Bovada
Bovada is an offshore betting, casino and poker site aimed at US players. It holds no US state licence, and many states have ordered it out.
Not licensed in any market we cover
This brand is not licensed in the markets we cover (or only in part of them), so it has no Wayfinder Score. If you play there, you do not get the protections a local licence brings: limits, self-exclusion and a regulator to complain to.
- Launched
- 2011
- Based
- Offshore; not licensed in any US state
- Products
- Sports betting, casino, poker
- Payments
- Cryptocurrency, cards
What it is
Bovada launched in 2011 as the US-facing successor to the Bodog brand and has been the best-known offshore sportsbook in America ever since. It offers sports betting, a casino and one of the busier poker rooms open to Americans, with most transactions in cryptocurrency.
It has never held a licence from a US state regulator.
Licence status
Bovada holds no licence in the markets we cover (US, UK, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Portugal, South Africa and Ontario). Since 2024 a long list of US state regulators have sent it cease-and-desist letters, and the site has withdrawn from many states as a result. The list of restricted states keeps growing.
In every state with legal sports betting there are licensed alternatives that must follow state rules.
What to know
With an offshore site you have no state regulator to complain to, no guaranteed dispute process and no assurance that balances are held separately from company funds. If the site leaves your state, you depend on its goodwill to get your money out.
We do not score operators outside our markets.