What is a 'Free Crack'?

A free crack promo is one that gives you a bonus bet no matter what happens.

The majority of bookie promos are 'conditional' i.e. you only get a bonus bet if a condition is met. For example:

• "Back a horse to win and get a $50 bonus bet if it runs 2nd or 3rd"
• "Back a team to win and get a bonus bet if they lead at half-time but lose"

Free crack promos are much more simple. They can either be:

• "Place a bet on this market and we will give you a bonus bet if it loses"

Or:

• "Place a bet on this market and we will give you a bonus bet"

In both cases the expected value is huge.

How to Approach Free Cracks

One option is to treat a free crack as a very low-risk punt. Because you are getting the BB if you lose you know that the most you can lose is the difference between your stake amount and your BB retention amount (e.g. if you can retain 80% from the bonus bet you are only risking 20% of your stake).

The other option is to lay your bet.

You can choose how much you want to lay. Some people will just enough lay to make the bet truly risk-free (e.g. 20% of the stake), while other will prefer to guarantee a profit no matter what happens. 

If the promo gives you a BB if your bet loses it is normal to underlay so that you make a profit even if it wins. The slider on the free crack calculator is very helpful for this.

For more information on why free cracks are EV+ you can read our article here.