Bonus codes, or promo codes if you’d rather, used to be common in the online betting world. Among other things they were used to track the success of specific marketing campaigns and/or give the ability to offer different sign up bonuses based on what code you had.
In fact, in the very early days (possibly before some of you were born) you couldn’t even get a new customer offer without finding a bonus code. And sometimes they weren’t even listed on the bookies site.
But are they still used today, and if so, where do you get them from?
Are Bonus Codes Still Used?
Yes and no. The bookies have totally moved away from the idea of hiding their promotions behind bonus codes, meaning that even when you do need to use a code you should be able to find it on the site in the details of the offer.
As with the olden days, most bonus codes are simply used to provide more than one sign up offer at the same time so that you can have a choice of bonus, or even the option to have no bonus at all if you’d prefer.
For example, you might see a site that has codes for:
- B10G20 – For a bet £10 get £20 offer.
- BTTCASCOT – To claim a bet through the card offer at ascot.
- ENHANCED – An enhanced odds offer giving you an odds boost on a specific bet.
These bonus codes will be clearly marked on the offer page if they’re needed. But if no code is mentioned then they’re not necessary.
Where Do I Find the Codes?
Thankfully these days everything is much more straight forward than it used to be. With the bookies offers they must provide you with the key terms of the offer, including any bonus code that you need to claim.
Normally this code will be clearly visible on the promotional page of the offer, although sometimes it is included in the significant terms instead.
As we mentioned earlier, if no code is shown on the promo page and nothing is listed in the terms then you shouldn’t need one at all.
What If There’s No Code But The Site Has a Bonus Code Field?
When you sign up or make a deposit you might see a space to add a bonus code. This doesn’t necessarily mean that one is required and most sites that don’t provide a code with in their offer details will normally automatically apply the promotion to your account.
There are a couple of logical reasons why you might see a bonus code field when you don’t have a code:
- Site Design – Some sites are designed to be able to accept a bonus code when one is available, but don’t make it a requirement. Rather than change the design of their site based on what promos are running they just leave the field in place.
- Marketing Analytics – Just like the old days if they’re paying for a campaign on TV or on the Tube they might provide a specific code (such as TV20 or TUBE) so that they can see how many new customers their adverts got them. Often there’s no difference in the bonus to the one on the main site, but it doesn’t hurt to check.
Neither of these reasons should affect you, or influence your need for a bonus code. So if no code is listed on the site but there’s a box for it, you can just ignore it and sign up without adding a code.