Author:
Zack Wilson
Last Updated on:
15/09/2021
Topic:
Review
Experiences:
Rugby fanatic - but so much more
Topic:
Review
Experiences:
Rugby fanatic - but so much more
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Bodog review: Is it scam? Is it legal? Warning: Blacklisted
Bodog Deposit Bonus
Founded back in 1994, Bodog went online as Bodog.com in 2000 – making it an old name in casino, poker and sportsbooks – something they do pretty well, something we’ll cover in detail in our Bodog reviews.
For the longest time, Bodog.com was a huge name in US betting, before various issues meant a change in focus to rebranding as Bovada for US players and as a new Bodog.eu domain for players in Canada and further afield. All of which could mean that you’ll be better of getting an 888Sport bonus instead.
For more on the US operation, see our Bovada review here, but we’re going to be concentrating here on the Bodog.eu and we’re going to look deep into the full betting site here in our independent Bodog reviews, looking into all aspects of the sportsbook, casino, and poker offering, how their bonus stacks up, how good they are with player payments, their licensing situation and so much more. And when we weigh up the good and the not so good through our Bodog reviews, we’ll show you just why, unfortunately, this is one betting site we’ve had to add to our Blacklisted section.
Bodog: Pros & Cons
- Bodog offers reasonable bonuses across sports, casino, and poker, with no Bodog bonus code
- Well-designed main site with intuitive layout
- Efficient live chat function
- Good poker offering as part of the PaiWangLuo Poker Network.
- Issues with reliability and payment issues.
Table of Content
You can find sports, casino, and poker welcome Bodog deposit bonus offers, plus an interesting Bitcoin Bodog deposit bonus amongst the offers we found in our Bodog reviews.
The new customer sports Bodog deposit bonus needs no Bodog bonus code and is a 100% bonus up to a maximum of $200, 5x rollover of deposit plus bonus. There’s also a 100% casino Bodog deposit bonus for new customers, maximum $600. Again, no Bodog bonus code here, but a 25x playthrough. Finally for new customers, 100% Poker Bodog deposit bonus gives you up to $1,000 in bonus cash. Again, no Bodog bonus code needed but this Bodog deposit bonus works on poker points – the more you get, the more bonus you get, with amounts unlocked in $5 increments for every 150 Rewards Points earned.
As for the Bitcoin Bodog deposit bonus, it’s available on any two deposits made using Bitcoin – sports Bodog deposit bonus with Bodog bonus code BOSBITCOIN100 and a casino Bodog deposit bonus with Bodog bonus code BOCBITCOIN150. Sports Bitcoin Bodog deposit bonus is another 100% bonus, up to $300, 5x wagering requirement. Casino Bitcoin Bodog deposit bonus is a 150% bonus, up to $900, 25X playthrough.
Of all the problems with the bookmaker we’ve identified through our Bodog reviews, the look and feel of the site isn’t one of them. It’s rocking a dark theme of white on black with red highlighting which looks sharp and easy on the eye.
Beyond that, the computer interface is nicely intuitive, albeit too cramped on the mobile version and there’s no dedicated mobile app available. All the sections on the desktop site have a familiar, easy to navigate feel. And there’s a simple drop-down from your account icon gives you access to banking, promos – where you can quickly check out the new Bodog deposit bonus offers and any required Bodog bonus codes, help, and, should you need it, the chat pop-up icon is there tucked into the right-hand side of all screens.
Bodog lets you down when it comes to the number of payment options. All you get here is Visa, MasterCard, Amex cards, and direct bank transfer. However, crypto fans have the option of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. As for withdrawals, Bodog offers Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, cheque by courier, and direct bank transfer. Minimum for card and bank transfers is $20, $10 for Bitcoin. Both deposit and withdrawal are fee-free, except cheque withdrawals where there’s only one free withdrawal per 30 days, additional cheques are $50 each.
Whilst putting together these Bodog reviews, we have read plenty of complaints of missing or delayed payments from Bodog, enough to seriously concern us here – yes, there’s always going to be issues with any bookie, but too many reports such as we’ve seen and it starts to worry us.
Bodog’s customer service is just 24/7 live chat and email, but when we used it to make a few checks, such as clarifying their Bodog bonus code requirement, we found their live chat responsive with helpful operators. Likewise, email responses were received within 24 hours. So that part’s all good.
But of course, we’ve already mentioned in the payments section of our Bodog reviews that there’s a problem with pay-out times and those complaints we’ve recorded also include plenty of complaints about customer service being unresponsive when it comes to dealing with them.
Bodog.eu is operated by Il Nido Limited, licensed by the Antigua and Barbuda Financial Services Regulatory Commission – an increasingly respected licensing authority. Since Antiguan licensing began in 1994, it established a poor reputation, but that has tightened up in terms of standards and regulatory work and is now officially UK whitelisted, a good sign.
As far as site security site is concerned, all that’s mentioned is that it uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) pages and SSL protection that encrypts personal/financial information. Verification processes are simple; phone verification on sign-up and players may be asked to provide credit card verification form, government-issued photo ID, and scan of any card used for a deposit. There’s no indication of VeriSign, no obvious membership of eCogra, and very little extra security information to make us really trust the site when we carried out the Bodog reviews.
The rewards program that we found in our Bodog reviews claims it’s the easiest rewards program ever. And that’s fair enough, as it’s a simple, tiered rewards program. However, it’s one that needs you to gamble an awful lot to get even the minimum back.
There are six tiers; bronze, silver, gold, platinum, diamond, and black, with varying levels of redemption with the lowest, bronze, redeeming 2,500 points to get $1 and the highest tiers giving you $1 for 1,000 points. But when you consider that the highest-earning rate is for slots, 5 points per £1. So, doing the maths, you’d need to put $500 in slots bets on to be able to redeem $1 on the bronze tier.
And that’s it for rewards schemes that we saw covering the site for the Bodog reviews. No evidence of loyalty reload bonuses, no VIP program or events.
Bodog Sports Betting
Bodog’s sports offering is pretty good, with plenty of sports available, particularly geared towards North American sports. But as you’ll find in the detailed review of its sports betting offer below, there are too many issues to be able to recommend Bodog sports.
Betting Markets
You definitely can’t accuse Bodog of having the biggest sportsbook. After all, until recently, this primarily Canadian bookie was a very North American facing sports betting site, so you would expect the big four; NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA to all feature heavily, alongside Canadian Sports and leagues. In recent years, Bodog has improved its global sports offering, but it’s not a sportsbook that gives you exhaustive coverage of world sports.
Having said that, our Bodog reviews found they cover a fair bit and in a fair bit of depth. You’ll find 26 ‘sports’ listed, including Winter Olympics, Politics, Entertainment, Esports, Virtual Sports, and something called Numbers Game. So in the 20 traditional sports, you get the US standards through to the likes of Boxing, MMA, Golf, Tennis, Cricket, etc., with a fair number of tournaments and events in each sport. You’ll also find that Bodog list Horses on a separate section, covering plenty of action from the sports of Kings around the world.
Bet types include moneylines, point spreads, over/under, 3-ways and props, with the more popular games offering plenty of props to get your teeth into.
One particular problem with the bookie we found in our Bodog reviews was that they seem to be very quick to limit you, or at least switch you from the recreational lines to the sharp lines, something we’ll cover in the Odds section of our Bodog reviews. The quick limiting and moving the lines isn’t something Bodog advertise of course, and it’s another reason we’re including them as a blacklisted bookie here.
Bodog’s a site best suited for recreational players, meaning you can find some great odds on underdogs here, particularly on the bigger market sports.
But they are very quick to switch the odds out from the recreational lines to the sharp lines. When you sign up you’ll see the better price that all recreational bettors get. But if Bodog thinks you’re getting good, they’ll adjust the pricing you’re getting. We’ve heard reports of players being shifted in just a couple of hours. Again, not something we like to hear.
If you are new to the site, it’s an excellent time to make use of the sports Bodog deposit bonus to grab those tasty recreational odds as well. And remember, if you’re clever, you can use the Bitcoin Bodog deposit bonus as well for sports with the Bitcoin Bodog bonus code.
Live Betting & Streaming
Bodog offers pretty good live betting across all sports they cover. Obviously, the bigger the sport, the more live betting is available and the more betting markets you’ll find – a perfect place to use your sports deposit bonus with no need for any Bodog bonus code. Sadly, there’s very little in the way of real-time pictorial match diagrams or other useful information attached to each live betting match or game. As for live streaming, you’re out of luck here as well. To see how another top operator fared in our live betting reviews, head on over to our RubyBet sportsbook review.
Bodog has low betting limits that will displease big bettors. Obviously, maximum bet varies on the sport, event, market, but you’re looking at something in the range of $500-$2,000.
NFL ranges from $500 for player props to $5,000 for spreads. NBA goes from $500-$2,000. MLB, NHL max out at $2,000. Soccer maxed out at $3,000. The only real exception here is Nascar Sprint Cup, where the max is $10,000. And very importantly, buried in the fine print, you find this – ‘Maximum wager pay-out for Bodog Sportsbook is $100,000 and $50,000 for the Racebook.’
So, Bodog is definitely one for the recreational sports bettor. And here they do a decent job of offering a nice range of sports and markets, as well as reasonable odds. Yes, betting limits are pretty small in comparison to the bigger bookies, but that does have the benefit that you can get the occasional soft odds slipping through. But they’re way too quick to limit and way, way too quick to switch your odds down – yet another reason we have to add them to our blacklisted sites, alongside the links of sports bettors you can find in our Bethard review, 5Dimes review, and Betonline review.
Bodog Casino
The Bodog casino does offer some fun games, but given the nature of what we’ve found in our Bodog reviews, it’s still blacklisted, along with other sites found in our 10Bet review, gtbets review and MyBookie reviews. Now, read on for the detailed breakdown of what to expect from the Bodog casino and live casino.
The site uses Microgaming and its own proprietary games, which are often customised versions of Real-Time Gaming’s casino game library following a deal with RTG way back in 2004. And that means that, although it’s got plenty of games, it doesn’t have the variety that you see at bigger and better casinos where there are multiple game providers. Additionally, RTG has a slightly troubling history with their games for not paying out and even accusing bigger winners of cheating. They’ve also never been totally transparent with their RTP% figures, allowing operators to adjust the RTPs and their progressive jackpot games have, somewhat strangely, a history of never paying out the big scores – unlike companies such as Microgaming and Playtech, whose top progressives have paid out multiple times.
In terms of what Bodog casino offers, the usual suspects are all here. In slots, you can find the games broken down into newest, Microgaming, progressives, classic five reels, classic three reels, and various themed slots. There are over 650 slots there at the moment, with more added fairly regularly, so plenty to play when you’re making use of your casino deposit bonus with no Bodog bonus code. The new games selection included Zombie Rush Deluxe, Pablo Picasslot Deluxe, Mystery Jack, Jumping Fruits, Starlight Kiss, and Legend Of 9 Suns. Whilst the new Microgaming slots included Agent Jane Blonde, 9 Masks Of Fire, A Dark Matter, Adventure Palace, Ancient Fortunes: Zeus, Arctic Valor. As for Progressives, you’ll find the likes of 777 Deluxe (with $111,000 jackpot) and Cyberpunk City (with $308,000 jackpot).
As for table games, it’s rather disappointing. Unlike the plentiful variants found at other casinos, Bodog only offers players eight Blackjack variants, four Roulette variants, two Baccarat variants, and five Poker variants, along with a handful of other games including Vegas Three Card Rummy, Let ‘Em Ride, Pai Go Poker, Roll the Dice, and Classic Craps. And frankly, the look and feel of the games aren’t good at all. If you’re used to playing good-looking, smooth action table games, you’re going to feel in a time warp at Bodog. There’s also a small video poker section (17 variants), and in the speciality games section, you’ll find 28 variants of Keno and Bingo games.
If the Bodog casino offer didn’t seem all that good, things don’t improve with the live dealer casino – there’s just a paltry 10 live casino table games in total; two blackjack variants, four roulette, two baccarat, and two super-six games. All of these live casino table games have three tiers of table limits. The live casino games themselves look all right when you can get onto the games, but we found, in our Bodog reviews of live casino, that the games seemed somewhat buggy and difficult to play consistently.
Maximum bets vary depending on the game and the variant, but the biggest bet limits we could find were $1,000 maximum bets for Roulette and $500 maximum bet limits for Blackjack, Baccarat, and Poker. Table limits for the live casino games vary depending on the games themselves. There’s generally $5-$100, $25-$1,000, $100-$2,500 for Baccarat and Blackjack, $1-$300, $5-$1,500, $10-$3,000 Roulette.
As we already mentioned with the sports section of the Bodog reviews, the site does have a reputation for limiting players too quickly, something that we read several reports of in our research. There’s also a worrying number of complaints from players about Bodog being difficult about pay-outs, with enquiries over withdrawals being passed around various customer service departments with delaying tactics and excuses for late payments.
Bodog casino bonus, with no Bodog bonus code needed, might be a pretty good bonus, but it would be even better if there was a great casino to use it with. Sure, there are plenty of slots, although a greater variety of providers would have been preferred, but when it comes to table games and their live casino, things aren’t good enough at all. Add in the issues over limiting players and various reports of slow withdrawal pay-outs, this just doesn’t come up to scratch for us.
Bodog Poker
Bodog’s poker setup is a complex one, thanks to the issues around Bodog USA switching to Bovada after federal investigation and Bodog’s poker room becoming Canadian only. However, things have changed, with Bodog Poker opening up to Latin America and Mexico. And then, confusingly, it was announced that player pools are now shared between Bodog, BodogIndia, Bodog88 (for Asian markets), plus Bovada and Ignition Poker serving USA players.
And to add to the confusion, the whole network and pool of players is known as the PaiWangLuo Poker Network.
You could see this in two ways. Firstly, we get perhaps the best Bodog experience, with the combination of poker networks bringing us the big poker experience. However, there’s still the holdover of the Bodog/Bovada issues with US authorities, and that has to concern us.
The Bodog/PaiWangLuo Poker Network uses proprietary software-based the Bodog original software – a downloadable desktop program for PC/Mac.
The Bodog poker software is deliberately simple, it’s meant to be quick, clean and work well – and we have to agree. This is poker software geared towards recreational players, where play is anonymous, preventing third-party tools and restricting the ability of pro-players to mass multi-table. One obvious advantage to that is that the tables generally play much looser than other sites.
Another obvious advantage of bringing together the poker networks of Canada, USA, Mexico, Latin America, and the Asian markets is that PaiWangLuo Poker Network encompasses not just the biggest US poker network but also is one of the leading international networks.
Bodog’s poker network offers pretty much everything you’d expect for games. This includes No Limit, Pot Limit, and Fixed Limit variants of Hold ‘Em, Omaha, Omaha hi/lo. You can find everything from penny games to high roller friendly $2,000 buy-in games.
Rake varies according to games: Heads-up tables have a maximum of $1. Fixed limit stakes up to and including $1/$2 have a maximum rake of $1, fixed limit stakes up to $30/$60 have maximums depending on players – $1 for 2-3 players, $2 for 3-5 players, $3 for 6+ players. Pot limit and no limit stakes up to and including $0.10/$0.25 have maximum rakes depending on players – $0.50 for 2 players, $1 for 3-4 players, $2 for 5+ players. Where stakes are higher, it’s maximum of $1 (2 players), $2 (3 players), $3 (4-5 players) and $4 (6 players).
As you’d expect, as part of the PaiWangLuo Poker Network, Bodog offers players a great tournament schedule – a packed calendar that includes what used to be the $100,000 Sunday prize pot tournament. The good news is that that’s changed to become a massive $150,000 guaranteed prize pot from September 2021, with the first place winner getting at least $17k.
Other tournaments include sit and go jackpots, Super Millions Poker Open, $75k High Roller Tournament and many more, accessible through the tournament calendar in the Bodog poker software.
At Bodog, the three different game types: No Limit, Pot Limit, and Fixed Limit, all have different limits attached.
Fixed Limit – bet and raise amounts for each round are preset and listed. For example, in a $5/$10 Fixed Texas Hold ‘Em game, bets and raises for the first two rounds must be $5, with the last two rounds having a bet/raise of $10. There are three allowable raises per round of betting, increased to five raises if only two players remain.
Pot Limit – You’re limited to current pot amount plus amount to call the previous bet. Minimum bet is the big blind, (for example, $10 in a $5/$10 game) and raises must be equal or greater than the previous raise. There’s no cap to number of raises per round.
No Limit – no maximum limits. Minimum bet is the high stake, or the big blind amount ($10 in a $5/$10 game). Raise must be at least equal to the previous bets/raises. No caps to the number of raises per round.
Bodog’s poker network is impressive certainly, with a huge network, plenty of games, and some of the softest games thanks to the deliberate recreational player model they’ve adopted. And of course, there’s the generous poker deposit bonus, with new players getting a $1000 welcome offer cleared in tiers, with no Bodog bonus code. You can also get a Royal Flush Bonus and Bad Beat Bonus – neither needing a Bodog bonus code.
However, the drawback to all PaiWangLuo sites is that they’re not licensed, having voluntarily given up their Kahnawake license in 2016. This is a real concern and adds to our reasons for blacklisting the site, along with other poker operators that you can find with our Intertops review and Betclic review.
Bodog is a bookie we’ve blacklisted for numerous reasons. And as such, we definitely cannot recommend that you give them your business right now. Perhaps things will change in the future, but we’d need to see improvements across the board with the site for that to happen.
On the positive side, they have a reasonable sportsbook and a good poker room for players, together with good bonuses for sports, casino, and poker without needing any Bodog bonus code. Their customer service is quick and responsive, although the reports of players with issues over late payments being messed around by customer services rather negates that. But there’s problems with the casino not being good enough, a lack of good live in-play betting features, limited payment options, and a poor rewards scheme. But more than anything, the issues reported over payments, the swiftness to limit players, switching sports betting odds to hurt players, and a history of dubious behaviours means we have to add Bodog to our blacklist for the time being.
For an active provider, be sure to visit our Pots of Luck reviews.
Bodog Bonus Code FAQ
1.
300% up to £30
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New UK & NI customers only. Promo code SPORTS60. Deposit and place first sports bet of £10+ in one transaction, at odds of Evens (2.0)+, settled within 7 days of registration. First bet must be on Sports. £30 in Free Bets credited within 48 hours of bet settlement. 7-day expiry. Payment restrictions apply. SMS validation may be required. Max 30 Free Spins on Blue Wizard at £0.10 per spin. 7-day expiry. Full T&Cs apply.
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100% up to £100
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T&C's apply. No deposit required, new players only. £10 paid as bonus. Claim within 3 days of registration. 7 day expiry. 50x wagering. £50 max win/withdrawal from bonus. Only bonus stakes qualify & wagering contributions vary, not all games eligible. 18+ Begambleaware.org''
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25% up to £5
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Full T&Cs apply. New customers only. Qualifying bets on mobile only. Opt in by clicking ‘claim’ on the ‘My Promotions’ page. Min stake of £20 on one single bet on a 4 fold or high accumulator. To qualify, accumulator bet must have min 4 selections from 4 different sports events. Min odds of 4/1. Free bets do not qualify towards the promotion. Accumulators only qualify. Trixies, Lucky 15s, Yankees and similar do not qualify for the offer. Void, cashed out, or partially cashed out, bets do not qualify for this promotion. Max free bet £5 per customer credited on bet settlement. Free bet is non-withdrawable, expires after 7 days and is not returned with winnings. 18+, Begambleaware.org''
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