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BestSportbooks
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Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Choose a Safe and Reputable Online Sportsbook?

First things first, be sure to check that the sportsbook is indeed legal, with a valid state license and regulated by local authorities. This information is easy to find, usually on the sportsbook itself or with the state regulator. Second, check reviews from other players to get an idea of the brand’s trustworthiness and reputation. Finally, be sure to check that the sportsbook has good security with encryption and firewalls to protect your data and information.

What Are the Different Bets Offered at Online Sportsbooks?

While specific bet types differ by brand, the most common include moneyline, spread, totals, props (both player props and game props), futures, parlays, round robins, and more.

What Different Types of Bonuses and Promotions Are Offered?

Bonuses and promotions are different at each brand, with some offering more than others. Common examples include welcome/signup bonuses, sport-specific brands, parlay builders, free bets, loyalty programs, and other unique offers by season.

How Do I Make a Deposit and Withdrawal at an Online Sportsbook?

Banking options differ by brand, but options include credit/debit cards, e-wallets, wire transfers, bank transfers, cash-at-the-cage (if the sportsbook has a brick-and-mortar partner), and more.

Finding the Best Betting Sites

If you find yourself a bit confused or even bewildered when you’re trying to decide on the best betting site to use, you’re not alone. There are myriad choices of bookies, and navigating through them is made more complex by all their similar offerings. Add to that your personal preferences and requirements and the prospect of choosing the best site can be a bit daunting. Fortunately, there are articles like this one that can help you determine which bookmaker is best for you. We do this by looking at the most important criteria such as the odds offered, the quality of customer service, the types of signup bonuses provided, the user friendliness of the site, and even a site’s look and feel. Here is a complete list of the criteria we researched and used to determine the best betting sites:

  • Best odds
  • Customer Service
  • Deposit options
  • Mobile betting
  • Money back
  • Promotions and Bonuses
  • Range of Markets
  • Special features

What Makes a Good Online Sportsbook?

Deposit Bonus​ – All good bookies will have deposit bonuses. They are typically the biggest and most effective incentive offered for joining a particular site. Deposit bonuses come in all shapes and sizes, and can be anything from offers to double your original deposit to giving you extra money to play with.

Deposits and Withdrawals Methods​– The best bookmakers will also offer a variety of deposit and withdrawal options and plenty of flexibility. Whether you prefer to make a deposit using your bank card, PayPal or other eWallets, turnarounds should be quick and the site should offer a chance to cancel pending withdrawals in case players change their minds.

Odds – Any bookie worth its salt will offer decent odds. If they don’t, walk away because you won’t get good value for your money from them. And while you can’t expect a bookie to offer top odds on every game or market, you can expect them to consistently offer good odds across a variety of sports. Good bookies will do just that and when they do, you won’t have to keep jumping back and forth between bookmakers to get the best prices.

Promotions​ – In addition to deposit bonuses, good bookmakers will offer a variety of other bonuses in the form of promotions. There are promotions specifically for high-profile events, loyalty promotions for existing members such as free-bet tokens, promotions for specific sports, and a variety of ongoing promotions. The important takeaway here is that you should choose a site that offers promotions in the sports and events that you plan to bet on. The best bookies provide good promotions all year round and even offer event-specific promotions that can help you play in the big matches.

Range of Markets and Sports​ – Good sports betting sites should cover a wide variety of sports and markets, but that wide coverage shouldn’t come at the expense of good coverage of the major sports such as horse racing or football. When choosing a sports betting site, look for a site that offers good coverage of the sports you specifically like to wager on. There should be a range of markets and a nice number of games for that sport. If you prefer to bet on less high-profile sports, make sure you know what the bookie offers for your preferred sport, as the coverage between bookmakers varies considerably with some offering an impressive variety of markets for the sport and others offering almost nothing.

Customer Service​ – Customer service is an often overlooked aspect of a quality bookmaker, but it really shouldn’t be, as it’s critical to overall customer experience and satisfaction. While we hope that you won’t encounter problems with your online bookmaker that require personal assistance, chances are you will at some point. When that happens, you’ll want a site that has easily accessible customer service manned with knowledgeable and polite representatives who promptly reply to your inquiries, listen to your concerns, and address your issues.

Choosing the Best Sports Betting Site for You

Variety and options are great, but they can complicate the decision-making process, especially when it comes to choosing the right online bookmaker to place your money. There are a lot of options and a lot to consider when making this decision:

Bonuses and Promotions

While the regular promotions a sports betting site offers might be what keeps us coming back, it’s usually the free bets or welcome bonuses that first pull us in. And since these bonuses can vary considerably from site to site, it’s worth your while to search around a bit to find that top bonus, or the type of bonus that appeals most to you.

Competitiveness of Odds and Lines

Naturally, you want the best odds possible; the better the odds, the better the payoff from your bet. So it’s essential that you find a site that consistently offers top odds. Remember, though, the most favorable odds offered will be different from game to game and market to market, so as you conduct your search, be sure to focus on the sports that you’re interested in betting on.

Types of Deposit and Withdrawal Methods

While making deposits and withdrawals using your debit or credit card is pretty much an option at any online sports betting site, the better sites offer a wide range of deposit and withdrawal methods including PayPal, Skrill, Moneybookers etc. Be aware, however, that there’s not only variation among sites regarding the types of payment methods offered, but there are also variations in the minimum deposit and withdrawal amounts allowed for each method. The bottom line? Make sure the deposit and withdrawal methods a site offers suit your particular needs before you join.

User Friendliness and Site’s Appearance

Like any website, you’ll want an online bookmaker to be easy to navigate and attractive. Placing your bets should be a clear and simple process. The interface should be user-friendly and make it simple to get around and use the site.

Extra Features

Everyone enjoys services and products that offer extras and the players at online bookmaker sites are no exception. As a result, many online bookmakers have expanded beyond just offering the basic service of allowing players to place bets, and now help players out by providing information that assists them in choosing and placing bets. These extras can be anything from betting guides and tips by expert bettors to statistics and analyses of betting trends, all of which can be used by players to place smarter bets. Some bookmakers even offer free-to-play games that help you get started and give you a small chance to win big prizes. Yet others give you the option to play casino games or bet on virtual sports.

Customer Service

When searching for the online bookmaker that is best for you, make sure that the customer service is a major consideration in your final decision. Many people choose their online bookmaker assuming that customer service isn’t relevant. And it’s an understandable assumption, since bets are placed and settled via the site’s online interface, without any need for human interaction. However, you are bound to have questions about special offers or features at some point that can’t be answered just by browsing the site. Also, if you have any problems with withdrawals or payouts, you’ll want to be able to talk to a customer service representative who can help you resolve the issue promptly. It’s in these cases that you’ll see how quickly quality customer service becomes important. Live chat is often the easiest way to get help, but the really good sites also have a complete FAQs section, and a telephone number to reach a live person directly. In a word, always check out the customer service options and availability of an online betting site before you join.

Licensing, Regulation, and Reputation

Because online bookmakers are licensed by the state’s Gambling Commission, you can rest assured that they are reliable and trustworthy. Nevertheless, any time you’re depositing money on a site, you want to know that the company can be trusted so research your site and make sure it’s reputation is solid and check out their customer service. Sites with top quality customer service have the best reputations.

Range of Sports and Events Covered

Another important criterion for choosing the right online bookie is the range of sports and events that are offered. This may seem like a no brainer, but sometimes we get so caught up searching on other criteria, the most obvious one is forgotten. And since you clearly don’t want to join a site that doesn’t offer the sports you enjoy betting on, be sure to confirm that the site does indeed offer the sports and events that interest you before you join. Note that while you’ll find that most sites let you bet on the majority of sports, there are sites that specialize in certain sports. Consequently, these sites often limit their offerings for the other sports to just their biggest matches and events.

Speed of Payouts

Betting has become a 24-hour form of recreation thanks to online sports betting sites offering matches and events around the globe at any time of day. With so much constant activity, it’s possible to spend your winnings before you get them! That’s why having a site that provides speedy payouts is so important. The big bookmakers typically pay out immediately or close to it, with some sites even offering special payout deals where they pay out if players or a team gets a certain number of points ahead in a game. As for the smaller sites, don’t expect the quick payouts. They usually take a little longer.

Variety of Betting Options

No doubt online betting has facilitated the betting process, but we’re not always at our computers, so a good online bookmaker should have a mobile option too. After all, there are live events happening all the time, everywhere. A good mobile app will make placing bets from your phone quick and easy, and add a whole new level of betting enjoyment. Another nice betting option to look for is the ability to place live bets on a match that you can actually watch while it’s in progress. Bettors find this form of betting exciting and it has been gaining in popularity, so more sites are offering this option too.

Variety of Sports

It won’t be a problem to find markets for events in the major betting sports, such as football and basketball, since the majority of sports betting sites will offer them. However, some bookies specialize in specific sports events, such as soccer or smaller boxing matches or even extra markets in Formula 1. These sites offer a good opportunity for you to improve your betting performance since specializing in one or two sports allows you to enhance your understanding of teams and their players as well as how the odds can change during a match. If you like the idea of specializing in one sport, you should find the bookmaker offering the best coverage for that sport so that you have ample options for placing your bets.

Types of Betting Markets and Methods

The coverage of events and markets that bookmakers offer will vary considerably. And while most of them will offer coverage of major events like the Super Bowl or March Madness, there are some that will only offer the most common markets such as match winners. Still others will expand their market offerings significantly, with variations from sport to sport as well. In other words, find an online bookie that offers the market you like too.

Accumulator

Accumulators, also known as parlays, provide us with the chance to win big with only small stakes. Parlays are fun to play and you can play them on almost any site. However, as with most aspects of online bookmakers, accumulators come in different types and vary from online bookmaker to online bookmaker. Some offer special deals like bonuses on your winnings or free bets when you spend a specified amount on parlays within a one-week period. It makes sense, then, that if you like placing bets on parlays, the betting sites that offer these special deals are the ones for you.

Forecast

If you like the idea of a chance to win big without high stakes, then you should also check out forecasts. With forecasts, you can bet on the order of the top 2-5 frontrunners of a race. Unfortunately, the forecasting option isn’t available at every online bookmaker, so you’ll need to search around for it. You’ll most likely find it only at the top horse racing bookmakers.

Why Researching Online Bookies is Important: How to Use the Top 10 Sports Betting Sites:

Picking the right bookie is a highly subjective endeavor. There isn’t a single formula to use that can help you find that perfect site and using the criteria that someone else used to choose his bookie, or choosing a site just because it offers the best price for the upcoming match on TV, are not the best ways to undertake your search. Everyone’s preferences are different. One person might value a bookie that consistently offers good prices for football while someone else might prefer a site that offers the best promotions for the big fights or horse racing. Plus, every sports-betting site has its pluses and minuses. This is why our reviews are based on comparisons of exhaustive reviews prepared by our sports experts and ace punters. The reviews are intended to help you understand and find which online bookie suits you best. Our experts have extensive experience in sports wagering and we’re eager to share their knowledge with you so you can get the maximum enjoyment and success from online sports betting.

Take the time you need to read the reviews, understand them, and learn from them so that you can find the right bookie and get the most pleasure from your betting experience. Whatever your preferences are in betting, whether it’s exclusively bets on horse races or occasional parlay bets on football matches, your betting experience should be fun.

Making your Bets Count: How We Can Help You

Online betting can be a great pastime and provide a great deal of pleasure, but newcomers and even experienced players can always use a little help. We have a large quantity and variety of articles covering everything from how to get started to how to improve your winnings and more. They have tips and strategies on how to compare bookmakers, how to place smarter bets, how to bet on new or different sports, and on just about anything you might want to know about online sports betting. Our coverage runs the gamut from football, to basketball, baseball, boxing and just about any other sport you can possibly bet on. Our reviews will help you stay one step ahead of the bookies in whatever sport you enjoy betting on and enhance your total experience.

Ready to get started? Read our reviews and pick the bookmaker that is best for you from our chart. Start having fun today!