Bovada review: Is it scam? Is it legal? Warning: Blacklisted

You get plenty of scam promotions with Bovada, but thankfully there is no Bovada no deposit bonus. Instead, there’s all manner of shady sports, casino, poker, and Bitcoin bonuses, some of which need Bovada bonus code entry. The best thing would be just to pretend that Bovada never existed and play somewhere else.

First – an alleged $250 Sports Welcome Bonus - 50% first deposit match up to $250, with no Bovada bonus code required. There’s also a deceptive $750 Bitcoin sports bonus - 75% first Bitcoin deposit match up to $750 with a certain Bovada bonus code. There's no sport, wager type, or odds restriction and the rollover is 5X for sport/horses or 40x on casino on both the deposit and bonus. These all sound like a rip-off to us and Bovada will find a way to make sure you don't actually benefit from any of these dodgy deals.

There are two terrible casino bonuses and both are just as fraudulent as the next; the shoddy $3,000 Casino Welcome Bonus is a 100% match in three parts; there's a Bovada bonus code for first 100% match (maximum $1,000). Then another Bovada bonus code for next two deposits, again allegedly giving 100% match (maximum $1,000) each time. Secondly, the frankly unacceptable $3,750 Bitcoin Casino Bonus over the first three deposits. On first deposit, the Bovada bonus code will pretend to give you a 125% match (maximum $1,250). On the next two deposits, you are promised the same again with a different Bovada bonus code. Casino bonuses have a laughable 25x playthrough of deposit plus bonus. Sound like a lot of hassle and a bit untrustworthy? That's because it is.

These bonuses are deceptive and unusable. A lot of customers have complained about hidden conditions and terms that they weren't made aware of, and it's all aimed at grabbing your cash and running. Don't deposit anything with Bovada.

If it looks familiar, that’s because so much of Bovada’s look is from the Bodog template. It's unappealing and lazy. The mobile platform is too cramped and there’s no mobile app as yet. It all reeks of no effort and it's not surprising really from an unregulated casino.

Bovada doesn’t do at all well when it comes to payment methods (or anything at all really). You can try and deposit via cards (Visa, MasterCard, Amex, UnionPay), bank transfer, Zelle mobile payment, Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, and Bovada voucher. As for withdrawals, it’s just a pitiful selection of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, cheque by courier, and Bovada voucher. If you think those are terrible choices for withdrawals you'd be spot-on. Any casino that doesn't let you withdraw to your deposit method is a bit suspect in our eyes.

Bovada charges crazy deposit fees for cards, the first deposit is allegedly free but subsequent deposits have astonishing fees of 5.9% or higher (depending on the card used). For withdrawals, your first non-Bitcoin withdrawal every 90 days is apparently free – additional withdrawals cost a whopping $100. Bitcoin withdrawal limited to one per three days, cheque by courier is one per seven days. Those are astonishing and not favourable at all. You shouldn't have to pay to get your winnings.

In researching the Bovada review, we have seen plenty of complaints of missing payments, delayed payments, and players being banned when enquiring. We know every betting site has issues, but these really raise a red warning flag.

Bovada's customer service might just be the rotten cherry on top of the rotten cake. Their email feels like it's checked once a month and their telephone services feel like they don't have a ring function on their side. You can expect to find yourself on hold for several hours if you wish to speak to someone.

If you do manage to speak to someone don't expect them to be able to help. The phrase "as useful as a chocolate teapot" comes to mind when thinking of Bovada's customer service capabilities.

As seen in our Is Pots of Luck reliable? guide, licensing and security is a very important part of our provider reviews. There is NO licensing information to be found at Bovada. That’s right. No licensing information at all. When you ask customer support, you get this: ‘Bovada.lv considers its online gaming services to be legal under international law and fully complies with the rules and regulations imposed by the online gaming industry.’ Yes, that means that Bovada does whatever it wants to and doesn't care about you or your money.

So this is a Costa Rican based betting site that is illegally operating in the USA, meaning it’s not subject to US laws covering sportsbooks and betting. So unlike US-based casinos, there’s no state licence required. Now that, to us, doesn’t exactly feel like you’re going to have anywhere to go to if and when you have issues with Bovada.

It doesn’t get better when looking for security information either. All they mention is using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) pages and SSL protection to encrypts personal and financial information. Frankly, the whole licensing and security part of this Bovada review is really ringing alarm bells – a big reason we had to include it as a blacklisted site.

To compare the licensing and security of Bovada with other popular bookies, be sure to take a look at our Is Unibet legit and Is William Hill secure guides.

The Bovada reward scheme is another one of those scam promotions that won’t give you anything worthwhile without spending a small fortune. Reward points are allegedly earned for every sports bet, poker hand, and $1 spent in the casino. Obviously, different bets give different points, but a representative example is that $1 on table games gets one point, $1 on slots gets five points, sports singles earn three points for every $1, and a racebook straight wager is 40 points per $1. In poker, you get 15 reward points per $1 of rake. All of this is a rip-off.

Our problem is the redemption levels, where points can be redeemed for cash, with six levels; starter, rookie, pro, all-star, legend, hall of fame. To give you an idea of redemption, starter level one needs 2,500 points for $1 redemption, hall of fame needs 1,000 points for $1 redeemed. So it’s going to cost you A LOT of time and money to get anything worthwhile back. Best just to avoid Bovada completely.