www.bovada.lv is a popular gambling site dedicated entirely to the United States market. They offer US residents of 48 states sports betting, online poker, casino games and a racebook from a single website. You can access all four products using the same player log-in and account bank. If you’re from WA or MD, note these are the two restricted states. You’ll want to review our articles on Washington State Gambling Sites, or Maryland Betting Sites to find alternatives. This aside, in this Bovada review I cover mostly sports betting, but also touch on poker, casino and horses.

1. Bovada is one of online casinos catering to US players, and if you have been curious about how much does Bovada charge to withdraw, stay with us to learn more about supported withdrawal methods, limits and fees attached to them. Bovada Withdrawal Methods. Customers can make withdrawals via Check by Courier and Bitcoin.
2. Bovada Poker Events. Bovada has a $150,000 guaranteed poker event every Sunday. For high stakes players, Bovada also organizes a $100,000 high roller event. Premium players and whales have a much higher chance of winning the $100K high roller event, because so few players enter.
3. That’s not much of a surprise. Bovada’s online sports betting options are some of the best of any internet sports betting site operating today. The Bovada mobile sportsbook is just as good as its desktop version. All of the same features are available on the Bovada betting app.

In this section, you can find the estimated website value for bovada.lv in US Dollars. We calculate it based on our estimation for daily, monthly, and annual revenue. You can view these revenue figures in the next section. Worth Of Web Rank is a score to compare a website with the best websites in the world.

Top Reasons to Choose Bovada

There are two features that make Bovada an easy choice for US sports betting.

#1 US Credit Card Deposits – This is one of the few betting websites where it is still possible to deposit using a US credit card. There is a 4.95% fee charged when making deposits through this method. Understand this is well offset by the fact they have one of the best sign up bonuses in the industry.

#2 50% up to $250 Bonus – When you join you’re welcomed with a Bovada bonus offer that is a 50% initial deposit match up to a $250.00 free play. This means if you deposit $500.00 you’ll get a $250 free bet.

Expert’s tip: When joining www.bovada.lv it’s wise to make an initial deposit of $500.00. Sincerely, any time you join a gambling site, always look to see how much you need to deposit to get the maximum sportsbook bonus. Any other strategy is foolish as these are one time deals and there are only so many reputable betting sites to take free bonus money off of. If $500 is too large for you at the moment, start with another site such as www.5dimes.eu. They offer reduced juice instead of bonuses. This way you’re not missing out on bonus cash and you can come back to Bovada later to take advantage of their maximum offer.

Recreational Player Features

Recreational sports bettors might enjoy the following features.

• Live Betting – Here you’ll find the best live betting interface in the industry. All nationally televised games are covered. While games are in-play, you can do live betting on propositions such as the result of a drive, series or next play in football, or an at bat or pitch for baseball betting. You can also bet the game winner on the point spread or moneyline, or the can bet the over/under total. This is all available while the game is in-play and you’re presumably watching it on TV.
• Mobile Betting – It doesn’t matter if you’re accessing from an iPhone, Android, Blackberry or Nokia phone, or with a tablet such as iPad, Galazy, TouchPad or Zoom – no matter which mobile device you’re using, they’re all supported by Bovada’s advanced mobile betting software.
• Online Poker – I’ll touch more on this later in this Bovada review, but at poker.bovada.lv you’ll find the most populated poker room servicing the United States. This ranks tops on our list of US Poker Sites for 2012, for reason it features the weakest player competition in the industry.

Bovada for Professional Punters

If you’re truly a professional bettor, where $25.00 positive expectation means nothing to you, you’ll be far better suited using www.bookmaker.eu. For lower limit professionals, Bovada does have plenty to offer as a second or third out. The first thing to understand however is that they utilize a dual pricing model. Let me start by discussing how to take advantage of this.

Because Bovada is a recreational gambling site, they often shade the lines in such a way that the odds are worse for popular teams. So, for example if the Patriots should be -6.5 -110, here you might find them -7.0 -110. In this case, betting the Patriots’ opponent at +7.0 is probably a great bet. Professionals should take advantage of this by comparing Bovada’s odds with those of reduced juice sportsbook www.5dimes.eu. You’ll want to do this in a hurry however, betting as many off market prices as you can find your first day. It takes only a day or two of bets for Bovada to discover you’re not a pure fish. When this happens they will begin dealing you regular lines. This is called dual pricing. The sharp players get one set of betting lines, where the square (recreational) players get another.

Experts’ tip: This has been discussed on betting forums to all ends. Because Bovada is very quick about changing from the square lines profile to the sharp one, the optimal +EV play is to bet as many off market prices your first hour betting as you can find, perhaps putting them all on the same ticket. You’ll get switched regardless, so might as well take advantage of it.

Even after you get switched, there is still great value to be found. Here are some of my favorite advantage betting intricacies:

• Best Teaser Odds – Here you’ll find 3-team 6-point teasers at +180, 3-team 10-point teasers at -110, and 4-team 13-point teasers at -120. Bovada teaser odds are highly completive as is, but are even better because they don’t shade against basic strategy favorites. They also often shade basic strategy underdogs in such a way these are more profitable. Their odds makers (or more correctly: their guys who copy odds from competitors) LOVE the point spread 3. Often when other betting sites are offering +1.5 -110, Bovada might be offering +3 -140. Because teasers use fixed payouts: the -110 and -140 make no difference. Here when using 6-point teasers you’ll often get an extra 0.5 to 1.5 points better than you get at the competition.
• Underdogs – Even with the dual pricing model, there is still plenty of value on the sharp odds for underdogs. There are times where 5Dimes might have an NFL underdog +6.5 -109 and Bovada has them +7 -110 for one group of clients, and +7 -115 for those on the wrong side of their dual pricing model. Obviously the +7 -110 is a GREAT bet, but +7 -115 is still great as well because here a push on 7 is worth FAR MORE than 6 cents. So despite Bovada gouging odds for some, you can still find solid value here.
• Propositions – Bovada does not offer propositions on every NFL game, but for the games they do offer props on – plenty of value can be found. I can recall various sack props bets where everyone else was offering over/under 3.5 they had had the line at 4. Or a Mathew Stafford passing yards prop where most sites had the over/under at 307.5 to 312.5 and they had 296.5. Overall smart prop bettors can find plenty of value at bovoda.lv.

Other Bovada Products

As mentioned in the intro, it’s also possible to play online poker, casino games or use the racebook with a single log-in ID. You can use your single account balance for any of the four products offered. I’ll provide some quick information on each product, before concluding this Bovada review with detailed information on their history.

Bovada Poker Review

poker.bovada.lv is the URL to use if you wish to visit one of the most popular poker rooms servicing the US market. Here you’ll find a $1,000 welcome bonus, a VIP program, chances to win seats to major tournaments such as the WSOP, Punta Cana, APT Macau and much more. Their promotions are endless and include guaranteed tournaments, freerolls, a tournament leader board, and so much more. In fact, because there is so many, Bovada’s promotion page spans three pages of content. You’ll want to visit their website to check these out.

Perhaps the bigger draw to Bovada Poker is how soft their games are. A number of Asian bookies, such as Bodog88 and Bodog99, operate on the same poker network. As a result many casino gamblers and sports bettors from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea and Vietnam end up playing at the same tables. Many of these players have little to no poker playing experience; they’re just spilling over from the casino. This is only one of two reasons the games here are super soft. The other is Bovada offers anonymous poker, which they refer to as a recreational poker model. What this means is when you visit their poker tables you won’t have a user name. All you have is a number (example: Player 1, Player 2) and this changes each time you sit at a table. This prevents professionals from using pokertableratings.com, Poker Trackers and other tools to track, and take money off of, the fish. If you’re looking for the softest games and best bonuses head to poker.bovada.lv.

Bovada Casino Review

The casino is available using the URL casino.bovada.lv. This casino is powered by Real Time Gaming (RTG) but its source code is modified. Their internal programing team has made many enhancements unique to their casino. Here you’ll find one of the most favorable single deck blackjack games in the industry. You’ll also find popular table games such Pai Gow Poker, Roulette, Craps, Baccarat and much more. For slots they have all sorts of games including video slots, many which have massive jackpots that can be won. They also have many bonuses starting with your choice of a 100% up to $500 welcome bonus for slots, or a 100% up to $200 bonus for table games. From here you can earn a 100% bonus each week. There are also other promotions. Play the slot game featured on Friday and if you don’t win your losses are refunded 50% up to $50. Hit a 21 in blackjack on Sunday and win a $21.00 bonus. There’s also a $100K travel promo that if won will send you to 5 continents to visit 5 cities over 5 weeks. This is only a small sample of what’s offered. You can learn more visiting their website.

Bovada Racebook Review

The racebook can be accessed at http://horses.bovada.lv/. Here you’ll find more than 60 tracks covered. This includes the Major US tracks such as Churchill Downs, Pimlico Race Course, Santa Anita Park, Aqueduct, Gulfstream and Belmont Park, as well as Colonial Downs, Fairmount Park, Kentucky Downs, and many more. Most all the legal gambling in Kentucky is covered. You’ll also find Australian tracks covered as well as tracks for Harness racing. They offer a rebate of 3% on straight bets of win, place or show and 5% on exotics. The exotics include Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Daily Double, Pick 3, Pick 4, Boxes and Wheels. This rebate is paid to players accounts every Tuesday for their weekly horse racing turnover. Additionally, when you bet Saratoga or Del Mar Races from Wednesday to Friday, the rebate is 6% on straight bets and 10% on exotics.

As you can see Bovada covers all the tracks Americans are interested in betting, and also supports all the wagering options we utilize. Even bigger, they have many prop and future bets available for the major Triple Crown races and the Breeders’ Cup. If you’re new to betting horses, no sweat – they have a full glossary explaining all the wagering options and terms. They also provide daily previews and all the data needed to properly handicap each horse race. Finally worth noting is the 50% up to $250 sign-up bonus that is available for sports, can also be used at horses.bovada.lv.

The History of Bovada

The history of Bovada intertwines with the history of Bodog. The official story is that in late 2007, Bodog’s founder Calvin Ayre was retiring. No longer wanting to stay in the US market he sold Bodog’s North American business to Mohawk Morris Gaming Group (MMGG). They then became a licensee of the newly started Bodog Brand.

There were, and still are, other gambling sites that also licensed the Bodog name. This once included Bodog Europe who used the URL bodog.co.uk which is now closed. The sites still active are Bodog Canada (bodog.eu) and an Asian bookie named Haydock Entertainment who started Bodog88.com. The brand didn’t involve only betting. There was also Bodog Music, Bodog Babes, Bodog Fight and other companies and products licensing the same brand name. So originally, and beginning in late 2007, MMGG used the URLs Bodog.com, Bodog.eu, and Bodog.ca for the various markets they were license holders of.

In mid-2011 Bodog decided they didn’t want their other brand licensees to carry the perceived liability of having their names associated with US gambling. This is because many of these sites were going big time in legal markets. The Asian version was the shirt sponsors of an English Premier League team and had recently started legal betting booths at a UK football stadium. Ample time was given to MMGG to rebrand their US gambling site.

On December 14, 2011 all players were sent notice that their accounts have been transferred to the website www.bovada.lv. There was no change in ownership as MMGG had owned the US version of Bodog since late 2007. 4 years later, this website was rebranded Bovada, and the software and betting features remained the same. Now because we at SBS take pride in being the most honest portal on the web, it’s important to share we do have some doubts regarding this official story.

Mohawk Morris Gaming Group (MMGG) is owned by Alwyn Morris. He won two medals, including gold, for Canada at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics. He’s also a Native American who is a prominent member of the Mohawk nation in Kahnawake, which is located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, across from Montreal. He was a made a member of the Order of Canada in 1985 for work with Aboriginal youth in the field of Alcohol and Drug abuse. He then spent 12-years as senior advisor to the Chief and Council of the Kahnawake Mohawks. We’ll just say it simply as, true or not about the ownership change: moving US operations to a sovereign Indian reservation, the US government couldn’t easily reach, is a smart move when dealing with online gambling.

The Bodog Story

Bodog has been involved in online gambling since it was first getting started. Their founder Calvin Ayre originally sold his online gambling software idea to a company called Cyberoad, which was publicly listed as OTC: BB FUNN. In 1998 Cyberoad was the software hosts for three gambling sites, specifically: Mayan Sports, The Big Book, and Grand Prix. Another part of the idea Ayre sold was an innovation in payment processing that took on the name eBanx. This company took deposits with credit card and paid out via e-check. Back then most gambling sites were using agents that settled in cash, Western Union, or even occasionally FedEx envelopes stuffed with money. eBanx was integrated directly with the gambling sites, and this was the start of easy deposits and withdrawals being available at online betting sites.

In 2000, Cyberoad failed and was taken over by El Moro Finance Ltd. (BVI). Its assets were assigned to a subsidiary of El Moro called eSportz. What happened from here is Mayan got new software, the Big Book purchased Grand Prix, and eSportz continued initially powering the Big Book. In 2001, an email was sent to former Mayan Sports clients introducing them to Bodog. A huge amount of controversy, that’s now a decade in the past, is for years Mayan (who btw, was not very reputable) accused Bodog of stealing their clients. Also, initially the head of Bodog and eSports was known as Cole Turner, but it was later revealed this was just an alias of Calvin Ayre. There was a great deal of debate regarding Cyberoad investors losing their funds, a new company immediately taking over and how it was Cyberoad idea man and consultant Calvin Ayre was suddenly the main beneficiary of this betting operation’s profits. Further questions were raised about why he was using an alias if he had nothing to hide. Calvin explained one aspect of the controversy over several betting forum posts. His claim is that he sold the idea to Cyberoad, and eBanx but was never a shareholder, only a consultant. Later when Cyberoad went bust, El Moro asked him for help recovering their asset. They were a Cyberoad secured creditor. During the process he became involved again, helped El Moro sue Cyberoad and gain control. He then started eSports, the software company that evolved into becoming Bodog. Again a decade in the past, there’s two sides to the story, but to note: through this entire process Grand Prix, The Big Book and then Bodog were the most reliable companies for paying players, and none of these controversies ever got in the way of that.

Back on the topic of history, initially Bodog and Big Book shared an office. Though Big Book came first, they were essentially a white label of Bodog who had the same owners as the software provider. The company that managed their payment system was called Kazootek Technologies Ltd., likely also primarily owned by Calvin Ayre. The story goes that a Viktoria Zazoulina (known as Vika – and shown left), Tatiana Kostiouk (known as Tanya – and shown right) and Greg Tanner (not shown) were employees that embezzled large sums of money from Kazootek and then conspired with The Big Book to steal eSportz source code. Basically, they had a plan to go solo financed off theft from the company Bovada originates from (Bodog). So anyways in mid-2003 Bodog kicked Big Book to the curb. From this date on Bodog was no longer a software company, but a standalone gambling brand with the best payment processing and betting software in the industry.

Once they went solo their growth came rapid. They introduced poker in 2004, and quickly grew into one of the largest internet poker rooms. In 2006, they purchased one of the oldest and most trusted sportsbooks in the industry World Wide Tele Sports (WWTS), who ran betwwts.com and many other gambling sites through their BetCorp white labels. Today, when you read on Bodog websites that they have been in business since 1994, this is a bit strange. It was WWTS who Bodog purchased, closed, and took over the offices and much of the staff of that was actually in business since 1994. In any case, they began rapidly growing their brand name creating the Bodog Handicapper Challenge, Bodog BEAT, Bodog Music, the Lingerie Bowl, Bodog Fight, Battle of the Bands and all sorts of other products that did wonders for their branding. It also helped that their founder Calvin Ayre made Forbes Magazine Billionaire list, had his home featured on MTV Cribs, and made appearance on BNN, VH1, Extra, Careers TV and CNBC. This only names some of the methods they used in becoming a massive brand.

Bovada and Bodog Legal Issues

In August 2007, the Bodog.com domain name was seized over a patent dispute with 1ST TECHNOLOGY LLC. They have what in our opinion is a silly patent (one that should have never been issued) on a method of sending information over networks using low bandwidth. It’s worth noting this same company later sued PokerStars, BetCRIS, Cake Poker and many other gambling sites too. Bodog just happened to be the first, and they took the hardest hit over being sued. This is because figuring they’re not subject to US law, and their main business is betting, it was a good idea to ignore served legal notices. This however resulted in a US judge issuing a default judgment that ordered Bodog to pay $48,937,456 for patent infringement. The domain was later seized over failure to pay. Bodog appealed this and fought in court, while using the domain bodoglife.com in the interim. Finally unsuccessful, Mohawk Morris Gaming Group paid the $49 million and got their domain back in April 2009.

In 2008, while they still didn’t have their domain, $24 million of their money was seized cumulatively in the criminal busts of two payment processors. The loss of the player volume and funds seized had Bodog payouts to players seriously delayed. While we had long been fans, even we had to warn players to avoid this site over financial concerns. Bodog however worked through the issues. As mentioned they got their domain back. After this, for two years and eight months (April 2009 to December 2011) they were fastest paying US sportsbook with check payouts arriving in a matter of days.

In December 2011 there were more processor issues that caused Bodog payouts to again be delayed. This was then followed with seeing Calvin Ayre indicted by US authorities for violating US gambling laws. Considering he’s not an American, and operates a legal and licensed betting site in the areas he’s located, this was more of a show move, or a “just in case” in the event he later visits somewhere the US can legally apprehend him (not going to happen). Concerns over this did affect the newly established Bovada and we had a Bovada Payout warning posted for much of 2012. Initially we suspended their rating. After payout time frames reached 1.5 months we downgraded them. It turns out this was us being overcautious (which is our preference as we’d do the same again anytime we smell risk) as Bovada payouts are now coming very fast (5-10 days in most cases by check, same day by P2P).

Bovada is Rated A-

As mentioned Bodog has been involved in online gambling since it first started in the 1990’s. They are one of a very small number of companies from that era that has (to our knowledge) never stiffed a player or had an unresolved dispute over player funds. While there were hiccups that caused payments to be very late in 2008 (all which were resolved) and then delays in early-to-mid-2012, for the most part they have a spotless payout track record. This applies to both MMGG, who we’ve known of since 2007, and Bodog who has been involved in gambling since 1998. Also worth noting, their payout delays in 2012 were NOTHING compared to what other sites have been through. At poker sites such as Carbon Poker, and betting sites such as Sportsbook.ag, 6-8 weeks has been their standard payout time for more than a year now. Bovada even when having delays was delivering in the range (and most cases faster) than the standard payout times of many other gambling sites.

There will be of course always people who disagree with our sportsbook ratings, but they are not betting affiliates. We could get paid huge money to shill WagerWeb, OddsMaker, or other scam sites that pay large CPA rates. However, all recommendations on our website are always sincere. I understand some feel different about Bovada’s rating. Some don’t like anonymous poker. Many don’t like that they post lines late, or have small betting limits, for some players a delay, and having dual pricing is a very popular complaint. However all things considered, these guys have the longest positive track record of all “recreational” betting sites. Many recreational players want live betting, mobile betting, easy credit card deposits, soccer lines, props, and the ability to play poker, casino and bet sports and horse races from the same website. They also want to get paid checks fast. While Bovada isn’t for everyone, we feel they are one the best option for a great majority of our visitors and comfortably rate them A-. This is our sincere assessment of the risk players have when posting up at their gambling site.

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How Much Is Bovada Worth Today

Bovada is US-friendly all-in-one gambling site that includes an online casino, sportsbook, racebook and poker room. It’s one of the few remaining sites of this type still open to US players that I recommend. Bovada along with 5Dimes are pretty much the only sportsbook/casinos that I still truly enjoy using.

Bovada.lv was established in 2011 after its parent company Bodog left the US market. Apparently, Bodog wanted to continue serving Canada and other parts of the world but didn’t feel comfortable risking legal action in other lucrative markets due to its US-friendly stance. Bodog spun off Bovada as a separate entity to serve US players exclusively.

So far, we’ve seen good things from Bovada. It doesn’t always have the greatest lines and I have a couple of minor complaints about the poker room, but it’s a solid all-around choice. You could do much worse in today’s gambling environment.

Bonuses

The Bovada website is divided into distinct areas for each form of gambling offered. There’s one area for sports betting, another for casino games and so on. Each of these areas has its own welcome bonus for new players. Let’s take a look at each.

Sports Betting

The sportsbook has a 50% free bet bonus open to all new customers. Upon making your first deposit, you’ll get a free bet equal to 50% the size of your deposit. This is good for up to $250. For example, a $100 first deposit will give you an extra $50 that you can use at the sportsbook.

No bonus code is necessary to get this bonus; just make a deposit and it will be added to your account within 30 minutes. You’ll be asked to place a total sum of wagers equal to 3 times the bonus + deposit amount before you can withdraw any winnings achieved with the bonus cash.

Casino

There are two different bonuses offered at the casino and you’re welcome to take advantage of one or both. One is a $500 bonus that you can use on all slot machines at the casino. It’s set up as a 100% deposit match worth up to $500. You can claim it up to four times for a total of $2,000.

The other bonus can be used to play all other games at the casino. This one gives you a 100% match on each deposit for up to $250. This one can also be claimed up to four times for a total of $1,000. What’s nice about these bonuses is they aren’t restricted to your first deposit only – you can get a bonus on up to eight different deposits.

• Slots bonus code: SLOTS500
• Other games bonus code: GAMES250

Poker

Make a deposit to play poker and you’ll get a 100% bonus worth up to $1,000. Bovada will match it dollar for dollar and issue the cash to you as you play in real money games. All you have to do is make a deposit and start playing poker.

Whenever you play in a tournament or cash game at Bovada.lv, you automatically earn “poker points” as a part of the VIP program. The act of earning these points also releases your bonus. You earn 3 points for every dollar paid in tournament fees. In cash games, you earn points for participating in raked hands.

Here’s a quick look at how the bonus is released:

Racebook

The racebook shares the 50% welcome bonus with the sportsbook. Just make a deposit and you’ll get the bonus cash. If you don’t use it at the sportsbook, you can use it to bet on horses. The racebook also gives away weekly rebates worth up to 5% of your total action, win or lose.

Poker Review

Bovada Poker is a medium-sized poker room with clean software and a pretty decent selection of games at all stakes. Cash games at Bovada run all the way from $0.02/$0.05 up to $30/$60. The fixed limit games are pretty barren at all levels but the no-limit games are occupied all the way up to the highest stakes offered.

• Fixed Limit Stakes: $0.05/$0.10 up to $30/$60
• No Limit Stakes: $0.02/$0.05 ($5 buyin) up to $10/$20 ($2,000 buyin)

Bovada is probably the best US-friendly poker site for tournaments right now. Here you’ll find sit-n-gos and multi-table tournaments at all levels. They have a “Big Deal” guarantee every weekend that never has less than a $100,000 prize pool. Bovada also hosts satellite tournaments that award free seats and travel to major events in Las Vegas. Win one of those and you’ll be playing on the big stage on the Strip in Vegas.

Zone Poker: Zone Poker is a fast-moving type of cash game in which all the players at each level are pooled together. Any time you fold a hand, you are instantly moved to a new table just as a new hand is being dealt. The players are all constantly shuffled around in this manner so that nobody has to sit around and wait after folding. You don’t get nearly as efficient of reads on your opponents but you get to see a whole lot more action. This is the best way to clear any bonuses, by the way.

Here’s what I don’t like about the poker room: All player names have been removed from the tables. Instead of seeing player names like you do at other poker sites, every person at each table is given a seat number and nothing more. It’s impossible to know who you’re playing against each time. It could be one of the local pros or some newbie on his first ever poker game.

The idea behind anonymous tables is to give new players a chance and to discourage the pros from using poker tracking software. Sounds good in theory, but it severely limits our ability to look for suspicious behavior from our opponents. You can read more about my concerns in my full poker review here.

Sportsbook Review

Sports betting is a breeze at Bovada.lv. This is one of the easiest-to-use betting sites on the internet. As far as user experience goes, Bovada gets an A+. Bovada also does well in how deeply it digs into American sports. You can choose any upcoming football, baseball, basketball or hockey game and find dozens of wagers options, alternative point spreads and a whole lineup of props.

Where the sportsbook falters is its tendency to cater to casual bettors at the expense of sharps. If you become a consistent big winner, Bovada will lower your betting limits. They won’t kick you offsite completely, but they will make it impossible to win too much money. Unfortunately, this is common in the industry.

Bovada is after the casual gamblers who might place a few bets on tonight’s game without too much thought. The lines are pretty decent in most cases. Sometimes you get better odds at other sportsbooks, sometimes Bovada has the best odds. I’d recommend keeping one account at Bovada and one at 5Dimes.eu so you can compare the odds before placing any bet.

Aside from its tendency to limit sharps, everything else is great. The book frequently hosts sport-specific promotions, gives out free wagers and is always coming up with new types of bets. Best of all, they offer in-play betting that allows you to place wagers during certain games.

Mobile sportsbook: Point your smartphone or tablet to www.bovada.lv and the website will automatically give you the mobile version. From there, you can place bets, make deposits and request cashouts. Here’s a look at what the mobile book looks like on my iPhone:

Casino

Have you ever visited one of those sportsbooks that claims to have a casino only to discover the “casino” consists of a few blackjack games offered off to the side somewhere? I know I have and it’s annoying. The casino at Bovada is not like that at all. This one has over 150 games and they are all high quality, legit gambling games.

You’ll find slot machines, table games and a whole variety of games just like you would at any other site dedicated purely to casino games. There are even a few 3D slots that I haven’t seen anywhere else.

There’s also a mobile casino that includes a smaller selection of slots and table games. Just point your mobile device to Bovada.lv and you can get started there. The casino alone makes Bovada worth a look if you have any interest in Vegas-style gambling.

Racebook

Bovada’s racebook covers 75 major tracks across the Western Hemisphere, mostly North American tracks. All the major types of bets are accepted and paid out daily at dozens of tracks for hundreds of races. You can place all the usual win/place/show bets as well as the exotics, daily doubles and more.

I won’t pretend to be a horse racing expert, so I’ll leave this one pretty short. From what I’ve heard, the racebook has soft lines and is competitive with every other horse racing site in terms of bonuses and promotions.

Withdrawing from Bovada.lv

US-based gamblers should always look into a site’s history of withdrawals and withdrawal times. The USA is a difficult market for gambling sites thanks to its vague and haphazard banking laws. Some sites have struggled greatly with cashouts while others have thrived. Bovada falls in the latter category.

While other places have had monumental problems paying their winners, Bovada has steadily paid out players month after month, year after year. There was one time in 2012 in which Bovada sent out a batch of checks that bounced after a payment processor closed, but Bovada contacted those customers and issued new checks that cleared without any problems.

Payout times at Bovada are also doing well. I follow the 2+2 payouts thread and am seeing an average cashout time of about a week from first request to money-in-hand. Your results may vary depending on your state of residence and bank of choice, but things are looking very good at Bovada overall. I don’t know of any other gambling sites in the US that are processing withdrawals this quickly on such a large scale.

Depositing

Bovada obviously has a strong banking system in place as it is very easy to get your account funded. You can deposit with a credit card, debit card and cash transfer (think WU and MG). Deposits are processed instantly. Credit cards do come with a 4.9% fee, but that is waived on your first deposit.

Deposit limits are as follows.

• Credit or debit card: up to $1,000 per day
• WU cash transfer: up to $5,000 per day
• MG cash transfer: up to $900 per day

Last Word

Bovada has grown on me over the years. A lot of people in the sports betting and poker forums complain that Bovada isn’t a “serious” sportsbook or poker site because of its tendency to cater to recreational players, but I think that’s a little petty considering the current state of online gambling in the United States.

The gripes people do have are relatively minor in my opinion. The site is running full steam these days with easy deposits, fast withdrawals and a well-done interface for sports betting, gambling and poker. You’ll get a fair game, competent customer service and never worry about getting paid. I have yet to encounter a real money gambling site that does every little thing perfect, but Bovada comes damn close.

Bovada Poker opened for business in late 2011 but the people behind the poker site are not new to poker. Up until 2011, Bodog Poker left the US market to focus its marketing efforts on the rest of the world. They spun-off Bovada Poker to focus exclusively on the US market.

The company has a strong reputation among players and now ranks as one of the largest US-friendly poker sites in the industry. This review will explain what you can expect at Bovada and give you a general overview of what it’s like to play here.

Deposit Bonus

The first thing you’ll see when you visit the Bovada Poker website is a $1,000 welcome bonus offer. This bonus is given to new players as a 100% bonus added to the first deposit. In other words, a $500 deposit will get you a $500 bonus.

You will be asked to clear this bonus by playing in real money ring games and tournaments. As you play in those games, you earn 3 poker points for every dollar paid in rake. For every 5 poker points that you earn, $1 of the bonus is considered cleared. The bonus is then released to your real money account in $10 increments.

All players get 60 days to clear as much of the bonus as possible. If you don’t clear the entire bonus within that time, you’ll still get to keep whatever you’ve managed to release by that point. No bonus code is needed to get this bonus.

Tournaments

Hundreds of sit-n-go and scheduled tournaments are hosted each day at Bovada. Player traffic has been improving recently and the number of active tournaments has grown significantly over the past several months.

As far as scheduled tournaments go, Bovada focuses exclusively on Holdem and Omaha. During the occasional Bovada Anonymous Poker Series, you will see other game types from time to time. Freeroll tournaments are hosted every day as well as paid tournaments with buyins that range from a few cents to upwards of $500.

Sundays are the biggest days of the week for scheduled tournaments at Bovada. Every Sunday, Bovada hosts guaranteed prize pool tournaments with a minimum of $250,000 up for grabs. The day is topped off with a weekly $100,000 guarantee ($162 buyin) at 4PM ET.

Sit-n-go tournaments range from $1 to $100 and include a variety of game types such as Holdem, Omaha, 7 Card Stud, Omaha H/L and 7 Card Stud H/L. The SNGs are also offered in a variety of structures such as traditional single-table tournaments, multi-table tournaments, heads-up tournaments and multi-table tournaments with up to 45 players.

During World Series season, Bovada hosts all kinds of satellites and promotions that will send you to the World Series of Poker Main Event. Win one of these tourneys and you’ll get an all expenses paid trip to the Main Event in Las Vegas to compete for the largest prize pool in all of poker.

Cash Games

Cash games are hosted around the clock with stakes that range from $0.02/$0.05 to $10/$20 NL and $30/$60 fixed-limit. The game types include Texas Holdem, Omaha, 7 Card Stud, Omaha H/L and Stud H/L.

I notice that the cash games here have a pretty high players-to-the-flop percentage. This indicates that the cash games here are looser than the industry average. It’s always a good thing to see loose online ring games.

Update: Bovada Poker has a new cash game variant called “Zone Poker.” In Zone Poker, you and all the other players are put in one big pool. You play at a standard table but any time you fold, you are instantly moved to another table where a hand is just about to begin. Basically, this eliminates the waiting period between hands. Zone Poker moves very quickly and keeps boredom to a minimum. You have to try it to really understand it, but it’s an awesome feature.

Bovada Poker Software

The first thing you’ll notice when you join a table at Bovada Poker is that there are no player names. Each player at the table is designated by the seat number only. The purpose of this is to prevent other players from keeping notes and using poker tracking software to keep detailed hand histories of their opponents. Every time you take a seat at a Bovada Poker table, you are starting with a clean slate.

There are pros and cons to the anonymous tables at Bovada. On the good side, it promotes a more genuine poker experience. Your opponents will never have thousands of hands worth of history attached to your name. On the downside, this makes it more difficult to detect long-term trends of collusion and chip dumping.

One other thing that you may or may not like is that players are limited to joining a maximum of 4 cash game tables at a time. On the positive side, this reduces the time it takes for 12-tablers to make their decisions at a multitude of tables. On the downside, high volume players are limited to just 4 tables. But when it comes to tournaments, you can still play at up to 20 tables at a time.

Other features include customizable table themes, a rabbit cam that lets you see what the next card would have been after everyone folds, single session player notes, fully downloadable hand histories and a Mac-compatible download client.

Mac Compatibility

Bovada has a separate download for Mac computers. If you run a Mac, you will not have to play at some instant-play in-browser game. You get your own Mac software. The Mac download is about 70 MB in size and requires 1 GB of ram, an 800 MHz processor and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or greater.

Mac players still play with everyone else. You’re not limited to playing with just other Mac players. Every customer, regardless of operating system, plays at the same tables and tournaments.

Player Traffic

Bovada took over as the biggest US-friendly poker room in early 2013. Since then, traffic has grown slowly but surely. It appears that Bovada Poker has broken through that critical ceiling of needing traffic to attract traffic.

Cash games get significant traffic at all levels. Even during non-peak hours, I’m able to find games at all stakes, up-to and including $10/$20 no limit and $30/$60 fixed limit. The traffic will probably never match the glory days of 2006-era poker, but you shouldn’t have any problems finding people to play with.

The same thing also goes for tournaments. I’m able to find players at all levels of play in both SNGs and scheduled tournaments.

Safety and Security

Bovada and its parent company Bodog have maintained a consistent track record for safe games. This poker site has never suffered from any scandals such as those that we saw back in 2009 at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet.

The only thing that unnerves me a little is the anonymous table format that Bovada uses. It is impossible to track players over the long term, which makes it difficult for players to self-regulate the industry. For example, the Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet scandal was broken by players who noticed impossibly high win-rates for a few other players over the course of several months.

Anonymous tables forces us to rely on the integrity of Bovada. So far, Bovada has maintained that integrity. It is a matter of trust right now. But so far, everything appears to be on the up-and-up at Bovada.

Deposit Options

Bovada Poker offers a number of deposit options for both US and international players. For USA customers, the following deposit methods are available:

Credit Card

• Minimum deposit: $20
• Max: $500
• Max per day: $1,000
• Max per week: $2,000
• Max per month: $5,000
• Fee: 4.9%

Money Transfer:

• Minimum deposit: $100
• Max: $5,000
• Fee: Free for deposits over $300

Rapid Transfer:

• Minimum deposit: $100
• Max: $900
• Fee: Free for deposits over $300

With a history that dates back to 1994, Bovada Sportsbook is one of the oldest names in the sports betting world. They have served several million customers over nearly two decades and can be considered one of the most trusted online sportsbooks on the internet. A wide variety of betting options and a top notch reputation make it easy for us to recommend Bovada to our visitors.

Bovada Sportsbook offers bets on all the major sports of the world. This includes everything from football to cricket, plus lesser-known sports such as darts and snooker. Bovada offers new betting lines every day and is often the home of the best odds for bettors.

Pros

• Positive reputation dating back to 1994
• Unlimited welcome bonus
• Competitive betting lines
• USA players welcome

Cons

• Low match rate on the bonus
• Needs more deposit options
• Could use more international betting options

Bovada Sportsbook Bonus

All new customers who sign up for an account at Bovada Sportsbook automatically get a 10% bonus on their first deposit there. This bonus has no maximum amount and requires no bonus code to get it. Just sign up for an account and make a deposit and this bonus is yours.

If Bovada asks for your “referral number” at any point, use the number 2567675. This is our own special code that makes sure you receive your bonus. You’ll get the bonus even if you don’t use our special referral number, but some new customers like to use this number to make extra sure they get the bonus.

This bonus has a 1x rollover requirement before you can withdraw the cash. What that means is you will be asked to wager a total sum of money equal to your deposit + the bonus amount before you can withdraw the money. So if you deposit $100 and get a $10 bonus, you will need to place a total sum of $110 in wagers before the money can be withdrawn.

Sports Betting at Bovada

Bovada Sportsbook offers betting on both professional and college sports leagues around the world. The full betting lineup is comprehensive, to say the least. Within each sport, bettors can place a variety of wagers such as moneylines, point spreads, totals, futures, props, teasers and parlays.

Sports fans can place wagers that range in size from $1 to $5000. Bets can be placed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The list of available sports includes football, soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis, boxing, cricket, darts, golf, horse racing, mixed martial arts, motor sports, rugby league, rugby union, snooker, entertainment and television, plus more.

Customers can view and place wagers on all sports right at the Bovada website. No downloads are necessary. All you have to do is create an account and choose your bets. The betting interface is designed to show you exactly how much money you stand to win before you actually place your bets.

Live Betting at Bovada

Is Bovada Worth It

Live betting is a form of betting in which you can place short-term bets during the course of a sports event. If you think your team is going to score the next point, you can place a wager and watch the results unfold in real time. This is an exciting form of betting and Bovada offers it for many live sports events.

Watching a game on TV while you’ve got money on the line is one thing, but live betting takes the excitement to a whole new level. With an account at Bovada, you can watch the game on TV and log in at Bovada to watch new live bets roll in every minute. The number of live bets that are available for each matchup are genuinely astounding. Bovada must dedicate an entire team of staff members to each live betting event.

Bovada Sportsbook Deposits and Withdrawals

How Much Is Bovada Worth Buying

Bovada has a wide variety of deposit options that players can use to fund their accounts. Among the most popular deposit options are credit cards, wire transfers, virtual pin and e-wallets. The e-wallet deposit options include eWalletXpress, Neteller, Click2Pay and Moneybookers. Customers can also deposit via MyPayLinQ and Paysafecard.

If you have any problems depositing, you can call Bovada’s customer service to have your account funded. The people at Bovada understand that depositing can be troublesome, so they are trained to help you get started with minimal fuss.

Withdrawals are processed quickly at Bovada. This company has a reputation for fast and hassle free payouts. If you have a good day or week of betting, you’ll have your money in your hands in no time.

What Percentage Does Bovada Take

Bovada Customer Service

How Much Is Bovada Worth Casino

The customer service team at Bovada has received positive reviews for years now. Customers can reach support at Bovada via phone, e-mail and live chat 24 hours a day. The customer service reps are quick to respond and usually answer questions the first time around.