1. Betonline Reviews Complaints
2. Is Betonline A Legit Site
3. Betonline Sportsbook
4. Betonline Complaints Customer Service

They’ve been a reliable sportsbook for over 10+ years — you’ll find few complaints about 5Dimes online, and the ones you find have been resolved quickly. For poker and casino games, I would go with Bovada. But for sports bettors, it makes the most sense to have an account at 5Dimes. Another Solid Option. BetOnline.ag is my third. Global Poker is the best by far. Works in a browser on any platform. Never any issues. 5 freerolls per day. Chico network (BOL, Sportbetting) are also pretty good. Sportsbooks & The Industry - Discuss Sportsbook News, Disputes, Sportsbook Ratings and Feedback.

• Some of the best poker sites for USA players are Ignition Casino, Intertops Poker, Bovada, America's Cardroom and BetOnline. It will have minimal complaints, a decently sized players base.
• In general, the complaints resolution policy is our main concern. Still, the first option for the player, if something goes wrong, is the customer support department of the betting site. We compare bookmakers on available channels (live chat, email, phone, social media), the time needed to respond and the accuracy of answers.

Ratings

Overall

We found while reviewing BetNow that there are a lot of things to like, and there are some areas which could use
some updates and improvements. We’ll go into more detail in this in-depth BetNow review
so you can see what we liked versus what we think needs some focus.

Sportsbook

If you’re into major sports like basketball and football, then you’ll be all
good to wager on the BetNow Sportsbook. Luckily, they’ve got excellent coverage
of all the most popular sports. However, they lack when it comes to other less
popular sports except for esports and cycling. In the future, we’d like to see
BetNow broaden their offering of sports you can wager on.

Casino

The games which BetNow provides their clients in the casino are all excellent
games with quality graphics and sound. However, the problem lies in the fact
there are only about 100 games for clients to choose from, which is
significantly lower than the average online casino. Unfortunately, the selection
is even smaller for clients wanting to play games from mobile devices.

Banking

At BetNow, there’s a decent-sized collection of banking methods which will
work for most folks to deposit and withdraw funds from the website. However,
e-wallets like Skrill and Neteller were noticeably missing. BetNow should add
these options and many others to increase banking flexibility for their
customers.

Bonuses

Clients of BetNow will find a pretty good overall set of options when it
comes to bonus promotions. But the size of the deposit match percentages is
lower in many cases on BetNow than the average for other online gambling sites.
We’d like to see BetNow step it up and offer more significant percentage matches
for some of their offers to add more value for their clients.

Customer Service

We were pleased with the customer support at BetNow. First, they offer 24/7
support, so you never have to wait an extended period for help. Secondly, they
provide clients the ability to contact them through the telephone, email, or
live chat. Overall, we had a stellar experience with their support team, and we
don’t have any doubts you’ll not have similar experiences.

User Interface

From a functionality standpoint, we have no complaints about the user
interface of BetNow. Everything was easy to use and understand across their
entire website. But the look of their casino desktop section simply looked
dated. It’d be great to see them update this portion of their website to help
make it look more modern like the remainder of their site.

Mobile Compatibility

As a whole, the mobile version of BetNow functions well across both their
sportsbook and casino portions of the website. Fans of sports betting can
quickly place wagers on all of their favorite sports, including in-play betting,
from a tablet or smartphone. However, those looking to enjoy casino games will
find a small collection of roughly 20 games to choose from. BetNow should work
to add many more of their desktop version games to their mobile-friendly website
to increase the selection for mobile clients.

BetNow Overview

BetNow was launched in 2016. In the scale of overall online casinos and
sportsbooks, that makes it a relatively young entrant. There are much older and
experienced operations out there. However, older doesn’t always mean better.

Based on their limited time in the industry, we’re not surprised to see where
their operation currently stands. The good news is that it’s something that
seems to be continually progressing for the better and we’re excited to see what
else the BetNow team rolls out in the future as the website gets some more
experience under their belt.

Many of you might be wondering if you’re allowed to play at BetNow based on
their terms and conditions and your location. Below we’ve listed BetNow’s restricted countries:

• Australia
• Afghanistan
• Central African Republic
• Rep. Of The Congo
• Eritrea
• France
• Guinea-bissau
• Irak
• Iran
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Mali
• Malta
• North Korea
• Panama
• Somalia
• South Sudan
• Sudan
• Yemen

BetNow is also restricted in several states in the USA:

• Delaware
• Hawaii
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• New York
• Pennsylvania

Make sure to double check your local gambling laws to see if there are any updates that might impact you.

Banking

Up next, we wanted to give you some color on what you could expect with the
cashier at BetNow. Below, we’ve added in the banking methods we found at the
time of our BetNow review along with their associated restrictions. Take a scan here to
see if they are offering the banking options you need.

Deposits

Betonline Reviews Complaints

• Bitcoin: $20 minimum – $40,000 maximum
• Visa: $20 minimum – $1,000 maximum
• Mastercard: $20 minimum – $1,000 maximum
• Bank Wire: $100 minimum – $50,000 maximum

Withdrawals

• Bitcoin: $2,500 maximum
• Visa: $3,000 maximum
• Mastercard: $3,000 maximum
• Bank Wire: $3,000 maximum
• Direct Deposit ACH: $1,500 maximum

Overall, BetNow has done a pretty good job of assembling banking methods
their clients can use to deposit and withdraw funds. While what they have now is
good, it could be made better by adding in some e-wallets like Skrill and
Neteller to the mix. By doing this, BetNow will add in even more options and
flexibility for their clientele.

Bonuses Offered by BetNow

Moving on, we wanted to give you an idea of what you can expect in the bonus
department of BetNow. Luckily, we found a nice collection of promotional offers
at the time we reviewed BetNow. We’ve highlighted each of them below. Check these out
and start to think about which one of these might be a good fit for you.

Welcome Bonuses

At BetNow, you get two different options for initial welcome bonuses. Both of
the ones below each feature a maximum bonus amount of $1,000. However, what
differs is the amount of bonus match and the associated rollover requirements.
Check out the descriptions below so you can choose which one of these makes the
most sense for your situation.

Your first option for a welcome bonus with BetNow is the most lucrative one,
allowing you to earn a 100% deposit match. However, since it’s a more substantial
bonus match than the one described below, it does come with some higher rollover
requirements. With this offer, your bonus funds will be subject to an 8x
sportsbook and 30x casino rollover requirement. If this feels like the right one
for you, be sure to input the claim code below when making your initial deposit.

• Claim Code: BN100

If the offer described above to you seems too aggressive, then you might want
to claim the 25% welcome bonus. Here, you can still earn the full $1,000 of
bonus cash as long as you deposit $4,000 or more. And you’ll benefit from lower
rollover requirements of just 3x for the sportsbook and 15x for the casino. Just
use the claim code featured below if you’d like to take advantage of this offer.

• Claim Code: BN25

Casino Welcome Bonus

Those of you planning to play in BetNow’s casino should consider claiming
their welcome bonus that’s just for casino players. With this promo, you can
earn up to $1,000 on your first three casino deposits. BetNow will pay you a 50%
match as long as you use the claim code included below. If you max out this
offer for your initial three deposits, you can earn a whopping $3,000!

• Claim Code: BNCASINO

Casino Rebate

If you’ve had a down week in BetNow’s casino, you don’t have to worry about
eating the entire loss. Luckily, they automatically provide all of their casino
clients with a 10% weekly rebate on all losses. While this doesn’t exactly make
you whole, it at least helps remove the sting a little. We’re happy to see this
promotional offer since not all online casinos offer this excellent feature to
their clients.

Horse Racing Rebate

Similar to promotions we commonly see from other online racebooks, BetNow
will provide you with a weekly rebate on all of your horse racing losses. At
BetNow, you’ll get an 8% rebate each week when you’re down on your horse racing
wagers. Luckily, the refund hits your account automatically, so you don’t have
to worry about taking any action to get your rebate funds.

Referral Bonus

Something else you can do to earn some bonus cash at BetNow is to refer your
friends to play there too. With their referral bonus promotion, you can earn up
to $250 for each friend you refer to the website. Whenever a new friend signs up
and makes a deposit, you’ll receive a bonus equal to 50% of their deposit. And
you’re never capped with how many friends you can refer, so be sure to refer as
many friends as possible if you enjoy gambling on BetNow’s website.

Contests

Another thing which jumped out to us about BetNow is that they seem to offer
regular contests for their clients. For example, we saw offers on both NBA and
MLB action during our BetNow review. We also found historical promotions tied to
different holidays like Thanksgiving. We were pleased to see these sorts of
offers since this adds even more ways that BetNow clients might be able to earn
some additional bonus funds. Be sure to check the promotions page often to make
sure you’re always up to speed on their latest contest offers.

Lifetime VIP Program

One final promotion at BetNow worth mentioning is their Lifetime VIP Program.
With this offer, you can receive up to 15% deposit bonus on all of your deposits
for your lifetime. To get the full 15% bonus for life, you’ll need to deposit
$2,000. If that’s too high for you, simply deposit $500 or more, and you’ll
enjoy a 10% lifetime bonus. The Lifetime VIP Program at BetNow is an excellent
way for you to earn bonus funds whenever you’re reloading your betting account.

As a reminder, the offers discussed above are the ones we found during our
in-depth review of BetNow. To see the latest lineup of their great offers, click
on the promotions tab of their website. Also, make sure to review the terms and
conditions for all offers before taking advantage of them so that you’re fully
aware of all associated rollover requirements and any other fine print.

When considering all of the bonus promotions at BetNow as a whole, we’re
pretty happy. In general, what they have currently available provides their
clients options to select from which offer some sizeable potential bonuses. That
said, we would like to see BetNow offer more bonus promotions and more
significant deposit matches. By doing this, they’ll be more competitive with
some of the other gambling websites out there.

BetNow Sportsbook

Moving along, we next turned our attention to the BetNow sportsbook. In this
portion of our complete review of Betnow’s operations, we’ll provide you with a look
at what you can expect to find in this section of their website.

Sports You Can Bet On

• Basketball
• Baseball
• Hockey
• Auto Racing
• Boxing
• Horse Racing
• Football
• Golf
• Soccer
• Tennis
• Cycling
• Esports

If you’re into betting on predominant sports like hockey and baseball, then
you’re all set at BetNow. However, if you’re looking to wager on smaller sports,
BetNow doesn’t offer you a ton of options outside of cycling. Hopefully, BetNow
will expand their sports you can bet on to provide additional opportunities for
their clients.

Despite the smaller sized collection of sports you can bet on, we were happy
to see BetNow’s sportsbook offered esports action. And, unlike many other online
sportsbooks which only offer action on a handful of esports games, we discovered
seven options when we reviewed BetNow. If you’re looking to wager on esports
events, BetNow will make an excellent gambling site for you to call home.

Before we proceed, we should mention one thing: Like many online sportsbooks,
BetNow doesn’t showcase a sport if they don’t currently have wagers available
for it. That means there may be some other sports they offer action on which are
not in season or play at this time. If one of your favorite sports to wager on
isn’t included in the list below, try checking BetNow once the sport has events
happening to see if you can bet on it with BetNow’s sportsbook.

Live Betting

Keeping up with one of the hottest trends in the industry, BetNow offers the
ability for clients to wager on live sports events. With this type of format,
you can bet as the sporting event happens as opposed to only before it begins.
When checking out this portion of BetNow’s sportsbook during our review, we found a
robust assortment of in-play betting options. If you’re into live betting for
any of the sports they offer action on, you should be pleased with the
collection of live bets available to you on their platform.

Betting Limits

How much you can wager for any specific bet at BetNow will depend on which
sport you’re betting on and what form of wager it is.

If the existing betting limits on BetNow are too low for your needs, it’s
easy to contact them to have your account reviewed. What’s nice with BetNow is
that they work to get you an answer in 20 minutes or less, which is rare for an
online sportsbook. To have your account reviewed for potential higher betting
limits, contact their customer service team using live chat, phone, or email.

Sportsbook Wrap Up

Keeping up with one of the hottest trends in the industry, BetNow offers the
ability for clients to wager on live sports events. With this type of format,
you can bet as the sporting event happens as opposed to only before it begins.
When checking out this portion of the BetNow sportsbook during our BetNow review, we found a
robust assortment of in-play betting options. If you’re into live betting for
any of the sports they offer action on, you should be pleased with the
collection of live bets available to you on their platform.

BetNow Casino

In BetNow’s casino, we found right around 100 different casino games to
select from. Below, we’ve listed out the count and types located at the time of
our in-depth review.

Available Casino Games

In the BetNow casino, we found right around 100 different casino games to select from. Below,
we’ve listed out the count and types located at the time of our in-depth BetNow Review

• 41 slot machines
• 25 table games
• 8 specialty casino games
• 18 video poker variants
• 4 versions of live dealer casino games

Despite having a small overall collection of available casino games, what
BetNow does offer is at least well balanced. Their overall mix of casino games
is what we’d expect based on our experience with other online casinos.

As we reviewed BetNow’s casino, we were delighted with the quality of the
graphics and sounds for all of the games we tested. Based on our experience, the
games in BetNow’s casino are above industry-average quality. We’ve included some
screenshots on this page to give you an idea of what you can expect in the
casino portion of this website.

Unfortunately, BetNow doesn’t have any sort of poker room or lobby where
clients can enjoy poker tournaments. If that’s a deal breaker for you in your
search for an online gambling website, check out our review of Bovada. They are
a reliable option which has a vast collection of poker games.

Overall, we love the quality and the variety of casino games that BetNow has
included on their website. However, our primary complaint centers on the small
size of the collection. With less than 100 total casino games, BetNow comes in
at the very low end of what we’re used to seeing from other online casinos. In
fact, most of the websites we review have over 100 slot games by themselves.

To help increase their competitiveness, we’d suggest BetNow at least double
their overall lineup of casino games. In doing this, it will also create many
more options for their clients hoping to enjoy casino gaming action.

Software and User Interface

Unlike many online casinos, BetNow didn’t clearly spell out their software
providers. Based on our research and experience however, we believe that we
ironed out the software providers they are using for their casino games. For the
live dealer games, it appears that Visionary iGaming is behind them. We love
what these guys have done in the live dealer gaming space. Then, when it comes
to the standard casino games, AST Gaming looks to be the software provider.

We were a bit worried at first when it came to the user interface. In
general, the BetNow casino section of their site looked a bit dated. However,
despite our initial concerns, the casino’s user interface was easy to navigate
and use. We had no problem locating the games we were looking for while on the
platform. In the future, it would be nice to see BetNow update the overall
casino experience to make their lobbies more in line with the quality of their
excellent casino games.

Mobile Compatibility

First things first, it is possible to play casino games at BetNow using your
mobile device. Using a tablet or smartphone, you can enjoy table, slot, live
dealer, video poker, and other games from the palm of your hand.

But there’s one major issue with the lineup of BetNow’s casino games on their
mobile platform, and that’s their selection. In total, we only found around 25
games on the mobile version of the website. This represents just 25% of the
collection available on the primary site, which is already small to begin with.
Unfortunately, with few games, it doesn’t give clients many choices to mix
things up. Hopefully, we’ll see the mobile-friendly version of BetNow get an
extensive collection of casino games sometime soon.

Casino Wrap Up

BetNow has assembled a small but good online casino. If you check it out and
don’t mind the modest collection of games, then you’ll be happy with the quality
of them. However, if you’d like a more extensive selection of casino games, you
might want to check out other online casino websites until BetNow can increase
the size of their casino gaming section.

Customer Support

Before wrapping up our BetNow review, we took some time to pull together our
thoughts on the customer service at BetNow. Knowing a gambling website has
reliable customer support is paramount to us in this industry. Luckily, BetNow
didn’t disappoint in this area!

One of the coolest things about BetNow’s customer support is that you’ve got
several ways to get in touch with their team. With so many gambling websites out
there only offering one or two ways to contact them, BetNow provides a breath of
fresh air with three options. We’ve detailed each of your options below along
with instructions on how you can use each one of them.

Email

Up first, one of the convenient ways you can reach BetNow is by sending them
an email. Using email is a great idea whenever you don’t need help in a short
amount of time. While we received replies to our emails within a couple of hours
on most occasions, some issues are more urgent. For those, consider using one of
the two other contact options listed below. If you need to send BetNow an email,
use the one showcased below.

• BetNow Email: [email protected]

Telephone

Calling BetNow’s customer service team is also an option if you’d like to
reach them that way. For many of us on staff here, we want to call in whenever
we have an urgent question or issue. Sometimes, it’s just nicer to be able to
speak to someone, which is why it’s so great that BetNow offers a phone contact
option. Unfortunately, many gambling websites don’t provide this ability to
their clients. During our review process, we called into their support line many
different times and had a quality experience every time. We’ve listed their
phone number below so that you have it handy should you ever need it.

• BetNow Phone Number: 1-844-U-BetNow (1-844-823-8669)

Live Chat

One other way to reach BetNow’s support team is through the use of their live
chat functionality. With this tool, you can chat with their customer service
agents directly on the website itself. For us, we love to use live chat when
it’s available, since it tends to be the fastest way to get answers and
assistance. Whenever we used BetNow’s live chat, we were thrilled with the speed
and quality of the help we received. To use this contact method, you just need
to click on the “Live Help” button in the bottom right-hand corner of any page.

Before we wrap this section up, there’s one other thing which stuck out in an
excellent way to us about the customer service at BetNow. Luckily, they provide
their clients with 24/7 support, which isn’t something we see every day in the
online gambling site space. Because of this, you’ll have one of their excellent
agents there to help you by phone, live chat, or email around the clock. In
turn, you’ll never have to wait an extended period of time for answers.

We are super pleased with the customer support provided by BetNow. With
around-the-clock service and three contact options, they’ve made it easy for
clients to get the help they need when they need it. Based on our evaluation,
we’re sure you’ll be in excellent hands if you decide to call BetNow your online
gambling home.

Conclusion – Do We Recommend BetNow?

We’d highly recommend BetNow to folks planning to bet on popular sports like
soccer and hockey. Luckily, BetNow has done a great job getting those sports
lined up along with in-play betting. But if you’re looking to bet on less
popular sports or play lots of casino games, you may want to check out some
other options.

Frequently Asked Questions About BetNow

If you’re still hunting for some answers about BetNow, don’t miss the
frequently asked questions included below. Hopefully, these will be able to help
you find what you’re looking for.

Is BetNow the Gambling Site I Should Use?

The answer depends on what’s important to you. Our conclusion above pointed
out who we think this website might be best for. However, if you’re still on the
fence, check out the link included below. We’ve built a guide to help folks pick
an ideal gambling site based on their specific needs and desires.

Can I Bet From My Phone on BetNow?

Yes. BetNow does offer a mobile-friendly version of their website which
clients can use to bet from mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. Sports
betting fans will be pleased with the mobile website options and experience.
However, individuals looking to bet on casino games will find a tiny collection
of games available on the BetNow mobile platform.

Is It Easy to Get Started With BetNow?

Absolutely. In fact, you can open an account and begin gambling in under 10
minutes as long as you use an instant funding deposit method like Bitcoin or
Visa. Based on our experience, the signup and deposit process is very
straightforward.

Can I Bet on Live Action Sports on BetNow?

Yes. With BetNow, you can bet on in-play sports betting action. Be sure to
check out the live betting section of our sportsbook review above to learn more.

Is There an Option for Playing Free Casino Games on BetNow?

Unfortunately, we didn’t find a way to play any of the casino games for free
when we reviewed BetNow. We’d like to see them add this as an option for their customers
eventually, since it offers clients a great way to see the quality of their
games without having to wager real money on them.

Skip the Headaches and Play at a Legitimate Site

You’re looking for a legitimate U.S. gambling site, but can’t decide which site to trust with your hard-earned money?

Good news! We’ve been in the online gambling industry for over a decade (several decades, really, if you add all of our experience together), and we’ve spent countless hours to bring you a list of the most legitimate sites.

Here’s what all of these sites have in common:

• 10+ years in the business with strong reputations.
• Attractive promotions for first-time customers.
• Quick money withdrawals (relative to the U.S. market).

Why Bovada Is #1 in the U.S.

#1: Fastest Check Cashouts

Bovada gets 10 times as much traffic as its second best US competitor and still delivers check payouts faster than any of them. Bovada processes check withdrawals in 7 days; many of its competitors take weeks, some more than a month to do the same. (There are other fast options, like the #3-ranked BetOnline, which delivers checks in 14 days.)

#2: Service

An equally important aspect of Bovada’s operations is its customer service. If there ever was an indication of how much a company respects its customers, it’s the level of customer service the company provides. I haven’t found any US-friendly site doing this aspect of the business better (although 5Dimes is a worthy runner-up).

#3: All-In-One

Finally, all parts of Bovada’s business (sportsbook, casino, poker, racebook) are popular. Bovada is best-known for sports betting and casino games, however, even its online poker room has around four times as many players online as the second biggest US poker site. You can access all of their games with one player account.

… But You Should Know This

Bovada is recreational-friendly, perhaps more-so than any other US site. You’ll find few golden opportunities in their sportsbook (read more about their use of dual lines), they have a relatively high overall house edge (especially after recently increasing house edge in video poker games) and their online poker room only has “anonymous” tables.

Although not everyone agrees with me, the recreational-friendly part is an advantage for skilled poker players. Since Bovada appeals to recreational gamblers, you’ll be like a shark among regular fish.

Bovada charges a 4.9% fee for credit card deposits (a lot considering how most sites charge nothing). The impact of the deposit fee is slightly compensated by their welcome bonuses, which are better than average.

All online gamblers look for entertaining games, attractive promotions and aesthetically pleasing software. To have a safe experience, however, you want a site to:

1. Serve its customers with safety and respect,
2. Operate with a reasonable house edge, and
3. Handle money transactions promptly.

Yes, the third point is included in the first point but it’s also such an essential part of the customer experience that it must be mentioned separately. Many online gambling websites operate without an adequate level of service so these points are worth considering. It’s rare to find a combination of all three points.

Bovada fulfills all of the above criteria better than other sites but 5Dimes does well, too. In fact, I’m confident in ranking those two as the best USA gambling websites specifically because they deliver so well in the areas related to safety and trustworthiness. A site without proper customer service and safety measures is not one you should deposit money to, regardless of its promotions and whatnot.

What Are Some Alternative Options?

For Sports Bettors

5Dimes.eu is the best betting site in the US for the following reasons: they’re professional-friendly and offer reduced juice betting lines (in other words, less house edge). Before betting on any game, I recommend taking a look at the odds 5Dimes is offering. They’ve been a reliable sportsbook for over 10+ years — you’ll find few complaints about 5Dimes online, and the ones you find have been resolved quickly.

For poker and casino games, I would go with Bovada. But for sports bettors, it makes the most sense to have an account at 5Dimes.

Another Solid Option

BetOnline.ag is my third suggestion. It’s not significantly better than the others in any area but they’re simply a solid option. Prompt cashout processing, decent poker traffic, good sports betting options and entertaining casino games. Additionally, I’ve had good experiences with their customer service.

For sports bettors, BetOnline is worth signing-up at simply to be able to compare betting lines among a few sites. For poker players, BetOnline may offer some good games every now and then (keep in mind: you can bet on sports and play casino and poker games with the same account, so plenty of gamblers will stumble on the poker games eventually). For casino gamblers, BetOnline has a basic but reliable offering.

BetOnline charges a 6% fee for credit card deposits.

Is It Legal to Play?

The definition of ”gambling” and the laws surrounding vary depending on which state you live in.

In Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey, some forms of online gambling have been legalized and regulated (only state-licensed sites are allowed to operate legally). In other states, it’s likely (although not widely agreed upon) that playing – and certainly operating – online gambling games for real money is illegal.

On a federal level, sports betting is the only form of prohibited gambling via the Wire Act of 1961. For several years, the Department of Justice (DOJ) maintained that the Wire Act applies to all forms of online gambling, but in December 2011, they corrected that stance by stating that the Wire Act only applies to sports betting – a result of a 13-page memorandum from the Office of Legal Counsel to the Criminal Division of the DOJ (source).

State laws, however, often indirectly prohibit gambling. Or to put it another way: it would be difficult to claim any forms of online gambling legal with absolute certainty in most states (lotteries and such aside). Most state laws indirectly prohibit gambling simply by making all forms of gambling unlawful that have not been made lawful.

Purely based on history, it’s unlikely you’ll get into legal trouble; then again, if something is illegal, you can get into trouble, and someone probably will. Gambling online may be illegal where you live. Contact a local gaming lawyer to get a better idea of your local laws.

Legal Troubles

Industry-changing events have taken place in the online gambling world – mainly concerning online poker – such as the UIGEA and Party Poker’s exit from the US market, or PokerStars’ exit from the US market in 2011.

Those crimes were committed by online poker operators, though, not players. Still, the mere fact that online poker companies were targeted was enough to cast a shadow over the legality of US online poker, and furthermore, players grew more and more worried about one of these sites getting shut down along with the money on their player accounts.

In fact, there is a legitimate reason to worry about dishonest US gambling sites taking your money. Some sites have indeed taken off with the money – a recent example is Lock Poker, which currently may owe its customers over $15 million. I created LegitGamblingSites.com mainly to give more exposure to the sites with strong track records of honest business practices.

The lawmakers, in that regard, have a point about not allowing unlicensed sites to provide online gambling games to US citizens. While that may not be the reason, it’s likely one of them. (If I had to guess, I’d say they’re more concerned about losing out on tax dollars and protecting the interests of brick & mortar casino owners such as Sheldon Adelson, although through the RAWA – Restore America’s Wire Act legislation – he tries to do that by himself.)

How to Move Money Around

Ever since the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) became a law, US citizens have had a more difficult time finding a suitable deposit method.

There are only a few left, actually.

The most common deposit method for US citizens is still credit card deposits, out of which VISA is the most widely accepted brand, followed by Mastercard, with American Express being a distant third. Cards must be eligible for both international and online transfers.

The alternative method is to use a money transfer service such as Western Union. Western Union is mostly a deposit-only method. (Bovada is an exception since they only allow you to withdraw money via a check.)

Why to use a money transfer service instead of a credit card?

• A card deposit fails to go through. This happens every now and then, and the only way to know if your card will be accepted is to try. According to various forum reports, Vanilla VISA is declined at most sites while Netspend VISA has been successful.

  Surprisingly, players have had problems with card deposits even at state-licensed sites due to banks like Bank of America outright declining all gambling transactions. Things will likely get better with the new MCC codes for VISA, Mastercard, American Express and Distant which will help casinos to identify gambling transactions more accurately. It’s unclear how much of a help this will be since banks still have the right to decline transfers marked with the new MCC codes, and due to not wanting to violate the UIGEA (according to which they’re prohibited from knowingly processing unlawful gambling transactions), banks may decide it isn’t worth it and keep cancelling transactions even if they were for state-licensed sites.

  This is expected to change once bigger states – perhaps even the biggest of them all, California – join internet gambling, since declining the transactions will then affect such a large percentage of any bank’s customer base.

• You want a faster cashout. While money transfer services cost more (many sites, like Bovada, allow one free check cashout a month), the money is usually delivered to be picked up at a local Western Union location in five days or less.
• You don’t want a check cashout. You need to go to a cashier to cash a check. Most people would rather avoid doing this, especially since banks aren’t allowed to knowingly process online gambling related transactions (unless in Delaware, Nevada or New Jersey, but people have had problems in those states as well).

In general, you’ll have higher transaction costs with money transfer services than with a combination of credit cards and checks. BetOnline and Bovada are the only major USA sites charging for credit card deposits and most allow one free check cashout per month – some, like True Poker, allow a free check withdrawal every seven days.

How to use a credit card/check combination?

1. Enter your credit card details online after which you have the money on your player account instantly.
2. When done playing, order a check cashout, which will take from a week to over a month depending on which site you’re dealing with.
3. Go to your local bank to cash the check.

How to use a money transfer service (like Western Union)?

1. Go to their website or a live Western Union location and send money to the gambling site. (You’ll need to contact the gambling site first to get their transfer details.)
2. When done playing, initiate the withdrawal from your player account.
3. Go to a live location to collect the money.

State-Licensed Sites

As mentioned, Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey have legalized and regulated some forms of real-money online gambling. Delaware started with online poker but has since expanded into casino games as well; Nevada offers online poker games only; New Jersey offers online poker and casino games.

As you can see, not a single one of these states offer online sports betting. In New Jersey – clearly the biggest market of the three – there’s a clause according to which sports betting may be considered to be added in the future.

Requirements

You must be physically located within a state’s boundaries to play at the licensed sites. If you’re currently located in California but live in Nevada, you’re unable to play until you return to Nevada; if you’re currently located in Nevada but live in California, you can play as long as you stay within Nevada’s state boundaries.

Licensed sites have to make sure nobody outside of the state can participate in the games. Geolocation – identifying exactly where a person is located – has been difficult, and there are still people who are unable to play even though they’re located within those states. This is one of the reasons licensed online gambling sites have done financially worse than expected.

Only existing brick & mortar casino owners within those states can apply for licenses, although they can apply together with an existing online gambling site in a software-licensing agreement, like Caesar’s Interactive and 888.com have done. If a poker site kept operating in the US after the UIGEA of 2006, it will be subjected to a ”bad actor” clause in Nevada and be prohibited from operating in the state for now.

Performance

Each state has had a rocky start, although New Jersey is doing OK. In March 2014, they did $11.87 million in revenue, which grew into $13.16 million in March 2015. A growth rate of 14.57% year-over-year is better than nothing, but still a far cry from the $1 billion within the first 7 months of operating Governor Christie expected (New Jersey gambling sites were launched in November 2013). In other words, his expectations were a little over $140 million a month on average, or about ten times the current revenue.

According to PokerScout.com, Nevada’s online poker revenue is going downhill. Year-over-year decrease in revenue of around 44% (from February 2014 to February 2015) is, no matter how you look at it, a disappointing result. Problems with card deposits and geolocation – both of which exist in other states as well – and player liquidity have undoubtedly contributed to the significant decrease. Players have to deal with fewer problems when playing at offshore sites, and as long as that continues, it will be difficult for state-licensed sites to gain major traction.

In Delaware, the state keeps all yearly revenue up to $3.75 million. Since total revenue for 2014 was around $2.1 million, gambling operators have made nothing. The main reason for such a low amount of revenue is Delaware’s population of 0.94 million (in comparison, New Jersey has a population of 8.9 million). Liquidity is important for online poker since you need lots of players to run games at various stakes, in several forms and throughout the day. Delaware is trying to improve its poker liquidity by combining player pools with Nevada but so far there hasn’t been a significant improvement to its online gaming revenue.

If all of the three states were to combine their player pools, it would create a poker economy of around 12 million people, which could add significant liquidity to the games and thus bring in more revenue to each of the states.

Is Betonline A Legit Site

Offshore Sites

Betonline Sportsbook

Gambling sites accepting US customers from outside of the three states are all ”offshore” sites, meaning they operate from outside of the US and have no license to operate within the US. They have obtained a license in some other jurisdictions – such as Antiqua & Barbuda or Panama – but many of those jurisdictions have less-than-stellar reputations.

The disadvantage of gambling at offshore sites is the lack of safety. For an outsider, it’s impossible to know how strict testing measures these sites go through to prove their legitimacy, and hypothetically, if one of them were to disappear from the internet tomorrow along with your money, what could you do about it?

Lock Poker, as already mentioned, is an ongoing example. They’ve now lost their license in Curacao (weirdly, they were able to keep the license easily over a year after refusing to process customer cashouts) and there’s nothing anyone can do to make sure Lock Poker’s customers have their money returned. All we can do is spread the word to the people who are considering signing-up and depositing money to their site.

The best thing you can do is consider the reputation of the site rather than the jurisdiction since all jurisdictions have had dishonest sites. The longer a site has been fully operational, and the fewer complaints it has generated, the better. Essentially, Bovada has been in the online gambling business since 2000 when Bodog.com was founded (the US-friendly operations of Bodog were re-branded as Bovada in 2011), and as mentioned, they’ve achieved an excellent reputation with a high level of customer service.

But there are advantages to playing at an offshore site, too, and you can legitimately argue that the advantages override the disadvantages. Offshore sites place fewer restrictions on customers, need less personal information and have to compete with lots of other sites (within US states, competition is limited) which forces them to be at their best in order to succeed. There are no geolocation issues either.

Safety and legality aside – although obviously, both are big considerations – offshore sites are the better option in almost every area. Since only three states have legalized some forms of real-money online gambling in the US, they’re the only places for internet gambling for around 96.4% of US population.

What’s Next?

US online gambling is in a transitional phase: after a long wait of legalization, three states have done it, mostly with lackluster success. Suggesting geolocation and deposit issues are resolved, revenue streams may grow. With online poker, though, most likely at least one of the bigger states has to legalize it and combine player pools with the others to create a meaningful poker economy.

Betonline Complaints Customer Service

A federal legalization would create much-needed competition and player pools, which in turn creates a bigger incentive for operators to participate and, in many ways, a better environment for gamblers. If internet gambling was to be legalized nationwide, every operator and their grandmother would want a license. As of now, it’s more beneficial for most operators to stay outside of the US.