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Free bonus bet calculator
Put the bonus on one side of a market and cover the other side with cash, either by backing it at another bookmaker or by laying it on an exchange. Sized right, both results leave you the same cash. Enter your prices: the calculator works out the cover stake and what you keep.
Bonus bet converter
Bonus type
Cover the other side by
At a different bookmaker
Back the other side at 1.30
$115.38
You keep
$34.62
Conversion rate
69.2%
If the bonus wins
$34.62
If the other side wins
$34.62
If both bets stand at these prices, the $50.00 bonus becomes $34.62 in cash whichever side wins.
18+. Arithmetic on the prices you enter, not a tip or a prediction. Prices can move, and bets can be limited or voided, before both are placed. Gambling Help Online: 1800 858 858.
The live version
The live converter finds the prices for you: it pairs your bonus bookmaker with the best cover across 75+ bookmakers and Betfair, with the conversion rate on every row.
A stake-not-returned bonus pays only its winnings. A $50 bonus at 4.00 pays $150 if it wins and nothing if it loses, so the cover bet is sized to pay the same $150 back in the other result:
Worked example. A $50 bonus at 4.00 with the other side at 1.30: back the other side for $115.38. If the bonus wins you collect $150 and lose the cover, $34.62. If the other side wins it pays $34.62 and the bonus is gone. Either way $34.62, a 69.2% conversion. The same bonus, stake returned, keeps $46.15 (92.3%). Laid instead: a $100 bonus at 5.00, laid at 5.20 with 6% commission, needs a $77.82 lay ($326.85 liability) and keeps $73.15.
What it assumes. Both bets are placed at the prices entered and both stand. It cannot see whether a price is still there, whether a bookmaker will cap the stake, or whether the bonus has a minimum price or market in its terms: check those first. Amounts are shown to the cent.
It depends on the price you put the bonus on and on how much margin the two prices carry together. As arithmetic: when the two prices add up to a 102% book, a stake-not-returned bonus at 2.00 converts at 48% and one at 5.00 at 72%, because a longer price leaves more of the win after the cover. Enter your own prices to see yours before you bet.
Most bonus bets are "stake not returned": a winning bonus pays only the winnings, not the bonus amount. Some are stake returned, which pays both and converts at a much higher rate; switch the calculator to "Stake returned" for those. Some bookmakers set a minimum price or limit the markets a bonus can be used on, so check the terms before you convert.
Two-way markets are the simplest, because one cash bet covers the only other result: head to head in sports with no draw, overs and unders, line bets. Put the bonus on the longer price, since a stake-not-returned bonus keeps more of a long-price win after the cover. Three-way markets such as soccer need two cover bets; this calculator covers two-way markets.
Yes, you can convert as many bonus bets as you have available, one calculation each. Make sure you have enough cash at the other bookmakers, or on the exchange, to place every cover bet.
Yes: one where you hold the bonus bet, and another bookmaker or an exchange to place the cover with cash. The live converter only suggests covers at the bookmakers you choose, so the rates it shows depend on the accounts you already hold.
You collect the bonus winnings and lose the cover bet, which leaves the calculated amount. If the cover wins instead, it pays the same amount and the bonus is simply gone, having cost no cash. Either way you end up with the calculated amount, as long as both bets stand at the prices entered.
Whichever gives the higher figure for your prices: enter both in the calculator. An exchange takes commission from winnings, which the calculator deducts; a bookmaker cover pays no commission, but the best price for the other side is usually at a different bookmaker from the one holding your bonus.
Placing bets on opposite outcomes at different bookmakers is legal in Australia. What can restrict it is each bookmaker's own terms: a bookmaker can limit stakes, void a bonus or close an account under them, so read them before you convert.
Arbitrage uses cash on every side and profits from prices that disagree. Bonus bet conversion uses a bonus on one side and cash on the other, and the aim is to turn the bonus into cash. The two percentages are measured differently: a conversion rate is against the bonus amount, an arb's profit against the cash staked.
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