Where to bet safely in the USA? If you are looking for the answer to this question, take a look at the chart below. These are the most trustworthy and reliable bookmakers on the market. Compare their terms and offers and find more information about each company in our review.
Leading Online Bookmakers in the USA
As yet relatively untapped the online market in the US holds the potential to become one of the world’s richest entertainment destinations, already offering services boasting some of the industry’s finest products from leading gambling operating brands such as Unibet, Bet365, and DraftKings speaking of much more to come in the future.
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Why Choose US Online Betting Venues
One of the key reasons a punter would prefer using the services of US-based online sportsbooks over European based venues is the selection of available sports, and the odds offered on them. Due to the international nature of online sportsbooks, they all offer quite a similar range of sports types. However, what differentiates US-based venues from others is the critical role played by locally popular sports types.
This due to the simple fact that football and horseracing are the two most followed, supported, and bet on sports throughout Europe. As a result, European sportsbooks place great emphasis on providing top-quality football and horseracing products, on which they offer the best odds and similarly, run fantastic promotional campaigns centred around these products.
In contrast, people in the US predominantly follow sports such as NFL Football, baseball, basketball, and NFL Hockey which sees these sports types receive most of the limelight in US-based licenced betting sites to respectively offer the best odds and feature in the best promotions.
Gambling Facts at a Glance
CurrencyGenerally, US sports betting sites accept the USD, with US-based international facing bet websites accepting most the most popular internationally traded currencies like Euro (EU) and British Pound Sterling (GBP), with some also authorising betting account funding via a variety of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). | |
PopulationIn 2019 approximately 329 million people chose the United States of America as their preferred country of residence, and it ranks as the world’s third most populous country. | |
Active playersApproximately 64% of all US residents gamble, bringing the total number of active gamblers in the country to more than 210 million people. | |
Regulatory authorityThe US state instituted no single formal federal body to govern gambling on a national basis. Instead, it mostly leaves such issues as the responsibility of each individual state. After the 2018 overturning of the PASPA Act of 1992, states took a much firmer stance to establish effective regulatory bodies. However due to the large number of member states in the USA listing them all is simply not feasible, but for reference purposes, the names of all US state regulatory bodies invariably start with the state name ending with Gaming Control Board, Gaming Commission, and a couple other commonly expected wordings. | |
Licensed gambling productsSince the US Supreme Court ruled against the validity of the PASPA Act, the laws, its controlling bodies, and indeed the gambling market itself has remained in a constant state of flux making accurately discerning such issues a near impossible task. Especially so with each state placed in control of its own gambling destiny. However, before entering a state to market and present its services gambling operators must obtain the necessary licences according to its intended function from state regulatory bodies and meet each controlling body’s legal requirements. | |
Types of operatorsMany of the experienced and highly successful European online bookmaking brands were quick to recognise the untapped potential presented by the newly emerging American gambling market. Experiencing little local competition and receiving an enthusiastic welcome from a bustling local online audience clamouring for excellent online bookies, these professionally operated European brands in the US were successful in obtaining a full range of licencing agreements from all the local governing bodies. Their experience clearly visible, these operators met each of their successful state entries with a widely publicised media announcing the arrival of their legal entertainment venues, exciting punters with the innovative products and services on offer. |
Is Online Betting Legal in the USA?
In terms of sports betting, the US and the UK represent the world’s two largest markets. Besides, each country earned a well-deserved reputation for offering a wide variety of action-packed online sportsbooks. However, despite sharing this common interest, these two markets could not have taken more different directions in implementing the safest possible gambling environment for their citizens.
In May 2018 a US Supreme Court ruling overturned the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) which had imposed a federal ban on all betting activities throughout the United States which made sports betting in all its forms legal. However, US states must still individually pass specific laws to make sports betting legal within state borders. Six states have already passed such laws allowing online sportsbooks to operate within state borders. Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island already enacted and launched the necessary sports betting laws, with Tennessee, Montana, Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois too having passed such laws but have not started them yet.
Many other states throughout the US are in various stages of progress to pass such laws. However, a large number of citizens in most states have, for some time now engaged in legal online betting in the USA. With no federal ban in place, no one has ever been arrested or prosecuted for partaking in activities at online gambling sites.
Why would some online bookmakers impose restrictions on American players?
Answers to this question range from highly complex to quite simple with the most basic reason involving legality, the site may simply not hold a licence allowing them to operate legally within the independently governed US state borders. Furthermore, the site in question may simply not offer a local popularly accepted secure banking method for funding a sportsbook account.
How to Choose the Right Online Betting Site
US punters preferring to play online inevitably face the task of selecting the best online sportsbook, usually doing so without any idea about what factors would for them define the term “best”. Like with a person’s choice of smartphone, in each individual’s case factors influencing and describing the term “best” would differ substantially from factors considered important by any other person. However, a few guidelines may ease your way toward determining these factors and improve your chances for making the correct choice of online bookie the first-time around. These include;
- Positively verify and ensure the venue holds a valid gambling operator’s licence from the regulatory body of whichever state you live in
- Ensure they employ the latest security measures to assure the safety, security, and privacy of your submitted personal and financial details.
- How reputable are they? For expert advice on this and many other matters refer to expert online reviews from a few premier online affiliate sites, as they offer extensive lists containing the names of personally vetted, reputable professionally operated online sportsbook brands such as Bet365, Unibet, and DraftKings in the USA.
- How is their pricing & do they offer favourable bookmaker’s odds?
- What support structures do they offer & are they available 24/7 via Live Chat?
- Do they offer a Cash-out or Bet Stop feature and live streaming for the sports you most bet on?
- Does your choice offer and support Live In-Play betting?
Bonuses for USA Players
As a major emerging world market, the US sports betting industry offers punters looking for great bonuses focused on improving their sports betting opportunities, access to numerous fantastic promotional bonuses and special offers. Boasting excellent ideas and challenging opportunities initiated by several of the country’s foremost online sports betting providers, all vying to attract and capture the attention of punters looking for a new betting partner.
Each of the leading contenders occupying the US market features many other promotional offers exclusively aimed at catering to the needs of their long-established members. These include Deposit Bonuses, Reload Bonuses, and No Risk Matched Betting, to name a few.
Most Popular Sports to Bet on in the USA
Online sports betting in the US represents an entirely unique market with the most supported and bet on sports bearing little in common with those found in other markets, mostly supporting sports types played, practised, and made famous in America. US punters commonly prefer online sportsbooks who primarily focus on the following sports listed in the order of their respective popularity:
- NFL Football
- Basketball
- Baseball
- Soccer
- MMA & Boxing
- NHL Hockey
- Golf
Are Online Casinos Popular in the United States of America?
US market research that covered many areas of gambling identified the mobile market as its fastest growing sector. This was greatly accelerated by the effects felt after the US Supreme Court’s scrapping of the PASPA Act contributed to by the 2002 partial dissolution of the Wire Act with the Supreme Court. That saw the Supreme Court stating that the Wire Act does not in any manner prohibit online gambling.
These factors saw Americans turn, in droves, to online entertainment venues outside US borders, enough to cause a notable outflow of monies from the US economy. Projected figures place the US gambling trade at an annual turnover of $4 billion by 2020, with over half of that figure derived from online casino activities.
Trivia/Did you know that…
- One of the most famous Superbowl related bets revolves around the initial starting coin toss, with many punters defying the 50/50 laws of a chance going so far as to analyse historical statistics to improve their odds of winning.
- The Super Bowl remains the most major betting event in the US each year.
- The largest purported single wager in history saw a punter place $5 million New Zealand dollars on the All Black rugby squad to win the Rugby World Cup. This equates to roughly $4 million US.
- In Asia the most popular sports bet on is bet Cricket!
- In the US motorsports are known as Stock Car Racing while in the UK the same sport is known as Demolition Derby.
- In both 1365 and 1424, the current reigning King banned football/soccer due to increasing levels of violence.
Available Mobile Apps
Despite fielding a slew of quality online sportsbook and casino apps, again punters and players in the US market unwittingly felt and enjoyed the benefits of the experience brought to its shores by its newly adopted European gambling operators. Who between them have gained a great many years of experience in discerning and providing apps with built-in features that people and punters want and enjoy most!
Leading providers of online sportsbook and casino entertainment activities in the US such as DraftKings, and 888sport have already become household names amongst many locals. All three of these popular brands provide a complete array of high-quality online access methods as a mobile sports betting and casino solution to owners of mobile smart devices. Each differs in its minor details and layout but all focus and succeed in delivering a complete sports betting and casino entertainment experience to its members. That allows them all the comforts and conveniences offered by their desktop PCs while adding a few innovations exclusively catering to the benefits afforded by touch screens. At the same time, they benefit from an interface fully optimised to accommodate the more restrictive screen real-estate of mobile devices.
Supported Payment Methods
US-based online sportsbooks feature most of the commonly popular international banking brands and payment methods to provide the most excellent range of financing and payment solutions to meet and cover the needs of all their members conveniently. Included are many options afforded by the well-known international banking and finance brands such as Mastercard, Visa, and many others with their complete range of debit and credit cards accepted at virtually all US sports betting facilities. Besides, there is an increasing number catering to a growing preference for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Is there Đ° tax on winnings?
While the writings here serve as a form of advisory consultation, it remains the responsibility of each individual taxpayer to determine the extent of his taxable responsibility fully. Despite various unique considerations responsible for the differences between states, in general, the US gambler faces a 25% flat rate, across the board tax on the proceeds of his winnings. However, many instances enforce a different set of tax rules depending on the size and amount of the profits. For example, this affects winnings derived from lotteries, sweepstakes, wagering pools, as well as profits exceeding 300 times the original bet amount.
FAQs
Where can US residents legally place a sports betting wager online?
Although no law allows for its, as per a US Supreme Court ruling no US law exists that explicitly forbids online gambling either. Moreover, US authorities have never arrested or prosecuted anyone for partaking in online gambling activities while in the privacy of their own home. So, feel free to use the services of any of the leading US sportsbook brands such as DraftKings and much more.
How does daily fantasy sports differ from sports betting?
In sports betting, a punter will select an athlete, team, or multiple teams to cover a point spread or win. Whereas punters who are betting on daily fantasy sports the punter selects athletes and enters them in competition with the winner derived via a computer calculation based on various statistics accumulated by his players.
Can I use PayPal to fund my sports betting at an online bookmaker in Nevada?
No, at this moment, gambling venues in the state of Nevada does not accept PayPal as a valid payment method.
What are the implications of placing bets at an unlicensed sportsbook online?
The most obvious is, you simply have no recourse should the bookmaker decide to deny you your winnings or deposited funds illegally.
Can I, as a Mississippi resident legally gamble online?
Maybe, depending on where you are at the time of placing your bet. Despite PASPA’s fall from grace Mississippi law still requires you to restrict all your sports betting activities to land or water-based casinos. Interestingly, they also allow its residents to gamble using their mobile while inside the premises of a casino.
How can I determine if the online sportsbook I’m interested in joining holds a valid operator’s licence?
The terms imposed by the regulations governing licencing agreements as well as the auditing rules governing self-imposed industry certification demand the full contents of its licencing agreement be made available in a clearly visible position on the operator’s homepage. Most likely it will appear as a live hyperlink near the bottom of the homepage or in the “Help” section.
I’m inexperienced in sports betting online and off, how will I know if a welcome offer is worthwhile?
Each person considers different types of offers as valuable, meaning only you can determine what represents the most significant benefit to you. The best advice is to, before making your final choice, refer to some of the industry’s leading online affiliates then read extensively and voraciously any number of the unbiased professional reviews available on these sites, also for greater effect and exposure include taking a look at the extensive list of personally vetted online sportsbook venues. Names of premier affiliates that immediately jump to mind include the likes of Nostrabet, Betenemy and Efirbet.
Final Comments
Despite the current state of flux in which the US online gambling, explicitly referring to sportsbooks, finds itself at the moment nothing in the American legal system prevents US citizens from signing-up and engaging in betting activities at some of the world’s most beautiful venues. However, each person choosing to do so should ascertain the validity of the operator’s licence held by the venue. Even if it is not yet licensed explicitly within their selected state of residence, numerous industry certifications and requirements assure potential members of the validity of their trustworthiness. Industry leaders, who saw the potential held by the then-struggling industry, held themselves responsible for removing one of the major stumbling blocks in the industry, they will simply not tolerate rogue operators within regulated regions and over time took commensurate steps that made a life for morally questionable operators impossible or at least complicated.