Sports Betting Odds Boosts: Boosted Odds Promotions

Sports betting odds boosts, also known as boosted odds offers, are a relatively new phenomenon, but most major US sportsbooks have already adopted them as standby promotional vehicles.

The concept is simple. In a standard odds boost promotion, the sportsbook selects certain betting markets and lowers the vigorish by enhancing the payout odds on winning wagers.

The impact is often significant enough to completely negate the house edge and give the bettor a positive expectation play.

Understanding how odds boosts work, which sportsbooks offer the best deals, and how to calculate the value of boosted odds promotions is critical for sports bettors who want to maximize their success.

Sportsbooks With Enhanced Odds Promotions

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Odds Boosts Explained

An odds boost isn’t much different than a limited-time sale at a department store. But rather than discounts on clothing and jewelry, bettors receive discounts (longer odds) on select bets.

As a result, bettors receive more bang for their buck. Their odds of winning don’t change, but odds boosts enhance the payouts on bets that do win.

Odds boosts are simply changes in the betting line that result in better payouts for winning wagers. For instance, if the original line is +200, a boosted line might be +220 or +240.

Bettors should have no trouble finding odds boosts because most online sportsbooks either dedicate a special section to them or promote them all over their homepages.

For example, FanDuel Sportsbook lists odds boosts near the top of the page:

Some sportsbooks list the original price of a line alongside the boosted price, while others do not. The former approach is more favorable to the customer because it allows them to see just how much added value they’re receiving.

FanDuel takes the former approach, allowing bettors to see the original price alongside the current boosted price. See the first boost in the above image. Bettors can see that FanDuel has boosted the odds on the “Houston Astros & Colorado Rockies both to win” market from +190 to +240.

Bettors can find FanDuel odds boosts on a variety of bet types. Some of the most popular include:

• Player props: Often, these are one-way props, meaning that the book provides pricing on an event happening (“Yes”), but not on it not happening (“No”). Sometimes the boost consists of two player props parlayed together (e.g., Sam Darnold and Davis Mills each over 1.5 pass TDs).
• Game props: These are usually parlayed and often positively correlated (e.g., Houston Astros to score first and score over 5.5 team runs).
• All to Win: Some sportsbooks commonly boost the odds of 2- and 3-leg moneyline parlays. For instance, the Phillies, Cardinals, and Dodgers all to win.
• Outright winners: Boosts on outright winners are particularly fashionable for sports like golf and NASCAR. The boost in these cases enhances the payout odds on an individual or team to win or be the top scorer.

What About Profit Boosts?

Profit boosts have grown immensely in popularity right alongside odds boosts. Although they look somewhat different at first glance, they have many characteristics in common.

In fact, bettors can easily convert odds boosts into profit boosts and vice versa. See the following sections for examples on how to do just that.

A profit boost enhances the payouts of winning bets by a percentage. For example, bettors who wager $25 on a -110 NFL point spread and win normally net $22.73 in profits. However, if they receive a 20% odds boost, their profit bumps up to $27.27 for an increase of 20%.

Here are some examples of Profit Boosts from BetRivers:

The main difference between an odds boost and a profit boost is that profit boosts tend to be a lot more flexible. Whereas Odds Boosts typically only apply to select wagers predetermined by the book, bettors can often use Profit Boosts on any game within a market.

Sportsbooks usually subject odds and profit boosts to maximum bet and payout limitations because they either reduce the house edge or give players an advantage.

Converting Odds Boosts to Profit Boosts

Like odds boosts, profit boosts effectively shorten the odds, but they take a different angle in doing so.

Say a site offers an odds boost from +200 to +240. Normally we might bet $25 to win $75, a profit of $50. We know this because for positive (“+”) odds, the formula for determining our profit is:

Profit = Bet * (Odds/100)

In this case we plug in $25 for our wager and +200 for the odds, and get: Profit = $25 * (+200/100) = $50

At the boosted +240 line, our $25 bet would win $85, for a net gain of $60: Profit = $25 * (+240/100) = $60

If the original win is $50, and the boosted payout is $60, we won 20% more than we would have without the odds boost. 

In other words, an odds boost from +200 to +240 is the same thing as a profit boost of 20%.

Converting Profit Boosts to Odds Boosts

Likewise, bettors can easily convert profit boosts into odds boosts.

Let’s say we took advantage of a BetRivers 20% profit boost on NCAAF. We decide to play it safe and bet $50 on a -150 moneyline.

To determine our potential profits for minus “-“ odds, we divide 100 over the negative value of the odds and multiply that by our bet:

Profit = Bet * (100/-Odds)

We plug in $50 for the bet size and -150 for the odds and get: Profits = $50 * (100/-(-150)) = $33.33.

Thanks to the Profit Boost, we win an additional 20%, or $40 total. Using the same formula as before, we can convert our Profit Boost to an Odds Boost: $40 = $50 * (100/-(Odds)) = -125

From this, we can see that a Profit Boost of 20% on a -150 line is the same as an Odds Boost from -125 to -150.

Different Types of Odds Boosts

Odds boost promotions come in many different flavors, but they all effectively share the same theme of ramping up bettors’ payout. Common odds boost formats include:

• Daily Boosts: These are typically for events that will begin the same day, or at most, within a few days.
• Boost of the Week: A special boost for a major event, like the Ryder Cup or the NBA Finals.
• Super Boost: These are basically the same as daily boosts but with even bigger payout boosts
• Season-long Boosts: Sportsbooks offer season-long boosts throughout a particular market’s lifespan, often in the form of profit boosts. An example might be a 20% profit boost on all Monday Night Football games.

Sportsbooks can also disguise season-long boosts as “no juice” spreads, where the book offers fair odds for a particular be type and market for either part of or an entire season.

Which Sportsbooks Offer Odds Boosts?

Nearly all U.S. online sportsbooks offer regular odds boosts. However, both the number and value of these sports betting bonus offers vary from book to book. Here’s a look at some of the best:

Caesars Sportsbook Odds Boosts

Caesars Sportsbook is the head honcho for odds boosts, often listing 50 or more per day. Caesars odds boosts are subject to a $100 maximum bet, which is more than what the average book permits.

The array of boosts offered by Caesars is mightily impressive, spanning boosts on outright winners, futures, game props, player props, moneyline parlays, and more. They also cover a multitude of sports, from the NFL and MLB to more obscure offerings like boxing, golf, and the UFC.

The one bummer is that Caesars does not list the original odds on its boosts. That suggests to us that some of these boosts are duds.

It’s safe to say that if you’re looking to find edges, Caesars is probably the place to start.

FanDuel Odds Boosts

FanDuel Sportsbook might not offer the most Odds Boosts, but they tend to be of a higher stock relative to its competitors.

The book likes to boost player props, team props, and moneyline parlays. An example might be a player prop on a particular player to score the first touchdown or a quarterback throwing for at least X yards.

Bettors can find odds boosts throughout the calendar year, but they’re more prevalent during football season.

FanDuel displays both the original and boosted lines, so bettors can get some idea of how good a deal they’re getting.

BetRivers Odds Boosts

BetRivers Sportsbook offers daily House Specials, consisting primarily of obscure proposition bets. Currently, BetRivers displays the initial odds alongside the enhanced odds so customers can compare the before and after payout potentials.

However, the real bargain at BetRivers lies with its profit boosts. Nearly every day of the week, bettors can claim a different 20% profit boost. Sometimes they’ll be for MLB or NFL, other times for NCAAF parlays. It varies by season.

The limits on its promotions are a bit restrictive for our taste. Typically, BetRivers caps the max bet somewhere between $25 and $50 and limits payouts to $250. Additionally, customers have to place 3+ leg parlays to qualify for parlay boosts. The promotions are a good deal for customers, but the restrictions diminish their overall value.

DraftKings Odds Boosts

The sportsbook that “Makes It Reign” offers some king-sized Odds Boosts.

The standout at DraftKings Sportsbook is its 20% profit boosts on most NFL games. Bettors may take advantage of this offer once per eligible game.

The profit margins that bettors can achieve via this promotion exceed that of other No Juice NFL Spreadlines offers. A 20% odds boost on a point spread will generate profits, even for bettors who select their teams with the dartboard method.

The main caveat is that DraftKings caps each bet at $50, and the maximum payout per wager is $100. That’s fair, considering if there wasn’t a cap, DraftKings would lose heaps of money.

DraftKings also offers traditional daily odds boosts on player props, alternative totals, and outright winners.

Calculating EV of Odds Boosts

So now that we know what odds boosts are and where to find them, how do we determine if they’re good bets?

Occasionally, one can tell just by looking. A good example is if a site boosts one side of a -110/-110 point spread to any positive number (+105, +110, etc.). This will result in a positive expectation play because the spread is theoretically a 50/50 wager, and the bettor is getting more than double their money back on a winning ticket.

However, if the point spread originates at -105/-115, it’s not quite 50/50, so the boost on the -105 side will have to be roughly +105 or greater for the player to have an advantage.

Moving a bit deeper, let’s say a sportsbook offers an odds boost on the Phillies moneyline. The boost is from +160 to +190. First, we want to look at the moneyline on the opposing team. Let’s say it’s -190. Given this information, we might conclude that the odds boost on the Phillies is break-even since the adjusted moneyline is +190/-190.

Not so fast. Assuming the line is accurate, the Phillies are now actually better than break-even. Remember, only the Phillies received the boost, so the odds on the opposing team are still juiced up. Using a Fair Odds or No-Vig calculator, we see that the true odds on the original +160/-190 moneyline are approximately +170/-170.

At +170, the probability of the Phillies winning is 37.04%. Therefore, our expected value on the odds boost for a $50 wager is $53.71, found by multiplying the potential payout by the win probability ($145 * .3704). This works out to a profit of 7.42%.

Bettors can apply this same concept to “All to Win” boosts, which are effectively moneyline parlays. But instead of just calculating the true odds for one leg, bettors have to do it for every leg. Once they have those numbers (let’s say they’re +170, -200, and +150), bettors can convert them to decimal odds with the following formulas:

• Positive odds: 1 + (odds/100)
• Negative odds: 1 – (100/odds)

We get 2.7, 1.5, and 2.5. Multiply them together to get 10.125, subtract 1 and multiply by 100 to convert back to American Odds of +913. If the boosted number pays better than +913, this will likely be a +EV bet.

Boosted Odds Betting Tips

There are a couple of other factors to consider with odds boosts. Sharps may move on a line after a sportsbook posts an odds boost. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence, as game day injury updates and starting lineup announcements can push lines in either direction.

If an odds boost moves a line from +160 to +190, but the closing line is +190, suddenly the bettor isn’t getting such a spectacular deal. However, the line could move the other direction, from +160 to +140, and the deal is now significantly better than it was initially.

It’s also worth looking at the lines on other books. For example, if a customer is considering betting on a +175 to +200 boost, but three other sportsbooks already have the line at +200, the boost is a mirage.

Determining the value of boosted moneylines is straightforward. Determining the value of one-way props and, worse yet, parlayed one-way props requires a lot of guesswork. The vigorish on these bets can be enormous, so bettors should ensure their estimates err on the conservative side. And again, bettors should always check other books to see what lines they’re offering on the same bets or check to see if they offer a two-way line on the prop they’re analyzing.

In Which States Can I Find Odds Boosts?

Bettors should be able to find odds boosts at most licensed sportsbooks in all states where online sports betting is legal. Opportunities to find boosted odds bonuses will only grow as more states embrace legal online sports betting.

Note: Boosted Odds Promotions are Often Regional

Readers should also keep in mind that sportsbooks often issue unique odds boosts by region to customers based on their locations. For example, a sportsbook may offer a daily odds boost on the Tennessee Titans exclusively to its customers in TN and an odds boost on the Denver Broncos exclusively to Colorado bettors.

Odds Boost FAQ