Is Bovada Legal? Bovada Review: Number One Online Casino In The US – Verified for 2021

Bovada is one of the few online casinos that accept US players and accepts Bitcoin deposits.

With 15+ years of experience, Bovada carries a long history in the online gambling business, featuring Sportsbook, Racebook, Casino and Poker Room.

While there’s a lot of ambiguity around Bovada’s license and its location, there’s one thing for sure – the casino is one the best for the US citizens, especially regarding fast withdrawals and customer support.

Read our Bovada review to find out all the details.

Overview and History

What To Expect From Bovada?

★ Website: www.bovada.lv
★ Bonus: First Deposit 100% up to $1,000
★ Minimum Deposit: $10

One of the biggest advantages of Bovada is the fast payouts which tend to be a problem for casinos and bookmakers that are allowed to operate in the US. Cheques are usually delivered within five working days, and Bitcoin transfers take approximately 15 minutes.

The casino offers:

• Sportsbook
• Live Betting
• Casino
• Poker Room
• Video Poker
• Slots
• Blackjack
• Speciality Games

Brief Look at The Casino

Bovada derived from Bodog Casino and is currently operating under the undisclosed ownership and with a revoked license from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

After the US federal authorities imposed strict regulations on online casinos in the mid-2000s, Bodog was one of many that were forced to close down. In 2011, Bovada Casino was launched by Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, a private company founded by Alwyn Morris. Later on, the company gave the control over casino back to Calvin Ayre who took over the US online gambling industry.

Although not stated officially, Bovada is a part of a large gambling group – Best Partners – along with:

Bovada (the US only), Bodog, Bodog88, Ignition Casino, Slots.lv, Slots.com, Cafe Casino, Bumbet, Joe Fortune

Games Selection

Sportsbook

The sportsbook is one of the flagship products of Bovada, with over 20 sports to bet on. Punters can choose from all main disciplines, as well as darts, Aussie rules and eSports. Bovada also offers a choice of novelty bets, including general election, Eurovision winners and various television shows.

Since the sportsbook is what Bovada has invested in the most, they have an option of Live Betting. Lines are quickly updated and bet types include point spreads, moneyline bets, and totals.

The betting interface is fairly easy to use and the site also features a ‘Quick Bet’ mode that allows placing bets with only one click to ensure you don’t miss anything. In addition to the live in-game betting, there’s also an option of playing casino mini-games on the side of the screen.

Casino

Bovada Casino runs on Realtime Gaming (RTG) and Betsoft software. Altogether, the casino features over two hundred and fifty games. The casino uses a pseudo-Random Number Generator (pRNG) which selects the winners of our games at random.

The casino is also divided into:

• Blackjack
• Table Games
• Slots
• Video Poker
• Specialty Games

The Bovada.lv casino has a Live Dealer section with four different games- Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, and Super 6. These tables are operated by a human dealer, and the action is broadcast over the internet for you to view on your computer.

You can tip the dealer, just as you could in an offline casino. You can also chat with the dealer as well as other players – Bovada provides a community-based chat room.

Racebook (Horses)

The Racebook covers close to 200 racetracks with a heavy concentration on the United States but with quite a few British and Irish tracks present as well. All the races are thoroughbred, quarter-track, or harness horse events; there’s no greyhound racing supported.

Betting opens, in most cases, at 9:00 a.m. ET on the day of the race, but the markets are available several days or weeks in advance of major events.

Poker

Bovada is part of the Pai Wang Luo poker network. The PWL network is a worldwide poker network operating in more than a dozen countries (USA, Australia, Canada, China, Vietnam, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Chile are some of them). The network is the 8th largest online poker operator in the world, so without a surprise, it offers some of the best poker games.

In 2011, Bovada introduced anonymous tables to make the games fairer. Everyone is listed solely as “Player 1,” “Player 2,” and so on. One of the advantages is the fact that nobody can use tracking tools on their opponents long-term.

The betting limit on the Sportsbook, Facebook and the casino is $1, but when playing on the Poker tables, it can be as little as 10-25 cents. On top of the simple tables, there is also the ability to play in tournaments. Those include Sit-n-Go’s, Nightly Majors, as well as special events like the Golden Spade Poker Open 2017, for example, which offered a prize pool of more than 3 million dollars!

An estimate of about $1.5 million is the total prize pool of all Poker events held each week together.

Poker Software

All of the Bovada gaming software can be run through online, so anyone with a computer, tablet, or smartphone can play poker on the particular device. However, to get the best poker experience, including multi-tabling, you’ll have to download the Bovada Poker and install it on a Windows or Mac system.

To ensure there are no problems, here are the system recommendations:

PC:

OS – Windows 7+
CPU – Intel Core Duo or later
RAM – at least 1 GB
Display – min 1024 x 768 resolution @ 32-bit color
HDD – 200MB or more free
Flash Player version 16+

Mac:

OS – OS X 10.7 (64 bit) or more recent
CPU – Intel Core Duo or later
RAM – at least 1 GB
HDD – 250MB or more free
Flash Player version 16+

Bonuses

Sportsbook

$250 Sports Welcome Bonus

New sports bettors can take advantage of a 50% up to $250 bonus deal automatically without the need to enter any bonus code at Bovada Sports. You can double this bonus money to a max of $500 when you make your first Bitcoin deposit and enter in the Bovada Sports bonus code BVSBITCOIN50. The match percentage remains at 50%.

Rollover is 5X Sports/5X Horses/30X Casino. If you deposit $500 to get the standard $250 bonus, you’ll have to make bets totalling ($500 + $250) x 5 = $3,750 before the reward will be cleared and you’ll be able to withdraw your money.

The bonus is also valid for the Racebook.

Casino

$3,000 Casino Welcome Bonus

The Bovada Casino bonus code to use for most players is NEWWELCOME for a 100% up to $1,000 bonus match. This code is valid on three separate deposits so that you can collect up to $3,000 in free casino money.

Bitcoin bonus is even better – use bonus code BVCBITCOIN150 for a 150% up to $1,500 bonus reward. Just like the normal bonus, the BVCBITCOIN150 one can be used up to three times, for a total bounty of as much as $4,500.

Poker

100% Poker Welcome Bonus

The poker welcome bonus is automatically applied to your first deposit when you create your account, and it doesn’t require any specific code. The bonus is valid for the total of qualifying deposits up to a maximum of $500 in complimentary bonus cash.

For the first 30 days after making a deposit, you will earn pieces of the bonus as you keep collecting poker points. Once you surpass the point threshold, the corresponding bonus amount will be added to your balance:

LEVEL	POKER POINTS	BONUS ISSUED	TOTAL BONUSES
1	15	$5	$5
2	85	$20	$25
3	185	$25	$50
4	500	$50	$100
5	1,500	$150	$250
6	5,000	$250	$500

Bovada Rewards

There is also another bonus program called Bovada Rewards. Each game will award you a different amount of points per 1$ you wager on it.

The rewards program is based on a point ranking system. The more you play the more points you get and as you climb the different levels, you can exchange fewer points each time in order to get 1$ bonus. Depending on the level you are on you will also get a percentage of your losses back.

Banking

Deposits

Before making a deposit, Bovada will have to verify your identity to ensure you’re 18 years old and that you’re the owner of the card you’re depositing with.

Depositing with Bitcoin. might be the best way to put some money on your account – it’s super quick, the maximum deposit is three times larger than with the fiat money and what’s most important, its’s totally free!

Deposit Options:

• Credit Card:
  • Visa, MasterCard, American Express and select Visa Gift Cards
  • Minimum – $20
  • Maximum – $1,500
  • Fee – 5.9% Visa, MasterCard; 9.9% AmericanExpress
    
• Cryptocurrencies:
  • Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash
  • Minimum – $20
  • Maximum – $5,000
  • Fee – None

Withdrawals

The withdrawal method will depend on the deposit method of your choice, e.g. if you deposited Bitcoin, you can only withdraw Bitcoin.

Again, using cryptocurrencies make the whole process much faster. In a few hours you can have your money on your account.

Withdrawal Options:

• Check by Courier:
  • Minimum – $100
  • Maximum – $3,000
  • Frequency – 1 per 7 days
  • Timeframe – 10-15 Business Days
• Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash:
  • Minimum – $10
  • Maximum – $9,500
  • Frequency – 1 per 3 days
  • Timeframe – A few hours

Customer Support

Bovada has an in-depth, extensive FAQ section, and we suggest checking it before contacting the Customer Support. You’ll most likely find an answer quicker over there.

Subjects that are covered:

Financial FAQ, General FAQ, Sports FAQ, Sportsbook FAQ, Casino FAQ, Bonuses FAQ, Bitcoin FAQ, Horses FAQ

However, if you need help from an agent, you need to navigate to the bottom of the website and find ‘Contact Us’. This will take you to a contact form that you can fill in – an agent should reply to you within 24h.

Additionally, you can call Bovada at 1-888-263-0000 or Live Chat with one of customer support agents.

FAQ

Is Bovada Licensed?

At the time of writing, Bovada doesn’t have a license.
Until October 2016, Bovada was regulated by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. However, the US state of New Jersey declared all “offshore” gaming sites to be illegal, revoking the same all Kahnawake licenses.

Is Bovada Legal To Operate In The US?

Yes, Bovada can legally operate in the US. Many people question the legal status of Bovada in the US due to the strict American laws that have been imposed in the mid-2000’s. However, Bovada is located offshore, meaning it doesn’t have to follow any rules in the US.

When someone places a bet in the United States, it is technically made in Costa Rica not the United States of America. Some players experienced difficulties with deposits and payouts, but this has been mainly caused by the banking issues and has nothing to do with legalities

The US federal law doesn’t state anywhere that playing poker or casino games is illegal. It is, however, illegal to run a business that accepts bets or is involved in processing online gambling payments. Hence, the Bovada casino is located offshore.

Is Bovada Legal For The US Players?

To be able to register on Bovada, you must be at least 18 years old, and in some states 21.

On a federal level, there are no laws that prohibit online gambling. You are, however, bounded by your local state, like in case of those mentioned above.

You might come across banks and payment processors that aren’t willing to process online gambling related payments, so they have to hide the origins of the transfers. If your bank is likely going to make problems, you can use Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash as an alternative payment method.

Find out more on How To Deposit Bitcoin on Bovada.

Why Does Bovada Use .lv Domain?

The .lv domain is registered in Latvia, Europe, but it also stands for Las Vegas, hoping to bring more resemblance to the gambling capital of the world.

Bovada uses the .lv domain to prevent the Department of Justice seizing the domain as they did in 2011 to the .com domains of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

Overall Rating

While there’s a lot of grey areas in how Bovada operates its business, the lack of license and who actually owns the casino, there has been minimal complaints about the casino in comparison to others that accept the US players.

Bovada has recently invested in significant rebranding and moved away from dark look to a bright and easy-to-navigate interface. Combining that with fast payouts, large games’ selection and accepting cryptocurrency, it’s safe to say Bovada is the number one casino for the US players!

What do you think of the casino after reading the Bovada Review? Let us know in the comments below!