You get bonus bets in Australia only as an existing customer. They arrive through promotions a bookmaker runs for its own account holders, usually as a refund or reward attached to a bet you place. Since 26 May 2019 (26 November 2019 in NSW), no provider licensed in Australia has been allowed to hand one out as a reward for opening an account or bringing in a friend.
Every bonus bet carries the bookmaker's own terms on opt-in, minimum odds, eligible markets and expiry, and it is the bookmaker who judges whether a bet qualifies. Its winnings must be withdrawable with no turnover requirement, but the bonus itself is not cash, and an offer that rewards you for betting more can cost more in margin than the bonus is worth.
Where bonus bets come from in Australia
A bonus bet is a credit on your betting account that you can stake but not withdraw, and a winning one normally pays only its winnings, as bonus bets explained shows. Bonus bets reach an account in four main ways, shown here as illustrative shapes rather than current offers:
| Where it comes from | What triggers it | What the terms require | What to check first |
|---|---|---|---|
| A refund or saver on a losing bet | Your bet loses in a way the terms name, such as a runner finishing second or one multi leg failing | An opt-in if asked, and a stake within the cap | Cash or bonus bet, and the cap |
| A bet-and-get reward | A qualifying bet, or a set amount of betting | A bet on the market and at the minimum price the terms set; betting volume is costed below | What the qualifying bets cost |
| An offer to account holders | An email, text or in-app offer to customers who agreed to marketing | An opt-in, and use by the stated expiry | Whether you still want that marketing |
| Loyalty points or turnover tiers | Points or status earned by how much you bet | More betting, which regulators treat as a harm risk: nothing to chase | The cost of the extra betting, worked below |
Money back racing promos values one familiar refund shape, a stake back if your runner finishes second or third, and betting promotions in Australia maps the other promotion types.
These bonus bets for existing customers are the only kind a provider licensed in Australia can give.
Risk: Betting involves risk. A refund follows a losing bet, it usually arrives as a bonus bet rather than cash, and a bonus bet that loses pays nothing. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Why no bookmaker licensed here may give you a bonus bet for joining
Measure 4 of the National Consumer Protection Framework bans any reward for opening an account or for bringing in someone else, whether it takes the form of credit, a voucher, a bonus bet or any other benefit. Each state and territory polices the rule under its own law, and NSW adds bans on rewards for keeping an account open or for agreeing to receive a provider's gambling advertising.
So a joining bonus, a first-deposit match or a refer-a-friend credit aimed at Australians means the site is either breaking the rules or operating without an Australian licence. Betting sign-up bonuses in Australia explains the ban and how to report a breach, and betting inducement rules in Australia sets out each state's version.
Opt-in, qualifying bets and the bookmaker's call
Many offers count a bet only if you opt in to the promotion first, through a button or an account setting. The bet itself then has to be a qualifying bet: the right market and bet type, placed inside the offer's time window, at or above any minimum odds and within the stake cap. Unless the terms name them, assume each way bets, multis, tote bets and bets struck with another bonus bet do not count. Terms can also restrict an offer to a single use per customer, and the final call on whether a bet qualifies is the bookmaker's.
Example: Illustrative terms, not a current offer. A bookmaker refunds your stake as a bonus bet, up to $50, if your runner finishes second, on fixed-odds win bets at $2.50 or longer placed after you opt in. A $70 win bet at $2.40 earns nothing, because the price is under the minimum, and a $70 bet at $3.00 placed before you opt in earns nothing either. The same $3.00 bet placed after you opt in, on a runner that finishes second, earns a $50 bonus bet, not $70, because of the cap.
Tip: Screenshot the offer, its terms and your bet slip before the event starts. If the bonus bet never arrives, the screenshots show what was offered and when you bet.
Turnover targets and loyalty points: what the extra betting costs
Some offers pay a bonus bet once you have bet a set amount, and loyalty schemes turn points earned per dollar bet into bonus bets. Both reward volume, which regulators treat as a harm risk. South Australia's code of practice for betting operators allows a loyalty program only with the Liquor and Gambling Commissioner's approval, with rewards in proportion to betting and monitoring to step in where a member may be at risk of harm. Liquor & Gaming NSW's guideline on inducements puts reward points for bets placed on its list of offers that may not be advertised to the public.
Example: Illustrative offer shape and prices, not a current offer. Bet $450 within seven days and receive a $30 bonus bet. Every bet you place to reach the target pays 95% of its fair price, and you later use the bonus bet at $4.40 on a selection the exchange prices at $4.80.
- Expected cost of $450 of singles: $450 x (1 - 0.95) = $22.50
- Expected cost of $450 of three-leg multis: $450 x (1 - 0.95 x 0.95 x 0.95) = $64.18
- Expected value of the $30 bonus bet: $30 x (4.40 - 1) / 4.80 = $21.25
| Your $450 of bets | Extra expected cost | Bonus bet value | Expected result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bets you had already planned and budgeted for | $0.00 | $21.25 | +$21.25 |
| Extra singles placed to reach the target | $22.50 | $21.25 | -$1.25 |
| Extra three-leg multis placed to reach the target | $64.18 | $21.25 | -$42.93 |
A points scheme works the same way (illustrative): if every $500 you bet earns a $5 bonus bet, the betting costs $500 x (1 - 0.95) = $25.00 on average at those prices. The bonus is worth about $5 x (4.40 - 1) / 4.80 = $3.54. These figures are averages. The $450 is your own money at risk, and a bonus bet on a selection with a fair price of $4.80 loses 1 - 1 / 4.80 = about 79.2% of the time. Betting turnover requirements sets out what qualifying spend costs in more detail.
Risk: Betting involves risk. Betting more to reach a target, or to win back losses on the way to one, is how these offers end up costing money. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Expiry and keeping track of your bonus bets
Each bookmaker's terms set when a bonus bet expires, and an unused one is gone once that time passes. Using a bonus bet puts none of your own money at stake, but a deadline can pull you into cash bets alongside it, so keep the two apart: use the bonus bet, or let it lapse, without adding to it.
Offers spread across several bookmakers are easy to lose, so keep a short record of each one:
- the bookmaker and the amount
- the date it arrived, and its expiry date and time
- the minimum odds and the markets it can be used on
- whether it returns the stake or only the winnings
- the result, once it settles
The monthly activity statement the national framework requires for every active account shows that bookmaker's net result. Added together across your accounts, those results are the honest test of whether offers pay their way.
Bonus bet winnings are cash, the bonus itself is not
Whatever a bonus bet wins has to be free to withdraw: the National Consumer Protection Framework bars any requirement to bet it again first. Using the illustrative figures above, a $30 bonus bet at $4.40 that wins pays $30 x (4.40 - 1) = $102, and the whole $102 can be withdrawn without being bet again. The $30 bonus itself was never cash, so it could only ever be bet or allowed to lapse.
If a bookmaker insists on turnover anyway, the bookmaker complaints guide sets out where to take it.
Risk: Betting involves risk. The $102 only follows a bonus bet that wins, and a bonus bet that loses pays nothing. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
When offers push you to bet more, and how to opt out
In its guideline, Liquor & Gaming NSW links the gambling ads it prohibits, inducements among them, to significant harm, such as people gambling beyond their means. Warning signs that offers are shaping your betting:
- You decide whether to bet by what sits in your promotions tab, not by what you set out to bet on.
- You keep accounts open mainly for the offers they send.
- A losing bet feels like progress towards a reward.
- You bet for longer, or with more money, than you planned so that an offer pays out.
You can switch the offers off. Marketing needs your express consent in the first place, and each message has to include an unsubscribe that works. The national framework says the messages must stop once your request arrives, although the spam rules ACMA enforces give a provider up to five business days to act on it.
Closing an account ends that bookmaker's marketing, and BetStop, the free Australian Government self-exclusion register, bars every online and phone wagering provider licensed in Australia from marketing to anyone registered. A deposit limit caps the money you can put in: lowering it takes effect straight away, raising it only after 7 days. How to stop betting promotions walks through each step.
Part 7D, the 2026 reforms' new part of the Interactive Gambling Act, starts on 1 January 2027, but its inducement ban waits for a day the Minister fixes, which has to fall after that date. From then, providers may not email, text or phone an inducement to three groups, or target them with one on social media:
- new accounts in their first 14 days
- people in their first 90 days after leaving BetStop, or later until they expressly agree again to inducement marketing
- customers the provider has identified as possibly at risk of gambling harm
The National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858 is free and confidential, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.