It's the most common ploy in the world of online gambling - the lure of the free bet that seems so wonderful at first, but that you can't seem to use for anything you want to use it for.

Bookmakers make their living off wrangling you into their virtual 'offices', so it's not unusual to be offered free money that isn't really, in the end, free money. There are a couple of questions you should keep in mind before literally buying into the free bet offers:

What does the deposit amount have to be?

Every online bookmaker will set you up with an account to be used for placing bets on anything they have on offer, but before you can make use of the account you'll need to upload money into it.

In some cases you can simply use your credit card on a case by case basis as you want to place your bets, but if you want the free bets you'll have to put in a certain amount of money that is dedicated to gambling. Check out what that amount will be.

Do you need to place other bets before the free bets?
You will almost certainly have to spend some of your own money on actual bets with your new account before gaining access to that free bet on offer. The question is not so much if you need to place bets and spend your money but how much will you need to spend?

Is the free bet on something specific?
You'll probably want to use that free bet money on something of your own choosing - you don't want to throw it away on a horse race if cricket is your thing.

But according to the rules of the bookmaker, it just might happen that way. Often free bets are given away not only as incentive to join an online bookmaker but to continue doing business with them during an important betting event; things like the Grand National or the World Cup are often the receivers of your free bets whether you like it or not!

Is there a time frame for spending the bet?

Make absolutely sure that you don't put off cashing in that free bet just because it's for a sport you aren't sure about or it's only for low odds races. If the specifics of spending the free bet are what's keeping you hoarding it away, then just take a little time for some research and just do your best.

Cash that free bet in! At the very least you need to take the opportunity to get a little more money out of your bookmaker - they can afford it.