Online Sportsbook Guide: The guide to online sportsbooks

If you are new to sports betting and especially to the online sportsbooks, this guide will help you get the general idea of what to look for in an internet sportsbook. Of course, the easiest way to choose a good sports betting site is the visit our selection of the best online sportsbooks and save yourself the time that ultimately must be spent if you want to end up at a good gambling website. There you will find a very nice selection of sportsbooks, which are the best available online and without any country restrictions. There are small reviews and underlining of the most important features of the sportsbooks, bonus offers and more. So, if you want to save yourself time and frustration, we strongly advise you to check out that list of internet sportsbooks first.

But our list of sportsbooks is quite small, we have included only the cream of the crop, the best on the web, and you may want more. And for whatever reason, use this quick online sportsbook guide to choose a different sportsbook and to weed out those not worth visiting. Use the points made below as a basic guide to the online sportsbooks and you will be ahead of the pack, i.e. those poor folks who simply do a Google search and sign up with the first bookmaker that pops up. Here is our online sportsbook guide, things to consider when selecting a good sportsbook:

1. Selection. Make sure you select a few online sportsbooks first, make yourself kind of a small list of betting websites you think you may like and then compare those sportsbooks against each other to find which is the best. You can use our sportsbook guide and compare the betting sites, even add a few sportsbooks from other gambling guides, as well. Selection is one of the most important steps in weeding out the bad and patronizing the top sports betting sites only.

2. Restrictions. Right off the bat, go and check out the restrictions the sportsbooks you are comparing. This will save you a lot of time, trust me on this. A lot of the online sportsbooks these days have restrictions on the residents of specific countries they are allowed to welcome as customers, such as U.S., Canada, Turkey, etc. and unfortunately some of them don't list those restricted countries until the time you have filled in all the account information. Other shady betting sites do this on purpose - to simply get the emails and personal information of those restricted players and then sell them to a sportsbook that allows the restricted customers. But whatever the reason, make sure you verify first that you would be allowed to bet at those sportsbooks you have selected.

3. Payment methods - deposit and withdrawal. Thankfully you don't have to sign up with a betting website to see what payment options are available to you, whether for funding your betting account or for withdrawing your winnings. You will usually find this information right on the website of the sportsbook under "banking" or something similar. Make sure you look at this list before committing any further, as some online sportsbooks are known for having very small selection of payment methods. This may not be a problem right away, but could turn out to be a disaster in the future - it's better safe then sorry. Another point to keep in mind about the payment methods - look for the verification process and other terms and conditions for the specific ways of depositing and withdrawals. Some sportsbooks have quite tight restrictions of what you can do and don't and they won't hesitate to enforce them any chance they get. An example would be depositing money from a bank account opened on someone else's name, like your wife. This could lead to trouble when it comes time to collect winnings.

4. Variety of bets, betting markets and odds. This is a vital part of our online sportsbook guide, although to many would-be bettors it's not that important. But once you gain some experience in sports betting every point and every bet will count. If, for example, you are looking to place a few online bets on football games or bet the NBA Finals, you don't need to pay much attention to the best and odds offered by the online sportsbooks - every betting website will have the odds on those games. For those who want to get the most of their wager, however, make sure you compare the odds between the sportsbooks before making a commitment. Some bookies will offer low-juice odds, others will have niche sports that cannot be found in general, etc. You know which sports you like, thus don't hesitate to compare those odds between the betting companies first.

5. Bonus and other free offers. This comes at the bottom of our guide to online sportsbooks and betting websites, since we don't believe it carries that much importance for bettors. Naturally, we all love getting something for nothing and free money, but never base your sportsbook choice on this factor. And truth be told, most bettors don't even take advantage of the bonuses since they come with strings attached, namely the wagering requirements you must meet before withdrawing your winnings. You can always take the sign-up bonus as a way of increasing your bankroll when you try an online sportsbook for the first time, but rule of thumb - if the bonus is anything less than 20% it's not worth using.

These are the basic tips in our online sportsbook guide. You can always look further into each of the sportsbooks you think you would like wagering at, but following the basic steps in the guide above will eventually land you at a good online sportsbook or at least help you narrow down your choices significantly. Follow the online sportsbook guide and you will be that much closer to having a good time, rather than dealing with BS.

Published on 04/19/2009