Bovada Review
An extension of the infamous Bodog brand, Bovada has established themselves as one of the leading online casinos catering towards US players.
Established in 2007, Bovada has striven to provide a safe environment for US players to enjoy gambling online with Casino, Sportsbook and Poker options.
Is Bovada Legit?
We can say unequivocally that Bovada is a legitimate operation and is safe to play at for US residents. Do a quick search on any forum or reddit and you’ll find that their overall reputation is very positive.
As with any business, there are going to be instances where customers run into particular problems but for the most part, Bovada has an excellent support team that does its best to resolve any issue.
In fact we are supremely confident in Bovada’s ability to provide a professional service that they allow us to mediate the process if anyone clicks through from Blackjackinfo and runs into any problem.
Is Bovada Legal?
Bovada has operated as an online casino to US players for many years as there is no federal law against online gambling which some people get confused with when trying to interpret the UIGEA.
For further information about the US law with regards to online gambling, please refer to our article here.
They do however state in their terms of service that they prohibit players from Delaware, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Nevada
The Good
- Bovada provides great gaming diversity, customer support coupled with stellar user friendly software that supports all mobile devices.
- Whilst we focus on Blackjack and the casino side of gaming, Bovada also provides Sportsbook and Poker options giving you the option to mix things up if you like.
- One of the first casinos to adapt to the cryptocurrency market, their ability to provide Bitcoin as a banking method shows they are at the forefront of trying to provide the best service they can to US residents.
- They are also able to provide the live dealer experience (for both desktop and mobile) which is extremely rare for any US facing casino.
The Bad
- While Bovada services most of the US, they do prohibit players from Nevada, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Delaware which should be shown more prominently on their website.
- Bovada has extremely limited withdrawal options which makes it rather troublesome if you don’t feel comfortable utilizing Bitcoin.
- The potential deposit/withdrawal fees when using a credit card are also a big turn off however if you can manage to use Bitcoin instead then these issues no longer become an issue as detailed below.
Depositing with Visa/MasterCard/American Express
Deposits can be made with Visa, MasterCard or American Express HOWEVER you should be aware that there are no fees ONLY on your first deposit.
Every subsequent deposit comes with a fee of 5.9% if you are using Visa or MasterCard. American Express is even worse and comes with a whopping 9.9% fee on every subsequent deposit.
The minimum deposit amount is $20 and the maximum deposit amount is $1,500
Depositing to Bovada via Gift Card
If you do decide to use a Gift Card be wary that it may not work 100% of the time due to possible restrictions. Any card that states it is for use in a domestic capacity or within the US only won’t work.
It MUST be good for online and international purchases and is subject to the same Visa/MasterCard fees mentioned above.
Depositing to Bovada via Bitcoin
This is THE best way to make a deposit to Bovada because there are no fees whatsoever when using Bitcoin. It is actually the best to deposit at ANY casino for US residents.
If you do not have access to Bitcoin or are a bit unsure of how to go about converting USD to bitcoin, you can read a comprehensive guide here.
The minimum deposit amount is $10 and the maximum deposit amount is $5,000
Summary
There are only 2 withdrawal methods available which is by Bitcoin or Check via courier. Withdrawal requests generally take up to 48 hours to process.
Withdrawal via Check
After the withdrawal request has been approved, it will take roughly 10-15 business days to receive the Check via courier. Also note that Bovada prohibits sending Checks to P.O Boxes, military addresses or addresses that contain a business name or company name.
There are no fees associated with the first request every 90 days however any subsequent request within the same period will incur a fee of $100.
There is also a minimal withdrawal limit of $100 and a maximum withdrawal limit of $3,000 once every 7 days.
Withdrawal From Bovada via Bitcoin
When withdrawing via Bitcoin, it takes only 15 minutes for the funds to reach your account but please be wary that you should ALWAYS withdraw into a wallet and not into an exchange. This is detailed in our guide here.
There are no fees when withdrawing from Bovada via Bitcoin and there is a minimum withdrawal limit of $10 and a maximum withdrawal limit of $9,500 every 3 days.
ID Validation
All withdrawal requests will require a validation of your identity which involves completing a Credit Card Verification Agreement.
Summary
As you can see there are much less hassles and hoops to jump through if you use Bitcoin. It’s significantly faster, has less potential fees and is more secure coupled with a very low minimum withdrawal limit.
Bovada uses a combination of software providers including Visionary iGaming, Rival, Real Time Gaming, Revolver Gaming and Maiktone Gaming to provide as comprehensive a library as possible for their US customers.
Their current catalogue consists of:
- 17 Table Games
- 9 RNG Blackjack Games
- 201 Slots
- 17 Video Poker Games
- 22 Specialty Games
- Live Casino Games – Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, Super 6
Live Blackjack Variations
Blackjack HD
Bovada currently have 6 tables for Blackjack which have 7 seats each with varying betting ranges from:
- $10 – $500
- $15 – $750
- $25 – $1,000
- $100 – $2,500
The rules for each table are:
- Total Decks – 6
- Blackjack Pays 3:2
- Insurance Pays 2:1
- Dealer Hit on Soft 17
- Surrender First Two Cards if Dealer Does Not Have BJ
- Double Any Two Cards
- Split Aces Receive One Card Only
- No Re-split
- Maximum 3 Seats per Players
Side bets are also available:
- Pairs pays – 11:1
- Rummy pays – 9:1
If we use the strategy engine, the house edge of this blackjack variation comes to about 0.58%
Blackjack Early Payout
This is one of the more recent additions to Bovada which has a slightly different take on the traditional Blackjack which is faster paced and offers the option to play up to 3 hands at once.
The reason why it’s fast paced is because it offers to play the hand automatically for you based of basic blackjack strategy (you can of course choose a different action if you want).
The other unique part of this game is the “Early Payout” option which is like surrender in normal blackjack and is calculated by the average outcome of your hand against the dealer’s hand.
The rules are as follows:
- Total Decks – 6
- No Peek
- Deal Hits on Soft 17
- No resplitting allowed
- Double on any 2 cards
- Insurance pays 2:1
Side bets are also available:
- Pairs pays – 11:1
- Rummy pays – 9:1
The house edge of this Early Payout Blackjack variation comes to about 0.69% if we input the rules into the basic strategy engine.
RNG Blackjack Variations
Bovada currently provides 9 RNG blackjack variations which have the following rules and house edge
Bovada currently offer 4 different promotions. Let’s break them down to see if they’re worth claiming or not:
$5,000 Bitcoin Bonus
Technically, it’s multiple bonuses that are available to be claimed for both their Sports and Casino offerings which add up to $5,000.
Sports being a once off 50% match bonus up to $500 and Casino being a 150% match bonus up to $1,500 which can be redeemed 3 times.
Bovada’s Casino Bitcoin Bonus
Using the code BVCBITCOIN150, Bovada provide a bonus of 150% up to $1,500 which can be redeemed 3 times but is it worth claiming? Let’s go over the wage requirements:
For those new to casinos, every bonus comes with a wage requirement caveat that states how much the player must wager before they can withdraw any bonus. This is usually found in the terms and conditions of a site.
The wage requirement for this bonus is 25x the deposit plus bonus amount. So hypothetically if you were to opt in for the maximum bonus amount of $1,500 you would have to deposit $1,000 and your wage requirement would be 25 x (1,000 + 2,500) which is $75,000. Pretty hefty requirement and worst of all, live blackjack doesn’t contribute to the wage requirement at all and any form of RNG blackjack contributes anywhere between 5%-10% only.
Unless you’re willing to grind it out playing slots, the bonus just isn’t worth it because it would take a whopping $750,000 worth of wagering to clear it by playing their highest house edged RNG blackjack games.
The wage requirements contribution for each game is:
Bovada’s Sportsbook Bitcoin Bonus
By using the code BVSBITCOIN50, Bovada offer a Sportsbook bonus of 50% up to $500.
So to receive the maximum bonus you would have to deposit $1,000 and the rollover requirement is 5x the initial deposit + bonus ($5,000). Rollover is defined by the lesser of the risk on winning wagers and the risk amount for losing wagers.
So for example if you were to wager $50 to win $25 and won, then $25 would contribute to the rollover requirement. If you were to lose this same bet then $50 would contribute to the rollover requirement.
Underdogchance.com has a decent guide on how to grind it out by constantly betting on events with odds of -110.
$3,000 Casino Welcome Bonus and $250 Sports Welcome Bonus
If you choose not to use Bitcoin, you can claim a casino match bonus of 100% up to $1,000 and a sportsbook match bonus of 50% up to $250.
These are pretty much the same as the Bitcoin bonuses and have the same wage requirement criteria but with different maximum bonus amounts.
Bovada’s 100% up to $500 Poker Bonus
If you’re interest is in Poker then this one’s worth claiming and is released into your account based off how many “Poker Points” you accrue. These are accrued based off how much rake you contribute as you play:
As you build up your Poker Points amount, the bonus is released into your account with no rollover required
Bovada prides itself on its level of customer service. You can contact them via phone at:
1-888-263-0000
You can also contact them via online submission form as well as email at [email protected].
You would think a response might take a while via the online route, but the site is dedicated to replying within a four hour window which is great considering the popularity of the site.
In conclusion we highly recommend using Bovada if you are are from the US and looking to gamble online. They have a long standing positive reputation and have been providing an exceptional service for over a decade.
The biggest issue is sorting out how to utilize Bitcoin instead of standard fiat currency but once you do that, the experience is quite seamless and you’ll be able to enjoy Bovada’s services without any issues.
