How does FanDuel’s No Sweat First Bet work?

Disclaimer: FanDuel is currently running a welcome offer of ‘Bet $5 on Any Market, Get $150 in Bonus Bets’. In North Carolina, the bonus is simply bet $5, get $200 in guaranteed bonus bets. FanDuel’s no sweat first bet is currently unavailable.

This post is solely for informational purposes should FanDuel go back to running their no sweat first bet welcome offer.

Sportsbooks brand their welcome offers in many different ways, and FanDuel is no exception. While it’s currently not available, FanDuel’s “No Sweat First Bet” is a welcome bonus they occasionally offer new players. If you’re unsure of what that means, the Inquirer is here to help guide you on how their bonus bets work.

The quick explanation is this -- if you lose your first bet, FanDuel will refund you in bonus bets equal to whatever you lost, up to whatever amount they’re offering at the time. It’s generally $1,000, but can be higher during big events like the Super Bowl. So if you place a $200 bet on the Phillies to beat the Mets and the Phillies lose, you get $200 back in bonus bets.

The key part of that phrase are the last two words, “first bet.” FanDuel’s welcome offer serves as a first bet that you can place after you complete the registration process. The “no sweat” part of that phrase is because your first bet’s stake will be refunded as bonus bets if you lose.

As for what bonus bets are, we’ll go into detail on that further below.

FanDuel’s No Sweat First Bet is essentially a safety net. If your first wager loses, you’ll be refunded in bonus bets equal to what you lost. If it wins, you keep all the profits and your initial bet amount.

You have to make an initial deposit of at least $10 before being able to place your no sweat first bet.

If your first bet up to the maximum amount loses, your stake will be refunded as bonus bets. Think of bonus bets like an in-game currency or credit. You can’t withdraw these bets for cash. But you can use them on FanDuel markets over the course of the next seven days before they expire.

You don’t have to bet $1,000. If you wager $725 on a market and are unsuccessful, you’ll get $725 back in bonus bets. After you place your first bet, you can’t go back and try to bet $275 on another market to reach $1,000. It must be done in one bet.

If you win your first bet, you keep your initial stake as well as your winnings. Just like if you lose, you can’t withdraw these funds, but you can use them on a wide range of bets.

As mentioned atop this page, FanDuel’s No Sweat First Bet is currently unavailable for new customers. You can instead sign up for their welcome offer of bet $5 on any moneyline, and get $150 in bonus bets by clicking on this link to begin registering for your account.

Follow the guided steps such as entering your personal information and reading FanDuel’s terms and conditions. These will give you all the rules you need to know about how you can use your bonus bets.

Make your initial deposit of $10 or more and find whatever market you want to place your first bet on. If you win, your first bet’s stake and winnings will be paid out as bonus funds. If you lose, just your stake will be paid out as bonus funds.

Out of spread, totals, and moneyline odds, moneyline odds will typically net the highest payout for the less money. For the examples below, we’ll stick exclusively to moneyline odds for that reason.

Let’s say you’re betting $1,000 on the Chicago Bulls against the Miami Heat. If the Bulls are underdogs at +240 odds and go on to lose, you’ll get your $1,000 stake back as bonus bets. But if the Bulls win, you’ll wind up with $2,400 total in cash winnings, plus the $1,000 you bet. You’ll have $3,400 cash in your account you can withdraw or continue betting.

You can use bonus bets in any increments FanDuel. You aren’t limited to using your entire balance in just one bet.

Let’s say you had $400 in bonus bets from a no sweat first bet offer. This means you can bet $200 on the Lakers covering the spread against the Warriors and $100 on the Pistons and Celtics scoring over 230.5 points, and you’ll still have $100 remaining. You could even make 400, $1 bets, or 40 $10 bets. And anything in between.

You can place as many bets as you want with these funds, which is a big reason FanDuel’s no sweat first bet is as popular as it is.

The Inquirer is not an online gambling operator, or a gambling site. We provide this information about sports betting for entertainment purposes only.