Where To Bet Sports Online Safely And Legally In 2024
If you’re looking for where to bet on sports, you’ve come to the right arena. In America, sports betting is the fastest-growing domestic gambling market, with over one-third of all US states having local options. Most have brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, and many also have domestic online options. However, to wager with either, you must be physically inside the states in question. Interstate sports betting is not legal in America.
So, what if you live in a state that doesn’t offer the above? That’s actually easy, because – regardless of where you live – your best bet is to find out where to bet on sports online using a reputable international betting site. These overseas sportsbooks are superior to their domestic counterparts in every way, offering the best lines and odds available anywhere. With plenty of mobile options, live betting opportunities, and 24/7 uptime, these books are where to make sports bets when you want to win big! Most even offer real money casino games as part of their betting suite.
Most Reputable Legal Online Sportsbooks For 2024
Brick-And-Mortar Sportsbooks Vs. Online Sportsbooks
Before PASPA was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2018, your options for where to bet on sports games was limited to where to bet sports in Vegas. For just about everyone in the US, there were no convenient domestic sportsbooks to choose from.
Now, however, over 20 states have legalized local sports betting within their borders, and more are being added to the lineup every congressional session. Thus, when it comes to where to gamble on sports these days, many US bettors have plenty to choose from. But brick-and-mortar venues remain inconvenient for the majority of the country, and some states are moving slowly – if at all – on legalizing these facilities.
Additionally, those states with domestic retail and online sports betting almost never offer the best odds, as they’re often limited to a fanbase that pulls hard for certain regional teams in the biggest leagues. This skews the betting lines and necessitates high house takes that actually take winnings out of your pocket! Nevertheless, if you’re interested in where to make bets on sports, these are your options inside the United States:
Brick-And-Mortar Sportsbooks
Brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, or retail sports betting lounges, are great – if you have access to them. Most bettors in the US, unfortunately, do not. And due to the Federal Wire Act of 1961, it is illegal for retail sportsbooks to accept wagers across state lines. This means that if your state hasn’t legalized sports betting, you can’t simply call up a legal sportsbook in another state to place your bets.
That said, if you do live near a physical sportsbook, the in-person betting experience is something worth trying. It’s a lot of fun to watch the biggest events on the biggest screens, especially when you’ve got some skin the game.
Still, since most bettors aren’t just looking for where to bet on the Super Bowl or similar headlining events but instead want to know where to bet on NFL games and other sports contests on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis, traveling to a brick-and-mortar venue to place wagers each day just doesn’t add up – except in the loss column!
For profitable sports betting, you need to mind your margins. All that travel and extra spending associated with destination sports betting is a net loss for your bottom line. To combat that, online is the answer!
Online Sports Betting Sites
When it comes to where to bet on sports online, you have two options. The first (and less readily available) option is to use a domestic online sportsbook if you’re in a state that has legalized the pastime.
Of course, since most people aren’t in those states – and since it will be years before sports betting is locally available in all or most areas around the country – your better course of action is to step up to the plate at an international online sportsbook that operates overseas.
These so-called “offshore” sportsbooks are safe and legal to use, as the Wire Act doesn’t apply to non-domestic operators, and there are no US gambling laws preventing individuals from placing online sports bets with these providers.
As long as you use a licensed, regulated, and trusted online sportsbook operating outside of the US, you are guaranteed to get thousands of daily betting lines on every player, team, and league you can think of.
Available Online Sports Betting Markets In 2024
A sportsbook is only as good as the sports it covers and the betting lines it offers. And even then, not every book will have the same odds on the same contests. This is where line shopping comes into play, and it’s why we recommend signing up at several of the top online sportsbooks so you can always get the biggest payouts for the sports bets you wish to place.
Additionally, different sites offer different levels of support within individual betting markets. If you want to know where to find NFL player props with the most odds to choose from, for example, one site may have 50 props for a given contest while another has 100 or more. To expand your bank account, you definitely need to expand your roster!
That said, when you pick any online sportsbook listed here, you can rest assured that you’ll be sitting pretty – as opposed to sitting on the bench – when you’re looking for the following:
- NFL Football
- MLB Baseball
- NBA Basketball
- NHL Hockey
- MLS Soccer
- NCAAF College Football
- NCAA College Baseball
- NCAAB College Basketball
- Soccer games (Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, etc.)
- PGA Golf
- Tennis
- MMA UFC Fights
- Boxing Matches
- World Cup soccer
- Olympics
- eSports
- Sports Sims
- Virtual sports
- Entertainment Shows
- Politics/Elections
- More
Understanding Your Banking Options At Online Sportsbooks
Once you’ve chosen exactly where to bet, as long as you select one of the reputable books listed here, you’ll have a number of bet funding options available to you, each with different fees, wait times, and deposit/withdrawal limits.
Every reputable online sportsbook accepts Bitcoin and various altcoins, which are the methods we recommend. Cryptocurrency is the only way to get same-day payouts at most online sportsbooks, but you must deposit with crypto to claim crypto betting withdrawals.
Crypto also gives you fee-free transfers, the best banking limits, the most valuable sports betting bonus enhancements, and the safest banking transactions via state-of-the-art blockchain security.
Outside of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, not every legal online sportsbook supports the same exact banking methods as every other top site, though they each support a comprehensive selection of the payment types listed below.
Most Popular Sportsbook Deposit And Withdrawal Options
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Altcoins (Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Stellar, DASH, Bitcoin Cash, etc.)
- Zelle-To-Bitcoin
- MatchPay (PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, Zelle)
- QB Direct
- Credit Cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express And Discover)
- Debit Cards
- International Gift Cards (Visa, Mastercard)
- Cashier’s Checks
- Bank Wires
- Money Orders
- P2P Transfers (Person-To-Person)
- Siter Vouchers (Account-To-Account Transfers)
Note: If you haven’t used cryptocurrency before and are curious where to buy Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, and other altcoins, you can do so at various online exchanges like Coinbase or through private sellers using the Zelle-to-BTC process (via LocalBitcoins.com). Some sites also support Litecoin betting deposits specifically using the third-party QB Direct service.
How To Claim Sports Betting Signup Bonuses In 2024
The best online sportsbook bonus is the one that you can actually use immediately and that has rollover requirements that make the terms easy to meet. Fortunately, all the sites listed here fit the bill, boosting your bankroll substantially while having attainable rollover rates of just 5-10X.
Typically, the best online sports betting bonuses will boost your deposits by 50-100% for between $250 and $1000 in free plays. At the top sportsbooks, welcome bonus options are the most prevalent, though many operators also allow you to claim reload bonuses whenever you deposit extra cash into your account.
If you want to get off on the right cleat after you find the best options for where to bet sports online, we recommend always accepting any reasonable sportsbook deposit bonus.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for no-deposit bonus sports betting sites, your options are much more limited. The most trusted online sportsbooks no longer offer these kinds of promotions on a regular basis, though you may occasionally come across them as seasonal sportsbook promos.
However, such bonuses are now largely unnecessary, as best sportsbooks all have very low minimum deposit requirements and offer bonuses for transfers of as little as $10 to $20. Plus, any sportsbook no-deposit bonus is going to have a much higher rollover requirement than those associated with standard bonuses or enhanced Bitcoin sports betting bonuses, which makes these latter options a home run in comparison.
How To Place Real Money Bets From Your Mobile Device
The few states that have legal domestic sports betting will have official iPhone and Android apps that can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play. However, if you live in any other state and want to download the best sports betting app, you won’t find any of the international sports betting sites listed.
This is due to corporate policy and is not a judgment on the legitimacy of these reputable betting sites. Apple and Google simply do not allow overseas sportsbook operators to distribute native apps through their storefronts.
Of course, that’s not an issue, because the best sportsbook apps are actually the browser-based web apps available from all the top providers featured here. Mobile sports betting is just as fast when you use your mobile browser as it is when you use dedicated iPhone sportsbooks or Android sportsbook apps, and there’s nothing to download or update.
Best of all, the mobile sports betting options offered by these sites are never geo-fenced, so you can bet on sports from anywhere in the USA, anytime you want! With full touchscreen controls, one-tap betting ticket submissions, easy-to-understand sports bet calculators, and top-level data encryption, you can have it all, right in the palm of your hand. That’s one rock you don’t want to give up!
Where To Make Live In-Game Sports Wagers
Live sports betting is the newest, most popular, and most immersive way to bet on sports. And naturally, for live sports betting, online sportsbooks are basically a prerequisite.
Traditional sports betting requires you to get your wagers in before any given contest gets underway, but live betting allows you to wager during the games themselves, in real-time. For this reason, you may see live sports betting referred to as in-game betting or in-play betting.
Live betting lines are constantly updated to reflect the ebb and flow of every game, with odds appearing for just seconds or minutes before changing. Obviously, if you had to place these bets at ticket counters, you’d miss out on most opportunities, which is far from ideal.
That’s why online sportsbooks are so much better at presenting live betting lines to their customers – As long as you have an active Internet connection, you’ll always be able to see fresh odds and place your bets immediately, right through your smartphone, tablet, or computer. Take it from us: If you’re a fan of sport, bet live. It’s fast becoming the only way to play!