The idea of “free bets” or “risk-free bets” is not exactly new. Yet, it has been granted a slightly different meaning in the fast-growing sports betting industry in the United States, where the idea of a risk-free wager stands for a bet that would simply be returned to you if you end up losing your first wager with a sportsbook – but then you need to place this bet again.

Let’s Call a Spade a Spade

Let’s say you have bet on the Kansas City Chiefs to win and have used your $50 risk-free wager. To some, this means that you can get your money back – and you do – but the sportsbook only lets you bet again rather than granting you a cashout.

This wording has been a bit of a contentious bone of late, and it’s not very likely that states and regulators would be happy to let the style of the promotion themselves as “risk-free” or “free” as apparently there is some level of risk and the money is not just returned to the customer.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has reportedly sent a notice to sports betting operators in which it said that the regulator would now expect from companies to drop the “free bet” wording from their bets. This applies to similar terms, such as risk-free bet and free play. These restrictions do not apply in cases when sportsbooks are genuinely offering a wager that lets you choose to have your money back if you lose a bet.

To an outsider, the use of risk-free wagers in the United States was a bit confusing at first, especially when comparing the newly-fledged industry to more mature and regulated gambling markets. Now, regulators are stepping up as they want to ensure that consumers are not being misled.

The regulator did not go out to single out any sportsbook in its warning, but there have already been enforcement actions against operators who misused these bonuses and promotions. The Ohio Casino Control Commission, for example, slapped DraftKings, Caesars, and BetMGM with a $150,000 fine each. The penalty was issued precisely over the use of “risk-free” wagers which were not such in fact.

Some companies have been much quicker to act though, as FanDuel decided to ditch the wording “risk-free” in their advertisement policies.