Sportsbetting fans are spoilt for choice these days with countless online sportsbooks available. However, not all betting sites are the same, and it can be overwhelming trying to decide which one to use. That’s why, in this article, we will discuss how we rank and review sportsbooks so you can easily find the best ones to wager at.
We understand the importance of finding a reliable and trustworthy platform to place your bets, and that’s why we have developed a comprehensive evaluation process. We take into account various factors to ensure that we recommend only the best, legal, and licensed sportsbooks. With our rigorous criteria and thorough assessments, we aim to provide you with the most accurate and reliable information so you can make informed decisions when it comes to sports betting.
Competitive Odds
If you want to make more money than you lose betting on sports then finding the best odds is essential. There is no single site that is going to offer the best odds for every market but there are sites that consistently offer competitive odds across the board and provide excellent value for their users. Below you can see how we go about rating the odds a site offers.
Spread and Totals Odds
When you want to place either a spread bet or wager on totals you are going to find that most of the time the odds will be -110 for either side of the bet at whatever sportsbook you go to However, the best sportsbooks will offer some reduced juice games which means they will take less vig so you might get slightly better odds for these types of bets like -105. This may not seem a great deal but this can add up over time so it’s always worth opting for sportsbooks that offer reduced juice games.
Moneyline Odds
With Moneyline bets you are going to see more variation from different betting sites in terms of odds as it depends on what chances they give each team of winning. The best way to work out the value of odds for moneyline is by assessing the payout percentage of bets. A payout percentage would be 100% if a sportsbook took no vig but that’s never the case. For moneylines we look for a payout percentage of around 95% anything above this is considered great odds and anything below 92% we would consider poor value.
Futures Odds
Future bets are more complicated than moneylines, spreads, and totals as there a multiple different outcomes possible. For example, betting on the winner of the Super Bowl before a season starts, there are 32 different possibilities. To determine how good the futures odds are at a site, we use implied probability. This is what chance the odds suggest a team has of winning. If you add up all the implied probabilities then you should get 100% as there’s a 100% chance that one of the teams will win. However, sportsbooks want to make money so the implied probability will always be over 100%. Any percentage over 100 is known as the over-round and we look for sites that consistently offer the lowest over-round.
We also will directly compare odds of future bets as it’s important to know what odds a sportsbook is offering for specific teams, as they may have a lower over-round but are offering lower value odds for the most likely teams to win and making up for it by increasing the odds for teams that have very little chance of winning.
Prop Bet Odds
Prop betting odds can be even more complicated as while some have 2 or 3 possible outcomes, some props may have multiple possibilities and some will have 2 or more possible outcomes but you can’t bet on every possibility. For example, a player to score three touchdowns in a game, you may only be able to bet on this happening and you cannot bet on it not happening. However, we can still use implied probability and see if the chances of it happening match up to what we believe the chances are of it happening. We also directly compare odds sites offer to see which ones consistently offer the better value odds for props.
Sports Coverage and Betting Options
The old adage of “more is not always better” does not apply when it comes to betting options. Having a wide range of betting markets allows bettors to utilize their knowledge to place the exact bet they want. In addition, they have the option to implement different types of betting strategies. In terms of what sports have coverage more doesn’t always mean better as if there is a huge amount of different sports and leagues the sportsbook might be spreading themselves a bit thin. However, the best sportsbooks tend to have a good mix of the most popular sports and a few lesser-followed sports/leagues. When we research the sports coverage and betting options this is what we look for.
Major Sports
It’s imperative that a sportsbook has markets on all the most popular sports and leagues to bet on. For example, in the USA if a betting site does not offer markets for any of the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, soccer, motor racing, golf, MMA/boxing, NCAA football/basketball, and tennis, then it’s not likely we would recommend them.
Niche Sports and Novelty bets
In addition to having lines on whatever are the most popular sports in a country, we generally like to see at least a handful of more niche sports or leagues. For example in the US, coverage of leagues like the XFL and WNBA and sports like snooker, surfing, and handball are appreciated. We also take into account if any novelty bets or categories are offered such as political and entertainment betting or even things like being able to bet on who will be the next pope.
Esports
Not many sports have seen as much growth as eSports in recent years and rather than being a novelty feature at a few sportsbooks, eSports betting is something we expect to see at least some markets on at sportsbooks particularly for popular games like League of Legends, Starcraft and CS:GO.
Alternate Lines
Moneyline, spread, and over/under bets are the bread and butter of all sportsbooks so it’s a given that any site will have them available on the sports they cover. What we pay close attention to is if alternate lines on spreads and over/unders are offered. A good sportsbook will provide multiple alternate lines, particularly for major sports like football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. The more alternate lines the bettors as it gifts more freedom to bettors and lets them use their knowledge to either increase their chance of winning or increase the potential payout.
Same Game Parlays and Other Multi Bets
Parlays are something you find at every online sportsbook. On the other hand, not all sportsbooks allow same game parlays so we always check if this is possible and for what sports you can place same game parlays. The best sportsbooks also provide other multi-bet options for sports such as trixies, teasers, round robins, and yankees.
Prop Betting
This is where a sportsbook can really set itself apart from others in terms of betting options. Top sportsbooks provide huge amounts of prop bets for sports and we would be looking for hundred-plus prop markets per game in the most popular sports, including team, player, and game props.
Futures
Futures betting is a highly popular bet type due to its lucrative odds and long-lasting engagement. These bets often offer favorable odds, with many selections falling within the plus odds range. Additionally, futures bets can remain active for months, providing a vested interest in the league’s results and adding excitement to games.
When searching for future markets, it is important to choose a reputable online betting site. The best sportsbooks will offer a wide range of future markets, including major championships like the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, or FIFA World Cup. However, it is at these top-tier sportsbooks where you’ll find even more extensive future markets, such as predicting the most improved player, coach of the year, or the NFL player who will score the most touchdowns in the regular season, among others.
Create Your Own Wager
Some sportsbooks allow players to suggest any bet they would like and they will do their best to give you odds and let you place the bet. This feature is something we greatly appreciate at a sportsbook as it means that there is almost no limit to betting options and bettors can use their expert knowledge to gain an edge.
In-Play Betting and Live Streaming
One of the most exciting ways to bet on sports is live betting also known as in-play betting. As such it is essential that betting sites provide a diverse range of in-play markets and a seamless live betting experience. Live streaming, on the other hand, isn’t an essential feature but is one that certainly adds to your overall experience at a sportsbook. Chances are that if you enjoy betting on sports you probably enjoy watching it. The pair also are complimentary to each other because if you want to place live bets then being able to watch the action and react to in-game events can greatly increase your chances of winning. When we rank these live betting and streaming we consider the following criteria.
In-Play Betting Markets
As we discussed earlier for pre-game markets, more is always better as it allows users to implement then specific knowledge to give themselves an edge. The same is true for live games so we rank betting sites highly if they offer live moneyline bets, alternate lines for spreads and totals, and a variety of props, Plus we like to see live betting same game parlays on offer.
In-Play Betting Odds
Just as is the case with pre-game bets, we pay close attention to the odds for live betting markets. It’s a little harder with live bets as the odds continuously change throughout a game but we can still calculate payout percentage and implied probability and work out if the sportsbook is offering good value. An additional aspect live betting has that pregame markets do not is how fast a sportsbook update its odds. While the live odds are changing at a betting site, bets are locked out and we expect the time these bets to be locked to be very short as it can be extremely frustrating trying to place a bet and it keeps failing because the bet is locked while odds are changed.
In-Play Betting Tool
Another feature of live betting that sportsbooks can differ significantly in is the in-play betting tool itself. The best sportsbooks have cutting-edge betting tools with a visualizer that displays the play-by-play action of games using vivid graphics and even includes comprehensive statistics from the game. As there can be multiple games happening at the same time you want to bet on it’s very useful if the live betting tool has the ability to track and bet on multiple games all from one screen rather than having to have tons of tabs on your browser and switching between them.
Live Streaming
There are many sportsbooks out there that advertise free sports streaming but when you sign up you realize that there are just a couple of games a day from very obscure leagues and sports. While we don’t expect a sportsbook to stream every NFL and NBA game we do rank them based on the number of streams they have and prefer sites that include major sports streams, We also take notes on the quality of the stream and if streams look like they are being shown on an old CRT TV from the 1980s or that buffer constantly then we will probably disregard the sportsbook as having live streaming at all.
User Friendly Design
While the visuals of a sportsbook are something we factor into our rankings we put much more importance on how user-friendly a site is and how it functions. The key areas we assess for a sportsbook design are as follows:
Organization
As the sportsbooks, we recommended providing a wide range of sports and a huge amount of markets its essential that the site organizes their site well. This means we look for sites that have logical mapping which makes it easy to navigate to the pages you are looking for and include a search function.
Loading Times
There are no excuses nowadays for a site not to have pretty much instantaneous loading times. We understand that sometimes a site’s server might have issues and then can be times when a site is slower than usual but 99% we expect to have to wait no more than a few seconds when switching between pages.
Special Tools
The previous design features of loading times and good organization are just the basics we require a site to have. The best betting sites can set themselves apart by offering special tools and features that enhance a bettor’s experience. These kinds of special features include prop builder tools, popular bet filters, automatic multi-bet builders, and any other tools that can minimize users’ effort and maximize efficiency.
Mobile Compatibility
Over 70% of all online bets in the US are placed on mobile devices so it’s essential that any sportsbook we recommend offers a high-quality sports betting app or mobile-optimized site. We expect that a betting app provides a seamless transition between its main site and that all of the same features offered on the main site are present on its mobile site. This includes being able to claim bonuses, make deposits/withdrawals and place all the same types of bets including live bets.
Bonuses and Promotions
Betting online has many advantages over betting in person, one of these is the fact that online sportsbooks provide an incredible amount of bonuses and promotions for their users. It’s also one element that plays a big role for bettors when contemplating what site they are going to use. Because of this, it’s something we pay particular attention to when researching and ranking betting sites. Below you can check out what things we consider when ranking sportsbooks bonuses.
Welcome Bonuses
Any decent sportsbook offers its new users a generous welcome bonus. These are often the most lucrative bonuses offered by betting sites and can be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. When reviewing welcome promotions we don’t just look at the maximum amount and what percentage match is offered. We also check the terms and conditions as these can greatly impact the value of the bonus. In particular, we look at the rollover requirements and what bet types and sports count towards the rollover plus how long you have to complete the rollover.
Regular Promotions
Welcome bonuses are amazing but they are a one-time thing so it’s important that a betting site provides regular bonuses and promotions for their existing customers. Great sportsbooks offer things like reloads, free bets, risk-free bets, odds boosters, reduced juice games, no-deposit bonuses, and competitions. Just as the case with welcome bonuses the terms and conditions are important for regular promotions and we research these thoroughly.
Loyalty Schemes
Another way that many sportsbooks reward their loyal patrons is with loyalty or VIP programs. These schemes reward users that place bets on the site usually by awarding them points for every dollar wagered and then accumulated points can be exchanged for bonus cash. When we research these types of programs we look at how accessible these schemes are, how easy it is to gain points, what rewards can be claimed with these points, and any other perks included.
Banking Options
A wide range of convenient and safe banking options is essential for any sportsbook that wants to be considered one of the best. When we rank abetting sites payment options we expect to see the following options.
Fiat Options
Traditional payment options we expect betting sites to offer are credit/debit cards, bank transfers, cheques, and P2P transactions. When assessing these fiat options we take into consideration processing times and what fees apply. For credit and debit cards deposits should be almost instantaneous and we look for fees under 10% but the lower the better. Withdrawals via card are not possible at offshore sportsbooks so bank transfer and cheque by courier are usually the fiat options available. These can take a while but it should be no longer than 15 days.
Cryptocurrency
There are many bettors who favor using crypto over traditional methods now so we favor sites that offer crypto as an option. In the past, if a site offered crypto, Bitcoin was the only option but nowadays we expect to see the best crypto sportsbook accept at least 4 or 5 different coins including popular altcoins such as Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.
The speed we expect crypto withdrawals to take is much faster than what we look for with fiat options and anything over 48 hours we consider very slow, 24-48 hours is ok, and if under 24 hours then we would consider it great. Also unlike fiat options, we expect crypto transactions to be free for both deposits and withdrawals.
EWallets
Another payment option that we believe top sportsbooks to have is eWallets. PayPal is generally not an option at sportsbooks but we would hope to see at least one or two of major eWallets such as Skrill, Neteller, Apple Pay, and Google Pay at a sportsbook. We judge sportsbooks badly if they charge a fee for this option or if deposits take longer than 48 hours.
Security and Privacy
Our second port of call after checking if a site holds a license is to research how secure the site is and how they manage its user’s personal information. If any site doesn’t meet our high standards for security and privacy we would never feature them on our websites and in our rankings. To discover how secure a site is we analyze the following aspects:
Digital Security
It’s vital that a sportsbook takes all possible steps to ensure that its user’s money and information is protected from malicious third parties. We check if a site has a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate and has appropriate firewalls in place. We also make sure that any software that is not their own on the site is from reputable companies. We also check out other websites for user reviews to see if there are any negative reviews about security issues.
Privacy Policy
Some Sportsbooks have the best protection available but will actually sell some of your personal information to other organizations such as your name and telephone number and they can do so legally because it is part of their privacy policy in the terms and conditions you agree to when you sign up. We make sure to check the privacy policy and recommend sites that will keep all of your information private and not sell them to third parties.
Customer Service
Quality customer service is an essential element of most businesses including betting sites. Good customer service is often the difference between an average sportsbook and an excellent one, We rank a sportsbook based on the criteria below:
FAQs
You will find that most of the questions or issues you have at an online betting site are minor and have simple answers/fixes. It saves a lot of time and effort on your part if you can quickly type in your query and find the answer yourself which is why it’s vital a sportsbook has a comprehensive frequently asked questions section or help center.
Contact Methods
When you do need to get in contact with a sportsbook there should be multiple different methods to reach them. At the very minimum, we require a sportsbook to have two different contact methods with at least one of them being available 24 hours as if you ever have an urgent issue you want to be able to get it resolved as soon as possible.
Response/waiting times are something else we take into account when reviewing customer service and for emails we look for a reason within 24 hours. If a site has live chat then we want a response within a few minutes and for phone lines, we would hope that hold times are not more than 5-10 minutes on average. We would also expect the phone line to be toll-free.
Quality of Agents
You can’t review a business’s customer service without considering the quality of the people working for their customer service team. The best sportsbooks hire a team of friendly and knowledgeable agents that should be able to answer questions or deal with any issues in a timely manner.
When reviewing a sportsbook’s customer service we also test out if they offer the same level of assistance for every issue. For example, almost all online sportsbooks, even the terrible ones, will try their hardest to help you make a deposit. However, the bad ones may not be as helpful when you have a withdrawal issue. We only rate customer service highly if we are provided with exemplary customer service consistently.
Responsible Gambling
Most people are able to control their gambling and bet responsibly and within their limits. However, there are some people who have a gambling problem. This is an incredibly serious issue which can impact your career, important relationships, metal health and cause significant financial strain. This is why we pay close attention to what features a sportsbook provides it’s users to promote responsible gambling and we will only recommend sites that provide some of the options below.
Deposit Limits
Deposit limits are easy for a site to implement but a very effective way to combat people gambling irresponsibly. With this feature you can choose a maximum amount you are able to deposit either per day, week, or month. Once you have reached that limit you will not be able to put any more money into your account until the next time period begins.
Wagering Limits
Another very effective way to control gambling is wagering limits. These work in exactly the same way as deposit limits except that the maximum amount is on how much you wager rather than deposit. Once you have wagered the maximum limit you set your self you will not be able to place any more bets.
Loss Limits
A final way to limit your betting is by setting a loss limit. Like with the other limits you can set the amount and whether it is a daily, weekly or monthly limit. You will not be able to place any more bets if you lose the maximum amount you specified. This is a very useful feature as it means if you are on a hot streak you can carry on betting but if you go cold and start to chase your losses then you can’t get carried away and lose more than you can afford.
Time Sessions
This is a feature that is not exclusive to sportsbook and can be found at various social network sites. Here you set a limit on how long you can spend on the site itself and it’s not linked to money or your bets in anyway. While other limits usually stop you from depositing or betting when the limit is reached time sessions often just notify your maximum amount of time on he site but allow you to keep using it.
Time Outs
If you feel that limits you have in place are not effective or you feel a strong urge to gamble even though you know you shouldn’t it may be time to take a breather and step away from betting all together. To do this you can request a time out from your sportsbook which effectively suspends your account for a set time period (that you can choose yourself). During the time out you will not be able to log into your account or place any wagers. In addition, the site will stop sending you any promotional information so you are not tempted to place bets.
Self-Exclusion
For those that are really struggling to control their gambling and it’s starting to negatively impact their life then it’s a good idea to step away all together and you can exclude yourself from a site. This will permanently delete your account and prevent you from creating a new one at the site or any other sites with the same owners.
Joe Yarnold
Joe Yarnold
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