US Online Sports Betting Guide For 2024
- Legal Sports Betting Options For NFL, NBA, MLS, NCAA, and More
- Popular Withdrawal and Deposit Options For Online Players
- 18+ Sports Betting Bonus Options For USA Players
Sports betting has been a national pastime in America for decades, and American gamblers have been able to legally bet at US online sports betting sites long before the 2018 PASPA overturn. Now, with the market growing faster than ever, the best international online sportsbooks have millions of active members and are adding more each day.
If you’ve never bet sports online before, it might seem like a daunting task to find the right US online gambling sites with great security, wide-ranging sports support, and guaranteed payouts. But we’ve separated the first stringers from the bench warmers, and by using our short guide to USA online sports gambling, you can finally get in the game!
Are US Online Sports Betting Sites Legal?
Yes! US sports betting laws specifically target domestic operators and have never banned participation in real-money online betting with overseas sportsbook sites. If you live in the United States and are at least 18 years old, you can safely and legally sign up and gamble on US and international sports action at any site listed here.
That said, Washington is the only US state that bans online sports betting. However, these laws are apparently unenforced, as there’s no record of any WA resident being fined or arrested for betting sports online. Still, if you live in WA, please follow all local mandates and proceed only at your own risk.
Sports To Bet On At US Online Betting Sites
Naturally, all the major US sports markets feature prominently at the best online sportsbooks. These sites are US-facing and go all in on the sports that Americans enjoy most. However, America is a melting pot, and American sportsbooks are, too.
That means that aside from the typical game-to-game NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and college sports odds, you’ll also have access to international soccer and cricket odds, rugby lines, MMA/UFC action, tennis, golf, and everything else you can imagine.
The following list features just some of the sports you can expect at any of the top-rated USA sportsbooks operating online:
Best of all, when you bet at an offshore sportsbook, you’re never going to be limited by the odds like you are when gambling with domestic books.
Local bettors in the US are “geofenced” to their local books – That is, they cannot place wagers with sports betting services in other states. This is due to the Wire Act (1961), and it’s the reason why domestic lines always have a regional skew.
Any local or nearby teams – whether favorites or underdogs – always pay out less due to the volume of bets going their way. Because international online sportsbooks take members from all or most US states, there’s no such local weighting, which means you’ll always bet less and win more.
Online Live Sports Betting
Live sports betting is the most popular way to wager of late, as bets are no longer closed once the games in question get underway. Before, you had to get your wagers in and then watch in glee (or anxiety!) as the games played out with your money hanging in the balance.
You can still do that, of course, but live betting allows players to gamble on sports during the games themselves. This means you can recover a bad bet if the starting quarterback gets injured early, the ace pitcher gets knocked out in the first inning, and so on.
Live betting odds are updated every few seconds in real-time to reflect the ebb and flow of each game, making the games themselves that much more interesting not only from a betting perspective but also from a fan’s POV.
If you want to turn a loser into a winner or double down on a sure thing, you don’t have to chase bets gambling on other games anymore. Instead, you can bet on the game you’re interested in all game long!
Online Custom Prop Bets
Custom prop builders are the newest features at the best online sportsbooks for US gamblers. Every top brand features custom prop plugins, allowing members to assemble their own props – down to the finest details – and bet on their terms.
While you can still access the typical prop menus for each matchup on the sporting calendar, these prop builders let you create the exact line you want quickly and easily from any PC, Mac, or mobile device.
You can even augment your bets by assembling single-sport and cross-sport parlays, allowing you to extend your sports betting lines from a few hundred per contest to literally thousands – if not tens of thousands – of wagering possibilities for each game.
Best of all, each online USA sportsbook we recommend uses the same custom props app, which means the experience is identical across all major services. For savvy bettors with memberships at multiple sites, this makes line shopping easier and more profitable across the board.
USA-Friendly Online Sportsbook Banking Options
For US online sports bettors, banking has always been the bottleneck at international offshore sportsbooks. That’s because the federal UIGEA banking regulation can sometimes interrupt, delay, or even decline your credit and debit payments to these reputable sites.
That said, the UIGEA is a mere nuisance: It targets US-based financial institutions, not US-based sports bettors. In other words, the UIGEA does not make online sports betting illegal in any capacity. But it does make topping off your online gambling account a hit or miss proposition if you use legacy banking methods.
While these methods are still supported and work most of the time, the UIGEA has prompted the top operators to offer alternative banking options that are not only more reliable, but which are more valuable, too.
Sportsbook Deposits
- Bitcoin
- Altcoins (BCH, ETH, LTC, etc.)
- Zelle-To-Bitcoin
- Sportsbook Vouchers
- Player Transfers
- MatchPay (Bovada only)
- Visa
- Mastercard
- American Express
- Discover
- Debit Cards
- International Gift Cards
- Cashier’s Checks
- Bank Wires
- Money Orders
- Retail Money Transfers
Sportsbook Withdrawals
- Bitcoin
- Altcoins
- Sportsbook Vouchers
- Player Transfers
- MatchPay (Bovada only)
- Courier Checks
- Bank Wires
- Money Orders
- Retail Money Transfers
As a rule, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Chainlink, Ripple, Stellar, USD Coin, Dogecoin, and others are the methods we recommend for most bettors. Crypto gives you rapid deposits, enhanced sportsbook bonuses, the best limits, and access to same-day payouts.
Alternatively, sports betting vouchers, player transfers, and MatchPay (for Bovada members) allow bettors to top off their accounts with popular P2P apps such as PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle. Both crypto and vouchers/transfers/MatchPay have no added fees for deposits or withdrawals.
All other methods listed above come with processing fees and transfer delays to be aware of. Fees can range from just a few dollars to over $100 depending on the deposit amounts and methods chosen, and transaction times take 3-7 days.
That said, please note that all deposit and withdrawal methods are 100% guaranteed by the best USA online sportsbooks, so even if a payment is disrupted by the UIGEA, your line is always covered.
US Online Sports Betting Bonuses And Promos
Sports betting promotions are an online staple, and the best US sportsbooks offer a number of different bonuses for both new and returning members. As a rule, the best promos are reserved for first-time depositors, as welcome bonuses give players 50% to 100% or more in free plays.
Of course, account reload bonuses are also valuable, often matching deposits by 25-50%. And because all promos come with low, attainable rollover rates (5X-15X), we recommend that players accept these sports betting bonuses whenever they’re offered.
For bettors who choose to deposit in cryptocurrency, all the best sportsbook sites give you even more bang for your buck. Crypto bonuses usually allow you to get 2-3X more money per deposit than standard bonuses, all with the same low rollover rates.
- Sports Betting Sign-Up Bonus
- Sports Betting Reload Bonus
- Sports Betting Enhanced Crypto Bonus
- Sports Betting Refer-A-Friend Bonus
- Sports Betting Special Event Bonus
- Sports Betting No-Deposit Bonus
US Mobile Online Sportsbooks
It’s all well and good to have an account at a trustworthy and legitimate sports betting site, but that access wouldn’t amount to much these days without full mobile support.
That’s why all the best-reviewed online sportsbooks for US players have custom-built mobile betting suites that work perfectly with iPhone, iPad, and Android devices of all models and screen sizes. These mobile sports betting apps – or, technically, web apps – are all browser-based, so no native app downloads or updates are required.
Dynamic, responsive web design means it doesn’t matter what kind of smartphone or tablet you use, either. As long as you have an active cellular or Wi-Fi Internet connection and an up-to-date web browser, you can bet sports online from anywhere in the United States with absolutely no geofencing restrictions.
All the features and sports markets you get on the desktop are available via mobile, too, so you’ll never miss out on any valuable odds, live betting lines, props, futures, or anything else. Mobile sports gambling lets you bet on the go 24/7, so you can get your wagers in from the easy chair and the barstool to the tailgate, the sidelines, and skybox alike.