Best Betting Offers & Free Bets In The UK

Best Betting Offers & Free Bets - Written By: Mike Lovatt
Last Updated: October 13, 2022

Bookmakers are always on the look out for new depositing customers. Registrations are encouraged by offering an incentive such as a free bet or bonus. Take a look at the recommended bookmaker signup offers below and keep reading to find out why we’ve chosen them as the best available online.

Bet £10 Get £50 In Bonuses
  • Bet £10 Get £50 In Bonuses
  • First bet must be placed at a cumulative odds of evens (2.0) or greater
  • Free bets valid for 7 days
Best Betting Offers & Free Bets - Best Betting Offers & Free Bets - 8
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Min Deposit

£5

Deposit Method

Best Betting Offers & Free Bets -Best Betting Offers & Free Bets -Best Betting Offers & Free Bets -Best Betting Offers & Free Bets -Best Betting Offers & Free Bets -Best Betting Offers & Free Bets -Best Betting Offers & Free Bets -

Regulated By

Valid by

31/12/2024

Offer Terms

Terms and Conditions 1. New internet and mobile customers only. 2. The promotion is only available to customers from the UK (including Northern Ireland). 3. Only your first bet with Betfred counts towards this offer. 4. Your first bet must be placed at a cumulative price of evens (2.0) or greater. Any bet type will qualify but must have a total stake of at least £10. 5. Your first bet must be placed and settled within 7 days of registration. 6. Customers who register on 09/04/24 will be excluded from this offer. 7. You must deposit and bet a minimum of £10 in one bet transaction at odds of even or greater. For example, two £5 single bets of evens or greater will not qualify as they are two separate bet transactions. 8. Betfred.com reserves the right to withhold the rewarding of any Free Bet payment if a customer’s identity cannot be verified using our standard checks or, if we have reasonable grounds to believe that the account holder is not the person who has created the account or is operating the account. In these cases, Betfred may request a valid government issued photo identity (passport/full driving licence) and proof of address (bank statement/utility bill) dated within the last 3 months, along with a photo of yourself holding a passport or full driving licence so that you can be clearly identified alongside your photo ID (a selfie). Failure to satisfy verification of your identity will result in the non-payment of your bonus. 9. Your first bet must be placed on Sportsbook markets. (Totepool, Games, Casino, Numbers, Lotto, Virtual, Poker and Bingo do not qualify). 10. Cashed out bets do not count towards this offer. 11. In most cases, the Free Bet amount (2 x £20) will be credited to customer accounts within 10 hours of the qualifying bet being settled. However, bonus payments may be delayed should further account validation be needed. 12. Minimum and Maximum Free Bet amount is £20. 13. All Free Bets are valid for 7 days after issue. Any free bet amount left unused after 7 days will be removed. 14. Free Bet stakes are not included in any returns and are non-withdrawable. 15. One welcome offer per address/IP address/device or mobile number. Previous account holders are not eligible for the offer. Anyone opening a Betfred.com account that has previously held an account with us that is closed does not qualify for the offer. 16. Only one welcome offer per new customer. Customers can either qualify for the Bet £10, get £50 in Free Bets offer OR one of the Games, Lotto or Virtual new customer offers, not both. 17. Customers depositing using prepaid Visa’s and Mastercard’s, or e-Wallets will not qualify for this promotion. 18. These terms and Conditions are additional to and operate in conjunction with the General Betfred Terms and Conditions. 19. Betfred.com reserves the right to withdraw or amend this offer at any time. Please note: The terms & conditions at the time of sign up will still apply. Any term changes after date of sign up will not be applicable. 20. Gamble responsibly. For more info visit www.begambleaware.org or telephone Freephone Helpline: 0808 8020 133 21. Over 18’s only.

Website

https://www.betfred.com/

Owner

Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited

Founded

1967

Headquarters

5/2 Waterport Place, Gibraltar,

New customers only. 09:00 on 08/03/24 – 17:30 on 15/03/24. Register with CHELT50. First bet £10+ at Evens (2.0)+ on Sports which settles before 23:59 on 15/03/24. Free Bets: £20 Horse Racing, £20 Football Acca & 50 x £0.20 (£10) Free Spins on Fishin’ Frenzy within 10 hours. 7-day expiry. Eligibility & payment exclusions apply. Full T&Cs apply.
2 Bookmakers match your criteria

Best Free Bets

We have determined the following bookies to currently have the best free bets this month:

  • Bet365
  • Betvictor
  • Betfred
  • Coral
  • 888Sport
  • Boylesports
  • Paddy Power
  • Virgin Bet

Best Existing Customer Promotions

We’ve selected the following bookie offers and rewards as they’re the best available for existing customers of the bookmaker sites.

Betting Offers & Free Bets Explained

The terminology used around betting offers – both for new customers and existing customers can be confusing. In order to recommend the best of these offers, it is essential to understand the correct meaning behind the offers and the reasons for their selection.

New customer offer meaning

A new customer offer is a type of promotional offer that is available to new customers when they register with a bookmaker. Existing customers that already have an account with the bookmaker will not be eligible to take advantage of these promotions.

New customer offers can also be referred to as a:

  • Free bet
  • Welcome bonus
  • Sign up offer
  • Joining bonus
  • Welcome offer
  • New customer bonus
  • New customer promotion

An example new customer offer would be “Register today and receive a £10 free bet”. This offer would be

Types of new customer offers

Bookmakers have different kinds of offers available to new customers. They usually revolve around some sort of free bet or bonus, but there’s a few others that are worth mentioning. It’s important to understand the difference, so you know when an offer is genuinely worthwhile and giving you good value for your signup.

Free Bet

A free bet is the most common of welcome offer available when registering with a betting site. Whilst bonuses and rewards can be earned on casino, arcade, and poker areas of a betting site, a free bet is specific to the sports betting industry. A free bet is a token or coupon given to a betting customer that allows them to place a bet for free, usually given out as part of new customer or existing customer marketing from the bookmaker.

Free Bet Pros
  • Relatively easy to claim.
  • Quick to be credited to your account.
  • Great for beginners.
  • Represent good value (often larger than your qualifying bet).
Free Bet cons
  • Bets placed using the free bet don’t include the stake.
  • Free bets are often low in value, so limit potential winnings.
  • Some free bets are only credited after the qualifying bet has settled.
  • Sometimes free bets will expire after a certain time.

As you can see, there are plenty advantages to using a free bet but also some drawbacks. The biggest one being that the free bet is classed as “stake not included” in the bet.

  • A £5 bet at 2.00 odds (1/1) would normally return £10 (£5 stake & £5 profit).
  • Whereas a £5 free bet at 2.00 odds (1/1) will only return £5, as the £5 free bet is not counted as a stake.

Free bets tend to be given out more by the well known bookmakers, such as the high street bookmakers.

The free bet offers tend to suit the less experienced punters or the beginners to the world of betting sites, as free bets are easier to understand, claim, and use when compared to bonuses.

How To Claim a Free Bet

A free bet is usually given when a customer completes the following actions:

  • Register for an account
  • Complete the verification process
  • Deposit funds into the account
  • Place a bet on an eligible selection
  • Await for the result of that bet to be settled.

Once complete, the free bet(s) are credited to your account and available for use on the bet slip.

Let’s explain in more detail. Here’s how to claim a free bet with a bookmaker:

  • Register for an account.

    Simply put, this means filling out the sign up form on the bookie email, then clicking the email confirmation link that gets sent to the email address used in the sign up process. Sometimes a promo code will be needed on the signup form, but often it will automatically be filled in for you.

  • Complete the verification process.

    This means submitting a copy of your government issues ID and some proof of address. This is part of the bookmakers Know Your Customer (KYC) verification process.

    They need to check you’re old enough to legally gamble, that you are who you claim to be, and that your address is in a country where the bookmaker is legally allowed and licensed to operate.

  • Deposit funds into the account.

    This means adding money to your betting account.

    You’ll need to use one of the payment methods that the bookmaker allows as part of the free bet terms and conditions. For example, some bookmakers only count deposits made via deibt card or bank transfer to be eligible for their free bet offers.

    See below on “Advice for claiming welcome offers” for more details.

  • Place a bet on an eligible selection.

    This is often known as a “qualifying bet”.

    The bookmakers will give you a free bet once you place a bet. But they want you to have to take at least a bit of risk, and so they stipulate some minimum odds that your selection must at least match.

    Sometimes certain competitions, sports, or betting markets will be excluded – but they’ll tell you which in the terms and conditions.

  • Await the result of the qualifying bet.

    Whilst some bookmakers will give you the free bet as soon as you’ve placed your first bet that meets their requirements in their terms and conditions, other bookies will make you wait until the qualifying bet has settled (meaning until the event has happened and the outcome been determined).

    This can be frustrating as people will often want to bet on something long term – such as the winner of a competition like the Premier League, for example.

    Bookies, however, being the marketing geniuses that they are, want you to bet on something quickly and give you that rush and excitement quickly to encourage you to keep betting.

Whilst the above might seem like a lot of effort – we could simplify the process to say:

  • Signup & verifiy
  • Deposit & bet
  • Receive free bet

Because of the simplicity of this model, free bets are the most popular type of betting offer.

  • They are often at least matched to the value of the qualifying bet – e.g., if you bet £10 for the qualifying bet you should get at least £10 in free bets.
  • Usually bookies will offer two to four times the value of the qualifying bet in free bets, such as a “Bet £10 get £30” offer.
  • Free bets are normally credited quickly and automatically – no approval required from the bookie themselves.
  • The free bets will be there for weeks in your account waiting to be used – no time pressure or quick expiration date.
  • Money made from the free bet can be withdrawn instantly to your bank account. No rollover required.

At OnTheBallBets, we rate free bets as one of the best types of bookie sign up offers and give bookmakers are high rating out of ten when they offer a decent free bet. It’s good value, quick to claim and easy to use for beginners.

Free bets are often referred to as something else, but the concept remains the same. Free bets can also be called:

  • Free bet tokens
  • Bet credits
  • Risk free bet offer

Bonus

Bonuses are extra funds added to your betting balance that can be used to place bets with. Once certain requirements have been reached, bonus funds can be withdrawn.

Bonus offers are aslo known as:

  • Matched deposit bonus
  • Bonus offer
  • Welcome bonus
  • 100% deposit bonus
  • Matched deposit offer

Bonus offers are often confused with free bets. Whilst the premise is very similar, the use of the bonus itself is different.

Bonuses are added to your betting balance, whereas free bets are almost like usable tokens in your account that you select to use when placing your bet.

bonus Pros
  • Bonuses are often much larger amounts than a free bet. Free bets can range from £5 – £50, whereas bonuses are usually £50 – £400.
  • The bonus amount will range from 50% – 100% of your first deposit at the bookmaker.
  • The stake amount when using bonus funds is included in the return from the bet.
Free Bet cons
  • Bonuses can often require a big initial deposit to activate them – so a £100 bonus might require you to deposit £100.
  • Similarly, bonuses will require you to spend a lot in qualifying bets to activate them – so perhaps place £100 of bets.
  • Furthermore, bonuses often have big rollover requirements, so you might need to place lots more bets before you can withdraw it.

As with free bets, there are plenty pros and cons. The bonus will tend to suit more experienced bettors who are willing to spend more money on bets and are willing to deposit more money up front in order to claim the bonus.

Bonus offers are often given out by bookmakers that suit the more experienced bettors. Examples include bookmakers Asian bookmakers or betting sites with Asian lines, and bookmakers with higher betting and payout limits.

How To Claim a bonus

Here’s how to claim a betting bonus when joining a bookmaker:

  • Register for an account
  • Complete the verification process
  • Deposit funds into the account
  • Place a bet on an eligible selection
  • Receive the bonus amount added to your bonus balance.
  • Complete the wagering/rollover requirements.

Once the above is complete, the bonus balance will then usually be merged with your normal betting balance.

Let’s look at the process in more details.

  • Sign up, verify your account, deposit.

    This process is the same across all bookmakers. The only notable differences are some betting sites will restrict you to depositing via their required methods, and some will require you to enter a bonus code in the registration form.
  • Place a bet on an eligible selection.

    Just like with the free bets, the bonus will only be given to you once you make a qualifying bet. The bonus funds or bonus balance will then be rewarded to you or unlocked.

    Some bonuses will appear in your betting balance – so if you have £50 in your betting account and receive a £50 bonus, your betting balance might then show as £100. Whereas with a free bet, your balance is unchanged and the free bets appear as usable tokens or coupons on the bet slip.
  • Complete the wagering/rollover requirements of the bonus.

    This is where the big difference lies between a bonus and a free bet. A bonus will have a turnover requirement, also known as a wagering requirement or rollover requirement. For full details on what this entails, read our full guide on what is a rollover requirement in betting.

    In short, the bonus will need “playing through” a certain number of times. You will need to place bets to the value of this rollover requirement before you can withdraw your bonus balance and any winnings.

    For example, a £50 bonus with a 4x wagering requirements will mean you need to place £200 worth of bets before you can withdraw it (4 x £50). This doesn’t necessarily mean 4 x £50 bets or a £200 bet, but bets that equate to that amount. So, 10 x £20 bets, for example.

Refunds, Cashback and insurance

The other type of new customer betting offer is often referred to in various manors. They all follow a similar format and may be referred to as:

  • Money back offer
  • Refund offer
  • Bet insurance
  • Losing bet cashback

The offers all follow the same premise:

  • Register for an account
  • Complete the verification process
  • Deposit funds into the account
  • Place a bet on an eligible selection
  • Await for the result of that bet to be settled.
  • If your bet loses, your money will be refunded either as cash or as a free bet.

These offers are very friendly for beginners as they offer the bettor a trial at the betting site and give them the chance to have a go with the safety net of their money back or a free bet incase of an initial losing bet.

It often seems like a win-win situation to the punter – they can bet on something potentially risky with the safe knowledge that a refund awaits them.

NOTE

It is worth remembering that refund offers, insurance offers, or cashback offers often give the user their money back as a free bet. So should you sign up, place a bet and lose, you won’t be able to withdraw your refunded money as it will be often given back to you as a free bet.

This means you’ll still have to use the free bet to bet on something, which may come with a minimum odds requirement.

Here’s an example scenario:

  • You sign up to a bookie and place an initial bet of £20 with odds of 2.00 (1/1), a win would return you £40 (£20 stake & £20 profit).
  • If your initial bet loses. your £20 is refunded as a free bet.

    Placing that £20 on a bet with odds of 2.00 (1/1) will return you only £20 (no stake + £20 profit), as free bets are usually classed as “stake not included”.
  • So whilst the new customer offer may seem lucrative, if your first bet loses and your refund bet is spent on something with odds less than 2.00 (1/1), you’ll end up with less money in your account than you started with.

    Especially if your free bet loses too.

Profit boosts & improved payouts

These kinds of offers all fall under the same branch. They often have different wordings, but essentially they are the same. They include:

  • Profit boost
  • Triple payout
  • Double your odds
  • Supercharge your winnings
  • Twice the odds

These types of offers work in the same manor. Here is how to take advantage of a profit boost promotion:

  • Sign up to the bookie website.
  • Verify your account and make a deposit.
  • Place a bet on a sport, market and selection with odds that are eligible in the terms and conditions.
  • Wait for your bet to settle.
  • If your bet wins, the bookmaker will boost your winnings or pay you double the profit from your bet.

Some bookmakers might require you to place two or three bets first, whereas some will give you a profit boost or improved winnings on the first bet.

At OnTheBallBets, we feel like these are a really good category of offer that doesn’t get much recognition.

Why do we like these offers?

  • They promote responsible gambling – as the punter is signing up and betting on something they want to.
  • Customers aren’t “hoping” for a loss in order to get a free bet – so no bad gambling habits are encouraged.
  • Bettors only need to deposit as much as they wish to bet. Often free bets and bonuses require you to make a big initial deposit – whereas these profit boost offers allow customers to stay in their comfort zone and only bet as much as they feel comfortable with.
  • No wagering requirements – the winnings from these profit boosts are instantly withdrawable – there’s no more hoops to jump through or bets to place.

Existing customer offer meaning

An existing customer offer is a promotion or incentive that is available to somebody who is already registered with a bookmaker.

Existing customer offers are given out for the following reasons:

  • To encourage people to keep using the betting site.
  • To keep engaged players further engaged and discourage them from playing elsewhere.
  • To entice inactive players into playing again.
  • To increase customer activity – betting turnover – particularly in times where a big event or competition is taking place.

Types of existing customer offers

Bookies use various types of promotional offers to entice players into playing again, or to keep their active audience engaged on a regular basis. Here are the most common types of ongoing promotions.

Enhancements/Price Boosts/Price Matches

Enhancements or price boosts are where the bookmaker improves the odds they are offering on a certain selection.

  • This can often be a one off selection.

    Such as boosting the odds on a particular horse in a race. See horse racing offers for examples.
  • It might be a blanket price boost across various markets.

    For example, offering double the odds on England to win their matches at the world cup, for example.
  • Bookmakers often give the user to “boost the odds” on a selected bet.

    It works as a token or a button to trigger on a selection when they want to improve the odds.
  • Best odds guaranteed.

    This is where bookies promise to match the odds of their rival bookmakers, to ensure you get the best odds on your chosen bet and don’t shop elsewhere.

For regular bettors, price boosts and enhancements on markets that they would normally be using make a very good incentive to place their bet there. After all, betting is all about finding value. So if the bookmaker is offering you that improved value over their competitors, it makes sense to take advantage.

Loyalty Schemes & Reward Clubs

Loyalty schemes and reward clubs are popular at all of the major online bookmakers.

Examples include:

  • Weekly free bet club.

    Sky Bet Club is a good example here. They give customers a £5 free bet each week if they’ve spent £25 in bets during the week.
  • Free In-Play bets.

    Bookies will often entice punters into live betting, known as In-Play betting, if they’ve spent a certain amount on pre-match bets that week.
  • Mobile bet clubs.

    In order to entice users into betting via their mobile phones, bookies can offer a free bet for placing a bet using their mobile site or app.

For punters that like to stick to one bookie and not juggle multiple accounts, choosing a bookie with a reward scheme and regular free bets that don’t carry wagering requirements makes a lot of sense.

After all, if you’re going to be betting anyway, you might as well pick a bookie that offers you a regular freebie.

Money Back, Early Payouts and Insurance

These types of offer have been mentioned in the section about sign up offers. Again though, they are a good incentive for punters to place their bets with a bookie that offer these types of deal.

Examples include:

  • Acca club or acca insurance.

    Bookies will give you a free bet, or money back as a free bet if one leg of your accumulator loses.
  • Horse racing refunds.

    Bookmakers will often give you your cash back or refund as a free bet if your horse comes 2nd or 3rd for example in eligible horse or greyhound races.
  • Early payout offers.

    This involves the bookie paying you out the winnings of your bet, early – before it officially settles. Examples include Paddy Power’s 2up offer, where they pay you out your winnings on the Match Result betting market if the team you have backed go two goals up.

Whilst these types of offers aren’t the most lucrative, they’re considered nice to have for punters whose style of betting matches the profile that the offer is tailored for.

For example, punters who often bet on Premier League accumulators can take advantage of acca insurance offers which acts as a small incentive incase of a narrow loss. The same goes for horse racing refund offers where your horse is just pipped to the post. These offers can make those losses a little easier to bear.

Mobile Free Bets & Betting App Offers

This type of betting offer is pretty straightforward, they’re offers specific to users using the mobile site or the bookmaker’s betting app.

The offers vary from bookie to bookie, but usually arrive in the form of a free bet. Bet365 and other large UK licensed bookies have been known to offer mobile specific free bets in the past.

Nowadays, mobile betting and the use of betting apps is more commonplace, so offers exclusive to mobile platforms are a little more limited.

other product offers: Free spins, casino, Poker & Gaming Offers

A final set of ongoing customer offers include those that try and entice the user into using the other sectors of the betting sites.

Punters can be encouraged into using the casino or arcade games by offering free casino bets, or free slot game spins for users who have a certain level of betting activity throughout a time period.

An example would be Sky Bet customers who bet £25 in a week are given 50 free spins to use on slots games on the Sky Vegas arcade section of the site.

How We Rate Sign Up Offers

We use the following criteria when rating the quality of new customer offers:

  • How user friendly the offer is

    Some offers are highly complex, feature too many jumps and hoops in order to obtain them, and have extensively long terms and conditions.

    The best free bets and welcome offers are the ones that beginners to the world of sports betting can easily claim and activate without much hassle.
  • The simplicity of the qualifing bet

    In order to activate a free bet, a user must first place a bet – known as a qualifying bet. Bookmakers give certain requirements to ensure these qualifying bets aren’t too simplistic – such as minimum odds. The best free bets have an easy to play qualifying bet with odds ranging from 1.20 (1/5) – 1.80 (4/5).
  • Further incentives in addition to the free beet

    In such a competitive landscape, bookmakers began offering additional incentives to complement the free bet, such as free spins on the casino arcade games. They’re obviously trying to tempt players into all areas of their betting site, but for a lot of users it’s an enticing proposition.

How To Choose An Offer That Suits You

There’s loads of betting offers available to choose from – so how do you know which is going to be best for you? We’ve got some pointers.

  • Pick an offer that is easy to claim, especially if you’re a bit of a rookie when it comes to online sports betting and using betting sites.
  • Choose a bookie that allows you to use your preferred payment method when joining. Sometimes the initial deposit that triggers the free bet must be using a debit card. If you’d rather use Paypal or Google pay, for example, bare that in mind.
  • Choose a promotion from a bookie that has great markets and odds on your preferred sports. There’s no point picking a free bet offer if the bookie doesn’t even have any betting markets on the sport you like to bet on!

Advice For Claiming Welcome Offers

Some general, non-personalised advice about signing up to a new bookmaker.

  • When looking at free bets and betting offers to use, you shouldn’t just look at the offer itself. You’re better off by first checking out our list of recommended bookmakers. Pick out a few that take your fancy, then check out the free bets or joining promos that they have available.
  • Avoid bonuses with stupidy high rollover requirements. Whilst a £100 bonus might seem lucrative, if you need to wager through £800 of bets at high odds, you’re likely to lose a good amount of it – so don’t get too carried away with these kind of offers.
  • Pick a sign up offer from a bookie that also has good existing customer offers. You might as well benefit from ongoing free bets and loyalty rewards, rather than joining a bookie with a good welcome offer but nothing much after that.
  • Don’t be blinded by lucrative free bets from poor quality bookies. Some bookmakers and betting sites can reel you in with a great free bet offer, but they might be an awful bookmaker with terrible odds and slow withdrawals. So take into account the quality of the operator that is offering the free bet.

Sport Specific Betting Offers

Betting offers can be generic, in that they apply across all sports and markets on the bookmaker website. There are occasions, however, where bookmakers offer free bets and promotional offers on specific sports only.

Bookmakers will have sport-specific betting offers because:

  • There’s a big sporting event coming up, and it’s essential for them to acquire new customers and incentivise their existing customer base.

    Examples include; Cheltenham Festival, The Grand National, or The World Cup.
  • They wish to increase turnover or betting activity during quiet periods.

    In a summer without a major football tournament, bookmakers may offer additional promotions on events like Wimbledon, Glorious Goodwood, the Olympics, the US open and major golf tournaments.
  • The wish to improve the diversity of their customer profiles.

    If a bookmaker has a customer base that mostly bets on football, offering good horse racing betting offers will help them gain more horse racing players and stop them from having quiet periods where there’s fewer football fixtures.

Football Betting offers

Football is one of the two biggest sports in the UK for betting turnover, unsurprisingly. Bookies will offer promos on all the major league and cup competitions, especially on the major International events like the World Cup, the European Championships etc.

Football betting free bets and offers that we cover:

Horse Racing Betting Offers

Horse racing is another huge sport for the UK betting audience, with horse racing bets being placed nearly every day of the year. The big festivals really bring in the action.

We’ve showcased the best horse racing promotions for:

Golf Betting Offers

Golf is a sport that doesn’t get too much mainstream attention when compared to football, but it’s niche audience that like to bet on the majors really gives the bookies something to promote.

Check out our main golf free bets and offers page for all the current offers.

We also have cherry picked the best events for golf betting:

Tennis Betting Offers

Rather like horse racing, tennis is a sport where there is an abundance of action. The major’s are spread unevely throughout the year, but the smaller tounraments run every month. There’s tennis betting action available to be had on a daily basis, with so many of the bookies that are good for tennis betting offering live streaming and live betting on huge range of tennis markets.

The best events for tennis free bets are:

Best Betting Offers & Free Bets -
Mike Lovatt

Mike has over 14 years of experience with online sports betting, having used countless online betting sites. Mike previously provided football betting tips on goals and corners in Facebook groups before starting his own betting website. A huge football fan, Mike has been writing betting guides and football betting advice for years.

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