Bovada Review - Legit once upon a time, but in 2025?

Bovada Overview

Bovada, one of the most trusted online gaming brands in the United States, was launched in 2011 by Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, and it has been operating continuously for nearly a decade and a half! 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.

Poker Bonus
100% → $500

Cashouts
1 - 3 Days

Network
PaiWangLuo

> VISIT SITE <  

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 an in-depth look at the deposit and withdrawal options, costs, time frames, and much more.

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: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

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 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.

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.

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.

$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.

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 regarding 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:

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.

All deposits via credit card are nearly 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 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

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:

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:

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.

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.

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.