Will Bovada go legal in the U.S.?

[MichaelBluejay]

Bovada excludes players from several U.S. states, as those states threaten Bovada with legal action if they don't exit (often because they don't want Bovada competing with their licensed offerings), and the number of excluded states is growing over time. 35% of the U.S. residents can't play at Bovada, soon to be 42% as Florida has just issued its warning to Bovada. Pretty soon, it'll be the case that more U.S. residents *can't* play at Bovada than *can* play there.

So at some point, likely soon, it will make sense for Bovada to try to get licensed in the legal states since so much of the U.S. will be off-limits to them otherwise. It seems like a no-brainer that Bovada would try to go this route, but insiders have said going back some years that Bovada seems resistant to change. However, if they try, will the licensed states even take them, or has Bovada burned too many bridges by offering unlicensed gambling for decades?

Discuss.

 

[MichaelBluejay]

Don't everyone answer at once.

 

[essuk]

Im guessing its a topic no one cares about.

 

[satchnz]

Surely only Bovada and the States in question would know the answer to this? What’s to discuss?

 

[KasinoKing]

Don't everyone answer at once.

I think the answer is "Who cares...?"
There are 100s of other decent casinos to choose from.

KK

 

[MichaelBluejay]

There are 100s of other decent casinos to choose from.

Not in the U.S., in the unlicensed states. There are only a handful of highly-visible operators serving players in the U.S. states without licensing, and among them, Bovada has the best reputation (or the least-bad reputation, if you're a glass-half-full person). If Bovada abandons the unlicensed states in favor of the licensed states, then players in the unlicensed states won't have a good choice for playing.

 

[Bovada21]

Bovada excludes players from several U.S. states, as those states threaten Bovada with legal action if they don't exit (often because they don't want Bovada competing with their licensed offerings), and the number of excluded states is growing over time. 35% of the U.S. residents can't play at Bovada, soon to be 42% as Florida has just issued its warning to Bovada. Pretty soon, it'll be the case that more U.S. residents *can't* play at Bovada than *can* play there.

So at some point, likely soon, it will make sense for Bovada to try to get licensed in the legal states since so much of the U.S. will be off-limits to them otherwise. It seems like a no-brainer that Bovada would try to go this route, but insiders have said going back some years that Bovada seems resistant to change. However, if they try, will the licensed states even take them, or has Bovada burned too many bridges by offering unlicensed gambling for decades?

Discuss.

Bovada will have to clean up the problem with theft and other scams that have been an ongo8ng issue. I personally have been collecting evidence for a few years now on bovada. When I first noticed my balance being lower or even gone when logging back into the site i brought this to their attention but was told i must have played the money or miss remembered the balance. So I've been screen recording and taking screenshots of my balance when I stop playing on slots or other games other than sport betting or horses ect, just slots and blackjack and roulette.
Today I did just that and when I logged back in to play this evening my balance was lower than when I logged out. I have lost thousands in this case many times this has happened. This theft smells like a agent or employee maybe even a host. One thing is for sure, I have caught them or that person many times now and am now going to the gaming board, FBI who ever I can to get this stopped and hopefully recover the funds that were taken. This doesn't cover the loss from slots being interfered with by them either, that's a whole other stack of evidence I have, a lot!
Who knows maybe they'll be baned from the US entirely..

 

[Webzcas]

Not in the U.S., in the unlicensed states. There are only a handful of highly-visible operators serving players in the U.S. states without licensing, and among them, Bovada has the best reputation (or the least-bad reputation, if you're a glass-half-full person). If Bovada abandons the unlicensed states in favor of the licensed states, then players in the unlicensed states won't have a good choice for playing.

Well Bovada certainly appear everywhere in the US that is for sure. Their marketing arm is something to behold in fairness. No idea what they are like, as never played there mind.

 

[MichaelBluejay]

@Bovada21

I'm sorry to hear about your missing funds at Bovada. I'm interested in learning more.

(1) Can you please post your before/after screenshot evidence?

(2) Does this happen only when you play live-dealer games, or does it happen also with only the electronic games?

(3) If Bovada keeps lowering your balance after you log out, why do you keep playing there?

 

[conker]

I've added an '@' in the previous post so that poster is alerted to the questions.

 

[conker]

FWIW @MichaelBluejay I have seen some recent research into Bovada (which I can't share with you sadly, as its being used in senate hearings). Their business model is very simple:

• They operate completely outside any state regulation
• They target almost all US states except a handful that are too risky for them: Nevada, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.
• They purely focus on US players and have little or no footprint anywhere else in the world
• They 'flood the zone' with display ads on high-traffic websites like porn and sports streaming sites, which explains why they get millions of brand searches in Google for 'Bovada terms'
• They do not comply with any laws or legislation and therefore offer nothing in the way of player protection.
• Taken from Bovada website: "Bovada.lv is licensed and regulated by the Union of the Comoros and the Central Reserve Authority of Western Sahara" heard of this place?

If you are playing at Bovada then you take 100% risk of losing your deposits or losing any money that you win gambling. There is ZERO protection for you.

If you have no other options to gamble, then maybe you should consider giving up gambling, as this is just not a place you should be spending money.

 

[MichaelBluejay]

@conker,

Bovada excludes players from more than 1/3 of states, not just a small handful, as per their terms and conditions. As I write this, they exclude AZ, CO, CT, DC, DE, KS, LA, MA, MD, MI, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, TN, and WV, and likely soon to be FL. That's 35% of the U.S. population, and 42% when/if they exclude FL.

Bovada has a good reputation for fairness. Not perfect, but good, and certainly much better than any of the other unlicensed casinos that take U.S. players. If someone in, say, South Carolina wanted to bet or play, there are no licensed operators available to them, so for those kinds of players, Bovada would be their best bet. Not perfect, because, as you mentioned, there is no recourse in the case of disputes, but since Bovada has a good reputation, Bovada would be the best choice.

As Casinomeister's review of Bovada says, "In the past four years, we have had only three PABs submitted. It all worked out fine."

 

[cappync]

@MichaelBluejay
I am getting the vibe that you work for or are somehow affiliated with Bovada.

 

[MichaelBluejay]

@cappync,

As I mentioned, Casinomeister's review of Bovada states, "In the past four years, we have had only three PABs submitted. It all worked out fine." Do you "get the vibe" that Casinomeister "works for or is somehow affiliated with Bovada"?

I have never worked for Bovada. As a web publisher (I was one of the first Casinomeister Webmeisters), I've carried advertising for them on my website for 20 years, which is of course no secret.

I didn't pick Bovada as my advertiser randomly, I picked them specifically because they're the best bet for a majority of U.S. players. I state up front on the first ad on the home page, if a player is in a state that has licensed offerings, they should play at one of the licensed operators. For other players, who can either play legally (because there's no anti-gambling law in their state) or who are willing to risk it, Bovada is their best bet.

If you think there's another unlicensed operator serving most U.S. players that's better than Bovada, then I'd like to hear about them.

 

[mulven]

@MichaelBluejay
I am getting the vibe that you work for or are somehow affiliated with Bovada.

Most of his post history seems to be negative towards Bovada.

He runs an affiliate site and back in the noughties used to do the ads for wizard of odds.

On the whole the previous negative experiences combined with advertising probably balance out a bit

EDIT:
I didn't read all the posts but I got the gist that Michael was having a hard time getting answers out of Bovada about something and it light have been related to a betsoft problem. Both of these things might be what's being referred to in this screenshot so it sounds like there was some sort of resolution

Definitely a conflict of interest being your main advertiser but definitely not equivalent to actually working there.

 

[conker]

@MichaelBluejay I appreciate that you have been around a long time, certainly a lot longer than I and almost all the members at the forum. However, it is probably fair to say that there is little or no value being added to the forum with this thread. Bovada are hardly ever mentioned here at the forum. In my experience people only play there is they have little or no other options.

I think you have made some points about Bovada, but unless there is anything of any value going to be added to this thread then it will likely get locked at some point soon.

 

[MichaelBluejay]

@conker, you seem to have some knowledge about current Senate hearings about online gambling. Is there anything at all that you're able to share about that? Like what the point is of the hearings, and what action Congress might take?

 

[conker]

Nothing that I can share with you. However, it wouldn't take a lot of effort to work out what State hearings are coming up and that regulation is largely the focus of those hearings.

However, with Trump in power, who knows. Maybe Bovada, Ignition, Betonline et al could all become the favoured places to play and DK, FD, Bet MGM all cast aside for DEI hires and trans toilets in their offices.