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The fast lane for the math you almost remember from school. Type the numbers, get the answer, move on with your day.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Estimated cash-equivalent value
$66.67
Payout if free bet wins (profit only)
$200.00
Hedge stake to lock in value
$125.93
Guaranteed value if hedged
$74.07
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How to use this
- 1Enter free bet face value ($).
- 2Enter odds you'll place it at (american).
- 3Enter available hedge odds, other side (american).
- 4Read your estimated cash-equivalent value on the right — it updates as you type.
- 5Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
A free bet (bonus bet) typically pays only the winnings, not the stake itself, when it wins — unlike a normal cash bet where you get your stake back plus profit. This makes a free bet worth meaningfully less than its face value; a $100 free bet at even odds (+100) is worth roughly $50 in real cash-equivalent value, not $100, because you never had real money at risk to get back. This calculator estimates the cash-equivalent value of a free bet at given odds, and shows the classic technique of hedging a free bet across a real-money bet on the opposite side to lock in a guaranteed percentage of its face value regardless of outcome — a common, low-risk way to extract value from sportsbook promotions. The optimal odds to place a free bet on are actually longer odds (bigger underdogs), since a free bet's cash-equivalent value as a percentage of face value increases with the decimal odds, unlike a normal cash bet where odds size doesn't change the bet's fundamental value.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Free bet face value: 100 $
- Odds you'll place it at (American): 200
- Available hedge odds, other side (American): -170
Results
- Estimated cash-equivalent value: $66.67
- Payout if free bet wins (profit only): $200.00
- Hedge stake to lock in value: $125.93
- Guaranteed value if hedged: $74.07
What each field means
Inputs
- Free bet face value ($)
- The free bet face value used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 100 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Odds you'll place it at (American)
- The odds you'll place it at (american) used in the calculation. Starts at 200 so you have a working example on load.
- Available hedge odds, other side (American)
- The available hedge odds, other side (american) used in the calculation. Starts at -170 so you have a working example on load.
Results
- Estimated cash-equivalent value
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Payout if free bet wins (profit only)
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Hedge stake to lock in value
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Guaranteed value if hedged
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
Why is a free bet worth less than its face value?
Because most sportsbooks only pay the winnings on a free bet, not the original stake, when it wins. A $100 free bet at true even-money odds is worth about $50 in cash-equivalent terms — if it wins you get $100 profit and no stake back, and if it loses you lose nothing but also gain nothing, averaging out to roughly half the face value at fair odds.
Why should I place a free bet on a big underdog rather than a favorite?
Because the cash-equivalent value as a percentage of face value rises with the size of the underdog price, since you're only forfeiting the (unused) stake on a loss, and a bigger payout multiplier on a win contributes more to the average. Betting a free bet on a heavy favorite near even odds gets you close to only 50% of face value in expectation; a big underdog can get you closer to 70-80%+ of face value.
How does hedging a free bet work in practice?
Place the free bet on a longshot at one book, then place a real-money hedge bet on the opposite side at a second book, sized so you get roughly the same payout whichever side wins. Because you risked nothing on the free-bet side, this locks in a guaranteed profit close to the bet's cash-equivalent value regardless of the actual game outcome.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are rounded for display; the underlying calculation keeps full precision.
- Very large or very small inputs may hit floating-point limits in the browser.
- Inputs outside the accepted range are clamped rather than rejected.
Related tools
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Free Bet Conversion Value Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/free-bet-conversion-calculator
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/free-bet-conversion-calculator" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Free Bet Conversion Value Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Free Bet Conversion Value Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/free-bet-conversion-calculator) (2026).