Online Sports Betting in 2022
Online sports betting sites tend to keep reaching new heights of popularity. It turns out that betting on your favorite sports teams can be exciting and fun, and sports fans in the United States know this well. The good news is that bettors have a wide range of attractive and reliable betting options available to them.
Additionally, this form of gambling is not as strictly regulated as other forms of gambling online. This. Compared to land-based bookies, online bookmakers offer better bonuses, convenience, hundreds of categories, and multiple payment methods. Keep reading to discover everything you need to know about sports betting.
Top Sports Betting Sites for US Players
How to Bet on Sports
If you’re new to the world of sports gambling, there’s quite a bit to cover before you’ll be ready to make your first bet. From understanding odds, to placing different types of bets, you’re in for quite a learning experience. Not to worry, though, as this guide will get you up to speed and well on your way to becoming a sports betting aficionado.
Choose a safe sports betting site
On our site, you’ll find a few fantastic betting site options. All of these sites have been hand-picked due to their safety and easy-to-use features. Most of them offer both mobile and desktop betting options for a number of different sports. Each offers their own bonuses that can help you maximize your betting experience.
Understanding Betting Odds
Equally as important as choosing a great site is learning how to read odds. Odds for any game or sport determine how much a potential payout would be. The initial opening odds represent how probable an outcome the sports book believes will happen. For example, if the top team or individual in the league is facing one of the worst, the best team is more likely to win.
This means that if you bet on this team, your payout will be relatively small. On the other hand, the potential payout for a bet on the worst team would be much greater. In sports gambling, the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. ‘Favorite’ teams or individuals are indicated by a minus sign (-) next to their odds in point spreads. The underdogs are indicated by a plus sign (+) next to their odds.
Betting on the underdog (and succeeding) will always ensure a better payout.
Understanding Basic Bet Types
Before launching into your thrilling sports gambling career, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the basic bets that you can make. Below, we’ve outlined some of the fundamental sports bets.
Straight Bets
The name says it all. With straight bets — sometimes called moneyline bets — players wager on the winner of the event. This wager indicates that one team (or player) will defeat another. Once the match or game concludes, the sportsbook in question scores the bet in one of three ways:
- Loss: The team you wagered on lost. The sportsbook keeps the stake.
- Win: The team you wagered on won. The sportsbook will return the stake, and add your winnings.
- Draw: The game, or game segment, was a tie. The sportsbook will return your stake and the wager becomes void.
The result must pass, or ‘cover’, the point spread to win. If you are betting on the favorite, the underdog must lose by less than the point spread estimate for you to get paid. An equal difference leads to a tie, and you get your money back. In addition, if the results are exactly as estimated, bets will be void and all stakes will be returned.
Over/Under Bets
This is another bet that’s quite popular among modern bettors. It represents the total number of points scored by the two teams in a single match. The total number is set by the betting sites, and it’s up to you to choose whether the figure will be over or under that number.
Parlays
Instead of betting on a single match or event, you can use a multiple bet — or parlay. This is an excellent way to boost your potential winnings, because the payout will be more significant. Keep in mind that all the selections must win for players to win the ticket.
Progressive Parlays
As the name suggests, this bet is a subtype of the parlay bet. Here, you can bet on two or more games (usually up to a dozen). However, you will get a reduced payout if some of the selections are non-winning.
Teasers
Teasers work similarly to parlays. However, they differ in the way that gamblers get an option to subtract or add points from at least one spread bet. Typically, additional points are deducted from the favorite or added to the underdog. Remember that parlay odds are usually better than teaser odds.
‘If’ Bets
In If bets, players can make a second wager up to the initial amount. Therefore, if the first condition or event wins, the bet will progress to the second one, and so on. The best thing about these bets are the boosted odds.
Future Bets
Of course, every bet is already on a future event. However, in the case of future bets, the sports events in question last for weeks or months. For example, you can bet on the next NFL winner at the start of the season. You can still use future bets once the season starts, but the odds will decrease.
High and Low Stakes Sports Betting
Like traditional sports betting shops, the best sites come with specific limits for the size of the bets. The majority of these sites will accept bets worth as little as $1, or even $0.5. The maximum bet can range between $2,000 and $10,000. Don’t forget that the type of sport, event, or bet can affect these limits.
Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that many platforms limit the amount of money players can win in a single day. For example, they may restrict your winnings to $100,000 per day. If you’re a high roller, this may be a deterrent.
Live In-Play Betting
Even if the match has already started, you can still place bets on various outcomes at most sites. The odds and limits may not be the best, but excitement is guaranteed. When placing these events, you should act fast. The odds are always changing during live in-play betting.
Tips for choosing the best online sports betting sites
Now you know a bit more about how sports gambling works as well as the types of bets you’ll be making. It is time to move on to another important part of the journey: how to choose the best online sports gambling site. There are a number of considerations to keep in mind during your search. To help you along your way, we’ve detailed some of them below:
Research a Number of Sites
Make sure to check out reviews and ratings of the sites you’re interested in. Pay particular attention to information about betting opportunities, bonuses deals, whether it’s available on mobile or strictly desktop, as well as its various payment platforms. Something that often goes forgotten is the quality of customer services offerings. These services are incredibly important, and can make the difference between a great gambling session and a frustrating one.
Check Out the Site’s Resource Section
If you’re a novice, you’d do well to find a site that offers easy-to-understand betting guides and resources. The best betting sites want their players to succeed – to some degree. The better the quality (and quantity) of available guides and resources, the better the site. If you feel that a site’s resource section has everything that you need, and more, consider it a major contender for your patronage.
Look for Your Preferred Payment Methods
There is no point in signing up at a site that doesn’t facilitate your favorite deposit and withdrawal methods. This can only lead to additional effort and a waste of your precious time that could be better spent making real money bets online.
How to Place a Sports Bet
Once you’ve chosen your favorite site, placing a sports bet is rather straightforward. Nonetheless, we’ll explain the process in the steps below.
Step 1: Register and Make a Deposit
Registering at a new betting site is a simple process. Once you’ve completed this step, you’ll need to choose your preferred payment method and make a deposit. You should be able to pick up a bonus or two to boost your bankroll in the process.
Step 2: Investigate Your Bet
Once you’ve decided on the bet you wish to make, you’ll need to acquaint yourself with the terms and conditions of the bet in question. You’ll also need to research your bet and find out what experts have to say about the estimated outcome. If you already have your own reasonable prediction, fantastic!
Step 3: Place Your Bet
Now is the time to take the plunge and place your bet. You’ll receive a generated bet slip before confirming your bet.
Start with Small Bets
If you are a novice, we recommend starting with smaller bets. This means that you’ll have less to lose if your predictions are way off. You can gradually increase the amount when you have a better understanding of how a particular bet works.
Depositing and Withdrawing
Bettors can fund their accounts on the best sports gambling sites in many different ways. Most sites facilitate credit and debit cards. However, a growing number of sites offer eWallet platforms like Skrill and PayPal. Presently, more and more sites are offering cryptocurrency methods as well. Find out more about these platforms on our deposit options page.
What Sports Can You Bet On?
As you can imagine, hockey, basketball, football, and baseball are not the only sports you can bet on. There are a number of other thrilling options, such as:
- Horse racing
- Golf
- Formula 1
- UFC
- WWE
- NFL
- Boxing
- Soccer
Sports Betting in the US
The number of countries where sports gambling is legal grows every year. This is probably because this type of betting is considered a ‘softer’ form of gambling. Authorities tend to look more favorably on this process. For many years, online sports betting was only legal in Nevada. This changed, however, after the implementation of a new piece of legislation in 2018. Currently, states — and not the federal government — hold control over sports betting online in their respective borders. Before signing up at any site, make sure that you are eligible to make legal online bets in your region.
Sports Betting FAQ's
All the reputable sports betting sites that have been listed here are perfectly reliable and have been thoroughly tested by our experts. Online sports betting is a very competitive industry, which means that US-facing sportsbooks simply can’t engage in any dishonest business practices, as the potential loss of customers would have catastrophic consequences for any high-profile site.
The latest US Department of Justice interpretation of the Federal Wire Act prevents American financial institutions from processing online sports betting-related payments, which means that credit card companies have to try to block all the transactions of this kind.
According to the latest US Department of Justice interpretation, the Federal Wire Act of 1961 prohibits financial institutions from processing any transactions pertaining to online sports betting in the United States. Consequently, e-wallet companies have decided to leave the American market once the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has been passed in 2006.
Your personal and financial information is safe with major sportsbooks as they employ the latest encryption technologies to protect any sensitive data pertaining to their customers.
Online betting isn’t explicitly prohibited by any of the existing federal regulations, as the crucial laws apply to online gambling operators and financial institutions instead of individual punters. Most states don’t have any regulations pertaining specifically to online gambling, which means that most US players are free to wager on sporting events on any online sports betting site.
However, you should keep in mind that some states have recently introduced very specific anti-gambling laws that prohibit their residents from playing at online gambling sites. Consequently, you should always consult your local regulations before you make the decision to register with one of the offshore sportsbooks.
Most online sports betting sites support credit card payments, but it is possible to find sites that allow Western Union and MoneyGram deposits. Withdrawals are almost always handled via a bank wire transfer, but in some areas you might be allowed to request a check by courier. In addition, most of the sites that support Western Union/MoneyGram payments also allow you to withdraw using this method.
Pre-match betting is all about placing your wagers before the game begins. The live in-play betting section allows you to bet on the events that have already started, giving you a unique chance to adjust your wagers to match the situation on the field.
Online casinos in the USA tend to focus on major American sports and leagues. The most popular markets include high-profile NBA, MLB, NHL, NFL and even NCAA games, but you should keep in mind that most sportsbooks also allow you to bet on important international events and popular international sports, such as tennis, soccer or martial arts.
US-friendly sports betting sites are based outside the United States, which allows them to offer their products to American customers without being forced to adhere to the strict US anti-gambling regulations.
Most online sports betting sites allow you to grab up to $200 or $300 with a 25% or 50% match on your first payment. In addition, some of the US-facing sportsbooks offer reduced juice promotions, which provide you with better odds on a wide range of sporting events.