Bovada Lv Review
Bovada Lv Review
For many folks, Bovada.lv is one of the go-to names within US online casinos. After all, having been around since 2011 and with a well-rounded assortment of poker, sports betting, and casino options, Bovada has established themselves as one of the premier online gambling sites. We’ve developed this in-depth Bovada Casino review to provide you with a complete assessment and help you sort out if it’s the one you should call your online casino home.
Bovada lv keeps launching new offers for the Red Room members every now and then. Some of these offers are unique indeed and include free tours to the Super Bowl, paid vacations to Vegas, poker tours at Punta Cana, and more. The Bovada sportsbook betting arena is fabulous (Sportsbook Review). Mobile Betting On Bovada LV. Betting on the go via a mobile device is a big industry trend, one that Bovada is currently riding themselves. Bovada’s mobile services can be accessed by downloading its iOS and Android app (also named Bovada) or simply accessing its main site via a phone or tablet. Since Bovada.lv is a sports betting site first and foremost, let’s start with the sports bonus. It’s a 50% deposit match bonus worth up to $250. This bonus has rollover requirements of 5x on sports and horse racing.
Analysis
- Online Since: 2011
- US Players: Yes
- Website: www.bovada.lv
- Welcome Bonus: Up to $3,000
- Software Providers: Betsoft, Rival Gaming, and Real Time Gaming
- Banking Methods: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, American Express, Visa, Mastercard, and Check by Courier
Pros and Cons
Up first, we’ve gathered up a list of the primary pros and cons we found. While this list isn’t all-inclusive, it covers the main highlights. For a more comprehensive look at things we liked and didn’t like, be sure to continue reading the rest of our review on Bovada.
Pros of Bovada Casino
- Live dealer casino games
- Top-notch customer service including live chat
- Massive bonus opportunities
Cons of Bovada Casino
- A smaller list of casino games than average online casinos
- No e-wallet banking methods for deposits and withdrawals
Review Contents
To help give you an idea of what’s to come in our review, we’ve included a list below of the sections on this page. Should you want to go ahead and skip to one of these parts of the review, you can simply click on the section’s title. But if you want to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the critical information included here, be sure to stick around to read this page in its entirety.
Ratings by Category
Overall: 4.4/5.0
Bovada is one of the premier online gambling websites within the industry, and it quickly reveals why when you visit their site. We love their quality customer service, massive welcome bonuses, and quality casino games. However, we’d like to see them add more games to their casino and more banking methods for deposits and withdrawals.
The Casino: 4.0/5.0
At the time of this review, we find that it is an excellent sample of an online casino. Some of the highlights we enjoyed most include their live dealer games, software providers, and mobile compatibility. However, we were slightly disappointed with the overall count of casino games on the platform. With roughly 200 games available, Bovada offers less than the average online casino.
User Interface: 5.0/5.0
We found the user interface of the Bovada.lv online casino to be an excellent one, which makes it easy and straightforward to find everything we were looking for with little effort. On top of that, they offer players the chance to play games for free even without an account. With this functionality, customers can get a feel for the online casino without needing to risk any real money.
Mobile Compatibility: 4.0/5.0
Bovada players can play casino games from mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. However, while conducting our review, we found that the selection of games is a bit limited for mobile customers. Since the overall casino game count is already low, it’s that much worse for clients playing from these mobile devices. Moving forward, they should strive to add more of their instant play games on their mobile-friendly website.
Banking Methods: 4.0/5.0
Currently, Bovada provides a mix of various methods which clients can use for banking on their platform. In its existing state, customers can use credit cards, checks, and the cryptocurrency Bitcoin to move money onto and off the website. But Bovada doesn’t offer customers the ability to use popular e-wallet options like Skrill and Neteller. Ideally, we’d like to see some of these options included in the future to offer greater flexibility to casino clients.
Bonuses and Promotions: 4.5/5.0
New players will have access to some of the online casino industry’s most substantial welcome bonuses. We are huge fans of what their Casino brings to the table for these new clients. However, our only desire would be for them to offer some everyday reload bonuses which customers can use to receive bonus cash when adding more funds to their accounts.
Customer Support: 5.0/5.0
For starters, we gained a ton of value from the excellent set of frequently asked questions included on the help page. Thanks to these, we were able to find answers to many of our questions during our review of Bovada. However, when we did need to contact their team, we were able to use three different contact options, which made it all very convenient. And finally, we were huge fans of the fact that their customer service agents are available around the clock 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
The Casino
And now, we’ll dive into the thick of Bovada’s casino. In this portion, we’ll give you an excellent summary of all of the critical parts. Below, you’ll learn about their games, software providers, mobile compatibility, and more.
Slots
Up first, we checked out the slots section. Once there, we located just under 100 slot machines we could play. While this might sound like a significant number of games to someone who might not know much about slots or how they work it’s lower than the industry average. Many other online casinos have more slot games than Bovada has across all casino gaming formats. It would definitely benefit them to have more online slot games to provide their customers with many more options.
If you’re into progressive slot games, then you’re in luck. More than half of the available slot machines have some form of an associated jackpot. This percentage is much higher than the industry average, making Bovada an excellent fit for fans of this gaming type. The majority of the progressive slots had relatively low prizes, but we did locate one game with a jackpot of over $3,000,000. Use the website drop-down menu to select progressives if you’d like to see all of your jackpot gaming options.
We checked out the full collection of slot games to see if we could locate any name brand slot machines. However, we didn’t come across any of them. Often, many online casinos include name brand games from popular movies, television shows, and other media. From our experience, these name brand games often offer improved graphics over non name brand options. Our suggestion would be for Bovada to add some name brand games into their lineup as soon as possible to be more competitive with other online casinos offering these types of games.
Below, you’ll find a list which represents roughly 10% of the slot games found on Bovada’s casino. These are the top 10 slot games we found during our review. If you’d like to see the entire lineup, click on the slots tab of their online casino.
- A Night with Cleo
- Zombie FC
- Atlantic Treasures
- Zombies vs. Cheerleaders
- Shopping Spree
- Reign of Gnomes
- Gushers Gold
- Fruit Frenzy
- Diamond Dragon
- Demi Gods
Table Games
If table games are your thing, you’ll be able to play many of the most popular formats on Bovada’s casino. In total, we came across over 30 options during our analysis of their casino. With this many table game variants, Bovada is in line with the average online casino. To get a feel for some of the options you’ll have in this section of their casino, check out the list of the top 10 table games included below.
- Craps
- Baccarat
- Pai Gow Poker
- Teen Patti
- Blackjack
- American Roulette
- Vegas Three Card Rummy
- Tri Card Poker
- European Roulette
- Caribbean Stud Poker
Video Poker
Another type of casino game you can play on the site is video poker. With just over 20 games in this section of their casino, Bovada provides their customer access to a collection that’s just under the online casino industry average. However, we still enjoyed the quality assortment of different video poker variants available. Below, you’ll get a taste for their offerings by checking out the list of their top 10 video poker games found at the time of our Bovada Casino review.
- Loose Deuces 1 Hand
- Joker Poker 10 Hands
- Jacks or Better 1 Hand
- Double Double Jackpot Poker 1 Hand
- Joker Poker 1 Hand
- Deuces Wild
- Bonus Poker Deluxe 1 Hand
- Bonus Poker 1 Hand
- Bonus Deuces Wild 1 Hand
- Double Bonus Poker 1 Hand
Live Dealer Games
Initially, we were a little concerned Bovada might not offer their clients live dealer games simply due to the low overall count of casino games in their collection.
However, after exploring the casino in full during our review of Bovada, we discovered a collection of over 20 different live dealer casino games on their platform. All of the live dealer casino games are variations of five different popular casino games which we’ve reviewed in a list below.
- Blackjack
- American Roulette
- European Roulette
- Baccarat
- Super 6
Other Games
If you’re looking for a bit of non-traditional casino games, Bovada also has you covered. We were pleased to uncover a list of over 20 specialty casino games on their platform. In this portion of their casino, Bovada provides customers access to fun options like scratch-offs, bingo, and keno. Check out the list of the top 10 options below to get a feel for what you’ll find in the specialty games section.
- Penguin Payday
- Tribo Bingo
- Pirate’s Pillage
- Keno
- Gunslinger’s Gold
- Cast for Cash
- 30 Ball Bingo
- Amazonia Bingo
- Tiki Treasure
- Pesca Bingo
Poker Room
Bovada Lv Not Working
One of the most substantial assets of Bovada’s casino is its excellent online poker room. Currently, their poker room is one of the top online poker rooms available within the industry. If you’re into online poker tournaments and cash games, check out their selection. While this review on Bovada is focused on the casino side of the website, we wanted to mention their poker room so you can experience it for yourself. Based on our time on their poker room platform, it’s not one to be missed.
Software Providers
From a gaming software provider stance, Bovada uses games from three of the top providers within the industry. Casino games here come from Betsoft, Real Time Gaming, or Rival Gaming. With these three providers, we’re honestly a bit surprised that the collection of casino games isn’t more extensive. It should be easy for Bovada to offer other games from these quality software providers to help increase the size of their assortment.
User Interface
Bovada’s website was well designed using an excellent user interface. Thanks to its user-friendly build, even first-timers on their platform won’t have an issue moving around and finding precisely what they’re searching for. On both the mobile and instant play versions of the site, our team never had any difficulty.
Before we move on, there’s one part of the user interface which really jumped out to us in a good way. Unlike some online casinos, Bovada offers clients and non-clients the chance to play free casino games. If you’re unsure about risking real money or are just looking to try out something new, this is a great way to go about it. Based on our experience, it seems like all games other than live dealer variants can be played in a free practice mode on their platform. This was a great surprise to come across during our Bovada Casino review.
Mobile Compatibility
Customers of Bovada can play casino games from mobile devices rather than just standard computers. Thanks to an excellent mobile-friendly and responsive design, it’s simple to play casino games from tablets and smartphones no matter where you are. The only drawback we could find is that not all of the instant play casino games are available to clients playing from mobile devices. But this isn’t uncommon for the industry. If you’re thinking you’ll play on Bovada from your phone or tablet, be sure to check out the mobile assortment to ensure you’ll have access to all of the games you’re looking to play regularly.
Bovada has designed an excellent online casino. In its current form, we really like the live dealer games, quality software providers, and mobile compatibility. Our primary wish for improving their casino would center around simply adding more games to their collection. Ideally, we’d like to see the number of games triple to encompass more than 600 games.
Bonuses and Promotions
If you’re interested in earning some bonus cash and other perks while online gambling, Bovada has some compelling offers. Below, we’ll preview some of the best promotions we found during our Bovada review analysis. Check these out to see which might help you earn some serious bonus funds.
Casino Welcome Bonus
If you’re a newcomer to Bovada’s casino, you can claim their stellar casino welcome bonus. Through this offer, Bovada will match up to $1,000 on each of your initial three deposits into your betting account. In total, it means you can score up to $3,000 thanks to this 100% match.
Bitcoin Welcome Bonus
During our review on Bovada, we found that bonuses get even better if you’re willing to deposit using Bitcoin. With their Bitcoin welcome bonus, Bovada will match 150% of your first three deposits up to $1,500 each. In turn, you can earn up to a whopping $4,500 of bonus cash over your initial three casino deposits.
Poker Welcome Bonus
Should you plan on taking advantage of the quality poker room Bovada has to offer, then be sure to claim their excellent poker welcome bonus. Here, you can get paid up to $500 with a 100% match of your initial poker deposit. That means you’ll want to deposit at least $500 if you want to get the most out of this bonus.
Bovada Lv Review
Refer a Friend Promotion
One of the easiest ways to earn some bonus cash with Bovada is through their refer a friend promotion. With this offer, you can get paid by referring your friends to play casino games on Bovada’s platform. For each friend you refer to the website, you will receive up to $100. The amount you’ll receive is a 200% match on your friend’s opening account deposit. In short, as long as your friend deposits $50 or more, you’ll get the full $100 maximum. And at the time of this review, we found no cap on the number of buddies you can refer to claim this excellent offer.
Bovada Rewards Program
Another way to get some perks is to take advantage of everything the Bovada Rewards program has to offer. This is their VIP program, which allows you to earn cash back on losses, cash for points, and more. In short, the more you play your favorite casino games on the site, you’ll work your way up the tiers of their VIP program.
As you go higher, you’ll get even better perks than the levels below. To learn more about this excellent rewards program, be sure to check out the website.
Sports Welcome Bonus
While this review is focused on the casino portion, we wanted to mention that you can earn some bonus cash with the sports welcome bonus if you plan on doing some sports betting on their website. With this promotion, Bovada will provide players with a 50% bonus match that’s good for up to $250 of bonus funds.
We absolutely love all of the welcome offers we found on the site. Based on what we’re used to seeing within the industry, these promotions provide some of the best bonus potentials available. However, we’d like to see them offer some everyday reload bonuses which can be used once the initial three deposits have been used.
Banking Methods
Like most online casinos, Bovada.lv offers its clients an assortment of banking methods which can be used for account deposits and withdrawals. In this section, we’ll provide you a summary of your options for both along with other pertinent details about limits, fees, and timing.
Deposits
- Visa
- Minimum Deposit: $20
- Maximum Deposit: $1,500
- Fees: First deposit is free. After that, 5.9% per transaction.
- Minimum Deposit: $20
- Maximum Deposit: $1,500
- Fees: First deposit is free. After that, 5.9% per transaction.
- Minimum Deposit: $20
- Maximum Deposit: $1,500
- Fees: First deposit is free. After that, 9.9% per transaction.
- Minimum Deposit: $10
- Maximum Deposit: $5,000
- Fees: None
Mastercard
American Express
Bitcoin
Withdrawals
- Bitcoin
- Minimum Withdrawal: $10
- Maximum Withdrawal: None
- Fees: None
- Frequency: 1 withdrawal every 3 days
- Timing: Within 15 minutes
- Minimum Withdrawal: $10
- Maximum Withdrawal: None
- Fees: None
- Frequency: 1 withdrawal every 3 days
- Timing: Within 15 minutes
- Minimum Withdrawal: $100
- Maximum Withdrawal: $3,000
- Fees: Every 90 days, the 1st one is free. After that, $100 per withdrawal.
- Frequency: 1 withdrawal every 7 days
- Timing: Within 10-15 business days
Bitcoin Cash
Check by Courier
When it comes to the overall collection of banking methods found on Bovada Casino, it is about average with what we see within the industry. With the existing assortment of options, many clients should be able to easily move their funds onto and off of the website. However, the list is a bit limited since it’s missing options like Neteller and PayPal from the e-wallets segment. In the future, it’d be great to see other banking methods to allow even more flexibility for their customers.
Website Overview
With a launch date back in 2011, Bovada is one of the older online casinos that’s still in business today. Luckily, over their long time of being open, Bovada has worked hard to develop one of the leading online gambling sites in the industry. While it’s not perfect, it’s pretty darn close thanks to the convenience factor for clients who can enjoy casino games, poker, and sports betting all on one website.
Unfortunately, not everyone that visits Bovada will be able to use their site.
Below, you’ll find a list of some of the countries which were restricted from playing on the website as of the time of our analysis. It is important to note that not all restricted countries are listed below, check with Bovada.lv customer support to ensure your country is available for play. If you’re ever unsure, try opening an account or reaching out to the customer support team for guidance.
- Australia
- Bahamas
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Democratic Republic
- Europe
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Nigeria
- Philippines
- Saudi Arabia
- South Africa
Customer Service
To close things out, we wanted to offer you a preview of our experience with customer support. While many online casinos have stellar customer service, others don’t. However, after experiencing Bovada’s help for ourselves, we were thrilled with what they brought to the table for their customers.
For starters, before you even bother to contact Bovada’s customer service team, be sure to head over to their help page. There, we were greeted with a vast library of frequently asked questions across a broad assortment of topics. No matter if you’re looking for guidance on deposits, bonuses, or other things, it’s practically all covered here. In addition to standard text questions and answers, Bovada also offers some excellent videos discussing things like how to make a withdrawal or how to claim a bonus. You can find this excellent resource by clicking on “Help” from any webpage.
Another great thing about customer support that we found is that they’ve got members of their team on standby to assist you 24/7. Unlike some of the other online casinos, you’ll always get answers as soon as you need them thanks to this around-the-clock service.
If you’ve checked out the help page and still have questions, one of the ways you can get in touch with Bovada is through telephone. Below, we’ve added the phone number you can use to call their team of support agents. We were pleased with our experience with their call-in option. We were always put in touch with one of their team members and they were able to answer our questions.
Bovada Phone Number: 1-888-263-0000
Something else you can do to receive help is to use their web contact form. With this, you’re essentially sending them an email from their website. Once you fill in your question, it will be sent to the support team, and one of their agents will get back to you within a few hours. Keep in mind, this is not the fastest way to get help. If you need answers now, it will be best to call in or use the next contact option discussed below.
The last contact option available to players is live chat. With this tool, you’re able to strike up a conversation on the website with one of their helpful support agents. We ended up using the live chat functionality a ton during our review process. For us, we love how fast we can get answers and guidance from their team. Be sure to try out this tool when you’re looking for assistance without the need to call or fill out a web contact form.
Bovada online casino has hit a complete home run with their customer support. We love the 24/7 support that’s coupled with three ways to reach their team. On top of that, their quality help section creates an excellent resource where clients can quickly find the answers they need within a matter of moments.
The Final Verdict
If you can’t tell from all of the sections above, we’re big fans of what Bovada has developed over the years. One of the primary reasons we enjoy using their website is the ability to bet on sports, poker, and casino action all in one spot. Based on our experience, we think it would make a great home for those interested in online gambling. This is especially true for individuals looking to play poker or do online sports betting. But if the existing lineup of casino games isn’t broad enough for your needs, then you may want to see what other options could be a better fit for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
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.
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
Bovada Sports Reviews
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-
Reviews For Bovada
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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