Ever since the Football Pools launched in 1922, fans of both the sport itself and the art of guessing have loved trying to have a stab at how matches will end up. One of the things that some companies do is give you a chance to win prizes by correctly predicting the outcome of some games, with that being exactly the logic behind Ladbrokes’ Football 1-2-Free predictor promotion. What makes it a little bit more interesting than some other competitions is that it is completely free to play and you ‘only’ need to predict the result of three different matches across the course of a game week. If you enjoy football, it might be for you.
What The Promotion Actually Involves
It is fair to say that ‘1-2-Free’ doesn’t really tell you what you need to do to take advantage of the promotion. In short, it is a competition that asks you to correctly predict the scores in three selected games, giving you the chance to win £100 if you’re right. Ladbrokes pick the games, unfortunately, so you won’t necessarily get the chance to opt for matches of teams you know quite a lot about. Instead, you will have to do your research into the teams taking part in the games that have been selected by the bookmaker in order to get a sense of whether or not you’ll stand a chance of taking on the bookie and coming out on top.
The key thing to remember, though, is that it’s free. In other words, you’re not putting any of your own cash at risk in order to take part in the promotion and are instead being given a chance to get £100 simply by guessing the correct score in three football matches. You need to get your predictions in before the first match kicks off, so you can’t take part in this promotion in an in-play manner. The good news is that Ladbrokes offer you consolation prizes for coming close but missing out. If you get two of the scores correct then you’ll get. A £5 free Bet Builder bet, whilst one correct scored results in a £1 free bet.
Is it Good Value?
If you’re wondering whether this is a good value promotion then then obvious answer is ‘yes, it’s free’. There is more to consider than that, however. If we take the results from one of the weekend’s where the promotion was running, an accumulator bet on those scorelines would have had odds of over 1,200/1.
Obviously placing the acca would’ve been better in terms of what you could’ve won, but you would also needed to have invested your own money in order to do so. Although a wager of just 10p would’ve seen you win £120+, which would’ve been better than the £100 that Ladbrokes offered, you still would’ve had to pay for it. Ladbrokes also have a minimum deposit requirement of £5, so you would have needed to add at least that amount to your account.
Of course, the reason why Ladbrokes offer this promotion is that they want you to consider placing a real bet on your selected scores, knowing that you could possibly spend more money across their other services. Whilst you’re on the site looking at the 1-2-Free promotion, maybe you will have a look at their horse racing odds or spend some time in the company’s casino. The only way to win such a competition is to place the free bet and then walk away, waiting to see if your predictions were correct and you have won either £100 or one of the consolation prizes.
What the Small Print Tells You
There are some terms and conditions that Ladbrokes have applied to the promotion. For starters, you can take part in the promotion on a weekly basis, with one go per account. You can play it online, in one of the bookmaker’s shops or via their app. You can’t take advantage of the promotion if you’ve opened a new account and deposited money into it using any of Moneybookers, PayPal, PaySafe, Skrill, NeTeller or other prepaid cards. If you get a £1 free bet having guessed one scoreline correct, you will have seven days to use it before it expires.
The free bet needs to be wagered in its entirety on a sports market and you won’t get the free bet back with any winnings. In other words, if you place a bet with odds of 5/1 then you will be paid £5 in winnings, rather than £6 that you’d get if your £1 stake was in cash. The same restrictions are in place on the £5 free bet builder for getting two scores out of the three correct.
Offer Terms and Conditions
18+ UK and Republic of Ireland customers only. This is a free to enter promotion. One entry per customer per week. Predictions of the 90 minute correct scores on the selected games must be made before the first match kicks off. Not available to new accounts with funds deposited via Prepaid Cards, Moneybookers, Paypal, Paysafe, Neteller or Skrill. Free bets will be credited within 48 hours and will be valid for 7 days. T&Cs apply.