Bovada Casino Review – Is it Safe for US Players?
Bovada is an off-shore online casino offering slots and a selection of table games. The site offers a Bovada Casino bonus code offer worth up to $3,000. But crucially, Bovada does not operate with a casino license in the US. Rather than holding a license from an authorized online gambling state such as New Jersey or Michigan or through promotional sweepstakes laws, Bovada holds a license with the autonomous island of Anjouan, part of the Union of Comoros.
We cannot recommend US players deposit or play at Bovada. We recommend playing at US-based online casinos (if legal in your state) or social casinos. That way, you are legally protected if something does go wrong. Plus, you won’t have to pay the high fees that Bovada Casino charges for deposits and withdrawals.
Better alternatives to Bovada Casino: Safe, trusted and legit
Does Bovada Casino use real money?
Yes, Bovada Casino allows players to bet and win real money. Bovada offers this real money gaming via a license from the autonomous island of Anjouan. We do not recommend users deposit on the site because we do not know what recourse they would have if something went awry.
Accordingly, we recommend choosing a different site. Without a license from an approved US governing body, Bovada is riskier for players than an approved online casino such as FanDuel Casino and BetMGM Casino or a legal social casino like Chumba or Pulsz.
Bovada Casino: full review
Below, we evaluate Bovada for various elements we seek in a good online casino experience. Players always value good games, seamless payments, bonuses, and other key factors in an online casino. We’ll grade each criterion with a standard letter grade, where an A+ is sheer perfection and an F is a complete failure.
Please bear in mind that while we give our honest review of each aspect of the casino below, we still ultimately cannot recommend any American user deposit or play at Bovada as it does not license itself with appropriate American regulatory or oversight bodies.
Bovada bonuses and promotions grade: C
On its surface, the Bovada Casino welcome bonus looks great. If you look at only the dollar value, that point is driven home even further. Via its three-part welcome bonus, Bovada offers players up to $3,000 with the Bovada promo code CAWELCOME100. The first element is a 100% first deposit match up to $1,000. Parts two and three are separate but otherwise identical: two deposit matches of up to $1,000. You’ll use a separate Bovada promo code: BV2NDCWB.
While the dollar value of that welcome bonus is amazing, Bovada gets a few marks down in this category because of its 25x playthrough requirement. Say you claim the full $3,000. You wouldn’t clear the bonus funds until you’ve played through $75,000. All games except craps and live dealer titles contribute to the requirement.
An alternative welcome bonus worth up to $3,750 is available for Bovada players who use cryptocurrency for their first three deposits, but it suffers from a similarly high wagering requirement.
The score here also takes a hit because promotions for existing users are few and far between at Bovada Casino. The only promo at the time of writing this review was a Free Spin Bonanza, awarding 20 free spins to 25,000 players who deposited $10 and played $20+ in the qualifying week. Bovada’s referral bonus offers $200 if a referred friend signs up ($275 if they use cryptocurrency).
Bovada Casino website and app grade: B
Overall, the Bovada user experience is good. It earns a solid grade in this category for being easy to use, though it falls short of an A due to a few hiccups.
Bovada website
There isn’t much to complain about with regard to Bovada’s casino website. Game categories are listed with handy icons across the top navigation bar. The games load quickly and operate smoothly.
If you are interested in more than the Bovada casino, options for sports betting, poker, and horse racing are listed at the top of the page as well for easy navigation between platforms.
A few roadblocks made the experience less-than-perfect, however. Navigating to a page that displayed all promotions required clicking a specific promotion from a banner ad and then navigating back to an “All Promotions” page. Counterintuitively, the “Casino Bonus” menu option only loaded the welcome bonus rather than showcasing all available promotions. Little hiccups like this are fairly common in Bovada. They’re easy enough to overlook, but they do bring down the experience a bit.
Does Bovada have a mobile app?
Short answer: no. Because it doesn’t have a license in the United States, Bovada Casino cannot offer a dedicated Bovada mobile app in this country. Instead, players can use the platform via mobile browsers such as Chrome or Safari.
The experience on mobile is fairly identical to the web experience described above. The site is well-optimized to work on phones and tablets, but some navigational issues pop up on occasion.
This is yet one more area, though, where Bovada’s lack of American regulation or legal clarity hurts the offering for players.
Bovada Casino game library grade: B+
This category earns Bovada’s highest grade in this review. Why? Because once you have claimed the Bovada Casino promo code offer, the variety of games is definitely solidt. More than 300 slot games grace Bovada online casino, plus table games, live dealer, poker, and more.
Bovada slots
Bovada Casino is home to 300+ online slot games. All the usual suspects are here in terms of theme. Ancient Egypt, Greek mythology, classic Vegas, sweet treats, and other aesthetics are represented.
The one disappointing element that keeps Bovada short of an A in this category is the lack of instantly recognizable slot titles you might find at other online casinos. That doesn’t mean the games aren’t fun. It’s just that they aren’t the fan-favorites US-licensed casinos can offer. If Bovada were licensed by a US state which regulates online casino it would be better positioned to serve American players.
Bovada table games
Bovada has an excellent selection of more than 20 table games, including:
- Baccarat
- American roulette
- Blackjack
- Caribbean Stud
- Craps
- European roulette
- Pai Gow Poker
Other niche games are on offer as well.
Bovada live dealer games
Bovada Casino’s live dealer library includes many blackjack tables with a minimum of $10 and a maximum of $1,000. A handful of tables offer a $5 minimum, while others have a higher maximum. Additional live dealer options are American roulette, European roulette, baccarat, and Super 6.
Bovada poker
Bovada also offers online poker with various tournament structures and game types. The poker platform is a separate landing page from the Bovada Casino site.
Bovada deposit and withdrawal methods grade: D
Deposits at Bovada are available with two primary methods:
- Credit card (VISA, Mastercard, American Express)
- Cryptocurrency:
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Tether
- Litecoin
- Bitcoin SV
- Bitcoin Cash
This is an extremely limited slate of options. If you aren’t already invested in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, then you only have credit cards left. Unfortunately, a credit card is not a great option for everyone because some card providers charge fees to deposit at Bovada Casino.
Withdrawals have a few more options.
- Cryptocurrency (same as deposit options)
- Check by mail
- Bank wire
- Voucher (essentially a Bovada gift card)
Bovada Casino charges a $100 fee for withdrawing by check; we recommend using an alternative method instead. Bank wire and crypto withdrawals are allowed without fees once every 90 days. Each additional request will come with a $100 fee.
These exorbitant fees are not standard at online casinos and social/sweepstakes casinos that are regulated within the US.