Are bet365′s Bet Boosts good bets?

Online sportsbooks commonly offer boosted odds, or “bet boosts,” which offer bettors a higher potential payout for the same amount of risk on a select group of available bets or wagers. For example, if the regular odds for the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl are +450, bet365 might offer its users the option to bet the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl at +525, giving the users a higher potential payout on the same bet.

Bet Boosts are meant to both offer value to existing users and also encourage regular engagement and regular betting. But should users take advantage? Do these Bet Boosts represent good value or good bets? Let’s take a look.

bet365′s Bet Boosts

bet365 is one of the top online sportsbooks globally and continues to expand its presence in the U.S. The sportsbook is committed to driving growth and offering new users a very good bet365 bonus upon signing up.

bet365BET $5, GET $150or $1,000 First Bet Safety Net

21 and present in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio or Virginia. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. Deposit required. Bet Credits wager excluded from returns. T&Cs, time limits and exclusions apply.

The company isn’t just focused on new user growth, however. bet365 is quite active in the Bet Boost game, offering users daily options for regular wagering. bet365 offers a batch of boosted odds, most notably around parlays, for almost all major sporting games each day.

...which led us to ask the question. How often should users partake in these boosts? Are they “good bets?”

We decided to track the results from over 50 Bet Boost wagers across 10 NFL games during a weekend of NFL action. All of these Bet Boosts were in the form of parlays, and you can see a snapshot of our tracking spreadsheet below:

So, how did these boosts perform?

• Overall performance: 7 out of 53 (13.21%)
• Games that had at least one bet boost hit: 5 out of 10 (50%)
• Games that had more than one bet boost hit: 2 out of 10 (20%)

Half the NFL games we tracked did not have a single Bet Boost hit. Two of the ten games we tracked had two Bet Boosts hit. No game had three or more Bet Boosts hit.

What might we take away from this? Well, by nature, parlays aren’t easy to hit. Most of these Bet Boosts are three-leg parlays. Three-leg parlays typically have odds in the 6-to-1 range. Not too far off from our 13.21% success rate.

Casual bettors should understand that most of these parlay bets won’t hit, whether they have boosted odds or not. While boosted odds can be attractive, it shouldn’t guide you what to bet on. Instead, you should first know what you want to bet on either through expert advice or your own research and then go seek for the best odds available for such a bet. If you can find a boosted odds option for the bet you were already planning to make, that’s great!

Should you key in on the potential overs?

On our list of ten games, both games that registered at least two Bet Boost wins also went over the total points scored over/under line that was set for the game. The Giants-Cowboys game went over the projected 39 points with a final score of 49-17. Here are the Bet Boosts from the game including the results:

With most of the parlay bets associated with the NFL Bet Boost wagers being offensive categories, it obviously helps when the teams score a lot.

The Washington vs. Seattle game had a similar result in which the score of 29-26 went over the projected points total of 44.5 points. 2 of the 6 Bet Boots for the game hit.

Worth noting, however, that just because the game goes over the points total, it doesn’t mean the Bet Boosts will hit. The Cleveland vs. Baltimore game is a good example of this event.

The Browns beat the Ravens 33-31, easily going over the 38 number that was posted for the points total over/under. However, 0 out of the 6 Bet Boosts hit for this game. Here are the Bet Boosts that bet365 had available for the Ravens-Browns game:

While the game featured a lot of scoring, you can immediately see that 4 of the 6 Bet Boosts were knocked out of contention simply by the Ravens losing. Moreover, Lamar Jackson having a sub-par game by his standards also hurt the chances here.

Understanding the sportsbook’s motivations

It can be tempting to look at the results explained here and think that Bet Boosts are simply there to entice and encourage sports bettors to wager money and lose. And look, we’re not naive, there might be some elements of truth there.

But sportsbooks don’t want users that lose big and then stop betting altogether. Sportsbooks ultimately want engaged users that enjoy betting regularly over a long period of time as an entertaining compliment to enjoying sports.

Do sportsbooks, by and large, drive revenue from constantly pushing same-game parlays and Bet Boosts around parlays? Of course.

But it’s important to understand the user experience component as well. Sportsbook operators spend a great deal of time and investment on creating a quality user experience within their sports betting apps. If you’ve been paying attention over the last year or so, you’ve likely noticed the increase in “featured” or suggested same-game parlays and boosted odds options around upcoming games and matches.

While the cynical view will look at this simply through the lens of a money grab, it’s worth understanding that this is also serving the user. These parlay bets are often viewed as fun and entertaining wagers to root for adjacent to watching a big game on TV.

Sportsbooks want engaged users. These boosts and suggested parlays undoubtedly assist toward this end.

Back to the Bet Boosts...

Let’s circle back to our exercise of tracking the Bet Boosts across the NFL weekend and draw some conclusions. While this was a relatively small sample size (a single weekend of NFL action), we can sum up with the following:

• Bet Boosts are often meant to encourage regular betting and engagement.
• Like all parlay bets, most do not hit, whether the odds are boosted or not.
• The best approach to Bet Boosts is to first determine what you want to bet independent of what boosts are available. Then, go seek the best odds.
• As always, wager responsibly.