All 8 North Carolina sports betting promos, ranked by actual cash value

There’s a lot of misinformation about the true value of each North Carolina sports betting promo. You may see $1,000 promised — but are you actually getting $1,000 cash, or even $1,000 in bonus bets?

Not quite. Each offer works a little differently, and the true cash value you can expect will vary depending on the mechanics of each offer. You can read up on our methodology to calculate the true value of each sportsbook bonus here. There are many different ways you can use these bonuses, but we’re scoring them based on the two optimal ways to use them.

Right now, there are eight sports betting apps live in North Carolina.

Every NC Sports Betting Promo, Ranked

🦶 North Carolina Sportsbook	🤑 Welcome Offer	💰 Actual Max Cash Value	📈 Investment to Max
ESPN BET NC	$1,500 first bet	$675	High
bet365 Sportsbook NC	$1,000 first bet	$450	High
Fanatics Sportsbook NC	$1,000 in first bets*	$450	Medium
BetMGM Sportsbook NC	$1,600 deposit match	$340**	Very High
DraftKings Sportsbook NC	$250 bonus bets	$162.50	Low
FanDuel Sportsbook NC	$200 bonus bets	$130	Low
Underdog Sports NC	$100 deposit match	$95.45	Low
Caesars Sportsbook NC	10, 100% profit boost tokens	N/A	Low

*Fanatics gives out $100 no sweat bets every day for 10 days, which adds up to the same $1,000 other books are giving out, but it requires a smaller upfront investment since you don’t need to deposit and bet $1,000 all at once to maximize it.

**Our calculation of BetMGM’s deposit match value includes the money you’d lose from hitting the rollover requirement, though there are ways to mitigate that some.

1. ESPN BET North Carolina

• Offer type: First bet
• Value if maximized: $675
• Required investment to maximize: High

There are two optimal ways to use a first bet reset like the one ESPN BET NC is offering — betting your first wager at plus-money to optimize the expected value, or using another sportsbook to hedge that bet to lock in a profit.

Either way, your expected profit will be about 40-50% of the advertised value on first bet offers like this, so at $1,500, ESPN BET currently has the highest-value offer in North Carolina.

But if you’re not willing to deposit $1,500 upfront, plus the other money required to hedge if you go that route, this offer will not be as high value for you.

2. bet365 Sportsbook North Carolina

• Offer type: $1,000 first bet safety net
• Value if maximized: $450
• Required investment to maximize: High

bet365 Sportsbook NC is offering a $1,000 first bet safety net, and also a $150 in bonus bets offer in most states.

The $1,000 safety net math works just like EPSN BET’s, just a smaller amount. If you maximize the $1,000 offer, you can get 45% back in cash on average.

If you opt for the $150 in bonus bet that’s available instead, if you choose it, it’s a much lower upfront investment but it will be worth a little less than $100 in cash if you maximize it.

3. Fanatics Sportsbook North Carolina

• Offer type: First bet
• Value if maximized: $450
• Required investment to maximize: Medium

Fanatics Sportsbook NC has $1,000 total in no sweat bets available through its welcome offer, but the cadence is a little different. You get one, $100 no sweat bet each day for 10 days.

In the end, the value will be about the same as the other $1,000 first bets, but you don’t have to invest quite the same amount up front like you would with a $1,000 no sweat bet if you want to maximize it.

It’s possible that you could put in $100 on your first day, win your first bet, and then have enough cash to continue betting $100 each day without ever putting in more money.

4. BetMGM Sportsbook North Carolina

• Offer type: Deposit match
• Value if maximized: $340
• Required investment to maximize: Very High

Deposit matches can be tricky to calculate because you have to factor in the true value of the bonus you’re getting, plus the money you’re expected to lose while meeting the wagering requirement — also known as a rollover or play-through.

There are a few steps here. First, take the bonus amount and apply the same 60-70% estimate we did for bonus bets. So if you get $1,600 worth of bonus bets, we estimate that will be worth about $1,040.

Next, you’ll need to figure out how much the sportsbook is expecting you to lose during the rollover period. Let’s stick with our same example.

If you have a 10x rollover like BetMGM Sportsbook NC’s on the bonus amount of $1,600, that means you have to wager $16,000. Let’s say you have 30 days to hit it. If you place 160, $100 bets, you’ll hit your rollover requirement so that you can keep your bonus bets.

And assume you go 80-80, with all bets placed at -110. You’ll lose $800, significantly eating into your bonus amount.

	Profit/Loss
Bonus Bets	$1040
10x Rollover Losses	-$800
Total Cash Earned	$340

There are ways to minimize your rollover losses by hedging in low-hold markets — which means you’re betting opposite sides of the same game at different sportsbooks at close prices (i.e. -102 on one side and -104 on the other, so you’re losing just a few bucks no matter what but chipping away at the rollover requirement). Sportsbooks don’t like this practice, and there are risks if you get limited, bet the wrong amounts, or the lines move while you’re trying to bet opposite sides.

If you’re able to lose only $1-2 for every $100 wagered instead of the $9 you would betting at -110, your max value will be closer to $700-$800 instead of $340.

5. DraftKings Sportsbook North Carolina

• Offer type: Bet/get
• Value if maximized: $162.50
• Required investment to maximize: Low

With any bonus bets, you can expect to retain about 60-70% of the value as cash if you use them optimally, so it doesn’t really matter how you get those bonus bets. That’s the value we project.

With this offer, you’ll get $50 in bonus bets on deposit and then another $200 after placing your first qualifying wager (which there’s no odds requirement for, so you should take the biggest favorite you can find). All new signups will end up with $250 in bonus bets.

If you get ten, $25 bonus bets from DraftKings North Carolina and place them all on bets priced at +600 like we recommend, you’ll need to win one to make $150 in profit. The other nine can all lose. Again, over a large sample, we expect you to recoup about 60-70% of your bonus bets, so we’ll stick with the $162.50 estimate, but it could be more or it could be less.

Bet 1 ($25): Loss

Bet 2 ($25): Loss

Bet 3 ($25): Loss

Bet 4 ($25): Loss

Bet 5 ($25): Win, +$150

Bet 6 ($25): Loss

Bet 7 ($25): Loss

Bet 8 ($25): Loss

Bet 9 ($25): Loss

Bet 10 ($25): Loss

With this outcome, you’ll have $150 cash in your account, plus whatever you deposited, and you’ve turned that $250 in bonus bets into $150 in cash.

6. FanDuel Sportsbook North Carolina

• Offer type: Bet $5, get $200
• Value if maximized: $130
• Required investment to maximize: Low

FanDuel North Carolina is offering $200 in bonus bets, similar to DraftKings, as these two are often in-sync on what kind of offers they’re giving new users. In the last 1-2 years, they’ve typically stuck with smaller “bet/get” offers like bet $5, get $150 or $200, though FanDuel is also partial to a no sweat first bet from time to time.

The key difference in this bonus, giving FanDuel a tiny leg up, is that the bonus bets can be split into any amount.

7. Underdog Sports North Carolina

• Offer type: 100% deposit match up to $100
• Value if maximized: $95.45
• Required investment to maximize: Low

Underdog is primarily a fantasy platform and offers sports betting in only North Carolina. Right now, their offer is a 100% deposit match up to $100 with a 1x play-through rate.

We calculate the true cash value at $95.45 because of the low play-through. Why $95.45? All you need to do is bet $100 one time, and if you bet that $100 at -110, you’d expect to win half the time.

Of course, you’ll never actually end up with $95.45 — sometimes you’ll lose the $100, sometimes you’ll win about $91 (assuming you’re betting at -110), so we split the difference.

8. Caesars Sportsbook North Carolina

• Offer type: 10, 100% profit boost tokens
• Value if maximized: N/A
• Required investment to maximize: Low

Caesars Sportsbook NC is currently offering the least lucrative signup bonus in the state, rewarding new players with a series of ten (10) 100% profit boosts following an initial $1+ wager.

Although these boosts can help churn out additional profits, there is no guaranteed value here as they would require the user to pick several winners before reaping any benefits.

Nonetheless, if you’ve yet to register for an account with Caesars Sportsbook NC and plan on placing several wagers with the brad, we definitely recommend taking advantage of this offer.

Which NC Betting Offers Should I Take?

I have two main schools of thought, which should be clear based on above.

If you’re trying to truly maximize the cash value, max out the “first bet on the house” offers. If you do it right, you’ll extract the most cash from these platforms in the long run.

If you’re just looking for some bonus bets to mess around with, with little upfront cash deposited, take the bet/get offers at sites like FanDuel and DraftKings.