Bovada

Bovada is a popular sportsbook that is primarily focused on the United States market.  The site is currently unregulated, but they have been in business since 2012, when they branched off from the popular Bodog sports betting brand in order to better serve the USA sports betting market.

4.5 Our Rating
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100% up to $250 Use code: NO CODE - USE LINK
Pros

Pros

  • Primarily Focused on the USA Sports Market
  • Accepts Bitcoin Deposits
  • Extra $250 Bonus for Bitcoin Deposits
Pros

Cons

  • Certain States are Restricted
  • Difficult to Navigate
$250
100% up to $250
Use code: NO CODE - USE LINK

More Information

Name Bovada
Website URL www.bovada.lv
Established 2012
Location Antigua
Minimum Deposit $10
Deposit Options Visa, MasterCard, bitcoin

Bovada Ratings

Bonus/Promotions
Features
Betting Options
Banking
Customer Service
Racebook

Bonuses and Promotions

Bovada.lv offers all new sign ups a welcome bonus equal to 50% of your first deposit, up to a maximum of $250.  To claim the bonus you will need to select the Welcome Bonus under the Available Bonuses section on the My Rewards page of your Bovada account.

Bovada also offers another bonus for your first deposit made via bitcoin.  The “Bitcoin Bonus” is a 50% match bonus up to $500.  To claim the bonus you should enter bonus code “BVSBITCOIN50” when making your first bitcoin deposit.

The bonus dollars are instantly added to your account and available for betting, but there is a 5X rollover requirement on the initial deposit + bonus amount that you must complete before making a withdrawal.

Rollover requirements are standard for bonuses in the sports betting industry.  The rollover is meant to prevent you from withdrawing the bonus funds right away resulting in a loss for the sportsbook.

If you deposited $500 to receive the full $250 welcome bonus you would have to roll through $3,750 in wagers before making a withdrawal.  This may seem like a large rollover requirement, but once you start betting normally the rollover is met much faster than you’d think.  There is no expiry on the bonus, so you can clear the bonus at your own pace.

Bovada also offers a $3000 casino welcome bonus, a 100% up to $500 poker bonus and an extra $4500 in casino bonuses for bitcoin deposits.

Betting Options

Bovada has a wide selection of bet offerings and as an American I’m sure you will be able to find the vast majority of sporting events you wish to bet on.  For all of the main USA sports leagues Bovada goes above and beyond, offering a huge selection of game lines including a wide variety of props and futures.

Bovada will also often offer fun props based on crazy stories from the sports world.  For example, when Conor McGregor attacked the bus at UFC 223 Bovada was quick to put out props where you could bet on whether McGregor would be cut from the UFC or go to jail.

The one issue I have with Bovada is that it’s sometimes difficult to navigate through the website from a computer.  The entire list of odds does not show up on the screen and you will often have to click ‘Show More’ several times to find the betting line you are looking for.

The best way around this is to click make selections through the top navigation bar until you find the exact event you wish to bet on.  Here’s a screenshot of me trying to find the UFC 224 odds, which would have required several ‘Show More’ clicks if I had just stayed on the UFC page.

The reason the navigation is difficult on a computer is because Bovada prioritized the website for mobile devices, which is fast becoming the more popular way to bet.  The Bovada website is fast and easy to navigate through your mobile device.

Racebook

The Racebook is straight forward and easy to navigate, and Bovada takes bets on all major American race tracks, as well as several tracks from around the world.  Here’s a screenshot of the Racebook:

Features

Live Betting

Bovada offers live betting for a huge selection of events.  If you’re watching a live sporting event in the United States there’s a 99.9% chance you will be able to live bet on it through Bovada.  The platform is quick, slick and easy to navigate.  Here’s a screenshot of live betting from a KHL hockey game to show you just how many live events are offered:

Mobile Betting

As I mentioned above, the Bovada sportsbook platform was built with mobile devices as the priority.  Because of this you are able to see the exact same website on your mobile device as you would on your computer.

Using the same website for both mobile and computer allows you to become very familiar with the site and I actually find it easier to navigate on my phone than on the computer.  The amount of bets placed via mobile devices vs computers continues to rise and Bovada is ahead of the curve in this respect.

Banking Methods

Bovada limits their banking options for Americans to Visa, MasterCard and bitcoin.  The options are limited, but the vast majority of deposits in the entire industry are made through these three methods anyways.

Withdrawals are available by bitcoin or check by courier.  The bitcoin withdrawals are fast and free, and Bovada is really pushing their customers to use bitcoin, as shown by their extra bonus offering.  The couriered checks can be requested for free once every 90 days and take approximately 2 weeks to arrive.

Customer Service

Bovada offers live chat, email and telephone support at 1-888-263-0000.

I’ve personally only used the live chat support, which can be initiated from any page on the website by clicking the speech bubble in the top navigation bar.  In my experience the customer support team has been very knowledgeable and were quickly able to help me with a small issue I had making a bitcoin deposit.