USA Sportsbooks: Online sportsbooks taking US customers

Are you US bettor looking for an online sportsbook allowing USA customer to place bets on line? Well, you and the rest of the United States are looking for those sportsbooks taking US customers. Online betting has long been in the gray area of the law in the United States, but ever since the Congress passed the bill that prohibited banks from making payments to and from online gambling and sports books websites (a bill Rep. Barney Frank is working hard to overturn), it's been really hard for US customers to find a good online sportsbook that will take their bets and at the same time pay out their winnings. For informational purposes only, we have created this small list of online sportsbooks taking US customers and you can see what's available out there, as far as USA sportsbooks are concerned.

But before we even list those online sportsbooks, one thing must be made clear - there is no such thing as a perfect USA sportsbook. Unlike in other countries, such as the Great Britain, bettors do enjoy such perks as seamless deposits and instant withdrawals, even to their credit cards, but because the sportsbooks allowing US players to bet with them have to overcome hundreds of hurdles, things will be different. All US sportsbooks will have some kind of drawback or shortcoming, whether is a limited choice of methods to fund your player's account or withdrawals that could take up to 2 weeks, bottom line - there will always be something that would make the online sportsbook less than perfect. This must be clearly understood before people even consider betting online at any of the USA online sportsbooks. Now that we have this out of the way, let's look at what offshore sportsbooks are available for USA customer to use.

We will start with the BodogLife (official website) online sportsbooks, for many reasons, the main being that this is the US online sportsbook with the highest successful rate of deposits. BodogLife (also known as Bodog) is also one of the oldest sports betting websites in the world, established back in the '90 by the infamous Calvin Ayre. This sportsbook has always allowed US players to bet online, although it had never accepted Canadian players, but that's a different article. If you are looking for an online sportsbook taking US customers, while not having to jump through hoops to actually fund your players account, this is the best of the best. You can use either a credit card, ewallet and even an electronic check, although some of those options come and go. This sports book will let you bet online on pretty much anything, all sporting events and games, boxing, MMA and more. It is a full fledged sportsbook with odds which are not the best around, but hardly the worst - there is no reduced juice here, the sports book will take in the full -10 points. What's the drawback of this USA online sportsbook? The slow payments. Being one of the most popular sportsbooks in the world takes its toll and with online sportsbook taking US customers the toll results in slower payments. Around the betting forums players have complained that it sometimes could take up to 2 weeks until you receive your winnings, but on the bright side, there has never been a complaint that players have not received their payments at all. Again, with the USA online sportsbooks you will have to take the good and the bad, the latter here being the case of waiting up to 2 weeks to get your check from Bodog, although the majority of customers say that they get their withdrawals in a week or less. And another point about the Bodog sportsbook - the process of registering your payment methods may be a little tough. To minimize fraudulent accounts, Bodog has instated some serious ID verification, but this is also quite beneficial to its customers, although it could be a bit tedious for new players.

Another very popular online sportsbook taking US players is the Bookmaker (official website) betting website. Well known throughout the world and the gambling industry, Bookmaker is part of a family of awesome sportsbooks, but the only one of them left to cater to the USA betting market. This US online sportsbook is also known as the fastest to publish the latest odds, which are often hard to beat. No doubt that if you are looking to take advantage of the betting odds before the rest of the players or if your main concern is to find the US sportsbook with the best odds, you should check out Bookmaker. This betting site is also famous for paying out its customers very fast, usually within 3 days, although sometimes the bookie takes fees for the faster withdrawals. Again, you will have to pick your poison and with Bookmaker the problem is actually the depositing methods. Sometimes is very hard to fund your betting account with this sportsbook, left with the choice of ewallet and wire transfer. This should be no problem for high rollers but most of the US bettors don't feel like paying fees if the ewallet transaction is unsuccessful. The offshore sportsbook is working hard on offering credit card deposits to its customers, but those are sometimes available and at other times non existent. This online sportsbook taking Americans, however, offers the best in sports betting, once you get over the funding troubles. Not many people look for another sportsbook once they have joined the Bookmaker family and you can hear only good things about this USA sportsbook on the forums and blogs. Also - perfect for people willing to bet 4 or more digits on the games.

And if non of the USA online sportsbooks above work for you, our last recommendation will be the 5Dimes (official website) sports book. There is nothing fancy about this online sportsbook, including the layout, but this makes for very easy betting and navigation. The betting firm is well known among the bettors worldwide and has always been held in high regards. As a benefit to its customers, this US online sportsbook also offers reduced juice bets on many major sporting events, as well as very good and competitive odds overall. The problem with this bookie is the depositing methods or the lack of. You have the option to use electronic check as a way of funding your USA players account, but sometimes this methods doesn't go through. Bank wire and money transfer are two extra avenues to fund your customer account if you live in the USA, but other than that, one ewallet is open and nothing else. But if you can go through and deposit with any of the methods the sportsbook has to offer, you won't regret it. It's a top notch sportsbook, but in our humble opinion, it should be used only as an alternative to the other two US online sportsbooks listed here, as you will get more bang for your buck, plus slightly less hustle to get things going.

Published on 03/24/2009