Online Sports Betting USA
Online sports betting is one of the most prolific forms of entertainment in the US and millions of Americans bet on the outcomes of games around the world on a daily basis. While the NFL takes in the lions share of sports betting both on and offline, there are literally hundreds of options to bet on with leagues from every corner of the globe available for wagers.
Regulated sports betting has started to gain some traction in the US, however the majority of players still choose to play at the legacy offshore sites since they offer better bonuses and lines than the land-based US casinos. Below we have compiled a list of the best and most trustworthy places to bet on sports online.
Best Online Sportsbooks for US Players
Sports Gambling Sites
That transformation has elicited hundreds of sites around the globe that offer betting opportunities, but choosing the proper site – one that is licensed and safe, transparent and reliable – is just as important as the bet itself.
Keep in mind, online sports betting is only fully legal in 10 states: Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Indiana, Iowa, New Mexico and Oregon.
Players are right to be selective in their search for the proper betting sites. With so many choices in the world, it is not only difficult to find operators who still cater to US players within their desired state, but also to ensure that they can be trusted with real-money betting.
Even so, bettors want choices. They want to be able to bet on a range of sports and even non-sporting activities like elections and reality-based television show outcomes. They want to watch games and races online upon which their bets ride. And they want to be able to deposit and withdraw funds quickly and safely as a person would at a casino.Integrity is the number one feature that players require in a betting site. Not only is it vital that the odds are correct, payouts must be handled responsibly and in a timely manner. And this is what reputable betting operators do best. They remove the distrust factor that plagued bookmaking for centuries and replace it with accountability.
With all of that in mind, our recommended sites are broken down by category, each one determined by bettors to be important in their decision-making process.
- Bonuses and promotions
- Deposit and withdrawal options
- Licensing with trusted regulators
- Software
- Customer service
- Access for PC and Mac users, mobile customers
- All major sports and activities available for betting
In addition to full-site reviews, US Gambling Sites offers sport specific betting guides:
History of Sports Betting in the US
Betting in America dates back to the immigrants from Europe, who were prone to taking risks by the very nature of their travels to new lands. Betting on games and sports became so prominent in the US that some people took it upon themselves to serve as bookmakers. They took the responsibility of setting lines on games, paying off the winners, and profiting from the losers. However, there was little accountability, as bookmaking was not a legal business, so those who were treated unfairly had little recourse.
Congress passed the 1961 Federal Wire Act to prevent illegal bookmaking at a time when bookies were operating primarily through telephone contact. The Wire Act banned using wire communications to bet or wager on any sporting event or contest. While that did little to curb the betting business, it did make it more difficult. Underground betting was even less reliable.
In the 1990s, computer programmers took to offering rudimentary games on the internet.
Eventually, those games were improved enough to allow people in various locations to compete against each other and do so for real money. And in January of 1996, the very first real-money online sports bet was recorded at Intertops. A site based in Australia popped up soon after, and more websites sprouted from countries everywhere. Many of the sites were licensed and run by reputable operators, making sports betting easy, secure, and entertaining.
That began to come to an end in the US in 2006 when the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act went into effect. Though the wording was ambiguous, it paved the way for the government to push online betting operators out of the US market. And when the US Department of Justice cracked down on the largest poker operators in 2011, most companies exited the American market out of fear.
However, some sports betting sites remained available to American players. They are not based in the US but do possess proper licensing and have shown their reliability through decades in the industry.
Legal Status and Licensing
Sports betting is rapidly spreading across the nation, as mentioned there are 10 states with legal sports gambling and several more on deck to come within 2020:
Arkansas – Lawmakers have taken steps to see mobile wagering join land-based sports betting in the state, but there is no expected date for this.
Colorado – Early indications are that sports betting and online sports betting will finally be operational by May 1, 2020, for the state of Colorado.
Tennessee – Tennessee became the 12th state to make sports betting legal and is now gearing towards launching online sports betting and online casino gaming. No official launch date has been announced.
Montana – May 3, 2019 the Governor signed into a law a full-scale sports betting legislature that would allow mobile and online sports betting. No official date has yet been released for launch but is expected by end of 2019, early 2020.
Illinois – On June 2, 2019, the Illinois board passed the broad gaming bill that allows for both online and in-person sports betting. No official date for first bet, was given.
Indiana – Indiana retail sportsbooks were able to launch as of September 2019 and subsequently, voters passed the bill in late October 2019 allowing online sports betting.
North Carolina – North Carolina lawmakers are also considering a bill that would permit statewide and online sports betting in the near future.
New York – Land-based sports wagering launched on July 16 2019, however mobile betting has been stalled since mid-2019 but hopes to see changes to this law as well as for fantasy sports by early 2020.
New Hampshire – Although the Governor approved and signed the bill on July 12th 2019, there has been no official launch date for online sports betting. It is expected sometime in 2020.
Washington, DC – Effective May 3, 2019 the bill legalizing sports betting in the nation capital was made official, however to this day no formal announcement has been made regarding launch date for either in-person or online betting.
Mississippi – Mississippi adopted regulations allowing all sports betting to take place in person on water and land. Mobile wagering is to be discussed later in 2019.
Michigan – The State of Michigan became the ninth state this year alone to approve legalized sports betting and the 20th overall state to permit legal sports betting.
For the remaining states legal status on online sports betting, please visit our Legal page in order to keep up with the rapid changing laws per state.
All of the sites recommended by US Gambling Sites are properly licensed with an online gambling regulator. This means that the betting operators applied for a license and submitted to all necessary auditing of software, games, odds, transactions, and internal business documents. Licensing through a trusted regulator also requires ongoing audits on a regular basis to remain compliant with industry standards and maintain proper licensing.
In May 2018, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of New Jersey, which brought a case regarding sports betting. The court decided that the federal law had been unconstitutional, and every state in America should be able to enact their own sports betting laws. As that happens, states will not only have the option to offer sports betting in their land-based casinos, there will be online sports betting as well. The sites will be well-regulated but limited to the states under which they are established.
Sports Betting Preferences
Online sports bettors have choices in the betting world, and they also have numerous factors to consider when making their selections. Those factors should include:
Online Sports Betting FAQ
Is it legal to bet on sports online?
Yes, depending on the state you are located in. Legal sports betting can be done online in any of the 10 states mentioned above. You do not have to be a resident of said state to bet there, but you do need to be physically located within the state to place a legal online sports bet.
What is Daily Fantasy Sports Betting (DFS)?
There are big differences between daily fantasy sports and sports betting. In sports betting, a bettor picks a team or multiple teams to win or cover a point spread. In daily fantasy sports, a user chooses athletes and enters a competition that computes a winner based on the statistics accumulated by the players in a sport.
What is Live Betting?
Live betting is when a bettor places a bet on a wager already underway. Sportsbooks will often offer lines and odds that are adjusted based on gameflow and current win probability.