Just a decade ago, legal sports betting in America was little more than a pipedream. At that time, federal law still prohibited most sports bets, and only a handful of Americans had legal access to any kind of regulated sports betting markets. The best offshore sportsbooks were the only game in town for years. But so were the worst.
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Now, though, in most American states, legal sports betting is a reality.
At the time of this post, only 17 states still prohibit sports betting outright, with three states (Maryland, Ohio, and Nebraska) working out the legislative kinks in their burgeoning sports betting marketplaces.
Offshore betting sites (casinos, poker rooms, and sportsbooks) fill in the gaps, offering a betting market for those Americans that lack legal access to them. If you can bet in a legal, regulated sports market in the state where you live, you probably should.
If, however, you live in Texas, California, Georgia, or any of the other states that continue to forbid sports betting, overseas gambling sites may be your only choice. You might opt for a local bookie, too, but I’ve written a different post about that.
Table of Contents
The Best Offshore Sportsbooks in 2022
Be sure to check out my comparison of Betonline vs. Bovada.
Here’s a list of the best offshore sportsbooks, presented in alphabetical order:
- Betonline
- BetUS
- Bovada
- Mybookie
- ag
None of these books are head-and-shoulders above the competition. There’s no standout offshore book that does better business than the competition. Depending on which sport you want to bet, one of these offshore books may be a little better, one may be a little worse. All of that is covered below, in the section for each individual book.
Issues with Offshore Gambling Sites
I think you can categorize most people’s problems with offshore sportsbooks into one of three categories:
Best Gambling Sites
| # | Gambling Site | Signup Bonus | Start |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Slots.lv | 300% up to $7500 |  |
2 | Bovada | 100% up to $3000 | |
3 | Ignition Casino | 150% up to $3000 | |
4 | Cafe Casino | 250% up to $1500 | |
5 | BetUS Casino | 200% up to $3000 | |
- customer service issues
- issues with payment
- legal issues
You’re going to have problems with customer service in any industry, be it frozen yogurt or high-stakes offshore, single zero roulette. You can’t prevent every snafu from occurring, and the way a business deals with customer service hiccups is more important than a business’ ability to totally avoid them.
As for issues with payment, this is a big problem for sports bettors, who are often dealing in large amounts of money. If an offshore gambling site takes a long time to pay out a win, there’s not a whole lot a US-based customer can do about it. That’s a big risk you take when dealing with an overseas sportsbook. Placing a bet with a licensed and regulated sportsbook on US soil offers you certain protections that you won’t get when your money is going back and forth to Aruba or Trinidad or wherever.
If you’re concerned about the legal aspect of placing overseas sports bets, you should probably take a deep breath and relax. There’s not a single example of a gambler being prosecuted for placing an offshore bet. The United States government is far more interested in shutting down a multi-million dollar illegal gambling ring than in getting into the pocket of a guy placing a $50 bet on the Super Bowl money line.
When you do business with an overseas gambling site, you do so with the understanding that slow payment and customer service problems are likely to cause you headaches. However, you shouldn’t be afraid of being arrested for betting with an offshore bookie.
How I Picked the Best Overseas Sportsbooks
Just a few offshore sportsbooks of the dozens currently operating made my list.
What were the criteria for inclusion?
First, every book on my list offers a sports betting product that looks and behaves how US-based sports bettors expect. Basically, this means the interface looks like the legal/regulated books in America, the odds are given in American format (or are adjustable to do so), and the markets covered are familiar to American bettors.
Second, all the books on my list have relatively good reputations in terms of customer payouts. Disgruntled customers writing nasty reviews aside, I’m not going to include any books that have participated in shady financial deals or been credibly accused of ripping off their customers.
Finally, each book on my list caters to American bettors. They accept typical payment methods used by Americans and are open to doing business with US-based players.
After looking at dozens of US-facing books, only five made the cut. Below you’ll find a brief review of each of them from the perspective of an American sports bettor.
Betonline
Of all the books on my list, Betonline offers the most markets. They also have large deposit maximums relative to the other books on this list. Using cryptocurrency, you can deposit up to $100,000 at a time. Don’t want to use crypto? You have 8 other options, including credit cards, cashier’s check, and other easily-accessible methods.
Betonline’s live betting options are the best in the industry, with a wider range of markets available than you’ll find at other overseas betting sites geared toward American customers. They’ve been in business since 2004, which is forever in overseas betting terms, and hold licensure from Panama. They’re also one of the only overseas sportsbooks that do business with Americans from all 50 states.
BetUS
In business in some form since 1994, BetUS is the elder of this list. The site specializes in US bettors, though they don’t do business with Americans from all 50 states, and their deposit and withdrawal options are more limited than other books on this list. BetUS is known for long lists of props and futures bets; if that’s your thing, give them a good long look.
BetUS is licensed out of Curacao. They deserve accolades for their browser-based mobile system, which is by far the best-looking and most functional mobile sports betting app of the bunch. Customer complaints about long deposit times forced me to look into the issue a little deeper. It’s not a big deal, but basically BetUS takes the longest of any offshore book to process deposits, sometimes taking two full weeks to load your money into your account.
Bovada
I give Bovada high marks for their user-friendly interface and multiple deposit/withdrawal options. In fact, I’d say Bovada is the most user-friendly of all offshore sportsbooks aimed at Americans. And that’s for good reason. Bovada splintered off from Bodog to act as the US-facing branch of that popular online betting brand.
Bovada’s a great site for a beginning bettor; their limits on deposits and withdrawals and individual bets mean big-money players pretty much stay away. Another reason to take Bovada with a grain of salt – they’re operating without a license. Once upon a time, they held licensure through the Kahnawake jurisdiction, but that lapsed in 2016.
Mybookie
Mybookie has nearly as many markets, live betting options, futures, and props as every other book on this list. What cripples Mybookie a little is their limited range of deposit and withdrawal options. It’s nice that you can deposit as little as $25 at a time. But it’s troublesome that you can only deposit through major credit cards, eCheck, or bank wire.
Mybookie limits deposit maximums at $10,000 for btc deposits. It’s clear that Mybookie’s market is “the average sports bettor,” if not from the limited financial options, definitely because of the frequent radio ads they run all over America’s heartland.
Sportsbetting.ag
Launched in 1998, Sportsbetting.ag has gone through a couple of major transformations over the years, reflecting the big changes in offshore betting law over those decades. These days, I’d put sportsbetting.ag up against any US-facing overseas betting site for their wide range of financial options and better-than-average list of markets and available bets.
My biggest complaint against Sportsbetting.ag is the fee structure for payouts. That’s an antiquated model that most US-facing books have abandoned. The site’s user interface is also looking a little ancient, and their software and design could use a general overhaul. Besides those (mostly aesthetic) issues, I’m happy to recommend Sportsbetting.ag to any American looking for a safe offshore sportsbook.
Conclusion
Playing at a licensed online or land-based sportsbook based and regulated in the United States is by far my preferred way to bet on sports. I’m pretty sure most American bettors agree that they’d rather play at a legit sportsbook in a casino or at a racetrack than place bets with an overseas gambling site.
However, about 132 million Americans have no easy legal access to regulated sports betting, thanks to the patchwork quilt of US sports betting laws. That’s about 40% of us with no choice but to place bets at offshore online betting sites.
Go into your business with offshore sportsbooks knowing that slow pays and frequent customer service problems are a real possibility. It can be a viable way to place bets in the absence of a legal market. Stick to the books identified in this post. You’ll give yourself the best chance of having a good business relationship with an offshore betting site.
