Bovada Review
Bovada Sportsbook Review
Below is a current review of the Bovada Sportsbook, a short history of Bovada, and what you can expect when using Bovada as your online sports betting site.
This Bovada review will be updated frequently.
Who are Bovada?
Bovada.lv is an online sportsbook powered by Bodog. They are owned by Mohawk Morris Gaming Group who have been licensing Bodog software, brand name, and support services since 2007.
With Bodog now growing in legal markets, they no longer wanted for their brand to be associated with United States gambling. As a result of this, the Bovada.lv brand was formed on December 14, 2011 for US residents, while non-US players still use the Bodog brand.
According to statisics, Bovada get around 3.4 million visitors per month. That number is 10x the traffic of its nearest U.S. rival, BetOnline, who get around 300,000 visitors per month to their site.
Considering the volume of traffic, you’ll see very few Bovada complaints at online gambling forums. That’s impressive when you consider that they deal with a huge amount of clients and people love to complain.
After 15+ years in the gambling industry (established 2001), they still deliver cashouts faster than their competitors (7-10 days).
The Bovada Sportsbook
A the time of this review, Bovada have 26 sport categories on offer (these include some other “entertainment” based markets including TV shows, politics etc…).
One impressive list of markets, above and beyond all others is Bovada’s soccer league list. Besides 5Dimes, they have the best coverage for soccer.
There are also more than enough “second-tier” sports to bet on.
| Bovada Sport Category Offerings | |||
| UCF/MMA | Golf | Olympics | Curling |
| Cricket | Football | Baseball | Boxing |
| Entertainment | Horses | Rugby | E-Sports |
| Snooker | Darts | Cycling | Volleyball |
| Aussie Rules | Handball | Gaelic Games | Auto Racing |
| Badminton | Futsol | ||
Large variety of sports markets
Bovada’s main markets revolve around betting for North American customers, and as a result their sports markets mirror the interests of American and Canadian interests including NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, along with the usual major college competitions and tournaments such as March Madness.
Bovada have a sleek and attractive live betting portal with lines that are updated in real-time. All of the big markets are available along with a few niche sports. Betting types on offer for Bovada’s live-betting include point spreads, moneyline bets, total bets along with a few prop bets.
The live-betting screen interface allows customers to place bets quickly (crucial for live-betting). There is also a mode called “Quick Bet” which allows bets to be placed with only one click. Fast and simple.
Bovada’s live betting interface emulates gives you the opportunity to place bets during a game or contest, which increases the amount of bets they takes, giving customers markets to play after the action starts.
Sports Odds Posting Schedule
Reading old Bovada reviews we’ve seen complaints about their lines being posted late.
Bovada took note of this and has posted a fixed schedule of when they are going to release their odds.
Here are the schedules for most of the major sports:
- Points Spreads – Mondays at 6:00 p.m.
- Totals – Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m.
- Moneylines – Fridays at 6:00 p.m.
- First Half Lines – Fridays at 6:00 p.m.
- Quarter Lines – The day before the game at 8:00 p.m.
- Team Props – The day before the game at 6:00 p.m.
- Player Props – The day before the game at 6:00 p.m.
- Point Spreads – Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.
- Totals – The day before the game at 6:00 p.m.
- Moneylines – The day before the game at 6:00 p.m.
- First Half Lines – The day before the game at 6:00 p.m.
- Quarter Lines(select games only) – The day before the game at 12:00 noon.
- Team Props – The day before the game at 6:00 p.m.
- Player Props – The day before the game at 6:00 p.m.
- Point Spreads – The day of the game at 11:30 a.m.
- Totals – The day of the game at 11:30 a.m.
- Moneylines* – The day of the game at 5:00 p.m.
- First Half Lines – The day of the game at 5:00 p.m.
- Team Props – The day of the game at 11:30 a.m.
- Player Props – The day of the game at 11:30 a.m.
- Point Spreads – The day of the game at 12:00 noon
- Totals – The day of the game at 5:00 p.m.
- Moneylines – The day of the game at 5:00 p.m.
- First Half Lines – The day of the game at 5:00 p.m.
- Added Games – The day of the game at 5:30 p.m.
- Team Props – The day of the game at 11:00 a.m.
- Player Props – The day of the game at 11:00 a.m.
- Runlines – The day before the game at 10:00 p.m.
- Moneylines – The day before the game at 10:00 p.m.
- Totals – The day before the game at 10:00 p.m.
- 5th Inning Lines – The day of the game at 2:00 p.m. For early games, the odds will be available 2 hours before the game.
- Team Props – The day of the game at 11:30 a.m.
- Player Props – The day of the game at 10:00 a.m.
- Totals – The day of the game at 11:00 a.m.
- Moneylines – The day of the game at 11:00 a.m.
- Team Props – The day of the game at 12:00 noon
- Player Props – The day of the game at 12:00 noon
- Odds to Win – Minimum 1 month ahead. Closed during tournaments and reopened after the games
- Big League Matchups – Thursdays at 3:00 p.m.
- Mexico, Argentina, Copa Libertadores Matchups – Same day or the day before the game (Monday to Thursday)
- Game Totals – The day before the game at 5:00 p.m.
- Props (Important Games) – The day before the game at 8:00 p.m.
- Odds to Win – Mondays at 2:00 p.m.
- Head-to-Head Bets – Wednesdays at 12:00 noon
- 3 Ball Bets – Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m.
- 72 Hole Match – Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m.
- Odds to Win – 1 month ahead (Grand Slams only)
- Head-to-Head Bets – 12 hours ahead
- Props – 12 hours ahead (Semis and Finals only)
- Odds to win Nextel – Tuesdays at 5:00 p.m.
- Odds to win Busch – The day before the race at 5:00 p.m.
- Odds to win Craftsman – The day before the race at 5:00 p.m.
- Head-to-Head Bets – The day before the race at 5:00 p.m.
- Props – The day before the race at 8:00 p.m.
- Futures – Tuesdays at 5:00 p.m.
- NFL Mondays at 2:00 p.m. (closed when the first game starts)
- NBA Mondays at 2:00 p.m. (closed Saturday at 7:00 p.m.)
- NCAA Basketball Mondays at 2:00 p.m. (closed Saturday at 12:00 noon)
- NCAA Football Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. (closed Saturday at 12:00 noon)
- NHL Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. (closed Sunday at 7:00 p.m.)
- MLB Mondays at 2:00 p.m. – Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. – Thursdays at 2:00 p.m. – Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.
A transparent betting markets schedule is very handy for those of us who don’t want to waste time going back and forward from the site waiting for them to be posted.
Betting Limits
Bovada’s betting limits are quiet small when compared to sites like Bookmaker.eu. While bet limits at Bookmaker can reach the tens of thousands of dollars, Bovada’s limits struggle to reach a couple of thousand of dollars (call their customer service to request a limit increase).
The minimum bet for all online placed bets is $1.00. The minimum bet amount for parlays and teasers is $50.00. The minimum bet limit for Straight up bets and If bets is $100.00.
The maximum bet limit depends on the game and the type of bet. For example, the maximum wager on point spread bets ranges from $500 (on MLB and WNBA wagers) at the low end to $2,000 (on college football and the NFL) on the high end.
Bovada has a simple chart of all their betting limits that you can access via their site To find the maximum bet size for a specific bet, just find it on this chart.
Deposits and Withdrawals
DEPOSITS –
Bovada offers deposits via credit card (Visa, AMEX and Mastercard only), Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
The minimum deposit is only $25, a limit much less than what is required at the majority of other sportsbooks.Visa is the most common method, with a screenshot visible to the right. On your initial credit deposit with Bovada, the fee will be waived, however after that you will have to pay a 4.9% CC fee on each deposit.
As of March 2016, Bovada accept Bitcoin as a deposit method. This has become ever more popular as deposits by this method come with no fees. If you already have a Bitcoin account/wallet hen this is certainly the simplest route to go when depositing in your account.
- Credit Card – Visa, Mastercard, American Express
- Minimum – $20
- Maximum – $1000
- Fee – 4.9%
We noticed that when making our first deposit that the fee was waived. Fees are waived on your first deposit but not on subsequent deposits through credit card.
- Bitcoin
- Minimum – $20
- Maximum – $5000
- Fee – None
WITHDRAWALS –
It is important for a bettor to have a sportsbook that pays out reliably, otherwise why the hell would you be bothered. This is one area in which Bovada excels.
- Check by Courier
- Minimum: $50
- Maximum: $3000
- Frequency: 1 per 7 days
- Timeframe: 10-15 Business Days
Bitcoin
- Minimum: $20
- Maximum: $9500
- Frequency: 1 per 5 days
- Timeframe: 1-15 minutes
The payout options are always changing, but include check by courier, or payout by bitcoin. Most importantly, Bovada offers one free payout every 90 days. The minimum check payout is only $100. A check can be requested once per week for an up to $3,000. The Bitcoin option is a very good way to go for withdrawals and deposits (should the market stay stable). Using the Bitcoin option, the minimum payout is $20 and the maximum is $9,500. Bitcoin can be requested once every 5 days and the payment will come almost straight away, which is better than the 2-3 week wait for a check.
Mobile Betting
Bovada’s mobile interface is great if you like betting wherever you are (for us it’s usually at the bar). Bovada lets you do this and lets you do it quickly, so you won’t miss any of the action.
The Bovada sportsbook mobile site operates well on both Android and the iPhone smartphones. Logging on, switching between sports, and placing bets is very easy. In July of 2015, Bovada gave the responsive mobile site a similar look to the desktop, reminding us of the style that Microsoft has implemented across it’s Windows systems.
The update has provided an upgrade over the previous version and small bugs that we ran into before the update are now gone. The Bovada mobile site is now one of the best mobile experiences around. Don’t hesitate.
Bovada SportsBook Promotions
Sportsbook Bonuses
New members can claim a 50% deposit bonus up to $250. For example: if you were to deposit $500, you’d get a $250 bonus (5x Rollover).
Bovada also offers a 50% matched deposit up to $500 for sportsbook clients who deposit with Bitcoin.
$500 and $250 are nothing to scoff at as a sportsbook player.
Bovada also offer a Rewards Program, where players earn points to be redeemed for cash bonuses for every $ placed, along with a variety of other offers.
With more Bovada Rewards points, clients can move into higher tiers and get more cash back on losses and earn free plays faster. The Bovada Rewards program gives you added incentive to come back and keep betting.
Our Final Verdict
Bovada is a great overall sportsbook for those who want to place a few bets and enjoy the games (serious bettors may enjoy the Reduced Juice sportsbooks such as 5Dimes).
Of the sportsbooks we’ve used, Bovada is the best when it comes to making betting simple and enjoyable.
With updates made to their site in 2015, Bovada has shown that they are innovaters and are proactive when it comes to staying ahead of the competition.
Would not hesitate to join…again.
Pros / Cons
- Sleek, simple to use platform that's plain awesome to use.
- Earn points with the Bovada Rewards program to redeem for Cash Back promotions.
- Great mobile betting experience.
- Fast withdrawals.
- Dual lines for winning and losing bettors.
- Lines generally are slow to market.