Bovada Sportsbook Review

Bovada.lv 

The Overall- Bovada is a household name in online sportsbooks, and with good reason.  The site, customer service and sport selection are all excellent, and shows users why Bovada is consistently rated as one of the top online gaming sites available.  Bovada has quickly taken over the Canadian sportsbook market, and continues to offer up services which makes it a competition nightmare for other online gaming sites.  Huge 100% deposit bonuses up to $250 and unique prop bets daily are a few of the more attractive lure to gamers, and their customer service has been consistently rated as the best in the business.

The sportsbook experience and atmosphere is second to none as well, and although the focus of this review is the sportsbook section their poker room bears mention as it is simply world class.  The casino is well done, and it’s very easy to flow from the casino to the sportsbook to the poker room, and this is what makes Bovada such an excellent choice for online gaming; whether you joined for the sprotsbook, the poker room or the casino, you will end up playing all three at some point.  The site is well done enough to encourage players and clients of all experience levels to try things out, and the signup and reload bonuses are enticing enough to tempt players into continuing their accounts.  A terrific sprotsbook through and through, Bovada is definitely an elite player in the online gaming world.

The Pros

Usability—I don’t know what else to call this…the experience at bovada just runs so smoothly and easily that after an hour or so spent on the site, you feel like a sportsbook veteran.  Bets and props are fairly easy to understand, and if you’re a new player struggling to understand, the customer service is top-notch.  Bovada has unique proprietary software which ensures that the site runs exactly the way management intends, and the effort they’ve put into making a great sportsbook is evident.  Easy to navigate, simple to use and almost entirely hassle-free, players are able to focus on the games and their wagers rather than having to work through site a betting issues.  Bovada actually allows players to forget they are operating on a site and truly feel the gaming/wagering experience.

Customer Service—I want to extend this beyond the call-in and live chat features to include the Bovada bonus system.  Bovada has never played fine-print games regarding their bonuses, and work to make the site about its players.  Bonuses, tech support and payouts are handled quickly and efficiently, and there are really no issues here.  What separates Bovada  seems to be their focus on pre-emptive customer service, and preventative service for their clients rather than offering up apologies or compensation.  The customer-first attitude of Bovada staff is evident whether you call for help or not, since very rarely will you ever have to contact the site.

Deposits—Bovada offers a huge variety when it comes to deposits, another indication that they want to make the gaming experience as easy as possible.  New players will generally have one of the eWallet services they offer, and if not there are plenty of credit or wire transfer services available.  For Canadian customers, an interact option is available as well, which offers some additional comfort to new players who are placing their first betting deposit.

Fun, Player-oriented experience—This is basically an overall assessment of betting with Bovada, since breaking a site which operates so well as a whole into the sum of its parts really doesn’t do them any justice.  The key to Bovada’s success is its total experience, not necessarily the little separate things they do to ensure the fun and functionality of the site.  Perhaps that’s the best way to summarize Bovada, they have successfully synthesized fun and function in a seamless and pleasing manner.

The benefit of this approach is that Bovada is extremely user-friendly, which in turn leads new players to feel at home very quickly.  Bovada is probably my premier pick for new gamers, and players who just want the fun and experience of gaming without any worries about service or site hassles.  Bovada is as simple as signing in and placing your bet…and that’s really all there is to say.

The Cons

Late Lines—The biggest single complaint about bovada is that their lines can be late, and at times haven’t been posted more than two hours before the game time.  This nuisance can be even more of an issue with non-mainstream sports, as the odds are generally posted even later than they are with the major North American sports.  For serious gamers this is a major issue, but for recreational or novice gamblers it really doesn’t interfere with the overall experience.  For those of us who want to put $50 a week on a few different games, it really doesn’t matter how soon the odds go up as long as it’s before gametime, and that seems to be what Bovada is all about.

Fees for withdrawals: Bovada covers the transaction fees for one withdrawal every calendar month, but fees apply to some withdrawal methods after the initial withdrawal.  While that’s a fairly minor issue, anyone who has read my other sportsbook reviews knows exactly how I feel about paying a charge to get my money.  As an already overtaxed and surcharged Canuck, paying someone to give me my cash doesn’t really go over well.

Overall Score 8.5/10

Recommendation—Go with Bovada.  There is really no reason not to select Bovada as your number one sportsbook, and lots of reasons the recreational or novice gambler will love the experience.  There’s lots of competition in the sportsbook world, but it seems like many of those sites are trying to keep up with Bovada’s innovation and operation procedures.

If you’re looking to try sportsbooks for the first time, Bovada should definitely be at the top of your lsit for sportsbooks to look into.