Bovada Review – My Unfiltered Gambling Experience

Bovada Casino has drawn many complaints on sites like Trustpilot, PissedConsumer, and some Reddit threads. Still, I also found players that enjoy the site as well as some replies from the casino itself.

What Are Players Saying About Bovada?

Below, you can see examples of good and bad player experiences I found:

The Bonuses Are Deceptive!

This is a bogus gambling site that wants to throw money away. It is a scam on bonuses. They make everything hard so they don’t pay. Avoid at all costs.

Karl Hardy (Trustpilot – 1 star)

I Got a Refund and an Apology

They say (my account is) in the negative but I am not. [Bovada resolved this complaint by issuing a $75 refund and apologizing.]

Elias M Bis (PissedConsumer)

I Have Never Had an Issue When it Comes to Paying Out

I love Bovada. I have never had an issue when it comes to paying out. My withdrawal method is Bitcoin, which is the fastest way to receive your winnings. Of course, the most I ever won was $700, and as far as losing goes. It is a casino. The odds are never in your favor, but I enjoy this website.

Maurice Guana (Trustpilot – 5 stars)

Poor Customer Service

Players discussing Bovada customer service and payouts, with most users not thrilled about either matter:

– Bovada still has not had anyone to reach out to me over this false advertising and misrepresentation.

– I’ve never had that exact experience but, yeah, they’re really greedy with the bonuses. Doesn’t matter how much you lose.

Reddit thread

What the Casino Says

You can see how Bovada has responded to some complaints on Trustpilot and PissedConsumer below:

Myths Busted About Bovada

This gambling site is by no means perfect, but it has also drawn some ugly myths. I want to debunk certain player complaints that make the site look terrible.

The bonuses give me mixed feelings. I like how the first deposit on the crypto casino bonus and the credit card bonuses only carry 25x playthrough.

Most online casinos require you to meet 35x or 40x rollover requirements on deposit bonuses. 

I went with the 125% crypto bonus, which covers your first three deposits (all worth 125% up to $1,250). However, the 25x rollover only applies to your initial deposit. The second and third deposits require 50x playthrough, which is higher than normal.

Your other option for the welcome package is the standard (credit card) offer. This deal provides three 100% Bovada Casino bonuses up to $1,000.

The benefit of this welcome promo is that 25x playthrough applies to all deposits. The downside is that you must pay 15.9% fees on all credit card deposits—something I would rather not do.

Bovada Casino promotions seem scarce after the welcome package, but I did receive another bonus offer after depositing. This deal is still in my account and is not among the regular promos.

It provides a 50% match up to $500 plus 25 free spins. The terms are okay, including 30x (casino) or 15x rollover (sports & horses) and 14 days to claim.

The promos at the casino are not abundant, but you will likely get special offers once you have an account and make your first deposit.

My Recommended Bonuses

Your initial choice for Bovada Casino bonuses only comes down to two options: crypto or credit card. I will explain why I chose the crypto offer and avoided the credit card deal below.

125% Crypto Casino Bonus up to $1,250 (Redeemable 3x – Code)

The best part of this offer is that you can deposit with crypto (BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, USDT) and avoid deposit fees.

I did need to give $1.50 of my $23 deposit to cover ETH network fees, but this is 6.5% of the transaction. You also get 125% matches on your deposits rather than 100% with the standard bonus.

Rollover is 25x on the first deposit, beating the industry average (35x-40x).

The drawback is that playthrough jumps to 50x on the second and third deposits. I assume that Bovada does this because of the higher match percentage, although I am still not a fan.

The bonus code for this offer is “BTCCWB1250” on the first deposit and “BTC2NDCWB” on the second and third. However, I did not need to enter a code when depositing. Instead, I selected this offer on the Tether deposit screen and qualified after the USDT arrived.

100% Standard Casino Bonus up to $1,000 (Redeemable 3x)

This welcome promo turned me off because of the aforementioned 15.9% credit card fees. It also only matches your deposits by 100% and provides a smaller max amount of $1,000.

The advantages to this offer include a quick deposit process and 25x rollover on all three deposits.

The lower playthrough was not enough to sway me, given that I would hate losing 15.9% of my deposit immediately. Nevertheless, you might be interested in this offer due to the low rollover.

The standard welcome promo requires Bovada Casino bonus code CAWELCOME100 on the first deposit and BV2NDCWB on the second and third. However, you likely will not need to enter codes after selecting this bonus from the drop-down menu.

Other Bonuses I Reviewed

Here are other casino bonuses that I checked out during my review, including the 50% match offer that showed up in my account.

The Bovada game selection has grown immensely since the last time I played here when it had 300 titles.

I count 613 games at the current time, including 515 slots. This online casino has done well at keeping up with its US-facing competitors regarding game quantity.

It also spreads its games across several categories, including slots, blackjack, roulette, specialty, video poker, and live dealer.

Bovada is unique due to its Hot Drop Jackpots network, which connects many games to the Epic (can drop anytime), Daily, and Hourly prizes. The Epic Jackpot has topped $200,000 multiple times.

I did not play the Hot Drop games during my review because they don’t count towards the playthrough. Nevertheless, you might find them interesting if you love chasing jackpots.

Software Providers

Bovada does not list its software providers, but I recognize games from BGaming, Betsoft, Rival Gaming, Qora, RealTime Gaming (RTG), and Woohoo.

My Top Game Picks

I have picked all slots for my top Bovada Casino games. These games stand out to me due to their graphics, settings, and unique features.

• 72 Fortunes: Based on the Monkey God Wukong, this 4-reel slot has a special fourth reel with multipliers, instant wins, and respins. I had the most success with this game while playing at Bovada.
• Realm of the Gods: A run-of-the-mill Egyptian-themed slot that does not count towards the bonus playthrough (I missed that when looking at the restricted slots list).
• Gorgon’s Stash: A 5-reel slot with cascading reels and random multipliers that delivered decent wins.
• Cyberpunk City: It has an entertaining futuristic vibe and interesting characters.
• Tower Fortuna: The game sees you climb a tower and increase your win multiplier after every loss.
• Take Olympus: It has quality features like free spins, re-spins, and multipliers.

Now, let’s dive into the different Bovada game categories I explored below.

Slots

I counted 515 online slots during my review, which is more than most US-friendly online casinos.

Again, the Hot Drop games are draws here due to the three progressive jackpots. You can use a drop-down menu to sort slots by Hot Drop, Most Popular, Bonus Buy, and Progressives.

I prefer looking through the games alphabetically to see everything available, but you might find these filters helpful.

Slots contribute 100% towards bonus playthrough, which makes them even more enticing. However, you should check the many restricted slots (linked to under My Gambling Session Details) that do not meet rollover.

My session was fun, but I probably would have enjoyed it more if other studios’ slots counted towards rollover.

Blackjack

The blackjack section features 14 variations, with examples being 22 Blackjack, 21+3, European, Perfect Pairs, Super 7, and Zappit. This selection is better than the average gaming site, which might have 5-7 variants.

I did not play real-money blackjack during my session because it contributes 5-10% (varies by game) towards bonus rollover.

Nevertheless, I did briefly try Zappit and single deck blackjack for free. I found Zappit more entertaining due to its authentic casino atmosphere versus the weird table close-up with the single-deck version.

*Note: I had to log out and play without an account to try free games. Bovada would only consider me a real-money player when logged in, so I could not play due to insufficient funds (bankroll down to $0.02).

Roulette

Roulette is another Bovada game I avoided for real money because it only contributes 5% towards bonus rollover.

However, I could see this casino being a good online roulette destination thanks to its seven variations. Some roulette games here include Double Dragon, European, and Zoom.

I played Double Dragon and Zoom for free during this Bovada review. Double Dragon Roulette is entertaining because it features a dragon spitting fireballs (win multipliers) onto certain numbers.

I am considering coming back here and playing Double Dragon for real money someday. Zoom is a standard roulette game outside of how it shows close-ups of winning numbers.

Other Table Games

The table games section features the blackjack and roulette variations covered above and other titles.

Examples of the latter include Andar Bahar, baccarat, Caribbean hold’em, craps, Let Em Ride, Lucky Wheel, and tri-card poker.

I tried Caribbean hold’em and Lucky Wheel for free. The former is an RTG game that features a progressive jackpot.

The progressive jackpot was worth over $26,000 during my review and only costs $1 to play for. I could not get Lucky Wheel to load after choosing my preferred background.

I switched to tri-card poker and had no trouble getting started. However, this was another game with a weird closeup view like single-deck blackjack.

It is hard to know what table games qualify for bonus playthrough. Bovada lists craps at a 0% rate, but games like tri-card poker do not fall into any listed categories.

Video Poker

The video poker section features ten games, but only five are unique variations.

The other five are multi-hand versions of Jacks or Better (JoB). Besides JoB, other unique variants include Aces & Faces, Bonus Deuces Wild, Double Double Bonus Poker, and Tens or Better.

I played one of the available Jacks or Better variations. This game offered 9 coins for a full house and six for a flush (a.k.a. full pay), putting it at 99.54% RTP.

While video poker only contributes 10% towards rollover, you cannot go wrong with 9/6 JoB when trying to win.

Casual Games – Specialty Games

The Specialty Games section is under the More Categories tab and offers scratch cards, bingo, and crash gaming.

I suggest these games if you are looking for an alternative to slots because they contribute 100% towards playthrough (unless otherwise stated).

I was surprised with the number of specialty games, with almost 40 available. Many online casinos have a thin specialty section with 3-10 titles.

I tried Dragon’s Crash and Bingo Goal and was impressed with these games from a visual perspective.

Dragon’s Crash had impressive animations, with the dragon breathing fire everywhere while my scratch-card results hung in the balance. Bingo Goal took me inside a major soccer game to enjoy a 90-ball bingo game.

Live Dealer Games

I stayed away from live dealer tables during my review because they contribute zero towards bonuses. Nevertheless, I opened a game to check the streaming quality and dealer friendliness.

I chose Blackjack Early Payout due to the advertised 99.5% RTP (even though I was not playing).

The studio setup looked weird, with a long, rectangular table instead of the traditional half-circle blackjack tables. The dealer looked tired and unenergetic, much like a croupier on the 11th hour of a 12-hour shift.

On the plus side, the streaming quality and software interface were fine.

The Bovada live casino has dozens of tables, with most involving blackjack. Besides Early Payout, other live casino games include American roulette, baccarat, blackjack (regular), European roulette, and Super 6.

Poker Room Review

One reason behind Bovada’s long-term success is its multiple gambling verticals.

You can enjoy online poker and sports betting along with casino games. I briefly want to touch on the poker room and sportsbook in this review.

Bovada Poker is one of the biggest sites available to American poker players. It offers $2 million in weekly guaranteed tournaments, including a $200,000 Sunday Gtd.

It also has sit-and-gos, knockout tourneys, turbos, and anonymous tables. The latter lets you play under a different ID each time so that sharks do not hunt you.

No-limit cash games range from $0.02/$0.05 to $10/$20. I am not grinding on the Bovada poker tables, instead focusing on the casino offerings. Apparently, these games are beatable, though, as proven by a player who made $31k in 300k hands.

The variety of deposit and withdrawal options is good because it offers a mixture of crypto and traditional methods.

I stick with crypto on deposits because it is not subject to Bovada fees. Meanwhile, credit cards are unusable to me due to the 15.9% charges. I have not seen CC fees this bad at other gambling sites.

The best solution is to get comfortable with crypto because it works for withdrawals or deposits and becomes easy to use with experience. Of course, I will still discuss all the casino banking options below.

Deposit Options Summary 

The deposit methods at Bovada include credit cards, cryptocurrencies, and vouchers. I have seen direct bank transfer mentioned on the site, but it was never an available option from my experience.

The latter is credit, which you can buy from another user and use on the site.

• Fastest Deposit Method: Credit card or Crypto
• Additional Fees: Yes, 15.9% for credit card deposits

My Recommended Deposit Method

I recommend depositing with any available cryptocurrency at Bovada Casino. I used Tether because it is pegged 1:1 with USD and is basically like depositing in dollars.

Furthermore, I can deposit $20 in Tether (plus Ethereum network fees) and qualify for casino bonuses.

Bitcoin (0.0002 minimum deposit) and Ethereum (0.01 minimum) have trickier conversions that fluctuate.

My Tether deposit took less than five minutes to arrive once I sent the funds from Coinbase, so the speed was nice.

The following details explain more about the available deposit options.

DEPOSIT METHOD	MIN DEPOSIT	MAX DEPOSIT
	$20	$1,500
	$20	$1,500
	$20	$1,500
	$10	$5,000
	$50	$5,000
	$5	$5,000
	$10	$5,000
	$10	$5,000
	$10	$3,000

Withdrawal Options Summary 

You can request a withdrawal through crypto, voucher, and player transfer. Bovada has generous cashout limits for certain cryptocurrencies, notably Litecoin at $180,000 weekly.

I do not see a verification option in my account, maybe because I used crypto or never had many funds. However, I did get an idea of how to cash out from the help center.

If you need to verify your account for a withdrawal, you can do so by selecting your profile icon and hitting “Verify Now” (if available). You must take pictures of the front and back of your driver’s license and snap a selfie.

• Verification Required? Yes – ID, proof of address
• Fastest Withdrawal Method: Crypto (up to 15 minutes plus Bovada processing time)
• Additional Withdrawal Fees: $100 for Checks and Wire Transfer

My Recommended Payout Method: Crypto

I did not get an opportunity to withdraw funds during this review. I lost my original $21.50 deposit while trying to meet the playthrough. Assuming I could cash out, I would have used a cryptocurrency. 

The wait time is only 15 minutes on crypto withdrawals, and no fees are involved (outside of any network fees).

You can also cash out significant amounts with some coins (e.g., Bovada Casino Bitcoin withdrawals have a $90k limit).

You can see more info on Bovada withdrawals below.

WITHDRAWAL METHOD	MIN PAYOUT	MAX PAYOUT
	$10	$9,500
	$10	$2,500
	$50	$2,500
	$10	$2,500
	$50	$2,500
	$10	$3,000
	$1,500	$9,500

Bovada customer support is available through email, live chat, and a help center. Here are the details of each channel:

Here’s How I Tested

My journey began in the help center because the email and chat contacts were not available immediately. I went through the help section looking for an answer on the minimum deposit for bonuses.

I did not find the desired answer, so I selected “No” when asked if my issue was solved. This action brought up email, live chat, and a Bovada community link.

Here are my experiences with each type of support:

The Bovada Casino user experience doesn’t really begin until you select the “Casino” option on the desktop or mobile homepage. Otherwise, you’ll be sifting through banners and bonus ads for the sportsbook, casino, and poker room.

I found the Bovada UX decent after clearing this short hurdle.

I personally liked the desktop version better than the mobile platform because it has a conventional layout with game categories at the top. 

By contrast, the mobile site concentrates more on promotional banners and places options like slots, blackjack, and table games at the bottom. No Bovada app is available either, meaning you’re relegated to the website when using an iOS or Android device.

I appreciate the speed at which pages load on the desktop and mobile platforms. I’ve been having speed issues when reviewing other online casinos through my ChromeOS (Acer) laptop.

Playing at Bovada with no hitches via my computer and iPhone was an excellent complement to the quality graphics of the games.

The casino is a good choice if you like playing at online casinos through a desktop device. It’s not terrible on a phone once you master the bottom menu versus a traditional drop-down menu.