Online sports betting has never been more popular. Today in 2021 online sports betting is a billion dollar business for US citizens. The good news is that there are proven reputable, legit and trustworthy online sportsbooks you can gamble with right now no matter where you live in the USA. The following sports betting websites are absolutely the best in the business. I have been working with them for years (decades now for some sportsbooks like Bovada and Intertops) and you can be assured that you are getting competitive odds, fair bets and when you win you get paid.
Clearly, the safest sports betting sites for players in the United States are sites that are licensed by states that have legalized Internet-based sports gaming. New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia have approved legal online sportsbooks at the time of this writing, and these are certainly safe betting sites. I’m an online gambling expert with nearly 20 years of direct industry experience under my belt. Welcome to my website, you are one of the lucky ones! I keep a super strict list of only the highest quality gambling sites since early 2004. As of today in 2021 I have helped 97,000+ people find an online casino, sportsbook or poker room to play at.
You should avoid most online sportsbooks as a precautionary measure. If you are going to gamble online then know that these sportsbooks are the top betting sites in the industry and they have maintained a positive reputation for US bettors for many, many years.
We all have our favorites.
Do you support the home team or are you one of those people?
Honest Sports Betting Sites US Players Allowed
They say a rising tide lifts all boats. To that end, the entire online sports betting industry is seeing a massive influx of money. But the industry’s growth poses a problem. It’s difficult to know which USA-friendly sports betting sites are safe, reliable and trustworthy.
Here’s the good news: we’ve done the heavy lifting for you. This site not only provides you with an easy-to-use list of the top U.S. sports gambling sites, but it also keeps that list updated.
We have no qualms about dropping sportsbooks that fail to meet our standards.
Bovada
Bovada is hard to beat. They’re like the Amazon of the sports betting industry. They host lines and spreads in practically every sport you can imagine placing wagers on, from football and baseball to horse racing, cricket and darts. In addition, they’ll help you get started with a 50% matching bonus up to $250.
Making deposits is simple.
Bovada accepts credit cards, bitcoin, Western Union payments and person-to-person transfers. The also accept Bitcoin Cash and are a crypto friendly online sportsbook so I expect this list to increase over time.
They also pay without fail.
If you win and make a withdrawal, you’ll receive payment. Period.
How much do you have to wager per bet at Bovada?
If you bet online, the minimum bet is $1. That’s as low as it goes. Maybe you just want to have a little fun.
By the way, you may be familiar with the name “Bodog”. They managed to maintain a bulletproof reputation as an online sportsbook for USA players years ago. Bovada is run by the same folks..
Read our detailed bovada sports review for more information about our top rated sportsbook for US gamblers.
BetOnline
BetOnline is a great option. They take players from all 50 US states (Bovada has a few restrictions) and offer quality customer support, big bonuses and maintain a fantastic reputation. Especially if you’re a high-roller or bettor who knows how to squeeze maximum mileage from the bonuses. They allow some of the highest betting limits in the industry. For example, NFL straight bets (or sides) can be wagered up to $25,000.
You can opt to receive a 50% matching bonus up to $1,000. Note that the bonus is anchored by a 10X rollover requirement. That shouldn’t pose an issue if you’re an active bettor or willing to stake large sums. There are a ton of on-going Betonline promotions which you can keep up to date with here or just check the promotions page on the official website.
BetOnline offers lines and spreads on as many sports as Bovada. They also have a reputation for speedy payouts. One of the ways BetOnline stands apart from the pack is by offering a range of withdrawal options. You can receive your winnings via Bitcoin, Western Union, bank wire, book-to-book transfer or check.
Don’t be intimidated by BetOnline’s high maximum betting limits. The site is still one of the best USA sportsbooks for beginning and intermediate bettors. You can wager as little as $1.
This company has been involved in sports betting for nearly 15 years. That’s important. Sportsbooks don’t enjoy that type of longevity without being dependable and responsive to their customers. Learn more in my comprehensive is Betonline legit review.
Bookmaker
Bookmaker is one of the oldest online sportsbooks. The company launched in 1985. That’s 36 years of history in an industry known for its lack of constancy1 Although Bovada and BetOnline manage to score a bit higher on our list of the top sportsbooks for USA bettors, Bookmaker isn’t far behind.
First, they’re reliable. You never have to worry about whether you’ll receive your withdrawals.
Second, they’re flexible. You can deposit funds via credit cards, bank wires, person-to-person transfers, eWallet transfers, Western Union or physical check. If you deposit $300 or more, Bookmaker will even cover your Western Union fees.
You can make withdrawals via debit cards, bank wires, person-to-person transfers and check.
One of the areas we feel Bookmaker could be better is with its new account bonus. When you register a new account, you can receive a 15% matching bonus up to $600 plus 50% for the casino, up to $1000 for a grand total of $1600. This does come with a 5x rollover requirement for the sportsbook portion and a 40x rollover requirement for the casino portion.
Read our detailed review of Bookmaker:
When you win you will get paid.
Billions of dollars are wagered each year as bettors put action on the NFL, NBA, MLB and many other sports. The top USA sportsbooks, including Bovada, BetOnline, Bookmaker, and FortuneJack are all experiencing growth and continued loyalty from their long time bettors.
Above you’ll find a current list of the best online sportsbooks that accept USA players. We’ll highlight important details for each one and provide links to in-depth reviews that contain more information.
Making A Deposit – Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, or Crypto (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum etc)
Credit cards are the easiest way for you to deposit. When they work that is.
Today US gamblers are moving to crypto currency. Bettors like you and I need to get into the digital age of crypto’s. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin.
Cryptocurrencies are the safest, fastest and easiest way to gamble online for real money from anywhere in the world.
If you already own bitcoin or another crypto then all you need to do is register at the site and send the crypto to the betting sites deposit address they provide you.
If you do not yet own bitcoin, don’t worry it’s easy.
I’m going to quickly explain how to do this.
The steps needed to buy bitcoin
- Go to Coinbase.com, buy bitcoin (credit card or bank transfer will work).
- Go to Greenaddress.it, create a bitcoin wallet (you need this to hold the bitcoin you buy from coinbase).
- Send your bitcoin from Coinbase to Greenaddress.it – do not skip this step. (There will be a small fee to transfer to your greenaddress wallet but this is an essential step. Coinbase does not allow you to interact with an online casino, they will shut you down if you send or receive directly to an online casino or sportsbook. This is why you need to use Greenaddress.it or your own personal e-wallet to send and receive bitcoin from casinos.
- Create your account at a sportsbook of your choice, visit the deposit/cashier area and choose bitcoin for deposits.
- The sportsbook will provide you a bitcoin address to send your bitcoin to (they will provide a qr code for your phone to scan). Copy the deposit address.
- Open your greenaddress wallet which will now hold your bitcoin and send bitcoin to the sports betting site.
- Your deposit will be credited to your account.
- Bet, gamble, have fun
- When you are ready to cash out, visit the sites cashier and click withdraw and choose bitcoin as your method
- Now they will ask you for a bitcoin address to send the bitcoin to – so you open up your greenaddress wallet, create a new receiving address and provide that to the sportsbooks cashier.
- Verify the details and withdrawal amount and click the finish withdrawal button
- The sportsbook sends you the bitcoin back to your wallet
- From there you can do what you choose with it – keep it, spend it or turn it back into US dollars
- If you want to cash out to fiat currency, you will again use coinbase. This is why you don’t want to burn your account here by using the built in wallet for gambling.
- Send your greenaddress bitcoin to coinbase. Do not send directly to coinbase from a casino.
- There are other wallets if you don’t like Greenaddress. You could find a handful to choose from but I would start out with one you are comfortable is safe. If you plan to be in crypto for a while then get a hardware wallet like the Ledger or Trezor.io.
- If Coinbase won’t work, there are Bitcoin ATM’s popping up all over
5 Tips For Choosing The Best Online USA Sportsbook
Thus far, I’ve given you a short list of the top sportsbooks for players living in the U.S. There are hundreds of others. At some point, you may be tempted to try a few. Use the following tips for selecting a site that won’t leave you feeling disappointed.
Test The Site’s Customer Support
You may never need to speak with a sportsbook’s support staff. But if you do, you’ll want them to respond promptly and professionally to your questions.
Before making your first deposit, contact the site’s service reps. Do it on the phone and via email. Make sure they’re responsive before you sign up.
Review the Site’s Deposit/Withdrawal Options
Some sites accept Bitcoin. Others don’t. Some charge high fees on withdrawals. Others process payouts with minimal fees. Some accept funds transfers from other sportsbooks. Others require “new” money.
This is strictly a matter of preference. If you’re a Bitcoin user, check whether the sportsbook you’re considering accepts them.
Take The Welcome Bonus With A Grain Of Salt
Sportsbooks use new member bonuses to compel people to join. It’s a great strategy that has always worked well.
The problem is, a lot of people forget they have to earn out the bonus. That’s what the rollover requirement is for.
To be sure, if you’re a heavy or consistent bettor, meeting the rollover requirement won’t be a challenge for you. But if you’re only betting $5 a $10 a day, it’s going to take time.
Look For The Best Lines
Don’t assume the lines posted at one site are mirrored at every other site. They vary, sometimes dramatically so. That’s why a lot of experienced sports bettors go line shopping. They seek the best odds, knowing they can increase their likelihood of a win.
BookMaker is often the first book out of the gate when it comes to posting new lines and spreads. Compare them with Bovada, BetOnline and any other site you’re thinking about using.
Only Use Financially-Strong Sportsbooks
In a way, sportsbooks are like insurance companies. Some have substantial financial backing. Others are little more than fly-by-night ventures that operate on the precipice of bankruptcy.
If you’re wagering large sums, definitely stick to sports betting sites with strong financial ratings. All of the sportsbooks on our list are rated at the top of the pile in this area. You’ll never need to worry about the sites’ solvency.
If you choose to play at lesser-known sites, be aware that you’re taking a risk.
Register An Account At The Top U.S. Sportsbooks
Twenty-five years ago NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue remarked, “We do not want our games to be used as bait to sell gambling.” A year later, sports betting was made illegal in nearly every state in the U.S. except Nevada and a few others.
Times have changed.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver opined in late 2014 that “Congress should adopt a federal framework that allows states to authorize betting on professional sports.” He estimated the amount wagered each year was close to $400 billion.
Silver’s claim might be overreaching, but his opinion reflects that of a growing number of sports betting fans. One thing is clear: more people than ever are registering accounts at sites like Bovada, BetOnline, and Bookmaker.
Why not join them and have a blast building your bankroll?
If you are looking for the safest betting sites in 2021, you’ve found what you need. Our experienced team of sports betting experts are constantly analyzing online sportsbooks to determine which are the most trusted options for your real money bets.
As of right now, these are the safest sports betting sites for wagering online in 2021:
Rank | DE Betting Site | Exclusive Bonus | Get Started | |
---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | Betway Sports | Up To€150 | Visit Site | Visit Site |
#2 | 22Bet Sports | 100% Up To€122 | Visit Site | Visit Site |
#3 | Spin Sports | 100% Up To€200 | Visit Site | Visit Site |
#4 | 10Bet Sports | 100% Up To€50 | Visit Site | Visit Site |
#5 | Guts Sports | 100% Up To€50 | Visit Site | Visit Site |
These safe online betting sites have proven they can be trusted. They treat their customers with respect and they use the latest security measures on the market to protect them from external attacks too.
Joining any of them will provide a safe gambling experience which is what all of our readers are looking for. And the best news is that you don’t have to sacrifice anything that you’d expect from a top sports betting site. The safest online sportsbooks still offer plenty of other perks like generous bonuses promotions, high odds, and a wide range of betting options.
You can comfortably try to win money from your knowledge of sports betting without worrying that someone might steal from you.
Is Online Betting Safe?
We’ve heard the question “is online betting safe?” thousands of times and it’s a legit concern. There are risks associated with any kind of real money gambling, and that risk is magnified when you’re betting online with sportsbooks and bookmakers that don’t have a physical presence.
The fact is that most online sports betting sites are perfectly safe to use. However, there are exceptions. That’s what it’s important to narrow down your choices when betting online, and stick to trusted and reliable options.
How do you tell the safe betting sites from the unsafe ones, though? That’s not as easy as it should be, thanks to the lack of global regulation of real money online gambling. There are betting sites out there that are unlicensed and unregulated, just waiting to take advantage of innocent bettors.
Don’t worry, though, as we’re here to assist. We’ve been involved with the online gambling industry for many years, and we’ve spent most of this time helping our readers find safe and trusted gambling sites. It’s what we do, and we do it well.
- 200+ Gambling Sites Reviewed
- Two decades of recommending safe sites to gamble at
- Over 100 years of combined gambling experience between our team
- Independent and unbiased rankings
To start placing real money wagers online, simply choose one of the safest betting sites we’ve listed above. To find out more about safe online betting, and how we identify the safest sportsbooks, keep reading.
The obvious goal of this page is to keep you informed about the safest sports betting sites online today. That’s the easy bit, but actually identifying them takes more effort.
There are three main areas we check when assessing the safety of online betting sites.
- Legit Gambling License
- Strong Reputation
- Latest Security Measures
Let’s dive a bit deeper into each of these, so you better understand exactly how we find the safest sports betting sites on the web. That could help you if you decide to look for a safe online sportsbook on your own at some point.
All of the safest betting websites have a license issued by a legit gambling commission and that’s the first thing we establish. The regulators run extensive background checks before they grant the necessary seal of approval and they continue monitoring their trusted bookmakers after that.
Their job is to make sure that the interest of the players is protected properly. The best gambling commissions vary depending on your region, but the most secure betting sites all have a license by a respected regulator. A good example of one of the best is the UK Gambling Commission.
You can check every the licensing of a sportsbook by looking at the bottom of their website. That’s where the gambling commission and the serial number of the document are usually mentioned. If you can’t find them, that’s a red flag.
Betting sites you can trust have that information in a visible place and there are no exceptions to this rule.
Having a license is a good starting point, but not enough of a reason by itself to put an operator on our list of safe betting sites. The next step of our investigation is to evaluate their reputation by running some additional checks.
We carefully explore any complaints from customers we can find. The mere presence of such is not a big deal, as you will find unhappy users of any real money gambling site that has been operating for long enough. The main factors here are the number and the severity of the accusations.
If a couple of people weren’t happy with a particular member of the staff or had minor trouble with the navigation of the page, that’s not the end of the world. If you have loads of customers complaining that they weren’t paid, that’s another story.
We naturally stay away from all companies with a shady past and you won’t find them on our list of the safest real money betting sites.
After we make sure that a site has no intention of stealing your hard-earned cash or messing with you in any other way, we check if it has the necessary measures to protect you from other dangers like hackers.
We carefully explore the security measures used by online betting sites. The most important shield is the SSL certificate that proves all data transfers are encrypted with the latest technologies. Even if someone steals the information, they can’t do anything with it
The easiest way to understand if any website has that layer of protection would be to look at the URL in your browser. If it starts with “http” instead of “https”, you better stay away. That’s only the beginning, though, as we also check the privacy policy and other factors until we are completely satisfied.
The most obvious benefit of using the safest sites for betting on sports is that you’re highly unlikely to get scammed or ripped off in any way. But there are many others. As we already mentioned, security doesn’t come at a cost in this case and there are plenty of additional benefits to betting at the safest sportsbooks online.
Let’s take a closer look at them.
- Large variety of sports and betting markets
- Excellent bonuses and promotions
- High betting odds and limits
- Mobile betting
- Range of banking options and fast payouts
- Useful additional features
- Reliable customer support
All of the safe online sports betting sites we recommend deliver an excellent experience and good opportunities to make some cash thanks to the factors listed above. If you have the required expertise in a certain sport, you can pick the best spots to profit thanks to the countless events and markets offered. If you add the high odds and the promotions at your disposal, the value increases even more.
On top of everything else, the safest sites for betting online make sure to provide a comfortable experience by constantly improving their user interface and mobile versions.
They work on additional features like Cash Out all the time, the payments are fast, and the support is always there to help if you are experiencing any problems. It’s the whole package, so you can have fun betting on your favorite sports and have a solid chance to earn extra money in the process.
Is betting on sports online legal?
The answer depends on your country. Betting on sports online is legal in most places, but there might be exceptions.
Make sure to check our page on gambling jurisdictions for more information.
Betting sites are often required by the gambling commission that issues their license to verify the identity and address of their customers to prevent fraud or minors taking part. That’s why they could ask you for an ID or another document.
This is a standard procedure and there’s no reason to worry about it. In fact, it helps to keep you safe from identity fraud.
What are the safest payment options for betting online?
Legit Online Gambling Sites Reddit
The payment providers supported by our recommended bookmakers and sportsbooks can all be trusted.
Credit and debit cards, e-wallets like Skrill, PayPal, and Neteller, Bitcoin, wire transfers, are secure for both deposits and cashouts.
Legit Online Gambling Sites Canada
Is it safe to use betting sites that don’t have a gambling license?
In theory, not all sportsbooks without a license are scammers. But you’d need a really good reason to trust them.
We recommend sticking to the safe betting websites that have the necessary accreditation to avoid trouble.
Finding secure betting websites is a good start, but it doesn’t guarantee the safety of your money and personal information. You have the responsibility to protect yourself following several simple rules that are mostly down to common sense.
Don’t pick easy passwords and don’t share your credentials with other people. Also, make sure to keep your email private and don’t open links or download files from emails that are from unknown senders.
It’s good to know legitimate betting websites won’t ask for your password, so don’t give it to people who pretend to be their representatives.
Simply put, don’t make stupid mistakes and you should be fine.