailed above, we estimate this offer at about $545 in cash if you max it out.
Even if you go 5-5 on those $100 bets, you’ll lose about $55 in cash, but you’ll have $1,000 in bonus bets.
As we detailed above, if you max out a $1,000 insurance bet and hedge it against another book, it’s worth about $400 in cash. We don’t necessarily recommend that, but I think it’s a fair way to measure the value.
bet365 offers a choice between two sign-up bonuses in all states, including North Carolina. Use bet365 bonus code NYPNEWS and select either a $1,000 first bet safety net or grab the bet $5, get $200 offer.
As we’ve covered above, the $1,000 first bet if you max it out can be worth about $400 in cash over a large sample. So if plan on maxing it out, take the insurance, but if you just want some bonus bets, take the $200.
ESPN BET has two parts to its offer:
The cashback unlocks very slowly, 5% at a time, and you only have 30 days to unlock it all. We estimate the deposit match is worth more like $45, because you’ll slowly lose juice as you bet against the wagering requirement.
FanDuel’s offer is simple — just deposit $10, bet $5, and you’ll get $250 in bonus bets.
There’s no promo code needed to claim this offer.
For new users, DraftKings offers the same deal as FanDuel: bet $5 and get $250 in bonus bets.
With promo code NYPNEWSNC, you’ll get five, $50 bonus bets after just a $10 wager. Make sure your first bet is $10+, or else you’ll forfeit the offer.
BetMGM bonus code NYPOSTNC will earn you $150 in bonus bets after a $5 wager.
Those bonus bets come back in six increments of $25, and you’ll have seven days to use them.