Online Betting Sites US 2020
Check the list above to find the legal sportsbooks with great bonuses in your state.
Real money online betting in the United States is becoming regulated state by state. Considering we’re the Land of the Free, that hasn’t been the case for sports bettors. Fortunately, the tide’s about to change, and online betting is becoming legal slowly but surely.
From BonusFinder.com, you’ll find the updated legal status in your state. Once sports betting becomes legal in your home state, we’re sure to offer you the best bonuses and legit sportsbook reviews for sites you can trust with your money.
We are not experts on giving out betting picks or guide your way through a betting strategy, we leave that to others. We have specialized in one thing: Finding and reviewing reputable online gambling sites. Sites where you can place your bets legally.
FanDuel Sportsbook was the first online bookie to open up in both PA and NJ. In New Jersey, they’re the clear front runners with DraftKings.
Legit & Legal Sports Betting
So, what are the criteria for legit USA betting sites like that we endorse?
- Licensed in your state
- Fast, secure payouts
- Widely available banking methods like Mastercard and PayPal
- Trustworthy customer service
- Easy to use on mobile
- Excellent bonuses
BonusFinder.com only recommends the bookmakers that are entirely legit & legal for you to play in. You can find many offshore bookies like 5Dimes, Bovada and BetOnline who aren’t allowed to offer sportsbook for US customers but do so anyway.
You shouldn’t sign up at any of these sites, because there are zero guarantees you’ll get your money if you win big and you might run into issues. They’re “licensed” by countries like Costa Rica and other offshore locations.
They can do whatever they want, as a real US authority doesn’t license them and they are practically breaking the law. You should always check the company details at the bottom of the website to find out where the online bookie is licensed.
They’re at risk of being the next Full Tilt Poker, who had their funds frozen and returned to the customers years later We want you to get paid right away, not a couple of years down the road. Getting paid is the main reason you want to bet at a licensed sportsbook.
Fast payouts, plenty of banking methods, and mobile device usability are also three critical aspects of a legit bookie. You’ll want your deposits processed instantly with the banking method of your choice, so you don’t have to run through extra hoops just to get a couple of bets in. Today it’s also equally essential to be able to bet on a fast mobile betting platform, and their in-play betting needs to work smoothly on the go.
You should always take advantage of the online betting bonuses you’ll get when signing up at a new online bookie. This is something we should dig a bit deeper into.
Which States Offer Legal Sports Betting Sites?
We’ve got a handful of states that have their online sports betting sites up and running. Here’s the states that currently offer legal betting in August 2020:
- New Jersey sports betting – most competitive and open market
- Pennsylvania sports betting – competitive betting market
- Colorado sports betting – set to become a challenger for New Jersey
- West Virginia sports betting – figured out their problems at launch, now need to expand offering
- Illinois sports betting – BetRivers the first online site to launch, more expected before football season
- Indiana sports betting – only a few mobile apps available
- Iowa – in-person registration at a casino required
- New Hampshire – DraftKings Sportsbook the monopoly provider
- Rhode Island – in-person registration at a casino required
- Oregon – Scoreboard app by Oregon lottery the monopoly provider
- Washington D.C. – Gambet DC the monopoly provider
Then we’ve got a couple of states who have legalized online betting but are yet to launch it live. All of them are slated to go live during 2020.
- Michigan sports betting – launch during 2020
- Tennessee sports betting – launch likely by NFL season
- Virginia sports betting – launch likely in December
For more about states and who are about to legalize, check out our state-by-state betting guide for more info.
Types of Online Betting Bonuses
- Deposit bonus
- Free money
- Free bets
- Risk free bets
- Profit boosts
- Promotions and contests
You’ll always get an sports betting bonus when you sign up at an online bookie where you’re not a customer yet. Betting bonuses come in different forms, with most of the real value in deposits bonuses.
Most of the time, they’ll give you a sign-up bonus, so whenever you sign up at an online bookie, they’ll credit you with the promised bonus when you register as a new customer. The best online bookies like Unibet also offer you free bets and risk-free bets for significant events like the Super Bowl or World Series.
What are deposit bonuses?
Deposit bonus at an online bookie always matches your deposit with a pre-set percentage. If they’ve got a deposit bonus and will “match it 100% up to $100”, it means when you deposit a hundred bucks, you’ll get $200 in total to your betting account.
Deposit bonuses are typically the most value out of any US online betting bonuses.
Free money
Free money offers are hard to come by in online betting. Sometimes online casinos give “free money” with tons of strings attached for slots, but the free money offers are harder to come by online bettors.
If you’re lucky, you may find a $5 free money without a need to deposit, but don’t count on it. Always be ready to make a small deposit to make the best of an online bookmaker’s welcome bonus offers.
What are free bets?
Free bets are bets that a bookie gives either on sign-up or when you’ve been their customer for some time. Typically an online bookie matches your wager with a free bet of the same size.
What are risk free bets?
You can find more information risk free bets on our free bets info page.
What are profit boosts?
Profit boosts give extra to your wins. If a bookie gives you a “100% profit boost up to $100”, they’ll match your win up to $100. So if you’d like to bet $100 to win $190 with the Golden State Warriors beating the -5 spread against Toronto Raptors in NBA basketball, you’ll get the $90 doubled if the Warriors win. Then you can continue betting with $280 in your bankroll. Profit boosts are available for most sports leagues.
As free bets and risk-free bets, profit boosts are also usually given to either a new customer or an existing customer when a big event like the national championship or Kentucky Derby is coming up.
For example, DraftKings ran a no-vig NFL promotion for Week 1 of the 2019 season. Bettors in New Jersey and Pennsylvania got +100 odds on both sides, instead of the regular -110.
You’ll find out all the best offers for US players from BonusFinder. We’ll let you know if there is a promo code needed.
DraftKings ran a no-vig NFL promotion for Week 1 of the 2019 season. Bettors in New Jersey and Pennsylvania got +100 odds on both sides, instead of the regular -110.
Promotions and contests for existing customers
A bookmaker will get you something extra, even though you might have used all the welcome offers. In addition to monthly promotions, the added value can range from event promotions to contests. UFC or golf bettors can be the lucky ones that receive the added value when big events are coming up and bookies are looking through accounts for betting activity on the sport in question.
Wagering requirements
Every type of real money betting bonus comes with some strings attached. In the online gambling world, these strings are called wagering requirements (also referred to as play through and rollover requirements).
You can’t withdraw your winnings before you’ve met the playthrough requirements.
The rollover requirement is usually stated somewhere in the terms & conditions (aka “the part of a gambling website nobody reads except the editors of BonusFinder United States”). This number tells you how many times you need to wager your money before you can cash it out.
For betting, the rollover requirement is usually 3 to 6. Compare this 3-6 to online casino bonuses, which have a rollover requirement of 25 to 60. It’s a huge difference.
In betting bonuses, the rollover requirement calculated like this:
Wagering needed before cashing out = rollover * (bonus money + original deposit).
Bonus clearing example:
You deposit $50 and receive $50 with a rollover requirement of 3
You need to wager: 3 * ($50 + $50) = $300
You need to bet with specific odds for your wager to count towards clearing your bonus. This limit is often -120. Bets below the threshold don’t count towards clearing the bonus.
After you’ve met the wagering requirements and played through your bonus, you’re free to cash out your winnings.
Players from different countries have different playthrough requirements, but we’re on the right side of this. Betting lines are generous, and US players still get low wagering requirements as the competition for new American players is fierce.
Live / In-play Betting
Live betting is one of the most popular ways of online betting. You don’t bet just the pre-match card anymore. You can place wagers mid-game on intermissions and halftimes.
The live betting odds are ever-changing. In the NBA, the odds change during the game – even in the middle of a possession. The tempo is fast, so you’ll want to be watching the games on the TV instead of a live stream, as there’s much less of a delay in cable TV if you’re betting live.
Live betting is the #1 way to make money in betting, as Las Vegas does have the pre-match number pretty well down these days. Live betting is still much less of an exact science for real money online bookies, as live betting has only been around for years, while the pre-match market has been around for decades.
In live betting, it’s much easier to judge the teams against each other as you’ve seen them play today on the same field or the court. The tempo of the game, defense stacking against each offense, and the way superstars play each other. You can see all this happen live and then decide on what you’re going to bet, instead of trying to beat the online bookie in pre-match betting.
Mobile Betting Apps
The DraftKings sportsbook app is clean, straightforward, and fun to use.
Newsflash: You don’t need real money sports betting app to bet on your phone. All the online betting sites are entirely compatible with your phone’s browser, no matter if you’re running an iOS, Android, Blackberry, or a Windows Phone.
Real money betting apps are never necessary, as online bookies work very well using your browser. Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari – no problem.
However, you can find betting apps if your state has legalized online gambling. For example, in New Jersey, FanDuel and DraftKings have their real money betting apps in Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store. But you don’t need them really, as the mobile betting bookies work just as well on your browser.
Currently, you can’t download a betting app if you’re a resident of a state that hasn’t yet allowed online gambling. What would be the point, as you can’t gamble online again anyway? Once states legalize online betting, you’ll see online betting apps appear in your app store as well.
Best sports betting sites in the US
Currently in August 2020, DraftKings Sportsbook gets the nod. DraftKings started as a fantasy sports site, but they have taken the lead in the US as the most prominent sports betting site. As online sports betting is becoming legal state by state, DraftKings’ foray into the betting world has been a successful one.
You can bet all the major sports, college sports, as well as EPL if you’re into soccer. The odds are competitive, and they know what makes US bettors tick: Great bonuses with ongoing promotions that you’ll benefit from in the long run.
These offers are currently available legally for gamblers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Hampshire, Iowa, West Virginia, and Colorado. They are likely expanding to the rest of the country when other states open up with legal betting options.
Always remember that when betting, you should enjoy yourself. Betting, and gambling, are for entertainment purposes only. When the fun stops, you should stop, too.
Online Sports Betting FAQ
- Is online betting legal in the USA?
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Yes, there are many legal sports betting sites in the US. The legal betting market is opening up state by state. You can find all legal and safe USA sportsbooks (along with online casinos) on BonusFinder.com.
- Are online betting sites safe?
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Yes and no. An offshore online sportsbook might take in US customers, but that does not mean that it's legal. When wagering on foreign sports betting sites, your money might not be safe.
- What's the best online betting site?
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The most popular betting sites have one thing in common: They have a license to operate in a state legally. They offer odds to all the major sports: MLB baseball, college football, NHL hockey, FIFA World Cup, NCAA basketball, or National Football League, to name a few. You can use your go-to payment method, deposits and withdrawals are free, and you can trust your credit card details with the sportsbook.
- Are my betting winnings taxed?
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Surprisingly enough, yes. Almost all gambling winnings are taxable events, but it's up to you whether to report them or not. Even real money online bingo is taxed. You can, however, also deduct losses.
- Do I need a bonus code to claim a sportsbook bonus?
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Sometimes, yes. You'll find all the betting bonus codes in your state at the top of this page. We constantly update this page so you'll always find up-to-date bonus codes.
