American odds (+140, −125)
A plus number is how much profit you win on a $100 bet. A minus number is how much you have to bet to win $100 profit. +140 wins you $140 on a $100 bet; −125 means you stake $125 to win $100.
Look anything up
Every word this site uses that a first-time bettor would not already know. Nothing to finish and nothing to tick off — it is here for the moment something on screen stops making sense.
Odds and prices6Bets and markets9How converting works8Promotion types11Where you place bets5Money and accounts6
Odds and prices
6 entriesThe numbers on every bet slip, and what they are actually telling you.
Favourite and underdog
The favourite is the side the market thinks will win, priced with a minus number. The underdog is the other side, priced with a plus number. Neither tells you anything about whether the price is good.
Implied probability
Every price is a percentage in disguise. −200 is the market saying roughly 67%; +200 is roughly 33%. It is the chance the bookmaker is charging you for, not necessarily the real chance.
Vig (juice, margin, hold)
The sportsbook's built-in cut. Add up the implied probabilities of both sides of a bet and you get more than 100% — that extra is the book's margin, and you pay it on every bet without ever seeing a fee.
Hold %
The vig expressed as a single number for a particular pair of prices. This app lets you set a maximum hold in Settings so the converter skips markets where the two sides are priced too far apart to be worth covering.
Line movement
Prices change as money comes in and as news breaks. A price you saw ten minutes ago may not exist now — which is why both legs of a conversion should go down in one sitting.
Bets and markets
9 entriesThe kinds of bet you can place, and the words the converter uses for them.
Moneyline
A bet on who wins, with no handicap. The simplest bet there is, and usually the cleanest thing to cover.
Spread (handicap)
A margin of victory bet. A team at −3.5 must win by four or more; the other side at +3.5 wins if their team loses by three or less, or wins outright.
Total (over/under)
A bet on the combined score of both teams rather than who wins. Over 47.5 needs 48 or more points in total; under 47.5 needs 47 or fewer.
Prop bet
A bet on something inside the game rather than the result — a player's points, a team's first score, that kind of thing.
Parlay
Several bets combined into one, where every leg has to win. The odds multiply, which is why parlays pay so much — and why they lose so often.
Alternate line
The same bet at a different number — a team at −7.5 instead of the main −3.5, priced accordingly. Useful for hitting a minimum-odds requirement.
Leg
One individual bet inside a larger position. A conversion has two legs: the promo bet at the sportsbook, and the cover bet somewhere else.
Void and push
A void is a bet cancelled with your stake returned, usually because a player did not play. A push is a tie against the number — bet a −3 spread and the team wins by exactly 3.
Settling
When the event finishes and the book pays out or takes your stake. Most bets settle within minutes of the final whistle; some props take longer.
How converting works
8 entriesThe mechanism this whole product rests on, one idea at a time.
Converting (matched betting)
Turning a promotion into real money by covering both outcomes, so the result of the game does not decide whether you come out ahead.
Cover bet (hedge)
The second bet, placed on the opposite outcome with your own money, at a size worked out so that both results pay you about the same.
Qualifying loss
The small, expected loss on the first bet — the one you place to unlock the promo. Covering it costs a little because of the vig, and that cost is subtracted before the promo pays you.
Expected profit (EV)
What a promo is worth on average once converted properly. It is a projection, not a promise — any single conversion can land above or below it.
Conversion rate
How much of a bonus bet's face value survives being converted. Roughly 70 cents on the dollar is normal, so a $150 bonus bet is worth about $105 in real money.
Capital, not cost
The money a promo needs is deployed, not spent. It goes out when you place the bets and comes back when they settle, usually within a day or two, along with the profit.
Capital in play
How much of your bankroll is currently sitting inside unsettled bets. It is unavailable until those bets settle, then it comes back.
Arbitrage (arbing)
Betting both sides at two books whose prices disagree enough to guarantee a profit with no promo involved. Related to converting, but not the same thing, and books treat it far more harshly.
Promotion types
11 entriesEvery offer shape on the board, what the catch is, and how each one converts.
Bonus bet vs free bet vs site credit
A bonus bet returns only the profit if it wins — you never get the credit itself back. Site credit usually behaves the same way. A true free bet that returns the stake is rare, and worth far more.
Bet & Get
Place a small qualifying bet and receive a much larger amount in bonus bets regardless of whether it wins. The most common promo shape on the board.
Sweat Free Bet (first-bet insurance)
Your first bet is refunded in bonus bets if it loses. Bet big, and if it wins you keep real cash; if it loses you get bonus bets back to convert.
Deposit Match
The book matches a percentage of your deposit in bonus funds, but you have to bet through it a number of times before any of it can be withdrawn.
Profit Boost
A token that increases the profit on a bet you place with your own money. A 100% boost on a +200 bet pays as if it were +400 — the boost applies to the winnings, not the stake.
DFS Deposit Match
The same idea as a sportsbook deposit match, but on a daily-fantasy pick'em app where you choose player outcomes at fixed multipliers rather than betting on games.
Qualifying Bet
The bet you must place to unlock a promotion. It usually carries conditions: a minimum stake, a minimum price, and sometimes a restriction on which markets count.
Minimum odds requirement
A rule that the qualifying bet must be at or above a certain price — commonly −200 or longer. Bet shorter than that and the promo does not trigger.
Playthrough (rollover)
How many times you must bet an amount before it can be withdrawn. A $500 bonus with 5× playthrough means placing $2,500 of bets before the money is yours.
Bonus expiry
Bonus bets usually expire, commonly after seven days. An expired bonus is worth nothing, and this is the most avoidable way to lose value.
Why sportsbooks give money away
It is customer acquisition. A sportsbook will happily pay $150 to get an account it expects to keep for years, and most of those accounts lose money over time. Yours does not have to.
Where you place bets
5 entriesSportsbooks, exchanges and prediction markets — and why the difference costs you money.
Sportsbook
A licensed company that sets its own prices and takes the other side of your bet. FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and the rest. This is where the promotions live.
Betting exchange
A venue that matches you against another bettor instead of taking the other side itself. Because nobody is setting a house price, the odds sit closer to fair — which makes it the cheapest place to put your cover bet.
Prediction market (Kalshi)
A federally regulated exchange where you trade contracts on outcomes rather than placing bets with a bookmaker. Kalshi is the main one, and it is frequently the tightest price available for a cover.
Liquidity
How much money is available on the other side of a market. Plenty of liquidity means your cover fills instantly at the price shown; thin liquidity means it may fill partly, or not at all.
Why cover on an exchange rather than a second sportsbook
You can cover at a second sportsbook, and plenty of promos still work that way. But you pay that book's margin on the cover, and it comes straight out of the promo's value.
Money and accounts
6 entriesDeposits, withdrawals, ID checks, limits and tax. The unglamorous half.
ID verification (KYC)
Every licensed book must confirm who you are before it pays you. Expect to hand over your name, address, date of birth and the last four of your SSN, sometimes a photo of your ID.
Withdrawing your money
Once both legs have settled, the money is yours to withdraw. The first withdrawal from any book is the slowest, because that is when the ID check actually happens.
Declined deposits
Some banks block gambling transactions by default, and it is the most common snag in the whole process. It is your bank refusing, not the sportsbook.
Account limiting
A book deciding you are not the customer it wanted, and capping your stakes or cutting you off from future promotions. It does not take money you have already won.
Tax on winnings
In the US, gambling winnings are taxable income and books may issue tax forms above certain thresholds. This app is not tax advice and nobody here is your accountant.
When to stop
Converting works because it is arithmetic. The moment you place a bet you have not covered because it felt good, you are doing something else entirely.
Still stuck on something?
Every offer has a step-by-step walkthrough that explains that specific promo as you go, and the converter has its own tour.