Online Sports Betting Where to Bet Sports Online

Running a Sportsbook or a Betting Shop, became illegal in most USA states after a law was passed in 1992 at the Federal Level. Exempt from this law were states with laws already on the books which included Nevada, Delaware and Oregon. Oddly enough, while Nevada takes sports bets to the tune of $500 billion dollars per year, other states can not capitalize on this due to federal law. For years, those looking to bet outside of Nevada turned to illegal bookies to place their wagering action. Most of this action funneled through the Italian Mafia’s NYC betting rackets, though some also came from other areas, with Detroit being the second most common major racket facilitating bets throughout the USA.

Online Sports Betting at Sportsbook.com Click Here

The good news today is that no longer do we need to deal with gangsters to get our sports action down, as sports betting can now be done from the comfort of our own home. This is possible due to offshore gambling companies such as Bodog.com, BetUs.com and Sportsbook.com, to name just a few.

Placing a Bet is Not Illegal

Nowhere in USA law is “actually placing” a sports bet illegal, that’s our understanding anyways. It is only illegal to operate a sportsbook, as US code prohibits being “in the business of” taking bets, with no mention of placing them. As all online sportsbooks are set up offshore and most are protected by major governments where they operate legally, they are outside the jurisdiction of the US department of Justice and likewise a great place for Americans to do their online sports betting.

Online Sports Betting

The one thing we do need to consider when participating in online sports betting is that the industry is largely unregulated. This, however, should not be too much of a concern as many online sportsbooks have a solid track record and have proven themselves to be on the up and up. One such example is Bodog.com, which has been servicing USA gamblers since 1995 with sports betting services. After more than 15 years in the business, Bodog has never had a missed payout complaint and has gained the trust of USA online sports bettors.

The fact online sports betting is largely unregulated is a concern if you don’t do homework first. There are a number of scam sports books on the market, such as Cascade, which take deposits and allow bets, but rarely (if ever) pay their players. Of course, with most scam sportsbooks it doesn’t start off this way. During the early days the sportsbook impresses a lot of punters, but later they’ll often run into financial trouble and then turn scam site.

It is our strong recommendation that USA sports bettors do their online sports betting only at the Sportsbooks listed on our website. For more on this topic, reference USA Sportsbook Review.

If you’re interested in learning about legal sports betting from the USA, see our page Nevada Sportsbooks.