Bovada Review

Bovada burst onto the US scene in 2004 back when it was named Bodog and the founder was a famous billionaire named Calvin Ayre. This gambling site contains a very extensive casino, sportsbook, and poker room all in one fun-filled operation.

Bovada is located on the PaiWangLuo network and they boast the largest poker room currently available in the US. There is a popular skin of Bovada called Ignition Casino which is almost exactly the same site except that there is no sportsbook, and the bonus promotions are slightly different.

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The split from Bodog into Ignition and Bovada happened in August of 2016. Originally, the plan was to make Ignition the poker site and Bovada the casino and the sportsbook, but then they added a poker room to Bovada and casino games to Ignition just a year later.

Players Accepted: United States Only
Players Not Accepted: New Jersey, Nevada, Maryland, New York, Delaware

Reputation of Bovada

GamblingDom.com Reputation Rating: 5/5

There is a reason why Bovada has been offering its services to gamblers since 2004 and currently owns the most popular poker room in the USA. They have always maintained a great reputation when it comes to taking care of their players. This includes paying out quickly, giving quality customer support, and always keeping players informed during times of chaos.

When it comes to running fair games, Bovada has always kept their hands clean and proven time and again that they care about upholding their stellar reputation in the gambling industry. They even removed all of their casino games that were created by the software developer known as Betsoft once they heard the news that they were tampering with the progressive jackpots.

With that being said, it is slightly worrisome that there are no seals at the bottom of Bovada’s webpage to indicate that they are currently licensed or audited by anyone. Their license with the Kahnawake Gaming Commission was revoked in late 2016 because Kahnawake refuses to continue to issue gambling licenses to US-facing sites. Since that point, they have decided to fly solo and operate based on their stellar reputation alone.

Formats of Poker at Bovada Poker

Primary Formats Offered: Cash Games, Sit and Go Tournaments, Multi-Table Tournaments, Jackpot Tournaments, Heads-Up Tables, Zone Poker
Primary Formats Not Offered: None

When it comes to the various classic formats of poker, you will find all of them in Bovada’s poker room. It is tough to specify which classic format Bovada is the most well-known for since the cash games, sit and go tournaments and multi-table tournaments all enjoy a high level of volume on a daily basis. The field sizes for their multi-table tournaments are very large for a US poker site and most of the tournaments with a guaranteed prize pool draw between 100 and 1000 players.

There are also some unorthodox poker formats on Bovada, such as Zone Poker and Jackpot Tournaments, which are only found on a few poker sites around the world. As a player from the USA, you will only encounter these types of tournaments on Bovada and America’s Cardroom. You will be able to quickly find a seat at a running table in each of these two formats at all times of day, especially in the lower buy-in levels.

Zone Poker is a thrilling poker format where you are instantly brought to a new table every time you fold your hand. This allows you to play more hands per hour and eliminates all of the boring downtimes where you are waiting around for other people to finish the hands that you are no longer a part of. The most number of Zone Poker tables that you can simultaneously sign-up for at each buy-in level is two tables.

Jackpot Tournaments are sit-and-go tournaments with a random jackpot multiplier attached to each prize pool and the buy-ins range anywhere from $2 to $30. The random jackpot multipliers will range anywhere from 2 buy-ins to 1,000 buy-ins in a winner-take-all format. The only time that 2nd and 3rd place will receive a prize is in the tournaments where the multiplier is 120x or higher, in which case they will each win 1/12 of the jackpot.

Jackpot Tournaments have three players in each and the blind structure is of the hyper-turbo variety. These fancy recent additions to Bovada’s game selection offer one of the only ways to possibly win up to $30,000 in under 10 minutes of poker for a small investment of $30 or less.

Games at Bovada Poker

Primary Games Offered: No Limit Hold’Em, Pot-Limit Hold’Em, Limit Hold’Em, Pot Limit Omaha Hi, Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, Limit Omaha Hi, Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
Primary Games Not Offered: Razz, 7-Card Stud

Bovada offers nearly every poker game possible that involves the words Hold’Em or Omaha. The limit games do not see very much traffic, nor do the Pot Limit Hold’Em tables. However, the other games are always full of tables in every format possible.

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The most prevalent game on Bovada is No Limit Hold’Em, much like in nearly every other online poker room in the world. You will not find a single format of poker that doesn’t offer No Limit Hold’Em, nor will you find a single format of poker where No-Limit Hold’em is not the most popular game running.

Limits at Bovada Poker

Min to Max Limits for Cash Games: $0.02/$0.05 to $10/$20
Min to Max Limits for Sit and Go Tournaments: $1.00+$0.05 to $200+$14
Min to Max Limits for Multi-Table Tournaments: $1.00+0 to $250+$20

It used to be extremely tough to find any multi-table tournaments that cost more than $55 to get into outside of the Sunday 100k Guaranteed. Over the years, Bovada has made the site more appealing to Americans who like to play higher stakes since you can now find multiple tournaments that cost over $55 every single day. There is also still a very wide selection of tournaments to play for small stakes players as well.

The sit and go tournaments on Bovada are very popular in the low stakes community. You will not have to wait for long before a sit and go fills with players if you are paying an entry fee of $25 or under. There also seem to be quite a few sit and go tournaments with a $214 entry fee that run, even if it is in the middle of the daytime.

The cash games are always teeming with action no matter what stakes you play and there is an average of 1,100 players on these tables at any given time. The $10/$20 games that exist on Bovada are legendary because they are easily the softest $10/$20 games on the internet. It is tough to get an accurate read on where the cash game traffic is concentrated these days due to the security measures implemented by Bovada which will not allow you to see the cash game tables that are running.

Software at Bovada Poker

The most shocking difference between the software that is used by Bovada Poker and the software used by the rest of the industry is that it does not display the usernames of each player. Instead, each player receives a number which stays with them until they play a new table or tournament which effectively makes each player an anonymous number at all times.

The functionality of the software used by Bovada Poker has come a long way since the beginning of their operation. In the past, it was not uncommon for constant software crashes to happen in the middle of hands and it was very frustrating for anyone involved, but they have fixed those issues since then.

In addition to software crashes, there used to be a ton of server crashes as well where the whole site would shut down for a day. It was always impressive to us that whenever these server crashes happened and tournaments were canceled they would promptly pay each player the money that they deserved according to their chip stack.

Everything appears to run smoothly in-game on Bovada Poker and the graphics are extremely crisp and clear. If you would like to toggle the many table settings and gameplay settings that are available you simply need to click on the “Settings” button on the left-hand side of the main lobby. There are 17 different table skins and six different deck colors to choose from which is a generous amount of options. One of the cool features that you don’t see very often is the “Rabbit Card” which always allows you to see what cards would have come on the board if the hand continued.

If English is not your first language, then hopefully you know a little bit of Chinese, Spanish or Portuguese so that you can navigate the main lobby of Bovada. These are the four languages which you can use to display any tournament lobbies of Bovada Poker. However, once you open up a poker table everything will be displayed in English no matter what.

Flaws

If you are a fan of taking notes on players then you might not be a fan of Bovada Poker since any notes you take will be erased by their software once the table or tournament has ended.

However, this is great for recreational poker players who take poor notes or do not take notes at all since it levels the playing field a little bit.

If you are a cash game player and you are accustomed to picking what table you sit at according to the players or the average pot-size, then you have come to the wrong poker room. Due to the anonymous nature of each player’s table appearance, there was a ton of collusion going on in the cash games on Bovada because friends could sit together undetected.

To counter this problem, they decided not to let anyone see the tables that are available and they will randomly seat you according to your table parameter specifications. Therefore, this only seems like a software flaw at first when in reality it is a very effective security measure used by Bovada Poker.

Multi-Tabling at Bovada Poker

The maximum number of tables that you can play at once on Bovada Poker is a whopping 15 tables! It is safe to say that Bovada is a great place to multi-table just based off of this fact alone, but that is not all that Bovada multi-tablers have going for them.

Another positive aspect of Bovada when it comes to multi-tabling is that heads-up displays will work even though the tables are anonymous. You will need to download a special card catcher for this, but it is a great advantage when multi-tabling since you do not have time to fully pay attention to the tendencies of the players on all 15 tables at once.

In the upper right-hand corner of each table, you will find three buttons to help organize your tables while multi-tabling. The first button on the left will reset your table organization settings back to the default setting, the second button will tile your tables into a square formation with no overlap, and the third button will cascade your tables all in a diagonal row with a small amount of overlap.

Competition at Bovada Poker

Bovada has always been one of the softest sites to play on ever since it was founded in 2004. However, this fact became even more obvious when Bovada decided to stop showing player names and instead give everyone their own player number. This was part of a determined effort to make their poker room more recreational-friendly which actually worked very well to help the site grow.

This newfound anonymity gives losing players a shield so that other players at their table cannot look up their stats and berate them for being bad at poker. This was getting a little out of hand once it became possible to look up player statistics but now these recreational players can have fun again which attracts them to the site. The lack of screennames also helps to protect from professional players making notes on anyone and reduces their edge slightly.

When you sign-up on Bovada, you are given one account which funds your activity in the sportsbook, casino and poker room all at once. This causes a lot of recreational gamblers from the casino and the sportsbook to occasionally wander over to the poker room where they normally would not be playing. This influx of beginners and recreational players into poker games is great for making the competition on Bovada easier.

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A final reason why Bovada Poker is currently an easy site to play on is that five major states are banned from playing. Some of these states, such as Nevada and New Jersey have a ton of professional poker players living there which means that the games on Bovada are much easier than if these states were allowed to play.

Promotions at Bovada Poker

Bovada is notoriously low on promotions for their poker players, which is a shame because they used to have a bunch of great ones. After the sign-up bonus, the only extra bonuses that Bovada rewards to their poker players are known as Poker Points. These points accumulate whenever you play in real money ring games or tournaments.

The rate at which you accumulate these Poker Points all depends on the format of poker you are playing. If you are playing in tournaments, you will receive three Poker Points for every $1 that you pay to enter. If you are playing cash games, the number of points you receive will be determined by the amount of rake taken in each specific pot. For each hand where you contribute rake to the pot, you will receive somewhere between 0.05 to one Poker Points.

Once you have collected a bunch of Poker Points you can either trade them in for tournament entry tickets or play in the points freerolls that reward real money. For every $1 in tournament entry tickets, you want to buy, you will need to pay 200 Poker Points. The highest-priced entry ticket possible is a $270 buy-in which will cost 54,000 Poker Points.

Bovada Poker Welcome Bonus

Players who find themselves depositing onto Bovada for the first time will have the option of receiving a 100% Welcome Bonus of up to $500. In order to unlock the maximum bonus amount of $500, you will first need to clear 5,000 Poker Points.

Most poker sites will only count your first deposit for their Welcome Bonuses, but Bovada decided to count all of your deposits made within 24 hours of your first deposit. This means that if you deposit $100 five times in the first 24 hours of playing on Bovada you will be eligible for the full $500 bonus.

Bovada Poker Bonus Terms and Requirements

The only clause that we see in the Bonus Terms and Requirements which is undesirable is that there is a 30 day limit on clearing any wagering requirements. This means that if you want to take full advantage of the $500 Welcome Bonus you will need to play a little less than $17,000 worth of poker tournaments in a month. While this is not impossible, it is a little bit harsh and they should make it a six-month limit instead.

On a side note, you should be sure to trade your Poker Points in if you plan on taking a long break from poker because if your account is inactive for more than 18 months your Poker Points will be removed from your account permanently.

Rake and Rakeback at Bovada Poker

There is no rakeback program on Bovada Poker, which is a huge oversight by them in our opinion. The Poker Points can be considered an indirect form of rakeback since it is technically money that you earn from playing poker. However, these earnings only come in the form of tournament tickets so it is not exactly the same as receiving free money for playing unless you happen to be good at poker tournaments.

Bovada Mobile Poker App

The mobile app for Bovada is non-downloadable and you can gain access to it from your mobile web browser by visiting the website m.bovada.lv. After this, you simply need to log-in to your Bovada account and you will have access to various features of the poker room.

The poker room on the mobile app will allow you to play the cash games and jackpot sit and go tournaments that Bovada normally offers. Included in the cash games is the popular and speedy Zone Poker format. We were very impressed that almost everything about the app experience is the same as when you play on a computer except that you cannot partake in multi-table tournaments.

Sports Book at Bovada

The sportsbook on Bovada contains at over 20 different betting markets at any given time and offers nearly every bet type that you can think of. This exceptional sportsbook also has two sign-up bonuses to choose from in addition to an extensive Live Betting feature. We will now take a closer look at each aspect of this sportsbook so you know what to expect before you sign-up.

Sports and Leagues Offered at Bovada

Primary Sports Offered: Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey, Tennis, Soccer
Other Sports Offered: Martial Arts, Golf, Cricket, Boxing, Entertainment, E-Sports, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Snooker, Darts, Cycling, Volleyball, Aussie Rules Football, Handball, Gaelic Games, Motor Sports, Badminton
Not Offered (or not listed): Politics

For a sportsbook that only serves the U.S., Bovada offers bets on an extremely large number of international betting markets. We did not expect to see so many of these, and their presence can even be seen in the sports that are not primary sports.

The six primary sports are well-represented here as you will find hundreds of bets available per day during each of their respective seasons. Even when it is the offseason you will find that there are usually futures bets available which pertain to the following season.

Baseball at Bovada

The baseball portion of Bovada’s sportsbook features many bets for the MLB but there are no other bets available. Some sites will offer bets on other leagues around the world such as the Japanese League or Korean League, but this is no big deal since Bovada only serves the U.S.

The types of bets that you can make on the MLB include game lines, season team props, and special bets. All of the season team props currently available on Bovada pertain to how many games each team will win during the regular season. The special bets feature miscellaneous wagers such as whether or not Tim Tebow will play in an MLB game in the next two seasons and they are constantly adding new bets to this category.

Basketball at Bovada

In stark contrast to the baseball section, the basketball bets on Bovada include a ton of different leagues from all over the world. The list of basketball bet categories includes NBA, men’s NCAA basketball, women’s NCAA basketball, Euroleague, NBB, Rest of World, International, Europe and United States.

Some of these categories might sound like they are the same thing, but they all represent different leagues. For example, the United States section offers bets on the G-League of the NBA, while the NBA section covers the NBA bets even though they are also located in the United States.

The categories that you can make bets for in any of the basketball games listed include game lines, alternate lines, player props, and team props. In addition to all of those, you can also place futures bets on who you believe will win each conference or the NBA Championship.

Football at Bovada

If you like betting on NFL, NCAA football, or the CFL then Bovada might be the sportsbook for you. They do not offer game lines for the CFL like they do with the NFL and NCAA, but they do offer CFL futures bets from time to time.

You can also find futures bets and specials bets on Bovada for the NFL and NCAA, even during the offseason. The futures bets cover events such as who will win the NCAA national championship, and the specials bets cover events such as who will have the fastest 40-yard dash in the NFL combine.

Hockey at Bovada

Hockey is the second largest section of Bovada’s sportsbook, trailing right behind the almighty soccer section. This is simply due to the fact that they offer bets on 13 different hockey leagues around the world.

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The list of hockey leagues you can wager on includes NHL, Russia, Canada, International, USA, Austria, Czech Republic, England, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. Just as in basketball, the USA category represents the AHL minor leagues while the NHL represents the NHL only.

Once you locate the hockey game you would like to bet on, you will be able to wager on the game lines, three-way money lines, alternate lines, game props, player props, and futures. The list of player props for each NHL game is quite long and you can take a look at them by simply clicking on the “Bets >” link to the right of each game box.

Tennis at Bovada

The tennis section on Bovada currently offers bets on the ATP Tour, WTA Tour, Challenger Tour, ITF Men, and ITF Women. For each of these leagues, you will be able to bet on game lines, match props, set props, and game props. There is also a futures category where you can try to predict the outright winner of each major tennis event.

Soccer at Bovada

The soccer section of Bovada is the largest one that they have since it covers a total of 15 different leagues all over the globe. This was unexpected for a sports book that only serves the U.S. since soccer is less popular there than in it is in other countries. Some examples of the popular leagues covered by this soccer section are Spain La Liga, England Premier League, FIFA World Cup, and Germany Bundesliga.

The list of bets that you can make on each soccer game consists of game lines, alternate lines, game props, goal props, both teams to score bets, and corner props. The game props allow you to predict the exact score at the end of the game and nearly every possible outcome is listed with their corresponding odds.

Other Sports at Bovada

Outside of the six major sports, you will find a total of 17 other markets that have wagers available on Bovada. The most popular ones out of all of these include golf, martial arts, e-sports, and entertainment bets.

Golf is probably the market that is the closest to being a major sport on Bovada. In this section, you will be able to make bets on the European Tour, PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Ladies European Tour, Champions Tour, and Asian Tour. This is an impressive list for a U.S. sportsbook, but they also offer futures bets and specials bets on top of the typical golf bets that are mostly based on who is going to be the outright winner in each event.

E-sports has been gaining rapidly in popularity and Bovada currently offers bets on various team matches in DOTA 2, League of Legends, and Counterstrike: Global Offense. Sometimes when there are major events you can also bet on which team will be the outright winner at the end.

Bet Types at Bovada

Offered: Game Lines, Alternate Lines, Player Props, Team Props, Game Props, Specials Bets, Futures Bets, Parlays, Teasers, 1H/2H Spreads, 1H/2H Totals, Quarter Lines, Odds to Win, Round Robins
Not Offered: None

It is extremely tough to think of a bet type that Bovada has not incorporated into their sports book. They have done an extraordinary job of offering a variety of bets in every sport and U.S. bettors will have a hard time finding another sports book which can match their level of quality.

As soon as you click on multiple games and they appear on the bet slip, all of the bet types that are available to you will appear on the bet slip as well. If a parlay or any other bet type is not available in a certain instance due to special restrictions then the option will not appear on the bet slip at all.

No matter which bet type you utilize, the minimum bet is going to be $1. If you are using the phone to make your bets then the minimum bet is $50. The maximum bet that you can make ranges anywhere from $500 to $5000 depending on which sport you are betting on and what type of bet you made. Typically the maximum bets will be higher for spread bets than they are for money line bets, totals bets, parlays, or any other kind of bet.

Live Sports Betting at Bovada

Much to the delight of sports bettors in the U.S. Bovada offers Live Betting on many of the sporting events that happen each day. This is especially true for any of the six major sports as nearly anything that happens in the major leagues will have live bets available in the middle of every contest.

However, there are also live bets available for other obscure sports from time to time such as cricket or handball. You will be able to tell exactly which games have Live Betting available by whether or not they have the yellow “Live” tag in the top left corner of the game box.

The Live Betting lobby displays all of the games that are currently running live on the left-hand side of the screen and all of the available bets in the middle of the screen. The layout is very sleek and easy to read, but it appears that they forgot to include any sort of gamecast simulator for those who cannot watch their bet on television.

Bovada Mobile Sports Betting

While Bovada does not have an app for their sportsbook, you can still access all of the same sports bets from your mobile phone, including Live Betting! All you need to do is go to their website Bovada.lv from any web browser on your phone such as Google Chrome and you will be able to sign into your account to make sports bets.

Sports Book Sign-Up Bonus

As a sports bettor on Bovada, there are two different sign-up bonuses that you can choose from. The first option is the Sports Welcome Bonus where you will receive a 50% match bonus of up to $250. The second option is the Bitcoin Welcome Bonus where you will receive a 50% match bonus for up to $500 by using the bonus code BVSBITCOIN50. Both of these options are only one-time deals, unlike the casino sign-up bonus on Bovada.

We recommend going for the Bitcoin Welcome Bonus since it is larger than the Sports Welcome Bonus. The only other difference between them is that you must deposit using the currency Bitcoin or you will not be eligible to receive the Bitcoin Welcome bonus.

If the Sports Welcome Bonus is your sign-up bonus of choice, then you will first need to claim the bonus by logging into your account and visiting your” My Rewards” page. After you select the deposit bonus that you want in the “Available Bonuses” section, you can then make your deposit and you will instantly receive your 50% match bonus without entering any bonus code.

Other Sportsbook Promotions at Bovada

Rewards Points

Rewards points are given to both casino bettors and sports bettors, but the points appear to come in at a faster rate for sports bettors. For every $1 you wager in the sports book you will receive at least three rewards points. A teaser bet will unlock rewards points at the rate of 15 for every $1, a round robin bet gets you 25 reward points per $1, and a parlay bet also gives 25 rewards points for every $1. These points are issued according to the lowest total between the win amount and the risk amount. Rewards points can also be redeemed for cash bonuses at any time.

Every rewards point you earn will also earn you tier points which determine what your current VIP rank is. The higher your VIP rank is, the higher cashback percentage you will receive on your losses and you will also get a better redemption rate when trading in your rewards points. The highest tier, known as the Hall of Fame tier, will reward the player with 15% cashback on their losses as well as $1 for every 1000 rewards points they earn.

Refer-A-Friend

If you have some friends who would like to join you in some of the fun on Bovada then you can send them your private referral URL and you will receive a 200% bonus on their deposit for up to $100. There is no limit to the number of friends that you can refer and you will receive the bonus for each one that joins and makes a deposit.

You can find this private URL by logging into your account and then visiting the referral page. The rollover requirements for this bonus can be cleared in any part of Bovada’s site, including the poker room.

Bovada Sports Book Bonus Terms and Requirements

The rollover requirement for both sportsbook sign-up bonuses and the refer-a-friend bonus is only 5x the sum of your original deposit plus the bonus amount, which is pretty reasonable compared to other online sportsbooks. This means that if you deposit a total of $1000 and receive the full $500 bonus, you will need to make $7,500 worth of sports bets before you can withdraw your bonus funds.

One of our favorite aspects of these sportsbook promotions is that there does not appear to be a time limit associated with any of the rollover requirements. You will often find online gambling sites impose a time limit of 1-4 weeks for these rollovers to be completed, but Bovada is lenient in this area due to their business plan of appealing to recreational players.

Horse Racing at Bovada

Bovada decided to give horse racing its very own section on their website, so we will do the same here. The racebook is the fourth and smallest quadrant of Bovada since the casino, sportsbook and poker room are all rather large.

There are three main sections of Bovada’s race book which include Next 5 Races, Today’s Tracks, and Futures. From these self-explanatory options, you can choose the track that you wish to bet on and you will be brought to the race schedule for that specific track.

On the race schedule for each track, you will see the names of each horse and jockey with the money line odds next to their name. The types of bets that you can make on these horse races include win/place/show bets, exacta bets, trifecta bets, superfecta bets, and daily double bets. In futures bets, you will only be able to bet on the outright winner in each event.

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Once you find the bet you like you simply need to click on the white box next to it, click on the red “Add to Bet Slip” button, enter the amount you wish to bet and then click on the red “Review Bet” button. The maximum bet on a win/place/show bet is $200 while every other bet type is limited to a $100 maximum.

As far as rewards points go, you will be given more points per dollar wagered in the racebook than in any other quadrant of Bovada. For straight wagers, you will get 40 rewards points and for exotic or multiple wagers you will receive 60 rewards points.

Casino at Bovada

Software Platform: Real-Time Gaming
Games Offered: Slots Games, Video Poker, Table Games, Live Dealer Games, Specialty Games
Games Not Offered: Lottery

With just over 260 games in their game library, Bovada is an average-sized online casino. However, their level of variety in each gaming category is above-average and they included a majority of the popular table games and video poker games that people like to play the most.

The Bovada software platform known as Real-Time Gaming is one of the few remaining platforms that is willing to serve U.S. players and they have been around since the late 1990’s. Based out of Curacao, this software company is known for creating beautiful and functional games.

One of our favorite features of Bovada’s casino is that they allow you to try out most of their games for free in the preview mode with play money. This is a great way to get to know how to play a certain game before you start risking your own hard-earned money on it and you can also check out the previously mentioned amazing graphics. However, this feature is not available for some games, such as Live Dealer games.

Slots at Bovada

Number of Slots: 202
Min and Max Slot Bets: $0.01 to $151.00 per spin

The slots portion of Bovada’s casino is by far the biggest part of their game library. This is completely normal for an online casino these days and Bovada has an average number of slots games with a total of 202. This collection includes three reel slots, five reel slots, real-series slots, I-slots, and progressive slots.

A whopping 52 of these slot games come with a progressive jackpot, which is way more than most online casinos can say. The largest jackpot available is currently in the game Shopping Spree with a total of $2.881 million up for grabs, but most of them are down in the $2,000-$3,000 range.

Table Games at Bovada

Table Games Offered: American Roulette, Baccarat, Blackjack, Caribbean Hold’em, Caribbean Stud Poker, Craps, European Roulette, Tri Card Poker, Let ‘Em Ride, Pai Gow Poker, Roll The Dice, Vegas Three Card Rummy
Table Games Not Offered: Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Stud Poker, War
Min and Max Tables Games Bets: $1 to $1,000 per round or hand

Table games are the second most popular betting category in Bovada’s casino since there are 22 different table games at your disposal. Four of these table games include a progressive jackpot and the jackpot amounts regularly reach up into the six-figures. The minimum bet for every table game is $1 while the maximum bet will range anywhere from $250 to $1,000, depending on which game you are playing.

The table game with the most variations available on Bovada is definitely blackjack since there are nine different blackjack games to choose from. There are also four different variations of roulette while every other game just has one or two variations listed.

Video Poker Games at Bovada

Video Poker Games Offered: Deuces Wild, Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker, Double Jackpot Poker, Double Double Jackpot Poker, Jacks or Better, Joker Poker, Loose Deuces
Video Poker Games Not Offered: Tens or Better, Ultimate X, Aces & Faces, Aces & Eights, Jokers Wild
Min and Max Video Poker Bets: $0.05 to $25 per hand

Bovada offers a pretty decent video poker selection with a total of 17 video poker games to choose from and they seem to have most of the basic games covered. Each video poker game will allow you to bet up to five coins per hand and up to $5 per coin.

A couple variations of these games, known as Joker Poker and Jacks or Better, allow you to play up to 52 hands at once. All of the other video poker games on Bovada will only allow you to play one hand at a time.

Specialty Games at Bovada

Specialty Games Offered: Bingo, Scratch Cards
Min and Max Specialty Game Bets: $0.01 to $150 per round

Bovada offers 10 different bingo games in their Specialty Games section which is way more than most online casinos can say. These bingo games allow you to bet up to $1 per card and some will allow you to play up to 150 bingo cards at the same time. There are also a total of eight different scratch cards to choose from and two other miscellaneous games named Pirates Pillage and Sudoku Box Game.

Live Dealer Games at Bovada

Live Dealer Games Offered: Blackjack, American Roulette, European Roulette, Super 6, Baccarat
Min and Max Live Dealer Bets: $1 to $3000 per hand or round

Even though there are only five Live Dealer games available on Bovada, this is still more than the average online casino has. Also, they have multiple dealers and tables running for each game which means they have a ton of dealers on staff at all times. You will be able to see a picture of each dealer and choose the stakes you wish to play in the Live Dealer lobby.

For blackjack, you will be able to bet anywhere from $10 to $2,500 per hand. In baccarat, you can bet anywhere from $5 to $2,500 per hand. In both versions of roulette, you can wager anywhere between $1 and $3,000 per spin. In Super6, you can risk anywhere from $5 to $2,500 per hand.

The video quality on these live feeds is pretty fuzzy except for the Blackjack games which specify that the feed is in HD. The HD feed looks extremely crisp and makes you feel like you are really sitting inside of a casino. As soon as you join any table, the dealer will welcome you by name but it is a little bit hard to hear what they are saying sometimes because there are so many dealers and tables in what appears to be one very crowded yet giant room.

Mobile Casino at Bovada

There is no mobile app for the casino on Bovada, but you can still access the casino by going to m.bovada.lv on your phone’s web browser. Once you log-in to your account, you will be able to play on most of the same casino games that you can access from your computer. However, a few games will be unavailable, such as the Live Dealer games, so it is ideal to play on your computer if you are a casino player.

Casino Sign-Up Bonus at Bovada

Just like in the sports book, the casino players of Bovada will have two different Sign-Up Bonuses that they can take advantage of. Whichever option you choose, you will be able to claim that casino bonus a total of three times which is not possible with the other sign-up bonuses on Bovada.

The first option is the Casino Welcome Bonus which features a 100% match bonus of up to $1,000 if you use the bonus code “NEWWELCOME”. The second option is the Casino Bitcoin Welcome Bonus which gives a 150% match bonus of up to $1,500 if you deposit with Bitcoin and use the code “BVCBITCOIN150”.

Other Casino Promotions at Bovada

Refer-A-Friend

Please refer to the “Other Sportsbook Promotions at Bovada” for a full rundown of the bonus that you will receive for telling a friend about Bovada.

Rewards Points

The reward point system of Bovada gives the same perks to casino players that we already mentioned in the “Other Sportsbook Promotions at Bovada”. The only difference is that these points are earned at a different rate in casino games.

In any video poker games or table games, you will receive one rewards point for every dollar you wager. In any slot games, you will receive five rewards points for every dollar you bet. In any specialty games, you will receive 15 rewards points for every dollar you wager.

Casino Bonus Terms and Requirements

The playthrough requirement for each of the two sign-up bonuses is 25x the sum of the bonus amount plus the deposit amount, which is about average for an online casino. This means that if you make a deposit of $1,000 and receive a $1,000 bonus you will need to make $50,000 worth of wagers in the casino before your bonus is cleared.

Each game will contribute a different amount towards clearing any bonus playthrough requirements, and some will not contribute at all. Craps and Live Dealer games are the only two games which will not contribute anything towards clearing your casino bonuses. The single deck and double deck blackjack games along with any roulette or baccarat games will contribute 5% of your wagers towards clearing your bonus. Video poker and blackjack variations that use more than two decks will contribute 10%, all other table games which have not been mentioned yet will contribute 20% and all slots and specialty games will contribute 100% of wagers towards completing the playthrough requirements.

Customer Service at Bovada

If you find yourself with a problem or a question and would like to get in touch with Bovada’s customer service team then you can do so via email, telephone, or Live Chat. If you do not feel like contacting anyone you can check out the Help Homepage for any frequently asked questions about every aspect of Bovada’s operation. You can access this Help Homepage by clicking on the “Help” option on the left-hand side of Bovada’s website.

When we went to test out the Live Chat option at 9 pm EST on a Wednesday night, we first clicked on the chat bubble icon in the upper right-hand corner of Bovada’s webpage. Once we filled out our personal information we were notified that we were the 15th person in line for assistance. We were then talking to a customer service representative after 16 minutes of waiting which is actually pretty compared to most poker rooms’ Live Chat feature.

Click Here for Bovada Exclusive Signup Bonus!

For those who would like to contact Bovada by phone, you can give them a ring at 1-888-263-0000. We gave it a shot at the same time and day as when we did the Live Chat test but this time we were not told how many people were waiting ahead of us. We sat and listened to their waiting music which consisted of someone banging the same drum over and over again for a total of 30 minutes and did not receive any response from a human representative. We tried to call them again a couple of hours later and after 20 more minutes on hold, we still did not receive any response.

The slowest contact method possible on most poker sites is the email method, and Bovada is no exception to this rule. We sent a test email to the customer service team at [email protected] and we were greeted back by a response seven hours later.

It is your best bet to just use the Live Chat feature when you need to contact customer service on Bovada since the other two options are so slow and unreliable. It is also a plus that you do not have to listen to terrible music while you wait in the Live Chat queue!

Deposit and Withdrawal Options at Bovada

Minimum Deposit: $20
Maximum Deposit: $5,000
Deposit Methods: Visa Card, MasterCard, AMEX, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash
Withdrawal Methods: Bitcoin, Wire Transfer, Check by Courier

The minimum deposit allowed on Bovada when using a plastic card is $20 while the maximum deposit is $1,500. When using Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash you can deposit any amount you like up to $5,000.

The fee on any deposits with a plastic card is 5.9% which is one of the major flaws of the banking options on Bovada. However, you can get around this fee by depositing anonymously with the cryptocurrency options known as Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash.

If you already have Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash in your e-wallet, then you can deposit money onto Bovada immediately using their simple on-screen instructions. Otherwise, you will need to create a Bitcoin wallet and buy some Bitcoin from a wallet provider or a Bitcoin ATM. Credit card and bank card deposits on Bovada will be completed immediately, which is standard across the industry.

The minimum withdrawal amount that you can request from Bovada is $10 via Bitcoin, $1,500 via Wire Transfer, or $100 via check by courier. There is no limit to the maximum withdrawal amount that you can request for a wire transfer, but Bitcoin imposes a $9,500 limit for every three days and the check by courier method imposes a $3,000 limit for every seven days.

When it comes to processing speeds, Bitcoin is the fastest withdrawal method by a longshot. The processing time for Bitcoin withdrawals is an astonishing 15 minutes or less, while a wire transfer and check by courier methods will take 10-15 business days on average. After the processing is complete you will then receive the Bitcoins in your Bitcoin wallet in under 24 hours.

The fees on your first withdrawal of every month will be waived, and each withdrawal after that will be charged $50. Bovada also allows for one free check by courier withdrawal per month.

Warnings

– If you are depositing with Bitcoin, double and triple check that the Bitcoin address you are sending to is correct. If you get even one little character wrong then your money will disappear forever.

– Some banks will not allow transactions with Bovada anymore, so it is probably a good idea to sign-up for a Bitcoin wallet just in case.

– Some of the major Bitcoin wallets do not like to do transactions with gambling sites, so we recommend sending your money through a medium such as Blockchain.info first. This way you can be sure that your Bitcoin wallet account will not be closed just for trying to play some poker.

How to Gamble Online at Bovada: Step-by-Step

To show you how easy it is to get started we’re going to use this year’s top-rated US gambling site, Bovada.lv as an example. What’s great about Bovada is that they’re an all-in-one gambling site, meaning they have a casino full of hundreds of slots, video poker, and table games (some with live dealers), a sportsbook, a racebook for horse betting enthusiasts, and a live-action poker room with Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and several other poker variations – in both cash game and tournament formats. They also have a solid track record for paying out quickly (as far as US-facing gambling sites go).

-First, go to https://www.bovada.lv and click on one of the Join buttons

Fill out your information and click register.

You will be required to verify more information to make withdrawals later, so make sure to use your real information during the initial signup process.

Next, you’ll create a 4-digit pin for security purposes. Be sure to choose a code that you’ll be able to easily remember.

Once you’ve successfully created your pin, you’ll be taken to a screen where you’re asked to select a bonus.

All bonuses carry wagering requirements that must be met before cashing out. For example, Bovada’s welcome bonus says

100% Match up to $1000 – 25X Rollover – Redeemable 3X – Some Games Contribute to Rollover – Certain Games May Have a Greater Contribution Than Others

25x rollover means that the deposit + bonus must be wagered 25 times. So if you max the bonus with a $1000 deposit, you have to make $50,000 in wagers [($1000 + $1000) x 25] before cashing out. Also, some games such as craps don’t count at all towards the wagering requirements and games such as blackjack count very little (5%).

The sportsbook bonuses aren’t terrible at 5x rollover for sports bets, but they carry a 40x WR on casino games.

So here’s what we recommend regarding bonuses at Bovada:

• If you plan to play slots only, take the 100% match welcome bonus
• If you plan to bet on sports only (not play casino games) take one of the sports bonuses
• If you plan to bet on sports and/or play a variety of casino games, don’t take a bonus

To decline the bonus offers and move on to the deposit screen click the link at the bottom of the bonus form that says “Go Straight to Deposit”.

-Next, select a deposit method.

Traditionally, and especially in the United States, people fund their online gambling accounts via one of three methods: card, cash transfer, and more recently, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

While these methods are also common around the world, there are several other methods which can sometimes be used, and some of which are relatively new and quickly gaining in popularity as more people find out about them.

Almost all online gambling sites will accept a Visa or Master Card debit or credit card, although there are other options such as secure e-wallets services (PayPal, Neteller, and Skrill), who act as a go-between your bank and the online casino. Pre-paid credit cards could make sense if you want to stay within a budget, but these often cost a fee to be activated. Whichever deposit method you decide to use, make sure the online casino is reputable before releasing your personal information.

Bovada offers bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and credit/debit card (Visa, Mastercard, Amex) deposit options.

Because of the expenses Bovada incurs to make sure deposits are secure and approved by your bank or financial institution, they charge a 5.9% processing fee on credit and debit card deposits. Please note: this fee is waived on your first deposit, so you’ll want to deposit as much money as you plan to gamble in order to avoid paying the fee as long as possible.

If you’re concerned about the card fees, being declined, and/or called by your bank or credit card company regarding the transaction you might want to spend some time setting up an account to buy and transfer bitcoin at an exchange such as CoinBase or Gemini. Depositing with bitcoin can be a little intimidating for some at first, but once you get things set up it much easier to make large gambling deposits and withdrawals.

For purposes of this guide, we used a Mastercard to make a real money deposit. Enter your credit card information and address. Make sure that the information you enter matches what’s on file with your bank or financial institution. Once you’ve submitted your information you’ll see a message that reads: Your deposit will be billed by an international company, so please take note of the billing country and descriptor as your bank may contact you to confirm the transaction.

Since Bovada is an offshore gambling site, they have to use non-gambling related payment processing descriptors in order to disguise that they’re a gambling site. Our deposit went through quickly and we saw a screen like this.

It also includes a reference number and information about the payment processor that we’ve removed for obvious reasons. Make sure to save this information. If you happen to get a call from the bank regarding the transaction, just confirm that it was you and say you ordered something from whatever country is listed.

Finally, it’s time to win all the monies. Once your deposit is posted you should see the amount in the upper-right corner of your screen. Congratulations, you’ve made your first real money gambling deposit. Good luck!

Bovada FAQ