Bovada Casino

The Bovada casino and sportsbook has survived the online legal skirmishes enough to become somewhat of an American tradition. The offshoot of the Bodog poker site, Bovada has changed names, dropped and added poker, picked up Bitcoin, and evolved into one of the most popular online gambling destinations in the world. But it has stuck to its guns with online gamblers in the United States. Now the Bovada.lv site has upwards of 3 million visitors each month.

Though U.S. friendly, Bovada Casino accepts players from Mexico and a few other countries in the Americas. The fact that Bovada.lv is not covered by any licensing jurisdiction or mention anything about provably fair games doesn’t keep us from touting its legitimacy and fairness as an online gambling site. Here’s why we like it:

Deposits/Withdrawals at Bovada.lv

Bovada keeps things simple with its transactions. You can deposit with Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and the three major credit and debit cards, Visa, MasterCard and American Express. They also define bitcoin provisions in U.S. dollar equivalents.

Bitcoin deposits are made in the standard way – they give you a bitcoin address and you copy it into the “send” prompt in your personal wallet. Smaller bitcoin transactions should show up in your casino account in less than 10 minutes, even faster with Bitcoin Cash.

As you know, bitcoin values swing significantly, but you can look for a minimum deposit limit of the equivalent of $10 and a maximum of $5,000 at Bovada Casino. Bitcoin withdrawal limits are the equivalents of $10 and $9,500. Those maximums are of course much higher than if you use credit or debit cards. If you deposit with a card at Bovada, you will have to resort to check by courier for withdrawal.

Bovada Casino charges no fees for bitcoin transactions, but you will have to check your personal wallet for possible fees on that end. You’ll run into fees with the other payment systems.

The bitcoin withdrawals work the reverse of the deposits, with you providing Bovada with your bitcoin address from your personal wallet. Look for about a 15-minute wait, maybe shorter with Bitcoin Cash.

Bonuses and Rewards

Bovada Casino welcomes its bitcoin players with a 150% matching bonus of up to the equivalent of $1,500 for the first three deposits, adding up to a total $4,500 worth. You’ll need a bonus code (BVCBITCOIN150) that separates it from the bonuses at other sections of the site. You’ll also need to deposit at least a hefty $1,000 worth of bitcoin to qualify, so this is for the more serious players.

The bonus comes with a playthrough or rollover requirement of 25 times the bonus plus deposit. So, if you deposit $1,000 worth of bitcoin, you get $1,500 more in bonus money, for a balance of $2,500. Then you would have to wager $62,500 (25 x 2,500 = 62,500) to qualify for withdrawing money.

You will need to play slots to get a 100% contribution toward bonus qualifying. Other games count much less, with craps counting nothing at all. They have a wagering contributions chart that lists the various games. You can find it through a link from the bonus details in the Promotions section.

If you choose to deposit less, you may opt for the standard 100% matching bonus for up to $3,000. It carries similar restrictions, but with a minimum of $20. You should also check out the $100 bonus to get a friend to play at Bovada. There are also sportsbook and poker bonuses.

The Bovada rewards program is points based, according to the types of games played. You get 1 point for each $1 wagered on most table games and video poker, 5 points per $1 for slots, and 15 per $1 for specialty games. A total of 2,500 points is worth $1 in redemption value. Then you level up at levels of 5,000 points, 10,000 points, etc..

Working in concert with these levels is a daily cashback reward on losses that starts with 5%. The redemption rate, and cashback percentage on losses, rises with each level you reach.

Details on each offer can be found in the Promotions section.

Bovada Casino Games and Software

For a site that also carries a sportsbook and poker room, Bovada.lv’s selection of casino games is exceptionally strong. The number of games approaches 300, with new ones arriving regularly. We saw more than 240 slots, more than 20 table games, 14 video pokers, and 14 specialty games, such as keno, bingo and scratch cards. You can play many of them for free, just by going to the website. The primary software provider is RealTime Gaming.

The slots include a multitude of 3- and 5-reel games with single or multiple paylines, jackpots, i-slots and various themes. The popular titles include Ceasar’s Empire, Aztecs Treasure, 7s and Bars, A Night with Cleo, Major Moolah, and Dragons.

The table games roster has eight blackjack games, five roulette versions, and two each of baccarat and craps. There are also Caribbean Stud, Let’em Ride and Tri Card Poker.

The video games have the various versions of jacks or better, deuces wild and jokers.

About 100 of the games at Bovada.lv are accessible in a mobile version for people who game with their iPhone, Android, iPad or other mobile device.

Provably Fair Games

Though it is a casino that takes bitcoin, we could find no mention on Bovada.lv of provably fair games. There are methods for independently proving fairness, and we know that iTech Labs tests games at the site. But provability is an important customer feature that many bitcoin sites offer.

Customer Support

Bovada.lv has all sorts of information about how the site works in their Getting Started and Help sections. They even have a Bitcoin section for those unfamiliar with the currency. But if you want answers from the customer support team, there is an email prompt and a chat section. We tried the chat during two different times of day; one got a quicker response, but both came within five minutes. The staff was helpful and knowledgeable.

Conclusion

We’d like it if Bovada Casino demonstrated provably fair verification, and operated under a license. But there is little indication that Bovada is anything but on the level. It has served customers for years with very few hitches, and has had generally positive feedback from players during that time. Its popularity alone should attest to its integrity, and since we’ve played there for more than six years, we don’t hesitate to recommend it.