Is Bovada Legit as a Company?
I searched reddit and around the internet looking for posts about Bovada being a scam and or rigged. I’m not going to lie, there were plenty of complaints. There are people complaining up and down reddit and 2+2 about the on-going scams and rigged RNG software that Bovada must certainly be using.
So people looked into it and gathered hand histories. Huge amounts of hand histories were analyzed and no evidence of skewed RNG or manipulating the cards were ever found.
Bad-beats happen in poker and people complain about them. Imagine that.
The team behind the Bovada brand has been in the business 20+ years now. As long as any of the online sportsbooks, casino and poker rooms that still exist today. In the online casino business you will not survive for 20 years if you are not reputable and have a history of fair (but firm) interactions with players, business associates and affiliate partners.
The crooks simply do not stick around that long in this business.
Most complaints stem from getting stung by bonus terms and conditions.
Experienced players and online gamblers know that as far as any of the offshore gambling destinations go, Bovada is rated at the top with the cream of the crop offshore gambling sites.
In general I do not recommend many poker sites to my audience because most of them are pretty bad. However, when it comes to Bovada and their sister site, Ignition they are as good as it gets. They are legit. They want your action and give you an honest shot at winning. When you win you get paid.
I know for certain that they have paid out huge winners, in full and consistently do so.
Overview
Name | Bovada |
Website | Bovada.lv |
Games | Texas Hold'em, Omaha |
Bonus | 100% to $500 (poker only) |
Deposits |
|
Payouts |
|
Network | PaiWangLuo |
Online Since | 2011 |
Software | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Instant Play |
Bovada Poker – My #1 recommended poker site most USA gamblers. They have been my top (bo)dog for over a decade.
I trust them and I recommend them to both friends and family.
My adventures with the team behind Bovada began back in 2004.
I was a brand new affiliate trying to start a live poker league in my home town. Bodog was one of the first poker sites that I began working with.
Luckily for me at the time, they were one of the legit ones. And even more lucky is that over the years the core principles of the company have remained the same. They have been one of the few legit online poker rooms since their beginnings.
After many years of hard work, trial and error and some good fortune, I became one of Bovada’s bigger affiliates.
So big that I was invited along with a small handful of other top affiliates to trips in sunny, tropical destinations on Bovada’s dime.
From the poker player side, Bovada became my favorite place to play online poker after Black Friday April 15th, 2011. Prior to that I admit that I was a Full Tilt and PokerStars junkie. Those sites were bigger, I liked the software better and of course game selection. Once those sites were forced out of the US, I moved most of my play to Bovada.
Bovada released new poker software in 2019 it was a huge improvement.
Plus the mobile poker on your phone works fantastic.
Bovada offers US friendly poker, boasting the largest player pool serving most of the US right now. Additionally they have a top rated sportsbook with live in-game betting, prop bets and competitive odds to all the major and minor sports you can think of.
Finally they have a casino with the latest table games, interactive video slot machines and a live dealer via webcam option for some table games like blackjack and roulette.
Screenshots
Pros & Cons
Are the Bovada Poker Games Rigged?
Ahh, an argument as old as time itself. Are the games rigged on Bovada to induce action or to favor the fish?
You know how it goes… you will get it in good and someone sucks outs with a two-outer against you for your stack. Happens time and time and time again you will hear. You will hear that the fish catches the miracle card on the river to beat the good players over and over and over.
The short answer is that there is no compelling financial incentive that is worth it to Bovada to rig the games or to have action inducing flops. The risk of being exposed of having a non-random number generation mechanism for delivering the cards that could be statistically proven beyond a shadow of a doubt would be to great of a risk. Suckouts happen in poker.
Is Bovada Legal, Regulated and Licensed?
Online poker being legal or illegal depends on where in the world you live. For most of the USA, online poker is not illegal. Bovada serves these areas as a legit online poker site, licensed in their regulated jurisdictions.
As far as licensed and regulated, that used to be the case. However in 2016 the licensing from Kahnawake Gaming Commission revoked their longstanding license because they did not want to license any sites that served US players. This was additional fallout from online poker’s Black Friday.
However, just because a site is regulated and licensed does not mean that they are legit. And just because a site is not licensed or regulated does not mean they are automatically shady. The truth of the matter is that Bovada is the largest US centric online poker site and has no desire to rig their games and risk their reputation.
How To Use Bitcoin On Bovada
Bovada loves bitcoin and it shows. Once logged in, visit the Cashier and you will see who has the top spots on their ‘deposit options’ chart.
While bitcoin has the top billing, most Americans are still using credit cards for deposit. What this deposit option chart does not tell you is the success rate of making a deposit.
Credit cards are successful about 50-60% of the time. That means just about one in two people who want to deposit with a credit card can not.
Bitcoin deposit success rate is virtually 100%.
If you already have bitcoin then making a deposit is as simple as copying the send to address or scanning the QR code.
Choose how much in $USD to send and send it the appropriate amount of bitcoin.
If you need to buy bitcoin for poker then we show you how step by step.
Step By Step Guide To Use Bitcoin at Bovada.lv
- Open your Bovada Account
- Click Deposit > Bitcoin
- Open your personal bitcoin wallet (see my guide to bitcoin poker wallets)
- Scan the QR code Bovada provides or copy down the send to address.
- Paste the send to address
- Choose your amount of bitcoin to send (you will see the approximate USD value before sending if you use my recommended wallet)
- Confirm your send transaction.
- Within 60 seconds your deposit will appear in your Bovada account
- It will be converted into a $USD amount.
- You gamble with $USD amounts (not bitcoin amounts) playing poker or any sports bets / casino games.
- When you cash out your money is converted back into Bitcoin at the market rate and is sent to your personal wallet.
- From your personal wallet, you can sell your bitcoin and get $USD or do whatever you choose with your bitcoin.
Do you have bitcoin already? If yes you are good to go.
If not, take a few minutes and read our guide on how to get set up properly for bitcoin and gambling.
Remember – you gamble with USD denominated ‘chips’. Your account balance at Bovada is converted into a USD balance (not kept as bitcoin). When you are ready to cash out from Bovada back to your wallet is when your Bovada account balance is converted back into Bitcoin, at the market rate at that point in time, and sent to your wallet.
The price of bitcoin is constantly going up and down so depending on the value you may end up with more or less bitcoin even if you deposit and withdraw the same amount a few days later.
Bitcoin Cash at Bovada
Bovada also accepts Bitcoin Cash. This is a separate crypto currency coin than Bitcoin. It is usually represented with a green logo instead of orange.
BCH is the ticker symbol. If you check a site like CoinGecko.com you can see prices of the top crypto-currencies. When publishing this content, the price per bitcoin cash is considerably less than Bitcoin.
The individual price does not really matter since both can be divided out into tiny fractions of coins but there are some advantages of using Bitcoin Cash. Namely, super inexpensive transaction fees. Bitcoin Cash focuses on usability and low fee’s.
It’s a great way to buy a cup of coffee where a mining fee of even $0.50 is significant. Bitcoin Cash usually has fee’s that are around fractions of a cent.
To use Bitcoin Cash instead of Bitcoin, you will need a different wallet than my normal recommended one for Bitcoin (GreenAddress).
I would suggest you do your own research but ultimately for these transactions you should be safe to use wallet.bitcoin.com wallet. Bitcoin.com is a bitcoin cash website and they also offer a built in p2p exchange where you can buy Bitcoin Cash.
- Research Bitcoin Cash (reddit / wikipedia)
- Bitcoin Cash wallet
- Buy Bitcoin Cash
- Spend Bitcoin Cash (deposit at Bovada)
I recently made a deposit on Bovada using Bitcoin Cash, the Bitcoin.com wallet and it took about 25 minutes once I sent the transaction for the deposit to show up in my account. There were very little fee’s from the bitcoin cash network and no fee’s from Bovada to make the deposit.
Is Bovada Poker Safe For New Players?
Yes, I trust Bovada personally and believe they are legit as legit gets when it comes to US online poker sites.
For over a decade their business actions have reaffirmed their commitment to provide the best online gambling experience. They offer an honest and fair place to gamble online. When you win, you will be paid.
Things happen when gambling online and in any business venture. What matters is how the company responds to situations that arise. Time and time again Bovada has consistently responded in a fair, forthcoming and straightforward way. This isn’t to say there are not pissed off players who feel wronged, there are. Bovada doesn’t get all those flashy lights for nothing.
Only deposit what you can afford to lose. This rule goes for any and all gambling sites.
Most players, over time are likely to lose more than they are to win. If you are skilled at poker then this can be different for you but in general, players lose. Know this upfront and keep your gambling to entertainment money that you can afford to be without.
Today from the USA, if you are looking for real money online poker from a company that understands that the recreational poker players are the valuable members of the ecosystem then look no farther. If you are confused why the recreational gamblers are the valuable members then check out the philosophy behind Bovada’s decisions.
There are a handful of additional reviews of Bovada that reaffirm my belief that they are legit. As always I recommend you do your own due diligence.
Bovada Poker Reviews
I’m a big fan of you doing your own research on and brand and not blindly trusting anyone, even me.
Here are some of the best of the best reviews out there that I have found.
- Atlanta Poker Club
- BeatTheFish
- ProfessionalRakeback
- Reddit r/sportsbook’s Bovada search
- Good Sportsbooks Payout Report
Additional Bovada Info
- Includes a Sportsbook, Casino and Racebook
- Current largest player base online (US Only) and around 9th in the world overall (not too bad for an offshore bookie)
- Previous brand was known as Bodog
- Bodog was founded by son of pig farmers turned billionaire Calvin Ayre in early 2000’s. He is now “retired” and is working on crypto projects.
- Accepts players from all US states except those that are regulated, (Washington, Nevada, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania and New York).