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Bovada Review - Legit once upon a time, but in 2023?

Bovada Pros and Cons

  • USA accepted
  • 100% up to $500 poker bonus
  • No-nonsense payouts
  • Mobile- and Mac-compatible
  • Fast-fold Zone Poker
  • Jackpot Sit & Go combines poker and lottery
  • Anonymous poker tables are n00b friendly
  • Sportsbook, racebook, and casino
  • Short 30-day bonus expiry
  • Some dislike anonymized tables
Bovada Logo

Bovada Overview

Bovada, one of the most trusted online gaming brands in the United States, is descended from Bodog, a major online gambling site for more than two decades! The company offers a wide variety of products: online poker, sports betting, horse racing wagering, and online casino products.

Bovada is a US-facing online gaming operation. The payouts are fast, and the Bovada brand is an A+ rated sportsbook. On any given day, you will find thousands of possible bets to be placed on every imaginable sporting event as well as hundreds of casino games from a multitude of trusted casino vendors.

The poker room is also one of the largest rooms in the world. This is a great site for high-payout slots, blackjack, and other table games, exotic betting, robust parlay options, good lines and super-quick cashouts. Bovada also rewards loyalty; high-volume depositing players often find themselves invited to the Red Room where special rewards, promotions, and reload bonuses are handed out!

Bovada was licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission until 2016 when it allowed its licensure to lapse. For a few years, info on Bovada's licensing jurisdiction was scanty, but in late 2020, Bovada revealed that it had obtained a license from Curacao eGaming.

Bovada Logo

Poker Bonus
100% → $500

Cashouts
1 - 3 Days

Network
PaiWangLuo

USA Flag
 

Bovada Bonuses

The Bovada sign-up bonuses are also very attractive with a possible $5,000 worth of sign-up bonuses available when signing up through Professional Rakeback (be sure to use Bitcoin as larger bonuses are offered to BTC depositors).

Bovada Poker Bonus

The poker deposit bonus is currently a 100% match up to $500. The poker welcome bonus is automatically applied to your first deposit when you create your account through Professional Rakeback; others may require bonus codes. These bonus codes fluctuate, but when you click through our links, the most current and largest bonus code available will be visible on-screen automatically. Like at most online gambling sites, these bonuses have play-through and roll-over requirements that must be met before withdrawal. Compared to the competition, these requirements are relatively middle-of-the-pack with regard to difficulty to clear for casino and sports, but the poker deal is an amazing offer that clears at a 50% effective rakeback rate.

The poker bonus, which does not require any Bovada Poker bonus code, will be based upon the size of your first deposit. The bonus is valid up to a maximum of $500 in complimentary bonus cash. For the next 30 days after you deposit, you'll earn out pieces of the bonus as you collect Bovada Reward Points. Once you collect 150 points, a $5 portion of your bonus will convert into real cash and be placed in your account balance.

The rate of points accumulation in tournaments, SNGs, and ring games is simple. You get 15 points for every dollar in fees you pay and cash game rake you contribute. In Jackpot Sit & Goes, it's a bit more complicated because the fee is incorporated within the buyin and multiplier structures of the format, so the points you obtain will be based on the buyin value instead of the fee. Jackpot Sit & Goes are worth 1.5 points per $1 in buyin.

Overall, this first deposit bonus is equal to 50% Bovada Poker rakeback in cash games, regular SNGs, and multi-table tournaments. In Jackpots, it's actually worth more: 71% of the rake in this format of poker will be returned back to you as long as you have the Bovada Poker bonus active.

Bovada accepts poker, sports, and casino players from the U.S.A.

Sign up today and see for yourself. Or continue reading on for our reviews of the other bonuses available, the poker room, the sportsbook, the casino and racebook. We also take an in-depth look at the deposit and withdrawal options, costs, time frames and much more.

create an account cta

Players in the USA can sign up with Bovada for sports, racing, casino, and poker action. The poker player pools on Bovada, Bodog, Ignition, and Bodog88 are the same - the brands are simply different for legal reasons, so you aren't missing out on anything by playing at the Bovada.lv poker skin. Watch the video below for step-by-step instructions or simply click the button below to create your new Bovada account.

US State Restrictions: Unfortunately, Bovada is unable to accept new players from the following US states and territories: Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, and New York.

HUD: Did you want to use a HUD while playing? Unfortunately, the rules of the network are restrictive, and very few HUD programs are allowed. In fact, only one has seemingly passed the test. That program is Holdem Indicator, which even works in Zone Poker pools. Professional Rakeback offers an exclusive 10% discount on Holdem Indicator - and iHoldem Indicator for you Mac users. If you are interested in a review head over to our software page, and if you simply wish to make a purchase now, with a ten percent discount off the regular price of $99 USD, then all you need to do is click here for PC and here for Mac.


Bovada Sports 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. However, you can triple this bonus money to a max of $750 when you make your first Bitcoin deposit. The match percentage increases to 75% as well.

Whichever of the two specials you opt for, you must place wagers equal to 5 times the deposit and bonus value added together. For example, if you deposit $500 to get the standard $250 bonus, you'll have to make bets totaling ($500 + $250) x 5 = $3,750 before the bonus will be cleared and you'll be able to withdraw your money. The sum that's contributed toward the rollover with each bet depends on whether or not the bet wins or loses. For losing wagers, it's the amount you put at risk that counts. For winning bets, it's the lesser of the risk amount and the win amount.

These sports bonuses are also valid in the racebook, and all the terms and conditions are identical. It's actually possible to deploy them in the casino as well, but this will cause your wagering obligations to jump to 30x the sum of your bonus and deposit. Furthermore, you'll be subject to the game weighting rules, which we describe in the next section below.

Bovada Casino Bonus

The Bovada Casino bonus to use for most players is a 100% up to $1,000 bonus match. This code is valid on three separate deposits, so you can collect up to $3,000 in free casino money. If you want to use Bitcoin to add funds to your account, then you have an even better option. Claim the special BTC-only offer for a 125% up to $1,250 bonus reward. Just like the normal bonus, the jumbo-sized Bitcoin one can be used up to three times, for a total bounty of as much as $3,750.

Both of these bonus promos stipulate that you must roll over your deposit and attached bonus 25x in the casino. The only games that don't count toward the playthrough are craps and Live Dealer tables, but the various other games contribute different percentages of your wagers toward your total as revealed in the Bovada Casino wagering contribution chart:

Wagering ContributionsPercentage Contribution
Slots, Specialty Games (all types)100%
Table Games (unless stated otherwise)20%
Video Poker (all types) & Blackjack (unless stated otherwise)10%
Single Deck & Double Deck Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat5%
Craps & Live Dealer (all types)0%

Bovada Poker Review

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). As of February 2017, they intend to expand into more Latin American and Asian countries heading into 2020. This network is the 7th largest online poker operator in the world, behind PokerStars and Party, and is the biggest still remaining in the U.S. market. The games here are among the softest to be found anywhere!

Anonymized Tables

In 2011, under the direction of poker room manager Jonas Ödman, Bovada removed screen names from all its tables. While the decision was controversial at the time, it has remained a fixture at the site and is its most noteworthy defining feature. Everyone is listed solely as “Player 1,” “Player 2,” and so on. One of the effects of this change is that nobody can use tracking tools to get a handle on how his or her opponents play over the long term. Per-session trackers still work, but all the data gathered becomes useless once you leave the table.

Poker Table at Bovada.lv No Limit Hold'em $0.10/$0.25 Cash Game Table at Bovada

Professional poker enthusiasts were mostly dismayed by the appearance of anonymous gameplay because it blunted the effectiveness of their sophisticated software packages. However, casual users loved it because it gave them a more level playing field. In time, even many of the pros came around because they realized that the ability to play at tables full of recreational pokerists more than compensates for the fact that most tracking and HUD packages are virtually useless.

Anonymous poker tables also brought about fears that rampant collusion would go undetected. Bovada's security and fraud detection departments introduced many countermeasures to ensure this does not happen and that the Bovada games remain legitimate and un-rigged, including many hi-tech algorithmic detection methods. Anecdotally, many of our professional poker player clients make higher hourly rates on anonymous tables, without their tracking software, than they do on regular tables with all of their HUDs and playing aids.

Ring Games

Cash Games offered:
NLHE: 5NL - 2000NL
PLO: 5PLO - 2000PLO
PLO/8: 5PLO/8 - 2000PLO/8
FLHE: $0.05/$0.10 - $30/$60
Heads up, six max, and full ring are the game types offered in cash play.

The cash game traffic at Bovada blows every other U.S.-friendly online poker site out of the water. You can grab a seat at both micro-stakes and higher tables although the $0.01/$0.02 blind level that's found at some competing rooms is absent here. All games are accessed through a QuickSeat interface that was added to all PaiWangLuo network sites in April 2017. It makes table selection impossible; you choose your game format, table size, and stakes, and the software brings you to a matching seat and table. Games at around the $200-buyin level fill up rather quickly, and so do lower tables, but you might have to wait awhile to get action at high-stakes and in some of the “other” poker variants. You can only play up to four ring game tables at the same time.

Bovada Zone Poker

Zone (Zoom): 5NL - 500NL
Zone PLO: 25PLO - 150PLO
Zone PLO/8: 10PLO/8 - 50PLO/8

Zone Poker was Bovada's response to Full Tilt's RUSH and PokerStars' Zoom Poker. Zone hit the scene in August 2013. It's a fast-fold product that lets players start new hands right away whenever they fold. The speed of seeing hands thus increases several times over because you don't have to wait for hands that you're not a part of to complete.

Zone Poker Lobby at Bovada Bovada Lobby Showing Zone Pools

Zone is great for when you only have a few minutes to spare. It's also pretty useful whenever you have a bonus to clear because of the increased number of hands you can play per hour as compared to normal cash game tables. You can join up to two times in the same Zone pool and as many as four tables of Zone altogether – if, that is, your brain and fingers can keep up with the frenetic action!

Sit and Goes

Double Ups, Triple Ups, Regular, Turbo, Heads Up, 6max, 18 mans are all available.
Buy-ins range from $1 to $214

It's hard to get an accurate idea of SNG traffic at Bovada because you can't view games that are running, but reports from players across the internet suggest that the single-table tourneys are pretty busy here. On top of the normal NLHE contests in the formats listed above, there are also PLO and PLO/8 sit-n-gos present up to around the $100 level. If you're looking to ease your way into sit n' goes, then the Beginner events might be right for you. They pay out a larger portion of the field than is standard, reducing variance to a great extent.

Jackpot Sit & Gos

Available at $.50, $2, $7, $20, $60, and $100 buyins
Highest multiplier is 1,200

Jackpot Sit & Go, introduced near the end of October 2017, is a type of three-player competition that uses a randomly generated multiplier to determine the amount of the prize pool. The winner claims the entire pot except at the three highest multiplier values (1,200, 240, and 120) where second and third places each get 10% with 80% going to the victor. You can register for as many as four Jackpot Sit & Gos simultaneously. So far, these games are only spread in NL Hold'em form.

Jackpot Sit & Go at Bovada.lv $60 Jackpot Sit & Go With a 240x Multiplier

Tournaments

1.5 million dollars a week in guaranteed tournaments
Buyins from $1 to $325
$150,000 Sunday Major

Bovada hosts a very respectable schedule of weekly tourneys, culminating in the $150 + $12 $150,000 guaranteed on Sundays. There has been a growing trend at many poker operators to grab extra fees through innovations like re-entry and multiple entry. Bovada is immune to such pressures and keeps its tournament offerings largely confined to straight freezeouts although you can find the occasional R&A event as well. There are the Texas Hold'em MTTs that you would expect but also a surprising number of PLO, PLO/8, and LO8 tournaments as well.

Bovada MTT Lobby MTTs at Bovada

When it comes to special tournament series, Bovada is one of the leading sites around. They pop up fairly often and typically consist of more than 50 events with prizes running into the millions of dollars. Some examples of these prominent tourney series are the Black Diamond Poker Open and the Golden Spade Poker Open.

Poker Points Exchange

While it's important that you earn Reward Points to clear your Bovada.lv poker bonus, they actually have another use too. You can trade them in for poker tournament tickets. You can choose from a $2 Jackpot entry for 5,500 points all the way up to a $150 + $12 ticket that costs 450,000 points and many options in between. Whenever special tournaments run, there are typically tickets for them available for points exchange, and the rate of redemption tends to be better than usual.

Payouts | Cashouts | Fees | General Cashier Information

The following is detailed information compiled by Professional Rakeback as regards the cashier options available to our players on Bovada. These methods apply to any and all funds deposited and withdrawn whether they are for poker, sports betting, or online casino play.

For the record, Bovada has historically been the fastest-paying US gambling site available to Americans post-Black Friday. Checks up to $3,000 are delivered to US players often in under five business days and in some cases as quickly as a twenty-four hour turnaround time! We keep extensive ongoing records of Bovada's current payout performance in our Monthly Offshore Gaming Cashout Report; historical data is also available. Depositing is also quite easy and efficient with minimum deposits for most methods a mere $20 (far less than most competing sportsbooks and casinos, which tend to offer $50 minimums).

Payout Method Information:

Our Recommended Cashout Method

Bitcoin - BTC - Avg wait time of 15 hours.
If you're unfamiliar with how to use Bitcoin, check out our step-by-step Bitcoin gambling set up guide.
One payout allowed per 15 minutes - clients are recommended to deposit via this method to ensure this payout method is available.
Min withdrawal: $10; Maximum withdrawal: $9,500; No fees, free! Weekly maximum of $180,500.

Tether - USDT - Avg wait time of 15 hours.
Tether, or USDT, is a stable cryptocurrency. This means the value of Tether is always equivalent to approximately one dollar.
One payout allowed per 15 minutes - clients are recommended to deposit via this method to ensure this payout method is available.
Min withdrawal: $50; Maximum withdrawal: $2,500; No fees, free! Weekly maximum of $2,500.

Litecoin - LTC - Avg wait time of 15 hours.
Litecoin, or LTC, is a popular cryptocurrency with many similarities to Bitcoin. Litecoin is one of the fastest withdrawal methods available alongside Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin, and Tether.
One payout allowed per 15 minutes - clients are recommended to deposit via this method to ensure this payout method is available.
Min withdrawal: $10; Maximum withdrawal: $2,500; No fees, free! Weekly maximum of $2,500.

Bitcoin Cash - BCH - Avg wait time of 15 hours.
If you're unfamiliar with how to use Bitcoin Cash, check out this thorough BCH and online gaming walkthrough.
One payout allowed per 15 minutes - clients are recommended to deposit via this method to ensure this payout method is available.
Min withdrawal: $10; Maximum withdrawal: $2,500; No fees, free! Weekly maximum of $2,500.

Bitcoin Satoshi Vision - BSV - Avg wait time of 15 hours.
Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, or BSV, is a cryptocurrency that offers low transaction fees and very quick transactions.
One payout allowed per 15 minutes - clients are recommended to deposit via this method to ensure this payout method is available.
Min withdrawal: $10; Maximum withdrawal: $9,500; No fees, free! Weekly maximum of $9,500.

Checks - Average wait of around 10 business days to receive after request.
Min cashout: $100; Max cashout: $3,000
One payout allowed per 7 days.
Fee: One free per 90 days - $100 fee per additional check

Vouchers - Avg wait time of 36 hours.
Bovada will send a voucher code to your registered email address, and it can then be used by yourself or someone else to make a deposit.
There's no limit on the amount of vouchers you can request, but there's a maximum of $5,000 in vouchers cashed out per day.
Min withdrawal: $10; Maximum withdrawal: $3,000; No fees, free!

Player Transfer - Avg wait time of 36 hours.
Transfer money directly to another customer's account.
There's no limit on the amount of player transfers, but there's a maximum of $15,000 transferred per day.
Min withdrawal: $10; Maximum withdrawal: $15,000; No fees, free!

Deposit Method Information:

Depositing on Bovada and Pai Wang Luo network is easy and fast for all players. Bovada players have the ability to deposit via their Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards as well as Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. Please note that bank wire deposits are sometimes granted to high-volume depositors.

METHODMIN DEPOSITMAX DEPOSITDEPOSIT SPEEDDEPOSIT
Visa
$20$1,000InstantDEPOSIT NOW!
Mastercard
$20$1,000InstantDEPOSIT NOW!
Amex
$20$1,000InstantDEPOSIT NOW!
Bitcoin
$10$5,000Up to 10 minutesDEPOSIT NOW!
Bitcoin Cash
$10$5,000Up to 10 minutesDEPOSIT NOW!
Litecoin
$10$5,000Up to 3 minutesDEPOSIT NOW!
Ethereum
$50$5,000Up to 30 minutesDEPOSIT NOW!
Bitcoin Satoshi Vision
$10$5,000Up to 10 minutesDEPOSIT NOW!
Zelle
$50$5,000Up to 60 minutesDEPOSIT NOW!

All deposits via credit card are near instantaneous. Bitcoin is typically credited within fifteen minutes after being sent although this will depend upon the miner's fee you opt to add to your transaction. BTC fees have historically varied from just a few pennies to $15+, but most of the time, you can get your transaction processed for well under $1. This fee level is out of Bovada's hands and is a consequence of congestion on the Bitcoin network.

Due to the technical challenges inherent in completing Bitcoin transactions, Bovada has Bitcoin experts on-hand who are conversant on every aspect of using BTC for real money online gaming. You can contact a Bitcoin specialist at 1-888-233-5936 any day of the week, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET. They are more than happy to help you with your Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals.

Some things of note regarding deposits:

  • Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency deposits are always FREE
  • The first Credit Card deposit is free
  • Additional credit card deposits incur a 5.9% fee
  • Credit card deposits sometimes incur an international currency exchange fee (some credit cards waive this fee, check your card's terms and conditions on foreign exchange fees)
  • Limits for credit card deposits can often be raised by dialing Bovada at 1-888-263-0000

Bovada also allows players to trade funds between each other using a Voucher system. In this way, you can provide funds to your friends and family members, or they can provide funds to you. We recommend that you only use vouchers among people you know and trust.

Vouchers
Minimum deposit $10; maximum deposit $3,000
Vouchers must be created via a previous withdrawal (see withdrawals section above), and then you enter in a code to deposit with them
Fee: Free

Zelle - Crypto Currency Purchases

Bovada facilitates trades of Zelle for bitcoins on the localbitcoins.com marketplace. The system will match you with a seller of Bitcoin, and then when you purchase it using funds in your Zelle account, you then transfer the digital coins to a deposit address generated by Bovada. The proper amount will be added to your real money balance.

Bovada Sportsbook Review

The sportsbook is what kicked off the entire Bodog/Bovada empire way back in the '90s. In 2011, Bovada was spun off the firm as its U.S.-friendly arm, providing not only sports betting but a full suite of gaming products to its customers. The focus here is definitely on the recreational bettor, so you might see some strange lines, but this provides you with an opportunity if you can identify irregularities in Bovada's handicapping.

Sportsbook Options and Coverage

Bovada's sportsbook interface is typical of American betting sites. A clean-looking and easy-to-navigate text interface dominates the sports screen. Bets can easily be placed online via any PC or Mac or via virtually any Android or iPhone (iOS) device. Navigating the menu and tabs is a breeze easily allowing one to place many bets within a few minutes' time. When zooming in on any specific event, the various prop bets and parlays are easily accessible for those of you with a little more gamble in you.

Bovada Sportsbetting Interface Sportsbetting Display at Bovada.lv
Bovada Sports Betslip

Bovada offers one of the largest variety of betting options available. Players can bet on a plethora of professional and college sports including, but not limited to, American football, soccer, tennis, boxing, basketball, baseball, UFC, golf, and pretty much any other sport played. There are also many other types of events to bet on such as who will win an Oscar or a Grammy this year, what political figure will win the next upcoming election, and much more. You have your choice of single wagers, parlays that string consecutive wins together, teasers that let you move the points spread to advantage yourself, round robins that allow you to combine several parlays together, and several other styles of betting. Needless to say, there's a full roster of props and futures for your delectation as well.

Through a Cash Out feature, it's possible to redeem your wager early for a specified cash payout. The amount you'll get for cashing out your wager will change from moment to moment as more info is delivered about how your picks are faring. Cut your losses if it appears that you're going to lose, or give up a small amount of expected value to lock in guaranteed profits if your bet has a high probability of being a winner.

Bovada Sports Live Betting

You can conduct in-play wagering within the Live Betting section. Bovada has oddsmakers who watch the games happening in real time and work hard to continuously update the lines. This means you can put your action down even while matches are in progress. Every sporting contest carried by Bovada isn't listed in the Live section, but most of the popular matchups in the most widely viewed leagues are. The Live Betting selections are contained in a separate window from the normal sports platform, but you can see which markets have Live wagering supported because they will show a “LIVE” icon next to them.

Live Betting at Bovada Live Betting on a Baseball Game. The Numbers in Red and Green Indicate Recently Updated Lines

Bovada Casino Review

At last count, the online casino at Bovada offered over two hundred and fifty games. A few examples of the types of games offered include Bovada blackjack, craps, Caribbean stud, keno, video slots, poker variants, video poker, baccarat, progressive slots, bingo, scratch games, roulette, and other various card and table games. These titles come from a variety of popular, safe, and well-tested software providers such as Realtime Gaming, Spinomenal, and Rival to name a few.

Bovada isn't content just with sourcing games from elsewhere and presenting customers with the same titles that they can find at hundreds of online casinos. Instead, management has commissioned a line of special games that are exclusive to Bovada and its sister sites for a period of time before being allowed to spread to other operators. Look below for reviews of some of these games along with our impressions of their more standard fare too:

Bovada Casino Lobby The Casino Lobby Divides the Available Titles Into Categories For Easier Browsing

Slots

Most of the games available are slot machines because they're what the people want to play. These aren't your grandfather's slots – some of them have dozens of paylines, scatter symbols, bonus features, expanding wilds, and other elements that weren't even dreamed of by old-school, brick-and-mortar slot gamers of the past.

Bovada Casino Slot Machine: Arabian Tales Arabian Tales Slot Machine Game

Casino Leaderboards

The newest feature at Bovada Casino is casino leaderboards. Every day, there are a few of these contests running for particular games. They're pretty short in duration, mostly less than half an hour long, and they're free to enter. Once you join, you'll receive points for every game round you play with additional points awarded for winning spins/hands. At the end of the stated time period, the top few people on the leaderboard will receive prizes, which are usually bonuses with a small 5x rollover requirement. Of course, you'll also collect your normal payouts from the game as well.

Bovada Casino Leaderboards Casino Leaderboards Pay Out in Bonuses With Low 5x Rollover

Each leaderboard is listed with the time it starts and the game it's for. There are a few rules in effect, such as a minimum bet size and minimum number of rounds that need to be played to qualify. These restrictions are normally pretty easy to fulfill with many contests having a minimum of 1 spin or hand to become eligible for prizes and bet sizes of $1 or even lower permitted. You can view the rankings at any time while a leaderboard is active so that you can see if you're near the top or if you still have some work to do to get there. We've seen leaderboards finish with all participants paid because the field was so small!

Live Dealer

The Bovada.lv casino contains a Live Dealer section with four different games. They are Blackjack, Roulette (both American and European varieties), 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.

There are a number of additional actions you can take in Live Dealer games that aren't available in the standard casino. You can tip the dealer, just as you could in an offline casino. Additionally, it's possible to “bet behind” an individual at a table if there's no open seat for you to occupy.

Casino-Focused Brands

Bovada aims to be your home for all your betting needs: sports, poker, and casino. However, it partners with a couple of sites that might be a better fit for you if you have casino gambling principally in mind. Be aware though that these alternative brands host only casino games without possessing a poker room and sportsbook like Bovada does.

Cafe Casino is a virtual gaming hall that welcomes U.S. players and has an initial Bitcoin deposit bonus of 350% up to $2,500. Both of these figures are higher than the 125% up to $1,250 that Bovada provides on a single first deposit. Moreover, there are weekly mystery bonuses at Cafe Casino, so the rewards keep coming in. Read the factual Cafe Casino review to learn more about this outstanding internet casino.

Slots.lv is another option. Its bonus on your first deposit is 300% up to $1,500: larger than at Bovada although smaller than Cafe Casino's deal. However, Slots.lv also provides 150% up to $750 on your next eight deposits for a total possible haul of $7,500. Besides this, you can claim two 150% up to $500 reload matches every day when you deposit with BTC. Check out this Slots.lv review to find out how to sign up.

Both Cafe Casino and Slots.lv have the same menu of casino titles that Bovada.lv does. So the decision of which site to select depends on other factors, like welcome specials and ongoing promos.

Bovada Racebook Review

The horses section of Bovada 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.

Racetrack Betting Options

The overwhelming majority of the betting here is pari-mutuel in nature. This means that nobody knows the real odds in advance. The lines you see are just estimates. After all the wagers are collected at the track and the results are determined, the appropriate pools of money are split up amongst the winners, and this determines how much each person gets who holds a winning ticket. Bovada pays out the full track odds that the racing facilities do, so there's no possibility of any funny business going on here. There are a limited number of fixed-odds opportunities available, like the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, but apart from these few occasions, the pari-mutuel system is adhered to.

The Racebook at Bovada Multiple Races per Day From Each Track Are Listed in the Racebook

The menu of bets available is extensive and includes basically whatever you could hope to see, including:

  • Win/Place/Show
  • Exacta
  • Trifecta
  • Quinella
  • Superfecta
  • Boxed/wheeled bets
  • Daily Double
  • Pick 3
  • Pick 4

Racing Betting and Payout Limits

The tracks are divided into categories A, B, C, and D. The maximum allowed wagers and highest possible payouts are for Category A while the lowest are found in Category D. Actually, there's a category for “Special Races” that has maximums even beyond those in Category A, but these are prestigious events that only occur a few times per year. Here's a full breakdown of these numbers:

CategoryMax PayoutMax Stake - StraightMax Stake - Exotic
Special$50,000$1,000$500
A$30,000$500$300
B$15,000$500$200
C$10,000$300$150
D$5,000$200$100

Bovada Rewards

The Bovada Rewards system is for casino game players, racing fans, and sports bettors. It used to be the case that poker play didn't qualify for these rewards, but that changed in early 2019 when the site's cardroom was incorporated into the program.

You'll earn points for every dollar you devote to the real money gaming pastimes of your choice. As you collect these points, you'll advance through the tiers of Bovada Rewards. Each level is entitled to the ability to trade points in for bonuses at rates that get better the higher you climb in the ranks. These bonuses have rollover requirements of 5x in sports/horses and 25x in the casino. These bonuses cannot be cleared via poker play.

Every wager you make in a qualifying Bovada product will grant you a different number of points depending on the type of bet it is. For poker, you get 15 points per dollar in rake and tourney fees paid as well as 1.5 points per dollar in Jackpot Sit & Go buyins. For the other gaming choices in the Bovada.lv menu, points are issued as follows:

  • Video Poker: 1.5 Reward Points per $1 spent
  • Arcade: 1.5 Reward Points per $1 spent
  • Table Games: 1 Reward Point per $1 spent
  • Live Dealer Table Games: No Reward Points Earned
  • Slot Games: 3 Reward Points per $1 spent
  • Specialty Games: 15 Reward Points per $1 spent
  • Thundercrash: 1 Reward Point per $1 spent
  • Sports Singles: 2 Reward Points per $1 spent
  • Sports Teasers: 25 Reward Points per $1 spent
  • Sports Round Robins: 25 Reward Points per $1 spent
  • Sports Parlays: 25 Reward Points per $1 spent
  • Racebook Straight Wagers: 40 Reward Points per $1 spent
  • Racebook Exotics/Multiples: 60 Reward Points per $1 spent

Here are the levels of the program, the benefits associated with them, and the number of points you must amass to be inducted into each level. Please note that you can never drop back down in rank. All your progress will remain intact, ready for you to continue your advancement with the placement of further bets.

LEVEL UP

LevelTier Points NeededPoints Value
Starter Level02,500/$1
Rookie Level 12,5002,500/$1
Rookie Level 25,0002,500/$1
Rookie Level 310,0002,500/$1
Pro Level 125,0001,666/$1
Pro Level 240,0001,666/$1
Pro Level 360,0001,666/$1
All-Star Level 1150,0001,250/$1
All-Star Level 2250,0001,250/$1
All-Star Level 3500,0001,250/$1
Legend Level 11,000,0001,000/$1
Legend Level 21,500,0001,000/$1
Legend Level 32,500,0001,000/$1
Hall of Fame5,000,0001,000/$1

Red Room

The Red Room is Bovada's invitation-only VIP parlor. It's not exactly clear what one must do to gain access to this club, but undoubtedly, your playing and depositing history will be taken into consideration. If you're fortunate enough to become a Red Room member, then your deposit and withdrawal fees will be waived, you'll earn VIP points at twice the normal rate, you'll become eligible for exclusive bonuses, and you'll enjoy superior customer service attention. Perhaps the most valuable benefit of the Red Room is that its players get all-expenses-paid trips to Vegas, tickets to premier sporting events, and other unique experiences that aren't open to the general public. If you are unable to achieve VIP status in the coveted Red Room, you may have better luck at one of the alternatives to Bovada, but we doubt you'll get the same level of perks!

Bovada Mobile

You can play poker, bet on sports, wager on the ponies, and play casino games from your desktop, laptop, or mobile. The company has invested a lot of resources in its responsive website, which will reposition all gameplay elements to fit on your screen no matter what size it is. As long as your computing device is sophisticated enough to run modern web browsers, you should encounter no stumbling blocks. Almost every piece of hardware released in the past 5 years should suffice.

Customer Service

Should you encounter any difficulties at Bovada.lv, you can always get in touch with support. There are three channels through which support is provided:

  • Email via webform
  • Live Chat
  • Community forums

Responses to emails come within 48 hours while Live Chat happens in real time. The timeframes involved with the community forums vary depending on when you post and the nature of your inquiry. Nevertheless, speedy answers tend to be the norm as evidence by the post below, which involved a user having issues with their deposit:

Reddit Comment About Bovada Support

What Others Have to Say About Bovada

We're not alone in thinking that Bovada is one of the most trustworthy online poker, casino, and sportsbook sites open to Americans. Other users around the internet also have largely positive things to say about this gaming organization although, as always, there are a few negative comments to be found from naysayers too. For example, Reddit user JBones134 posts "Bovada customer service is top notch!". Look below for actual posts documenting how users feel about Bovada.lv:

Reddit comment about Bovada withdrawals
Post About Account Security at Ignition/Bovada on Reddit Note: The above comment is actually about sister site Ignition Casino, but the security department is network-wide, and so this comment applies to Bovada too.
Bovada FAQ Banner Divider

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have any questions about Bovada that may not have been addressed by the material below, then look through our FAQ section below for the info you seek.

The short answer is yes, Bovada is legal in 90% of US states (exactly 5 are excluded). For more information about why this is legal in the US, read this long article titled Is Bovada Legal? for a full and thorough explanation of the facts about Bovada legality

Bovada and the entire Pai Wang Luo Poker Network allow players from all supported countries to create accounts at the age of 18. Once a person reaches the “age of majority,” 18 or less in most worldwide jurisdictions, they are considered an adult and eligible to play on these sites.

No, you can do everything all with the same account. Whatever types of betting you want to do, you'll find that your real money balance transfers seamlessly across the entire Bovada gambling lineup.

No, they are separate firms. They do share their sportsbook and casino software along with the poker client and traffic on the PaiWangLuo Network, but they have different cashier options and promotions. Bovada was spun off of Bodog in 2011 to serve the United States, and Bodog remains outside of this lucrative market.

No, and the tale behind this confusion is a long and complex one. In late 2016, Bovada closed down its poker room, and existing poker accounts were transferred over to newcomer Ignition Casino Poker by Sept. 30. Bovada continued with its sportsbook, racebook, and casino products, but it did not have a poker setup during this time.

However, Bovada.lv reentered the poker ecosystem in August 2017. Since that time, both Bovada and Ignition offer poker and casino gambling services to United States residents, but Ignition lacks a sportsbook and a racebook.

No, Bovada has been growing rapidly in the past few years, but it's still not at the same peak in player volume that PokerStars represents. PokerStars is the largest poker site in the world; Bovada is a few ranks behind, and it is just a bit smaller than PartyPoker, 888poker, and Winamax.

But on the other hand, the games at Bovada are quite juicy compared to these other rooms and easier to beat. Furthermore, all of these other sites don't do business with U.S. gamblers. Of the internet poker rooms that do service Americans, Bovada is the largest.

If you intend to devote your energies principally to poker and aren't interested in sports and casino games, then we advise you to forfeit the bonuses for these divisions of Bovada. You can do so without incident from the My Account page while logged into the Bovada website. Having active bonuses will restrict your ability to withdraw funds until the wagering requirements are completed, so we counsel you to forfeit unwanted bonuses rather than letting them sit around and possibly interfere with your cashouts.

With live agents on standby Bovada also gives you the option to contact them via email here.

All the Bovada gaming software can be run through the web, so anyone with a computer, tablet, or smartphone of relatively recent vintage can play poker on his or her machine. However, to realize the full poker experience, including multi-tabling, you'll have to commence the Bovada Poker download and run the software on your Windows or Mac system. Your computer should meet these recommended specifications to ensure that you don't encounter any problems:

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+

Tournament cancellations are handled in accordance with the Pai Wang Luo Poker Network's MTT cancellation policy. Suffice it to say, the room doesn't just keep the players' money.


External Resources

We've endeavored to provide you with all pertinent information about Bovada above. Yet, even we could not exhaustively cover every tidbit of knowledge that's out there about this gaming site. If you've devoured our review and yet find yourself wanting more details about Bovada, then look below for external sources of info:

  1. https://www.reddit.com/r/Bovada/
  2. https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28/internet-poker/unofficial-bodog-bovada-ignition-thread-1142716/
  3. https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28/internet-poker/bodog-bovada-ignition-payout-thread-us-players-do-not-post-bank-names-1553/
  4. https://bovadacasino.com/
  5. https://www.paiwangluo.hk/
  6. https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.bovada.lv

If you are interested in playing in even more online poker sites within the US market, Professional Rakeback recommends that you check out our US Poker Sites page for information on all of the poker and rakeback options available to you in your particular state.