Online Gambling

Bovada.lv has opened its doors to US-based real-money players. In addition to a sportsbook, Bovada has an online casino, an online poker room, and an online racebook.

Note: Contrary to what you might think, .lv does not stand for Las Vegas — it stands for Latvia.

Bovada Sports

BOVADA embarks on its own road, armed with the experience and talent to quickly become the industry’s powerhouse brand and the most trusted and most fun place to bet on sports.

New Depositors benefit from a Free Sports Bet up to $100 - while many lean on signup bonuses in trying to earn your business, BOVADA is focused on providing free wagers up to 20% of your deposit. That free bet can be up to a maximum of $100 and it can be used on any sports market or wager type in the sportsbook.

Props and underdog odds - BOVADA has an unmatched variety of prop bets. You will find more betting options on Sports, Politics and entertainment than anywhere else.

Live betting – mobile betting - BOVADA is available on the go. They Offer live- Betting and mobile betting options from a variety of portable devices. Join BOVADA and learn more today.

Easy-to-understand website -BOVADA offers betting on every major sport and carefully steers you where you need to go each day. Find your favorite team, or odds type in a snap, whether you are betting the late baseball game on the moneyline or the quarterback props on Monday Night Football.

Best customer service, best sports stats - looking for trends, matchup details and game previews before going to the betting menu? BOVADA offers statistics on all major sports so you don’t need to venture far to do your research and handicapping. Need to contact customer service? You can always get a real, live, knowledgeable person who can help answer your questions. Customer Satisfaction is a top priority at BOVADA.

Your information is safe - security, privacy and payouts are three of the most important aspects of playing online. BOVADA’s pledge is 100% safety and satisfaction in all three areas and has independent oversight to make sure you have the best betting experience in their sportsbook. So when it’s time to feel comfortable about playing online, BOVADA is synonymous with this trust.

(For those familiar with Bodog, Bovada is the US-facing rebranding of Bodog.)

For once, online gamblers have some good news from the United States Department of Justice.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70857.html

Essentially, the DOJ has clarified that the Wire Act of 1961 applies to wagers placed on ‘a sporting event or contest’ only; it would not, according to the ruling, apply to the selling of ‘lottery tickets online to in-state adults’. While few online gamblers want to buy lottery tickets online, the principles that the DOJ cited in this ruling are equally applicable to in-state online poker, and should help rapidly move several states toward online poker regulation.

Ready to give online poker a try? Here are some great options.

  Bodog Poker
110% bonus on initial deposits between $20 and $1000!
No-download version available!
Create an account and download Bodog Poker for free with our Getting Started Guide. Play free online poker on our play money tables or head straight to the real money tables and earn Bodog Poker Points.
Languages:    Currencies:    Certifications: 

  Cake Poker
110% bonus on initial deposits between $25 and $545!
At CakePoker we have developed our own innovative and industry leading software to provide our players with an enhanced and enjoyable poker experience. We have brought our players several new features that are unique to the online poker world.
Languages:    Currencies: 

  Americas Cardroom
100% bonus on initial deposits between $25 and $1000!
Americas Cardroom is one of the fastest growing, friendliest online poker communities in the world. It offers both real and play money games in which its customer base can enjoy the excitement of a poker game from the comfort of their home.
Languages:    Currencies: 

According to CNN Money, there is a deal in the works that would get online poker site / ponzi scheme Full Tilt Poker back online, and perhaps even get money back into the hands of US players that got screwed out of their funds by Full Tilt Poker.

But there’s a BIG catch for US players if this deal goes through.

“American players would apply to the Department of Justice for compensation.”

Wait, what?

You read that right. The DOJ’s motives in doing this are yet to be uncovered — perhaps there is a legal requirement that they be involved in returning players’ funds due to Full Tilt Poker being declared a ponzi scheme. However, I can imagine that they also may be looking to get a little Big Brother on y’all and keep tabs on who was playing online poker.

Is it worth it to apply to the DOJ to get your funds back? That’s a decision that you’ll have to make, if it comes to that.

More wait and see to see if online poker players in the US will ever get their funds back from Full Tilt Poker.

In Baccarat, two cards are dealt to the Player hand and two to the Banker hand. You are not the “Player.” The Player is just one hand on which you can bet. The goal of Baccarat is to predict which hand will score closest to nine points. You can bet on the Player hand, on the Banker hand, or on a Tie. For complete rules, see my Baccarat page.

Baccarat is spread at NuWorks online casinos, including my current best-bet Buzzluck. Buzzluck online casino is US-friendly and offers a generous sign-up bonus for first-time depositors. There are two things to note about Buzzluck‘s Baccarat game:

• They pay 9 to 1 on a Tie, rather than the standard 8 to 1.
• As shown in the screen capture below, they track and display the Hand History for your session.

Of course, neither of these things really matter, since the smart Baccarat player ALWAYS bets on the Banker.

As I recently blogged, NuWorks is a new online casino software vendor. It is being used by only a few sites, one of which is US-friendly BuzzLuck Online Casino.

BuzzLuck offers 1, 3, 10, 52, and 100 hand versions of Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, and Joker Poker video poker. Looking at their paytables for single-hand quarter video poker, and assuming optimal play and max coins in:

• Their Jacks or Better video poker is the best. They have a full-pay paytable with a return of 99.54%. You won’t find a better Jacks or Better video poker paytable anywhere, either online or in land-based casinos.
• The Deuces Wild returns 98.91%. This is decent, and matches the best return that you can find at any online casino that accepts US players.
• You can skip their Joker Poker video poker with its 98.40% return. BoDog rocks Joker Poker with its incredible 99.97% payback.

To attract the real video poker player, NuWorks/BuzzLuck are going to have to:

• Add more video poker varieties. Double Double Bonus comes to mind.
• Support keyboard shortcuts for card selection a dealing.
• Provide a way to turn off the double-or-nothing screen that annoyingly appears after each win.

For the first time in a long time, there is a new player in the online casino software world. That new vendor is NuWorks. The NuWorks online casino software appears to be based on the Real Time Gaming (RTG) code base, but the graphics are much improved, and the game play is much smoother. Overall, it appears to be a major upgrade to RTG that has been rebranded as NuWorks.

NuWorks casinos are starting to appear on the Internet. As of now, there are just two online casinos that run NuWorks. Of the two — Buzzluck Online Casino and Lucky Club Casino — I have been playing at Buzzluck since they have a much better new player initial deposit bonus of 100% up to $868.

Buzzluck has 24 online slots and 4 table games (baccarat, blackjack, Tri Card Poker, and Let’em Ride). They also have 1, 3, 10, 52, and 100 hand versions of Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, and Joker Poker video poker.

All this week, I will be blogging about their new slots, and posting an analysis of their payback schedules for their table games and video poker.

I recently upgraded the Search capability at The Online Casino Gambling Directory. The upgrade allows users to search the directory for online gambling sites that allow players from a specific US state. Prior to Black Friday 2011, online gambling sites’ policies were pretty straight-forward: they either accepted no players from the United State, all players from the United States, or barred KY and WA only. Recently, sites’ policies have gotten more complicated and varied, and so the search upgrade was needed so that anyone can determine all sites that accept new registrations from any state.

1. Start from any search result, like for “blackjack“.
2. From the left column, check the “US players OK from” check box.
3. Select a state from the drop down list, like “Arizona“.
4. Viola! The search results now shows only those sites that accept players from the selected state.

Online Poker sites on the Merge Poker Network have recently began accepting new online poker accounts from poker players in the United States. While not all online poker players are accepted, most are eligible to open an online poker account. (Online poker players from the following states/jurisdictions are still barred at Merge Poker sites: KY LA MO MD NY WA DC).

My top three online poker sites on the Merge Poker Network are:

• OddsMaker Poker
• Poker Nordica
• PokerHost

All offer a 100% match bonus on your initial deposit, with OddsMaker matching up to $1K — the most of any Merge Poker Network site that I am aware of. In addition, OddsMaker spreads $40K a month in online poker freerolls: 7 x $200 daily free rolls, with the games varying from Pot Limit Omaha, to H.O.R.S.E. to No Limit Hold’em.

Doyle’s Room online poker site is no more. The site that was plagued by frequently-changing software, occasional payout issues, and other problems announced that all of its players are being moved to Americas Cardroom, an online poker site that is on the same network (Yatahay) as was Doyle’s Room.

Surely this move is a direct result of Black Friday 2011, and the site’s namesake — the multiple-time WSOP champion world famous Doyle Brunson — wanting to distance himself from online poker.

I enjoy playing online slot machines, don’t you? I certainly have my favorites, but it’s nice to play something new as a change-of-pace.

It has been a while since I updated my site with the newest online slot machines from RealTimeGaming (RTG). Here are the link to their latest online slot machines, all of which have been published sometime this year.

• Basketbull: Win-Win Feature
• Coat of Arms: Black Knight is Wild and doubles the prize
• Count Spectacular: Get ready for a spookily good time
• Glitz & Glamour: The Man substitute doubles the prize, the Lady triples prizes; but when appearing together in a winning combination, they multiply the prizes by 6
• It’s a Mystery!: Feature Guarantee 25-line, murder mystery-themed online slot machine
• Mice Dice: Feature Guarantee and Win-Win Features
• White Rhino: Kilimanjaro Re-spin Feature will hold any improved combinations as the reels spin

You can play any of these online slot machines using free money and match bonuses at these top online casinos.

Slots of Vegas – $100 FREE + 300% bonus on initial deposits between $30 and $100!

Silver Oak Casino – $50 FREE + 250% bonus on initial deposits between $25 and $100!

Intertops RED Casino – 100% bonus on initial deposits between $20 and $100!