Bitcoin Sports Betting - A Breakdown On How It Works
Welcome to our bitcoin sports betting guide. We cover everything players need to know for betting on sports with bitcoin. Not only do we offer how to articles for using this crypto currency, but we also offer our own personal recommendations on the best sports betting sites accepting bitcoin. We only recommend the most reputable and well established sportsbooks to our visitors.
Players need to be careful in who they choose to bet with. There are new sites springing up everyday that claim to be reputable and legal, however many of these websites are not legit and are using a smash and grab gig to run off with players funds.
Top Legal Sportsbooks Accepting Bitcoin Payments
The explosive growth of bicoin has led to the development of many different sports betting sites accepting this alternative currency. By using Bitcoins on these sites, you can pay fewer fees, enjoy faster withdrawal, and play with as much privacy as possible. Our complete list of Bitcoin sports betting sites can help you get started.
There are over 10 bitcoin sportsbooks alive on the internet as of Dec 2013. However only a handful of these have been around the block and have earned a good reputation with players. After months of researching players feedback via bitcointalk forum and testing each site out ourselves, the following sites are who we feel to be the most reputable.
1. BetOnline Sportsbook - USA Accepted
BetOnline has been a preferred brand among US and International sports bettors for some time, and they are now adding bitcoin deposits to their banking suite. This is great news for players around the world because bitcoin is one of the easiest and most secure options for funding your online gambling account. They offer a new player bonus worth up to $1000 on your first deposit, and a 25% match bonus up to $1000 on all future deposits for the life of your account. Betonline is truly one of the top shelf sports betting sites around nowadays. And the fact that they started offering bitcoin deposits makes them even more attractive to most players.
2. SportsBetting.ag - USA Accepted
SportsBetting.ag is the sister site to BetOnline and offers the same great service, betting lines and lifetime bonus offer that you find at BetOnline. They have also added bitcoin deposits to their banking suite. New players will get a 50% match bonus up to $1000 on their first deposit, and a 25% match up to $1000 on all future deposits. SportsBetting.ag offers a wide range of betting lines and wagering options, and is one of the few US friendly live dealer casinos. They also feature high quality poker and horse race betting as well. These are some of the biggest and most trusted bitcoin friendly sportsbooks around with very deep pockets. So you know you are in good hands and will get paid your winnings on time every time.
Again if you choose to play elsewhere, just do yourself a favor and take 20 minutes and google the name of the site your going to deposit. There are numerous complaints about players getting shafted by some fly by night low funded bitcoin sites. So don't be one of those people who get's cheated out of your hard earned money because you didn't take a few minutes to do some due diligence and protect yourself.
Top 5 Reasons To Use Bitcoin
Anonymity - Most sites do not require registration to place real money bets/wagers with bitcoin. If they do require registration they only ask for your email and password. And because bitcoin wallets are only comprised of a set of numbers, no one will ever no who the wallet holders are.
Completely Secure - All transactions with Bitcoin are secured by military grade cryptography. As long as you use good caution to protecting your electronic wallet just as you would your physical wallet, then no one is going to be able to gain access to anything and you have complete control over all your money.
Instant Deposits & Withdrawals - Not only are deposits instant, but most of the sites we endorse offer instant bit cashouts. In the event they aren't instant, they are typically processed within minutes. That's a really nice perk for sports betting enthusiasts. I am tired of dealing with the so called reputable books that might be reputable on the surface, but have every move in the book to get you to lose back any winnings such as holding you hostage by only allowing $3K max weekly withdrawals. Things like this aren't an issue if you play at one of our recommended bitcoin sportsbooks.
Minimal Fees -Bitcoin offers next to no fees when you send or receive any transactions. As a matter of fact it was recently reported that someone sent $150 million using Bitcoin, and paid 5 cents to do so and it was completed in minutes. A bank would charge several hundred thousand in fees for the same transaction and take several days to complete.
Chance To Hit It Big - Just by owning bitcoin you have a chance to get a really nice score as the value continues to increase. It's up over 8000% just this year and has made many people millionaires almost overnight. No matter what the so called experts say about this crypto currency, if it continues to become mainstream it could be worth 100x what it's worth now, maybe even more.
Is Bitcoin Sports Betting Legal?
Since bitcoin isn't legally a currency, we see no reason why using it to bet on sports would be illegal. Not to mention that using bitcoin is completely anonymous, so there is really nothing to worry about anyway. That being said we encourage all visitors to do their own research as to what is and isn't legal in their own jurisdiction.
Is Betting With Bitcoins Safe?
Using Bitcoins to bet is definitely safe! Your funds are more secure than ever when you use Bitcoins. While bank transfers can take days, Bitcoin transfers (both to the gaming site and to you) are very fast—in some cases, they happen instantly. You don't have to worry about your money being tied up indefinitely.
Bitcoins are also one of the most secure currencies for online gambling. When using traditional currencies, your money is tracked by your bank. This means that much of your personal information is tied to your online gambling. When you bet using Bitcoins, the entire process is private and secure. Most sites don't require any registration whatsoever while the rest only require an email address and password to get started.
How To Start Betting On Sports Using Bitcoin
If you already have an online Bitcoin wallet, much of your work is already done. You just have to choose one of our recommended bitcoin betting sites above, sign up, and send your Bitcoins to the given location. Your account will be loaded with your Bitcoins and you can begin betting right away. Alternatively if you don't have a wallet yet perhaps your new to bitcoin in which case we recommend you read our bitcoin explained article which will help guide you through the process.
If you don't yet have any Bitcoins, it's still a pretty easy process! Just find a trustworthy Bitcoin conversion site and deposit funds. They will then be converted to Bitcoins. You can use those Bitcoins to sign up at your favorite sports betting site. I personally use CoinBase where I can load money from my bank account which automatically gets converted into bitcoins. That process takes about 4 days. Once you have your bitcoins in hand you can use your coinbase account to deposit, or what I do is just transfer money to my personal bitcoin wallet located on my computer.