When we first sat down to write this article, the Seattle Seahawks had just claimed their place in this Super Bowl by battling their way to victory in a heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat classic against the Green Bay Packers.
Elsewhere, in the English Premier League, Manchester United were keeping fans’ hopes of Premier League glory alive with a decent 2-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers.
Whether either team will eventually be lifting their respective trophies high in the air come crunch time is anyone’s guess, but those confident of their team’s success are already flocking to the bookmakers to put their hard-earned firmly behind their favourites.
If you’re thinking of joining them but aren’t quite sure of when, where, or how of online sports betting, here’s a few things you should probably consider.
Your welcome bonus
Unlike a lot of land-based bookmakers, most betting websites guarantee greater value for your money by putting something a little extra in your account when you sign up.
This may come in the form of cashback offers when you deposit a certain amount, a wealth of free credits for their casino games, or even the promise to double what you spend on your first bet. Whatever they offer, it’s worth spending at least a little time comparing these welcome bonuses to find the one that offers the best value for your cash.
The best odds
As tempting as it may be to believe that all odds on the upcoming Super Bowl (or any other sporting event for that matter) will be pretty much the same wherever you chose to place your bet, you’ll likely find that isn’t necessarily the case.
Just as the aforementioned welcome bonuses are often used to stop you signing up with a different website, some bookies will look to gain the advantage over their competitors by offering better odds on the next big game.
With that in mind, if there’s a specific bet you want to place, you could do far worse than shopping around to find the best odds.
Minimum credit
If your plan is to make online sports betting a regular hobby, this one may not be so important. In that situation, the chances are that no matter what the minimum requirements are for making a deposit into your account, you’ll soon use it up and then some.
If, on the other hand, your sole objective in making a bet is to simply place a vote of confidence in those Seahawks lifting the Super Bowl trophy, on on Manchester United ousting Chelsea from the top of the Premier League table, then you may well want to consider the minimum amount of money you have to put into your account before you can start using it.
In most cases, you’ll probably find that most sites require a similar amount, though if these deposit requirements are more than what you were planning to spend, it should go without saying that you should at least try and find the lowest minimum out there so that you’re not spending much more than you really intended.
