Fine print
Sportsbook bonuses explained
A welcome offer is a marketing budget, not a gift. Understanding four terms tells you what any offer is actually worth before you opt in.
The four terms that decide everything
Playthrough, also called rollover or wagering requirement, is how many times you must wager the bonus before any of it becomes withdrawable. A $200 bonus at 10x playthrough means $2,000 of wagering. At an average 5 percent hold, that $2,000 of turnover costs about $100 in expected losses, which is half the bonus before you have withdrawn a cent.
Minimum odds restrictions stop you clearing playthrough on heavy favourites. A typical requirement is that only bets at minus 200 or longer count. Without this rule, clearing a bonus would be trivial.
Expiry is how long you have. Seven days is common, thirty is generous. A large bonus on a short clock forces bets you would not otherwise make, which is the entire point of the short clock.
Bonus bets versus cash matters more than most people realise. If a book gives you a $50 bonus bet and it wins at 2.00, you receive $50 profit, not $100. The stake is not returned. A bonus bet is worth roughly 70 percent of its face value.
Deposit match versus bonus bets versus first bet insurance
A deposit match gives you bonus funds proportional to your deposit, usually with the heaviest playthrough attached.
A bonus bet package gives you fixed-value site credit, usually released in instalments as you wager. Cleaner than a deposit match but worth less than the face value.
First bet insurance refunds a losing first bet as a bonus bet up to a cap. This is the most honest structure of the three, because the downside is genuinely limited, but the refund is still site credit rather than cash.
Why we do not publish bonus amounts
We could not verify a single welcome offer dollar figure from an operator source during our research. Third-party sites publish numbers that conflict with each other, and offers change without notice and vary by province.
Publishing a figure we cannot stand behind would be worse than publishing nothing. Check the offer on the operator site the day you sign up, then work through the four terms above before you opt in.
The honest advice
If you were going to open the account anyway, take the offer and read the terms. If the offer is the reason you are opening the account, do not open the account.
Common questions
What does playthrough mean?
How many times you must wager a bonus before it can be withdrawn. A $100 bonus at 5x playthrough requires $500 of qualifying wagers.
Is a bonus bet the same as cash?
No. If a bonus bet wins, you receive the profit but not the stake. A $50 bonus bet at even money returns $50, not $100. Treat one as worth roughly 70 percent of face value.
Why does OddsNorth not list welcome bonus amounts?
Because we could not verify any of them from operator sources, and offers change constantly and vary by province. We would rather leave a gap than publish a number we cannot support.
Before you deposit anywhere
Set a deposit limit the day you open an account, not the day you need one. Every regulated Canadian sportsbook has limit and self-exclusion tools built in, and the provincial help lines on our responsible gambling page are free and confidential.