Betting on sports from the comfort of your own home or on the go with a phone is all the rage right now. While it’s been a thing for years, the Internet-based practice has exploded even more amidst the pandemic.
If you’re someone who wants to get in on the fun, you might be stuck on how to get started — mainly, what online betting site even to use. To help you get unstuck, we’ve narrowed down the four most important features you should look for in an online sportsbook:
Big-Money Promo
The best online betting sites all offer a special deal for their players — no ifs, and, or buts about it. Betting is a two-way relationship, and you should expect a bookmaker to hold up their end of the bargain with a killer promo once in a while.
Thankfully for you, sportsbook deals come in all shapes and sizes, depending on the type of player you are. You can expect to earn a sign-up bonus for newbie bettors upon creating an account at a gambling site. Then once you get a knack for betting, reload bonuses are also common. Both promos give players free money (yes, free) based on whatever they deposit into the account.
As you’d expect, bonuses vary wildly from site to site, especially regarding the amount of free play awarded. Comparing these deals against one another is a necessity when selecting a bookmaker to play at.
Huge Betting Menu
Say you cashed in a promo and earned thousands of dollars in free play, which is very doable in the online betting marketplace. Next, you’re going to need a slew of betting options to splurge that free money on and perhaps parlay it into more money.
That’s one key reason why betting sites need diverse playing options. But a second reason is to keep the fun going. If you have only a few betting options, naturally, it won’t be long before the “well runs dry,” and you become bored with the site.
A well-stocked betting site carries odds for a litany of sports across many leagues and countries. But that’s not all. In fact, it should also host casino games on top of the regular ‘old sportsbook. Having the two in one site is a double whammy of entertainment. Plus, casino games will come in handy during off-hours when sports aren’t in session.
Quality Betting Lines
To piggyback off the last feature, it’s not good enough for a betting site to merely have action on a slew of sports games. No, the betting lines themselves should be offered at good prices.
Say you’re gambling on an NFL game. What if the team you want to wager with is handicapped four points on one side but three-and-a-half on another? Obviously, you’d prefer the latter option and save that crucial half-point on the spread. That’s the difference between a quality line and a so-so line.
Gambling, much like football, is a “game of inches.” You want any advantage you can have against the bookies — so a half-point might seem minuscule on the surface, but it’s really not. Saving on betting prices will really add up in the long run, so don’t overlook this aspect while hunting a bookmaker.
Trusted Name
Last but certainly not least, you’ll need to weigh a betting site’s trust factor. This is your hard-earned money, after all, and you want it in good hands — not fraudsters that will refuse to pay you back on winnings. The industry is not immune to such issues, but most horror stories date back to the early days of the Internet boom.
Customer reviews will be your best bet (pun fully intended) to get a feel for a site’s trustworthiness. A simple Google search will bring up relevant reviews for just about any bookmaker. If there are any “bad apples” out there, surely, a screwed-over customer has not gone gently into the night and failed to leave a bad review. You can’t hide anything on the Internet, believe us.
So while picking an online sportsbook isn’t a lay-up, it can be a free throw in terms of ease. Just factor in the four features above, and you’ll make a decision that’s a swoosh.
