Bovada splintered off the Bodog brand in 2011. It essentially filled the US-facing role that Bodog previously did before vacating the American market.
Since then, Bovada has become extremely popular among US bettors. It has experienced success thanks to a wide variety of promotions, markets, and bet types.
However, Bovada isn’t completely perfect. You can read about the highs and lows of this online sportsbook below. You’ll also find out if this bookmaker is ultimately worth the hype.
Bovada Bonus
The standard Bovada bonus is a 50% match on your first deposit worth up to $250. While this isn’t the betting industry’s largest bonus, it does have some merits.
First off, the rollover is only 5x on sports and horse racing. Given that many sportsbooks require 6x-10x rollover, the Bovada bonus gives you a break.
Secondly, you can earn this bonus through casino games as well. Rollover on casino games is 30x.
Bovada states in its disclaimer that “professional players” and bonus abusers won’t be tolerated. It reserves the right to revoke bonus funds in these cases.
Promotions
You’ll have opportunities to earn cash beyond the welcome deal. Bovada offers a Bitcoin bonus, refer-a-friend bonus, and rewards points.
The Bitcoin deal is actually larger than the standard welcome bonus. It provides a 75% match on your first deposit worth up to $750. It features the same rollover—5x sports/5x horse racing/30x casino—as the standard offer.
Bovada gives you rewards points for every sports bet, casino wager, or poker hand. For example, a singles sports wager provides 3 points. You can exchange your points for cashback.
This bookmaker also delivers special offers through its newsletter. You’ll begin receiving the newsletter automatically after completing registration.
Odds
As alluded to above, Bovada doesn’t serve professional gamblers. Instead, it caters to recreational bettors.
In doing so, this sportsbook is willing to offer better odds than the competition. You can enjoy fair-to-favorable prices in many markets.
Bovada is especially fair when it comes to markets like the NFL and NBA. It often provides superior odds when compared to the competition.
Like most betting sites, it doesn’t have great odds for more-obscure markets. Nevertheless, it’s still pretty good in this department from an overall standpoint.
Bet Types
Bovada provides all of the bet types that you’d expect from a highly prominent sportsbook. You can wager on moneylines, totals, point spreads, parlays, teasers, prop bets, and live bets.
Of course, many other online sportsbooks provide this same mixture of wager types. Bovada excels over the competition, though, by having an extensive selection of prop and live wagers.
You’ll find no shortage of bets in the live wagering section. Likewise, Bovada is one of the best at offering many prop bets—especially for large events like the Super Bowl.
Available Markets
Few bookmakers live up to Bovada in terms of market quantity. This sportsbook offers just about everything you could want for betting purposes.
Here’s what’s available:
- Aussie rules
- Beach volleyball
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Boxing
- Cricket
- Cycling
- Darts
- Entertainment
- Esports
- Football
- Gaelic games
- Golf
- Handball
- Hockey
- Horse racing
- Motor sports
- Politics
- Rugby league
- Rugby union
- Snooker
- Soccer
- Specials
- Tennis
- UFC/MMA
- Virtual sports
- Volleyball
For perspective, the average online sportsbook offers somewhere between 16 and 20 markets. Bovada, on the other hand, covers 27 markets at the time of this writing.
You won’t have to rely solely on popular markets like the NFL and NBA. You’ll also be able to wager on everything from gaelic games and esports to rugby union and virtual sports.
The latter give you an opportunity to wager on computer-simulated sporting contests. Virtual sports are a fun alternative to standard sports betting.
What States & Countries Does Bovada Restrict?
Bovada’s primary purpose is to serve American bettors. However, it does restrict players from the following five states:
- Delaware
- Maryland
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New York
This bookmaker doesn’t specifically state what countries it allows and restricts. Generally speaking, though, it restricts most other nations and territories beyond the US.
You can access this betting site from certain countries. Of course, you shouldn’t be surprised if you’re blocked from a non-US country/territory.
Deposits & Withdrawals
Bovada deposits are available via Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Ethereum, Litecoin, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Zelle, MatchPay, and cash vouchers.
You might seriously want to consider using anything but a credit card here. The first credit-card deposit is free, but any subsequent CC deposits come with a 15.9% fee. This fee is outrageous compared to the industry.
Withdrawals are available through Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Ethereum, Litecoin, courier check, and voucher. Non-cryptocurrency cash outs are also subject to insane fees.
Your first non-crypto withdrawal is free every 90 days. Any subsequent cash outs made within this time frame, though, are subject to a $100 fee.
Payout Speed
A big reason why Bovada bettors put up with the ridiculous non-crypto banking fees is the payout speed. This betting site is one of the best at processing withdrawal requests in a timely manner.
Bitcoin cash outs will be processed within 24 hours of request. Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, and Litecoin withdrawals feature an average processing time of 1-2 hours.
Courier checks take 24-48 hours for approval. Once approved, you can expect a paper check within 10-15 business days.
The minimum cash out for crypto payments is just $10. Meanwhile, you must make a minimum withdrawal of $100 to receive a paper check.
Navigation
The Bovada navigation isn’t too bad. Upon landing on the homepage, you select “Sports” to visit the sportsbook section.
Once here, you’ll see a list of Upcoming Events and Live Betting Odds advertised prominently in the middle. The prominence of these sections is a little confusing at first.
Even still, you shouldn’t have much trouble finding your way to “All Sports (A-Z).” This section displays all available markets.
We can see why Bovada has gone this route when considering how they offer over two dozen markets. As covered before, the typical bookmaker only offers 16-20 sports and, therefore, has more room to display everything.
Features
While Bovada may be one of the world’s largest online sportsbooks, it doesn’t offer live streaming. That said, you won’t get to view matches through the Bovada website.
However, you can look forward to plenty of other features. Most notably, you’ll be able to play casino games and poker, change the odds format, and read helpful articles.
Bovada offers one of the largest online casinos and poker sites in the US-facing industry. Therefore, it provides a solid all-around gambling experience.
As for odds, you can toggle between American, decimal, and fractional odds. This option is near the top of the page.
The articles cover a wide range of gambling-related topics. The “Sports” section even offers strategy-based articles with helpful tips.
Support
Bovada’s first line of support is their “Help Center.” You’ll see a link for the Help Center prominently displayed on the homepage.
This section answers many frequently asked questions. Therefore, you may not need to actually contact a rep.
Assuming you do need more support, email is the only contact option. It’s disappointing that live chat and/or phone support aren’t available too.
Reputation
With over a decade of experience, Bovada has a long-enough resume to adequately judge its reputation. It truly passes the test too thanks by scoring high in most areas.
Most notably, Bovada is great about making timely payments. In comparison to its peers, this bookmaker has little-to-no trouble processing withdrawals on time.
This sportsbook is also fair with terms and conditions. You don’t need to worry about getting back-ended with unclear bonus terms.
The customer support response time could be better. Overall, though, we’re satisfied with Bovada’s reputation.
Conclusion
Bovada rates average to excellent in almost every category. Taking the sum of everything, it’s not hard to see why Bovada is so heavily favored in the US marketplace.
First off, it provides many chances to pick up extra money. The 50% match bonus doesn’t offer a tremendous amount ($250 max), but it does feature low rollover.
As a crypto depositor, you can enjoy a 75% match bonus up to $750. This is one of the bigger sports betting bonuses that you’ll find. You will also collect rewards points, which can be exchanged for cash.
Bovada boasts one of the largest market selections anywhere. It provides 27 markets, which is far more than the average sportsbook.
You can expect favorable odds here too. Bovada serves a recreational crowd and, as a result, is willing to deliver better prices.
This bookmaker is also quick with payouts. You won’t spend 3-4 weeks waiting on a simple cash out request like at some betting sites.
As for the downsides, Bovada charges high fees on non-crypto cash outs and restricts most countries. The fees are especially crazy (15.9%) on credit-card withdrawals after the first one. Provided you’re willing to use crypto, though, then you can at least avoid the heavy fees.
We’d also like to see more customer support contacts beyond email. After all, email is incredibly slow compared to live chat.
All in all, though, Bovada is a great option for US bettors and the limited other countries that can bet here. It ranks in the upper echelon regarding bonuses, markets, and odds.