Bonus General Overview
Founded in 2011, Bovada is an online gambling operator owned by Morris Mohawk Gaming Group Casinos, a company that mainly focuses on providing technology services to the indigenous people of North America. The company is headquartered in Canada and is also the owner of Bodog Casino.
Bovada offers more than the typical online gambling games, as you can find sports betting and horse racing events here, along with live dealer games and poker tournaments where players can compete with each other.
The site mainly operates in the United States, with a few states restricted, but other players from other countries can also access the site.
The casino is designed to offer the player a fresh and simple look. It does not boast of elegant black themes but instead uses a white background. The games are lined up neatly on the webpage, and the links to go to the other lobbies are at the top. Upon first look, one would think that this is a review site rather than a casino, but the player will immediately appreciate the site’s layout.
In this Bovada casino review, we will be taking a deep dive into the kind of games you can find here, the different game developers, bonuses and promotions, and also show you what kind of methods you can use to deposit and withdraw your funds.
Popular Bovada Casino Slots
Although the software providers are not explicitly mentioned on the site, experts will know that most of the slots offered here are from Betsoft, Rival, and Real Time Gaming.
Betsoft is a popular company for making a lot of 3D slot machines. Players who like this kind of slot action can go to Bovada and search for these games. However, this would be a tad difficult since there is no filtering option in the casino’s lobby for game developers.
At the slot machine area, there is a search box on the right side of the slot machine thumbnails. You can either type the name of the game you are searching for, or you can filter the games by:
- i-Slots
- New Games
- Real-series
- Video Slots
- 3D Slots
- Progressives
- Three Reels
- Rival Games
- Five Reels.
As you can see, there is no selection to show only Betsoft or only RTG games. There are more than 100 slot machines here, so you just need to choose the one that fits your budget and your play style best. Some of the popular titles here that you can enjoy are Six Shot Showdown, Mystic Wolf, 8 Lucky Charms, Jack the Ripper.
Unlike other casinos, you cannot play the slot machines in demo mode. You must first become a member and then launch the game to play with real money only.
If you are unsure how the game will turn out, the best option for you is to look for the slot on a review website and play it for free before investing in Bovada.
Other Games You Can Play
The casino has a lot of games spread out in different lobbies. Here are the games you can play if slots are not your primary choice.
Casino Games
Here, you have the chance to win by betting against computer dealers. You can play blackjack, video poker, and speciality games.
For blackjack, you can choose from nine variants, which include classic blackjack, perfect pairs, and single-deck games. There are also table games here, like roulette, craps, and baccarat. For roulette, you can play American or European.
For video poker, there are 21 selections. You can play deuces wild, jacks or better, double bonus, or others. In the speciality games, you can play Bingo, Keno, Sudoku, and Scratch Card games.
Horses
This is the lobby where you can bet on horse racing. The races are live, but you cannot watch the actual race. You must tune in to your television to watch the races. There are more than 30 tracks to choose from, but the five most popular are:
- Del Mar
- Gulfstream Park
- Louisiana Downs
- Monmouth
- Albuquerque Downs
If you do not want to bet on live races, you can choose to bet on virtual horse racing. Just click on Virtual Racing at the Horses lobby, and the screen will open that area for you. There are only four tracks in the virtual race, and these are:
- Travers Stakes
- Prix De Larc De Triomphe
- Breeders Cup Classic
- Horse Racing Futures
It is also in this section that you can access other virtual sports, such as soccer, basketball league, greyhounds races, and camel races.
Live Dealer
In the live dealer lobby, you can choose from 15 games. Most of the offers here are blackjack, but there is also Super 6, roulette, and baccarat.
The thumbnails of the live dealer games show the face of the dealer, the number of players currently on the table, and the minimum and maximum bets allowed. You cannot launch the game as a spectator. You must log in to your account before you can stream the game from the live studio.
Poker Games
Apart from the selection of video poker, you can actually compete against other players. However, you must first download the poker software and install it before you can join the poker rooms. In here, you can choose to join anonymous tables, get a quick random seat, or choose to play on Bovada mobile casino.
There are several tournaments going on at any given time, but you can also play at sit-and-go tables. In the poker room, you can play No-Limit Hold’em, Texas Hold’em, and Omaha.
Sports Betting
Click on Sports to get to the sports lobby. Here, you can bet on future events, and also place in-game bets. There are many sports covered in this area, and the results are shown in real-time. However, you need to watch the actual games on your TV. Here are some examples of sports covered:
- WNBA
- NBA
- Tennis
- Gold
- UFC and MMA
- Soccer
- Baseball
- Rugby
- Snooker
Overall, there are more than 30 different sports games to choose from, and hundreds of ongoing games at any given time.
Bovada Casino Bonuses and Promotions
The operator offers several types of bonuses and promotions in its lobby. Here, we will be taking a look at several of them, but you need to know that these promotions are subject cancellation and changes without prior notice.
Most of the bonuses here need codes, so be weary of sites that offer Bovada casino no deposit bonus codes.
Poker Tournament
In this promotion, Bovada is giving away $4.5 million as a guaranteed price. The poker tournament is an open one called Super Millions Poker Open or SMPO.
It has 139 events, and there will be qualifiers. The final run will happen on August 19, 2019, and has already begun last July 20. In the main event, the guaranteed pot prize for the winner is $400,000, while the rest of the $4.5 is shared by different winners in the different events.
Refer-a-Friend
This promotion applies to all the games. In it, you need to refer your friend through mobile gaming. This bonus is highly marketed for bitcoin transactions. In it, you will be sending your friends a referral link.
If your friend signs up and makes a deposit, you will get 200% of that deposit. This free money is capped at $100. What this means is that if your friend deposited $1,000, you would only get $100 even if 200% of $1,000 is $2,000.
The 200% bonus will only apply to your friend’s first deposit. So if he deposited a larger sum on the second one, you no longer get a bonus. If your friend deposited bitcoin, you would get an extra $25 on top of the $100 maximum amount.
In this promotion, you can refer as many friends as you like. If your friends join, they will also get as much as $3,750 in welcome bonuses. They can access all the games in the sports betting section, live dealer and poker rooms, the horseracing area, and the classic casino games.
Sports Welcome Bonus
Here, a new player will receive $250 or 50% of the new player’s first deposit. You must redeem or opt-in for this bonus before you get the free money. It would usually take 30 minutes for the bonus money to get into your account, and you can use it to wager on many games.
There is a thing called a rollover, or wagering requirement before you can withdraw. For Sports and Horses, this is 5x the amount of the bonus plus the first deposit. For casino games, this requirement is 30x.
If you deposited $100, you would get a total of $150. If you play in the casino lobby, you must bet 30x that amount, which is equal to $4,500. What this means is that you must bet a total of $4,500 before you can withdraw your funds and your winnings.
Bonus money cannot be used on Live Dealer games. If you violate any rule, and if you withdraw before you even meet the wagering requirement, all your bonus funds and winnings from them will be forfeited.
Casino Welcome Bonus
Here, players can enjoy a bonus for as much as $3,000. To claim it, you must deposit three times, as the welcome bonus works in three tiers. You also need to use bonus codes to opt-in. The Bovada casino bonus code is NEWWELCOME.
The match-up bonus is 100%, capped at $1,000. You can deposit three times for $1,000 each, and this is the only way you can get as much as $3,000 in free money. Like the previous bonus, you cannot use the free money in the live dealer area. The wagering requirement for the bonus money plus the original deposit is 25x.
Not all games contribute to this wagering requirement. If you play craps, the operator will not deduct the bet you made there from the rollover. Withdrawing any find before meeting the rollover will invalidate all your bonus money and all winnings from them.
Poker Welcome Bonus
This bonus is applicable to poker players who will be competing against other players in the poker room. The bonus is a 100% match-up, capped at $500. This is a Bovada casino no deposit bonus code promo.
The bonus will automatically unlock once you have download and installed the poker software. Also, the bonus money is delivered to you in tranches within a span of 30 days.
To get the bonus, you must earn 150 Reward Points. For every 150 Rewards Points, the casino will grant you $5, until you reach the cap of $500. Rewards Points will be credited to your Rewards balance after you exit a poker table, or after you complete a tournament. The great thing about this bonus is that it has no wagering requirement.
Bitcoin Welcome Bonus
If you deposit using bitcoin, you will also be rewarded handsomely. You can get as much as 150% match-up bonus in three increments, and this is capped at $1,500 worth of bitcoin.
For sports, you must deposit three times, and each deposit has a match-up of 50%, capped at $500. You can only do this once. For table games, the match-up is 150% ad you can do this three times. The maximum bonus you can receive is $1,500.
You must use Bovada casino bonus codes (namely, BVSBITCOIN50) to get free money for the sports booking. For casino games, the code is BVCBITCOIN150. You cannot use this bonus money on poker, as poker has its own promotion. The rollover is 5x for horse racing and sports, while for casino games, it is 30x the bitcoin you deposited plus the Bovada casino bonuses you received.
Withdrawing before you meet the rollover will forfeit the bonus money plus the winnings from them.
Wagering Contribution Chart
Bovada has what it calls a wagering contribution chart. It is a list of games and certain percentages of their contribution to reducing your rollover requirement.
Let us say that you deposited $100, and you got a 100% bonus, which is $100. You total playing money is now $200. The wagering requirement for that is $200 x 30 = $6,000. You must bet a total of $6,000 before you can withdraw the funds and all winnings from your bonus. The thing is, $100 will not be subtracted from the $6,000 just because you staked it on a game.
Here are the different percentages of the wagering contribution:
- Slots and speciality games – 100%
- Table games – 20%
- Video poker – 10%
- Blackjack, baccarat, and roulette – 5%
- Crapes and Live dealer – 0%
If you wagered $100 on a slot machine, $100 would be taken off the $6,000 rollover. Now, you only need to bet $5,900 more to be able to withdraw.
It does not matter if you won or lost the $100 bet. What’s important is you made a bet. But of course, winning is better, since there is no other way to bet $6,000 out of your original $200 unless you keep on winning.
If you wagered $100 on video poker, only 10% of that would be deducted from the $6,000. The 10% value of $100 that you bet is $10, so only $10 will be subtracted from $6,000. Now, you still have to bet $5,990 to meet the rollover requirement.
The good thing about the Bovada online casino is that it does not put a restriction on the amount of money you can wager. Many online casinos impose a maximum of $5 on a bet. If you exceed this limit, the bonus is forfeited, along with the winnings from it.
Payment and Withdrawal Methods
There are only two ways that you can deposit funds to your account. These are credit card and bitcoin. The credit cards accepted are:
- Visa
- Mastercard
- American Express
- Selected Visa and Mastercard gift cards
To make a deposit, you must log in to your account and then click on the person icon on the top right. This will open a menu where you can select Deposit or Withdraw. In the deposit section, you can either click the denomination of how much you want to put in between $25 and $1,000 or enter the amount manually in the space provided for you.
There are fees associated with depositing, which can reach as little as 5.9%. This deposit fee is on top of what you initially intended to deposit. Let us say you deposited $100, and the fee is 5.9%. That is equal to $5.9, so the operator will take $105.9 from your credit card. You will only receive $100 ass play money, and the casino will keep the $5.9.
The fee varies from one method to another and your location. In average, the casino takes 5.9% for Visa and Mastercard. For American Express, the fee is 9.9%.
The first deposit is free of any fee, but all other next deposits will be charged. On top of the deposit fees, you may incur other fees like the cash advance fee. This is a fee that your credit card issuer may charge you if you deposit to a casino account. The reason behind this is that casino deposits are not considered as a product or service purchase, but rather a cash advance or cash withdrawal.
There is also an international fee or conversion fee that your credit card may charge you, and you may pay up to 3%. If you are using a gift card, there can also be a gift card activation fee that can hit up to 5%. If you use bitcoin, Bovada will not charge any fee. However, most bitcoin wallets charge a fee for moving bitcoins from one wallet to another.
The casino will also ask you to submit government IDs. This is to ensure that you are 18 years old and that the credit card you are using is yours. To be able to have a verified account, you must submit:
- A photo ID issued by the government.
- A proof of address like your internet bill, phone bill, or utility bill; the proof of billing must be within the last 60 days and must contain your billing address that is the same with what you registered in the casino.
- A filled credit card verification form that you can download and fill out from the casino.
- A scanned copy of the front and the back of your credit card that you used to deposit.
If you do not meet these, you will not be able to withdraw your money.
The minimum deposit required for credit cards is $20, and for bitcoin, it is $10. The maximum you can deposit from credit cards is $1,500, and for bitcoin, it is $5,000.
The withdrawals can take a minimum of 48 hours, and only if the funds you deposited have cleared. Bovada will first review your withdrawal transaction within 48 hours and then approve it. Only then will the withdrawal be processed.
The fastest way to get money out of the account is via bitcoin. It can take as little as 15 minutes after the 48-hour review period. Check withdrawals will take 10-15 business days. The minimum withdrawal s $10 and the maximum is $9,500.
You can only withdraw by check, by courier or by bitcoin. For checks, you will be charged $100 for the processing fee if you withdraw for the second time within a 90-day period; the first one is free. Bitcoin withdrawal, along with Bitcoin cash, is free.
Game Fairness, Data Security, and Licences
The casino uses a security system that uses 128-bit encryption SSL. This is pretty much the standard for many banks and financial institutions to ensure that all information that passes through their systems are safe and secure.
The way it works is that all information gets encrypted, and only Bovada’s computer systems can decode the information, so no one will know your credit card numbers or your name and address if you submit it to the casino.
In the privacy policy of the company, it states that they will never sell your information to anyone. However, they are obliged by law to provide this information if you have suspicious activities, especially those that can constitute money laundering.
As far as fairness is concerned, there is no third-party organization that checks whether the games are giving out random results. Players can only depend on the fact that the game providers themselves are audited by third-party organizations.
The Bovada Casino originally was granted a license to operate by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. This is the commission that regulates gambling to the indigenous population of the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake. However, this licence was revoked and is not renewed any more. As of today, the casino is operating without a licence from any gaming authority.
Frequently Asked Questions
– How can I contact Bovada Casino?
There are two ways to contact the customer sieve department. The first is via email at [email protected], and the second one is through phone at 1-888-263-0000.
Customer support is available 24/7. Based on Bovada casino reviews, customer service is great and that the service personnel are helpful and knowledgeable.
– What are the withdrawal methods, and how do I request?
There are only two ways to withdraw. You can withdraw via bitcoin or bitcoin cash, or request a check that will be sent via a courier.
To initiate a withdrawal, you must log in to your account, and then click on the person icon at the top right. Choose Withdraw, and then select how you want to take your funds out. Enter the amount you want to withdraw, and then you will see if there is a fee associated with it. After clicking REQUEST WITHDRAWAL, the casino will need 48 hours to review it.
Take note that you must verify your identity before initiating a withdrawal. You will not be able to take out your finds unless you complete this.
If you withdraw via bitcoin, you will be asked to enter your bitcoin wallet. Do not make a mistake in doing this. Any bitcoin sent to a wallet can never be retrieved. If you enter the wrong bitcoin wallet address, your money will go to another person, and you will not be able to get it back.
– How soon will bitcoin deposits take to reflect on my account?
Bitcoin deposits, along with bitcoin cash, are almost instant. The maximum wait time is about 15 minutes after you have initiated the deposit, and this is according to many Bovada online casino reviews from customers.
Conclusion
Bovada casino has a lot to offer. Although it has no lotteries or bingo, it does have a wide selection of slot machines, table games, live dealer games, horse racing and sports betting. Here are the main Bovada casino benefits:
- Lots of games
- Safe and secure
- Offers bitcoin as a method to deposit and get paid
- Low wagering requirements
- Lots of bonuses and promotions
- Has Bovada mobile casino app
The only thing that can dissuade a player from investing here is that it has no licence to operate. It is also said that the company is thinking about pulling out of the United States market and may consider operating exclusively for other markets in the European region.
There are many positive feedbacks about Bovada casino online, but since it has no licence, players are at risk as they cannot bank on any authority to mediate should there be any complaints.
