How to use the free bet calculator
- Choose the bet you are placing with the free bet: a single, a double, a treble or an accumulator of 4 to 12 legs.
- Type the free bet amount as the stake. If the token is split over each way, switch on Each way: a £10 token used each way is £5 win and £5 place.
- Leave Free bet (stake not returned) switched on. Switch it off to compare with the same bet placed with your own cash.
- Type the odds and mark each result. The return updates as you type.
The profit line shows the whole return, because a free bet stake was never your money: nothing is lost if it loses.
What stake not returned means
Almost every UK free bet is stake not returned (SNR): if it wins, you get the winnings and the bookmaker keeps the stake. A £10 cash bet at 3/1 returns £40 (£30 winnings plus your £10 back); a £10 free bet at 3/1 returns £30. The odds work the same way, the stake just never comes back.
| £10 at | Cash bet returns | Free bet (SNR) returns | Free bet as % of the cash return |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evens | £20 | £10 | 50% |
| 2/1 | £30 | £20 | 67% |
| 3/1 | £40 | £30 | 75% |
| 5/1 | £60 | £50 | 83% |
| 10/1 | £110 | £100 | 91% |
The gap shrinks as the odds grow, because the missing £10 is a smaller share of a bigger return. A few promotions do return the stake (SR). For those, switch the free bet option off and the calculator settles it like a cash bet.
Why longer odds make a free bet worth more
A free bet can't lose you money, so its value is what you expect it to pay. With fair odds (no bookmaker margin), a horse at decimal odds D wins 1 time in D, and a winning £10 free bet pays £10 × (D − 1). Multiply the two and a £10 free bet is worth £10 × (1 − 1/D):
- at evens (2.0): £5, half its face value;
- at 3/1 (4.0): £7.50;
- at 10/1 (11.0): about £9.09.
Real prices carry the bookmaker's margin, so the true figures are a little lower, and longer odds mean the free bet loses more often. The point is the shape: an SNR free bet is never worth its face value, and it is worth least on a short-priced favourite. This is also why matched bettors turn free bets into cash by laying them at an exchange: our matched betting calculator has a Free bet SNR mode that works out the lay stake.
Free bets on doubles, trebles and accas
Some free bet tokens can be used on a multiple. The stake is still taken off once, from the whole bet. A £10 free double on a 2/1 and a 3/1 winner returns £10 × 3 × 4 = £120 as cash, so £110 as a free bet. A £5 free treble on winners at 2/1, 6/4 and evens returns £75 as cash and £70 as a free bet.
A non-runner in a free multiple is settled like any other: the leg counts at odds of 1.0, so a free double with a non-runner becomes a free single on the other horse. Check the token's terms first, as many have minimum odds per leg or for the whole bet, and some can only be used on singles.
Each way free bets, dead heats and non-runners
An each way free bet is two free bets: the win part and the place part, each with its own stake kept. £5 each way at 8/1 with 1/5 odds for three places:
- wins: £40 on the win part plus £8 on the place part, £48 in all;
- places: the place part pays £13 as a cash bet, so £8 as a free bet;
- loses: nothing, and nothing lost.
On a dead heat the stake is split before the winnings are paid. A £10 free bet at 4/1 that dead heats with one other horse is settled as £5 at 4/1: £20 of winnings, with no stake to come back. If a free bet single is a non-runner, there is nothing to settle; bookmakers deal with the token under their own terms, so the calculator shows no cash for a void free single. Rule 4 deductions come off the winnings only, exactly as on a cash bet (see the Rule 4 calculator).
Part cash, part free bet
When a slip is paid partly with free bet funds and partly with cash, the usual rule is that only the cash part of the stake comes back; check your bookmaker's terms. A £10 single at 2/1 paid with £5 of free bet and £5 of cash returns £15 on the cash half (£10 winnings plus the £5 stake) and £10 on the free half: £25 in all, not £30. To work it out here, run the calculator twice, once with the free bet switched on and once with it off, and add the two returns.