Legal Online Sportsbooks
Legal online sportsbooks are widely available for players in the United States and abroad. US players can access legal gambling via international sportsbooks in all 50 states, but in addition to these sportsbooks, some states have begun to regulate online sports betting at the state level. This means that there are multiple options for sports betting in every state, but even more in the ones that have regulated sports betting.
On this page, we’ll focus on the international books, as they’re the most widely available ones. Sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings are available in less than 25 states, but international ones like Bovada and BetOnline are available countrywide. This makes it a no-brainer – if you want to bet on sports without worrying about what state you’re in, use an international book.
Is Sports Betting Legal in the USA?
Sports betting is legal in the USA. There are many states that have no laws against the practice, there are even more states that have explicitly approved it, and the federal laws against it are laws against running a sportsbook, not using one. This means that you should always be able to wager on sports in the US. This also is how the international sportsbooks operate. Since there are few laws against sports betting, but plenty of laws against operating a sportsbook, these sportsbooks just operate offshore.
Legal Sports Betting Sites for USA Players
The top online sportsbooks in the world are international. These include names like Bovada, BetOnline and SportsBetting. These sportsbooks are the best in the world in terms of bonuses, wager types, and deposit methods. You can even use these sportsbooks to bet on politics, entertainment wagers, esports and other betting methods that you simply cannot find at the state-regulated books.
Bovada Sportsbook
Bovada is the foremost sportsbook in the world. It’s the most Googled online sportsbook, and the most popular international sportsbook. This is because it is the best of them by many metrics. It has the best website, the best mobile options, and the bonuses with the lowest rollover requirements.
Bovada is operated out of Costa Rica, and has formerly been located in Canada. Previously known as Bodog, Bovada has been a top online sportsbook for more than a decade. Bovada takes cryptocurrency payments in five different cryptos, offers a great rewards program, and has odds on more sports than any state-regulated book.
BetOnline Sportsbook
BetOnline gets no points for style – they’re designed like a giant bookie sheet – but they get all the points for wager availability and usability. It’s a no-frills betting site, built to provide you with the maximum amount of information necessary to place the bets you want to place. It’s honestly a bit like looking at a bookie sheet, just online.
BetOnline is a regulated and trusted sportsbook, and what they lack in flair they make up for with ruthless efficiency. They take more cryptocurrency than nearly anyone, they have better futures odds than nearly anyone, and they have a great bet builder feature that can let you customize your wagers better than nearly any other sportsbook.
SportsBetting Sportsbook
SportsBetting is a great sportsbook for anyone looking for a safe and legal place to bet on sports from the US. Regulated in Panama City, Panama, SportsBetting provides a great place to wager on sports in the US. They also offer live dealer casino and card games for players who are interested in other aspects of online gambling.
SportsBetting is, of course, built around sports wagering. You can find any kind of athletic competition odds here, from professional wrestling to the NFL and NBA. You can even wager on things that may not be so athletic, or things that state-regulated sportsbooks don’t let you wager on, such as the Grammys or the LCS.
Other Considerations for Selecting Online Sportsbooks
While the major criteria for online sportsbook selection is access and legality, once you get past that you need to start being more discerning. The next step in examining an online sportsbook is payout and deposit methods, and the bonuses that go with them.
Online Sportsbook Payout And Deposit Methods
As the online sportsbook world has grown, the desire of people to pay more efficiently has grown too. Nobody wants to engage in such a margin-oriented task as sports betting without being able to start doing so easily and safely. After all, if you spend 10% of your winnings on fees, that makes your margins even harder to hit.
Cryptocurrency has taken on a major role in this modern payment environment. It allows people to move money around safety and securely, and with almost no fees. Spotsbooks love getting paid in crypto, so they never charge fees, meaning you’ll only have to cover the gas fees if you’re using a crypto that has one.
Crypto payments and withdrawals are near-instantaneous, and they have evolved to the point that they have a high level of reliability. However, people still use things like money orders, checks and wire transfers to deposit into online sportsbooks, as well as credit and debit cards. There’s nothing wrong with that, they’re just worse than crypto in terms of one or more of a) deposit speed, b) withdrawal speed or c) fees.