A bonus is only worth taking if clearing it costs less than the bonus. That sounds obvious and almost nobody does the arithmetic, so here it is with real published terms.
Rollover is the amount you have to wager before a withdrawal will process. It is the single number that decides whether an offer is generous or a trap, and it is the number sportsbook marketing works hardest to keep off the landing page.
The community view on Reddit, roughly summarised, is that most offshore bonuses are not worth claiming. That view is correct more often than not, and this page shows why using numbers you can check.
On this page
The detail that changes everything
Two books can both advertise an 8x rollover and mean completely different things, because the multiplier applies to different bases.
Bonus only. An 8x rollover on a $50 bonus means $400 of wagering.
Deposit plus bonus. The same 8x on a $200 deposit with a $50 bonus means 8 times $250, which is $2,000 of wagering. Five times more.
Most offshore books use the second basis. BetOnline states its formula openly as deposit plus fees plus bonus, multiplied. Bookmaker, MyBookie and BetUS all calculate on the combined figure. If an offer does not say which basis it uses, assume the expensive one and ask support before depositing.
What clearing a rollover actually costs
Here is the part nobody puts in writing.
Every bet you place carries the book’s margin. At the standard -110 price on a spread, you risk $110 to win $100. If the two sides are genuinely even, that structure costs you about 4.55 percent of everything you stake, over time.
So wagering is not free. Rollover is not a formality you complete, it is money you spend. Wagering $2,000 at -110 costs a breakeven bettor roughly $91 in expectation.
Everything below assumes you are a roughly breakeven bettor placing bets at -110 that you would not otherwise have placed. If you were going to wager that volume anyway, the rollover costs you nothing extra and the bonus is close to free money. And if you genuinely beat the closing line, the maths moves in your favour rather than against it.
That is the honest framing. Rollover only costs you when it makes you bet more than you would have.
Four real offers, run through the same maths
All terms below are published by the operators. The wagering cost column assumes a $200 deposit and a breakeven bettor at -110.
| Offer | Bonus | Required wagering | Expected cost | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookmaker 100% free play, 1x | $200 | $400 | ~$18 | Clearly worth it |
| MyBookie 10x | $200 | $4,000 | ~$182 | Marginal |
| Bookmaker 25% cash, 8x | $50 | $2,000 | ~$91 | Costs more than it pays |
| BetUS 100% sports, 14x | $200 | $5,600 | ~$255 | Costs more than it pays |
Read the second and third rows together, because they are the same sportsbook. The cash bonus has the bigger advertised maximum, at up to $500 against $400 for the free play. It requires five times as much wagering to unlock a quarter as much bonus money, and on these assumptions it costs more to clear than it pays out.
That is not an unusual case. It is the normal shape of a heavily marketed offshore bonus, and it is why the community advice to skip most of them holds up.
What does not count toward rollover
The multiplier is only half the terms. The exclusions are where a clearable-looking offer becomes unclearable.
Product exclusions. MyBookie’s sports rollover excludes casino, live dealer and horse racing wagers entirely. If most of your action is at the racebook, that bonus cannot be cleared by your normal betting at all.
Partial credit. BetUS counts baseball wagers at half toward rollover. Bet $1,000 on MLB and you have progressed $500. On a 14x requirement that turns a large number into an enormous one.
Minimum odds. Many offers only count bets above a stated price. Grinding heavy favourites will not clear anything.
Free play does not count. Bookmaker states explicitly that free play bets do not contribute to rollover, and that voided or pushed bets receive no credit either.
Expiry. BetUS gives seven days. A large requirement inside a short window is a requirement you will not meet.
The rollover on money you never bonused
This one catches people who avoided bonuses entirely, and it generates more confused complaint threads than anything else in offshore betting.
Several major books apply a one-times rollover to plain deposits with no bonus claimed. Bookmaker states it plainly. BetOnline requires all deposited funds to be wagered once before withdrawal. BetUS publishes a minimum one-times rollover on deposited funds. Bovada requires deposits to be wagered before winnings can be withdrawn.
So you deposit $500, change your mind, request it back, and the withdrawal sits unprocessed. It looks like a book refusing to pay. It is a published term you agreed to. We cover how those situations resolve in what actually causes payout complaints.
When a bonus genuinely is worth taking
Four situations, and they are narrower than the marketing suggests.
- Low multiplier. Anything at 1x or 2x on the combined figure is close to free. The cost of clearing is trivial.
- You were betting that volume anyway. If $4,000 a month is your normal turnover, a 10x requirement on a $400 combined base costs you nothing you were not already spending.
- Free play with a low requirement. Different product, different maths, covered in free play versus cash bonus.
- You genuinely beat the closing line. Then wagering is profitable rather than costly, and rollover is simply a schedule.
Everything else is the book paying you a small amount to generate a larger amount of margin, which is what a bonus is designed to do.
Sportsbook rollovers of 1x to 14x are normal. Casino offers at the same operators commonly run 50x on slots and 80x on table games. On a $100 table games bonus at 80x you would need to wager $8,000 in qualifying hands, against a house edge considerably worse than -110 on most games. Those numbers are not typos, and the practical answer for almost everyone is to play without the bonus.
Our current bonus listings set out the offers with their terms, and our rating standards explain how we weigh them.
Questions people ask
What is rollover on a sportsbook bonus?
The amount you must wager before you can withdraw. The critical detail is the basis: an 8x rollover on a $50 bonus alone is $400 of wagering, while 8x on a $200 deposit plus that $50 bonus is $2,000. Most offshore books use the combined figure.
Does rollover actually cost you anything?
Yes, if it makes you bet more than you otherwise would. Every wager carries the book’s margin, roughly 4.55 percent of stake at the standard -110 price. Wagering $2,000 to clear a bonus costs a breakeven bettor about $91 in expectation. If you were betting that volume anyway, it costs nothing extra.
Why do people say to skip most sportsbook bonuses?
Because the expected cost of clearing frequently exceeds the bonus. A 25 percent cash bonus of $50 at 8x on a $250 combined base requires $2,000 of wagering, which costs roughly $91 to complete. The same book’s 100 percent free play at 1x requires $400 and costs roughly $18.
Do all bets count toward rollover?
Often not. MyBookie excludes casino, live dealer and horse racing from its sports rollover. BetUS counts baseball at half. Many offers impose minimum odds, and Bookmaker states that free play bets and voided or pushed wagers receive no rollover credit.
Is there rollover if I do not take a bonus?
At several major books, yes. Bookmaker, BetOnline, BetUS and Bovada all publish a requirement to wager plain deposits before withdrawal. It is the most common cause of a first withdrawal being held.
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