How SBR Chose the Most Trusted Online Sports Betting Sites
When it comes to finding the best online sportsbooks, bettors all agree that reliability and trustworthiness are of the utmost importance. Each of the sports betting sites listed has proven to offer reliable payouts, top level customer service, and an unrivaled user experience to earn their position on SBR’s Best Sportsbooks list.
Not all online sportsbooks are created equal, and while some sportsbooks excel in wagering market variety, others specialize in using the best technology available so that placing a bet on mobile is a painless process.
Today’s sports bettor requires sportsbooks that offer on the go accessibility and the ability to lock in a wager with the click of a button. Gone are the days of needing to phone in your bookmaker to place a wager, and while some of the online sportsbooks listed on this page continue to offer that service, our reports suggest that over 60% of wagers are placed from mobile devices.
Official 2019 list of best U.S. sportsbooks:
- Bovada
- Bookmaker
- BetOnline
- 5Dimes
- Heritage
- YouWager
- Intertops Sportsbook
Legit Sportsbooks Pay Quickly
The most important factor considered by SBR, aside from the bells & whistles and a sleek user experience, is the safety of player funds.
SBR identifies top rated sportsbooks as those who payout quickly and allow users a range of options to receive their withdrawals.
Alongside each profile, users will find the official SBR Rating for each company. This rating is viewed industry wide as our seal of approval and trust that players can bet with confidence. Top rated sportsbooks in 2019 have a history of paying out players quickly and settling disputes involving payments in an honest and transparent way, earning the rating we have given them.
Sportsbook Review has made its name in monitoring sportsbook activity across the web, and the SBR stamp of approval is meant to give the bettor confidence when deciding to signup with a new betting site.
The Best Sportsbooks page allows you to easily view the deposit methods available at our highest rated sportsbooks, and our full profiles clearly outline all of the withdrawal methods on offer at each of the betting sites listed.
Only the industry’s most trusted online sports betting sites are listed on the Best Sportsbooks page, with ratings ranging from B+ to A+. SBR continuously monitors the operating status of each sportsbook on this page, and many of the betting sites are visited by SBR in-person each year to ensure that the company is operationally stable both online and in person.
As the industry continues to evolve and more wagering options become available for sports bettors to send their hard-earned funds, ensuring deposits are made to trustworthy sportsbooks is of vital importance.
And don’t just take our word for it… SBR considers the feedback from the SBR Forum message-board which houses commentary from more than 300,000 sports bettors.
Sportsbook Bonuses for New Deposits & Reload Deposits
Okay, so you’ve found a couple of reputable sportsbooks that accept bets on a decent amount of wagering markets. Now what?
Most players looking to capitalize on receiving the most bang for their buck will search for the highest new account signup bonus. Most online sportsbooks offer either cash, free play, or match bet bonus for first-time depositors. As the bonus can only be claimed once, it is also important to make sure the bonus you choose is the right one based on your wagering style.
Cash bonuses function like deposited funds. The bonus is added on top of your bankroll so that if you deposited $500 and the house offering was a 25% cash bonus, you’d receive $625 in your account. Cash bonuses, much like free play and match bets, are accompanied by a wagering requirement referred to as a rollover. A rollover is a sportsbook’s way of ensuring that they receive action from a player in exchange for the bonus incentive. Obviously, if a sports gambling site allowed a player to withdraw the bonus right after depositing, they would lose money in a hurry and receive nothing in return. Rollover requirements on sports wagers are typically anywhere from 1X to 10X, though higher rollovers are not uncommon for casino promotions.
Free play bonuses are a bit different than cash bonuses. A free play bonus is generally worth 50% the value of a cash bonus. This is because unlike with cash bonuses, free plays are not part of your regular balance. For instance, if you deposited $500 for a 25% free play bonus, you’d have $500 in your available balance and $125 in your free play balance. Once you use the $125 free play, only the winnings are returned to your account balance. A rollover then applies on the free play winnings.
Match bet bonuses are used for more targeted online betting promotions and come in many different forms. One popular format is to deposit a certain amount of money and receive a matching bonus, either credited to your account or added on to a wager of a particular event. For example, bet $20 on an NFL game this weekend and receive another $20 to wager with, or another $20 on the same side.
Reload bonuses can typically be claimed multiple times if a player has not recently taken a withdrawal. Betting websites incentivize users to re-up their accounts with a new deposit and stay in the game. Players should always check out the promotions page of their sportsbook to take advantage of perks when available. Normally sports betting sites will release new seasonal promotions ahead of each sports year, offering prime opportunities to value hunting players.
Loyalty programs are another way online betting sites reward their frequent clients. At some sportsbooks, a player receives some form of points tacked on to each deposit or wager. After a player has accumulated X amount of points, they can exchange these points for cash, physical merchandise, free plays, or even to reduce the amount of fees associated with their transactions. Loyalty programs should be considered as another form of a bonus incentive that might make the difference between turning a profit or finishing a quarter in the red.
Cash-back promotions are specials where once or twice a season a player receives a percentage of their losses back from the online sportsbook. This can be in the form of an account deposit or free play. While these promotions are more commonly found in the racebook or casino, a few of the industry’s top sportsbooks also offer cash-back incentives.
Easy Ways to Fund the Sportsbook
Nothing is more important to sports bettors that getting paid, and all of the betting sites on this page have long and excellent track records of allowing players to cash out. However, not all sportsbooks have identical cashiers, and each of the sites on the best sportsbooks page offers a variety of payment methods for withdraws and deposits. Most sportsbooks include VISA and Bitcoin as their primary funding options, while others also include American Express and Discover Cards.
Credit card processing varies from site to site, and our detailed review pages are intended to assist players looking to identify things like minimum and maximum deposit amounts, fees associated with each option, and any regional restrictions. For example, bettors in the US are unable to use popular eWallet options like Neteller and Skrill to fund their online betting accounts, and fewer sportsbooks accept PayPal as a deposit option.
Wagering Limits
So, you’ve done your homework and have identified a wager that appears to give you a 5% or higher edge, however, once you attempt to place the bet you discover that the $2,000 wager you intended to place exceeds the sportsbook’s limits on the wager.
Wager limits are an important feature to many bettors, and the sites represented on the Best Sportsbook page offer some of the highest wagering limits on the web today. Some even allow players to re-bet the same event for the limit if the line has been adjusted by a trader.
Sportsbook wagering limits are detailed on each of the full review pages for all major and smaller sports, as well as the betting limits associated with parlays, teasers, and other types of wagers.
Fairness of Sportsbook Rules & Application of Rules
There is no worse feeling than racking up a decent sized balance and having a payout request rejected on account of a technicality. Lowly rated sportsbooks often include these “gotcha” rules to delay players from cashing out their funds. Blacklisted sportsbooks have also changed their rules after the fact to justify voiding player winnings.
The trusted betting sites listed by SBR on this page have for many years handled player accounts fairly and do not have rules you would not find in Las Vegas. Players can bet with confidence that their winnings will be paid to them when they are fortunate enough to ask for a payout.
Sportsbook Customer Service
The customer may not always be right, but online sportsbooks that have skilled customer service departments know how to diffuse a situation and reward loyal clients. Perhaps a deposit is received late, a payout is a day late, or there’s a wrong line on an event listed on the page. While all businesses are destined to experience problems at one time or another, it is how they decide to handle them that determines how they are rated by Sportsbook Review.
The online sportsbooks on this page have been judged on their ability to resolve problems in a fair and quick manner so that players can carry on with their wagering without having to spend all day on live chat or corresponding via email over trivial matters.
Customer service is offered via telephone, email, live chat, and even Twitter with many of the online gambling sites featured on this page.
Each of the companies also maintain communication with Sportsbook Review in the event that players would like to ask SBR for a second opinion on how something was handled.
The Ability to Bet on Sports While on the Go
As mentioned in the overview, more than half of all wagers in 2019 are placed on mobile devices, and this trend will only become more popular as technology continues to advance.
Our Best Sportsbooks list only features brands who offer fast and streamlined mobile experiences, and their software has been designed to accommodate both Android, Windows, and iOS (Apple) devices.
The top online sports betting sites have committed themselves to providing an intuitive and fluid mobile betting experience that rivals that found on some of the world’s largest websites, and their mobile friendly interface means that bettors now have the entire sportsbook experience in their pockets at all times.
Sportsbook Review has tested each of the betting sites listed on this page on a wide variety of devices to verify that players can enjoy a bug-free, easy experience when wagering on the go.
Always looking to improve, some sportsbooks have even offered players free plays for discovering software issues which hinder user experience on mobile or desktop devices.
When Betting on Sports, Variety & Value Matters
The best online sportsbooks usually offer customers a wide variety of wagering options and additional features. While one site might have an enticing signup bonus, if it lacks some of the more exotic and fringe options found at the most reputable site, players will most likely grow bored with the limited offerings available.
Each of the sportsbooks listed on this page offer thousands of wagering markets on a weekly basis, including US sports and international, and with advanced live betting platforms and sections dedicated to numerous prop markets, it is unlikely that customers will be left wanting in terms of betting options.
While the average sports bettor in the United States is accustomed to betting on traditional spread, totals, and moneyline options for one of the popular professional leagues or collegiate competitions, the top sportsbooks provide a more global offering, where political props, eSports, and entertainment markets are all accessible.
Thanks to the popularity in fantasy sports, live betting and propositional betting has also taken the United States betting market by storm. All sportsbooks on this list allow bettors to make live, in-game wagers and bet on the performance of their favorite teams and players in any specific category.
One of the key concepts for players looking to maximize their return is the idea of Expected Value (EV). When you have a $1,000 bankroll, logic dictates the most optimal strategy is to wager on anything that provides a small edge. When an online sportsbook limits offerings to only the most mature of markets, such as pro and college sports, a bettor is hamstrung by the lack of variety and loses out on the opportunity enjoyed by other players to diversify their bet slip with props and softer markets.
There is an old saying in the sports betting industry — if you don’t think small edges matter, stroll down the Las Vegas strip and look up at the massive casinos. The same is true when betting on sports: Small edges matter and it is essential that sports bettors seek out companies that aren’t afraid to take a bet on just about anything.
Teasers, Parlays, Exotic Wagers & Prop Bets
Less reputable books are known to limit a players wagering options to straight bets, and this is guaranteed to feel restricting for the recreational sports better.
Sites earning a top rating on Sportsbook Review offer players a number of exotic wagering options such as teasers, monster teasers, pleasers, parlays, and proposition (prop) bets.
Prop betting has become common practice, and weekly teasers and parlays are now regular additions to betting cards for bettors of all levels. These options can allow players to find positive expectation scenarios and ultimately increase their chances of finishing the day in the black.
Casinos, Live Casino, Racebooks, & Poker
While each of the sites featured on this page were built with the sports bettor in mind, they also house full virtual casinos, racebooks, and poker rooms. Using state of the art technology, bettors will have access to thousands of slot machines, traditional casino games, and even a live casino experience where you will have real dealers and players at your table. Here you can converse with fellow players and even strike up a conversation with the dealer just as you would in a real casino. You can read more about these offerings and associated promotions in the full review pages.
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