Bookmakers and the city of Las Vegas go together like peanut butter and jelly, or like two things that go together really well that we won’t insult your intelligence reiterating. You fully get the picture. A bookmaker, also known as a bookie or a turf accountant, is an individual or organization that accepts a person’s wagers for odds-based bets they make.
Bookies are also instrumental in setting sporting lines, though far from the only influential factor in how lines are ultimately set. And with the city of Las Vegas literally living and dying by gambling, it makes perfect sense that bookmakers would play a huge role there.
Almost every major casino in Vegas has a book, and since Nevada is exempt from PASPA, you can find online sports betting in the state, too, and much of this manifests itself through brand name-based sites. On Vegas Bookmakers, we want to help you navigate the field of online books – sportsbooks, to be exact. While you’re free to get up and travel to Vegas any time you so choose, the odds suggest you’re going to handle your gambling via the Internet, and thus you’re going to do business with online bookmakers.
So, where does “Vegas” fit into all this? Many sites—close to being most sites—take their cues from Vegas bookmakers and create and operate their sites to mirror the brick-and-mortar action of Vegas’ biggest and most popular casinos. This means lines that are fluid and accurate per the average, book offered on all major sporting events, and a large emphasis on the overall environment in which you will be gambling. It’s been standard industry fare for over a decade now for an online sportsbook to attempt, in many ways, to mirror on-location bookies’ locales in casinos.
Through our resource site here, we want to help you navigate this competitive terrain so that you find a legitimate sportsbook with which to do business.
The Legality Of Online Sports Betting In The US
Over the vast expanse of our gambling resource information network, we make it a habit of touching on the legalities of gambling. Many Americans do not realize that they are actually allowed to gamble, as there are no laws or regulations preventing a person from gambling. They know that federal regulations have been passed against gambling, and they assume that this means the act of gambling itself is illegal.
That’s actually not true. If you’re just a gambler looking to wager on sports, then it doesn’t matter on which sport you wish to bet or from where you hail. You are allowed to gamble if you find a site willing to accept your action. Though when it comes to making book, the laws are 180 degrees different.
All the laws against gambling focus entirely on those who wish to set up a book. The Federal Wire Act, passed in the early 1960s, makes it illegal for anyone to accept gambling wagers. PASPA makes sports betting illegal in all but four exempt states. And the UIGEA, passed in 2006, makes it illegal for anyone to operate an online gambling site inside of America, save a few states.
So when it comes to legal issues, you’re dealing with two different worlds. It is legal for people to actually gamble on an individual level. Just find a site willing to accept your action, and you’re not breaking any laws. Though for the act of offering gambling, you’re going to run into legal issues at every turn.
Reviewing The Top Rated Vegas Online Bookmakers For 2025
One area on which we plan to place a lot of emphasis is on the online sportsbooks where you will be playing. Any wager you place is only as good as the book you choose, and there are tons of sportsbooks on the market from which you can choose.
As you may have already guessed, not all are created the same. Some are much better than others. In this section, we’re going to do some very brief reviews of three of the better sportsbooks out there with which you can sign up and wager.
#1 Top Rated Site: Bovada Sportsbook – 50% Bonus Up To $250
Formerly known as Bodog, Bovada has become one of the biggest names in online gambling in general, much less their sportsbook. One of the reasons Bovada has risen to such heights as a gambling network is that they focused on giving Americans a place to gamble.
After the UIGEA of 2006, most sites simply abandoned Americans. Bovada hooked up with the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group of Canada, making them an offshore site, and then started catering directly to an American audience. That’s far from the site’s only strong selling point, however. Bovada is also known for basically controlling the lines, as they always seem to get them first.
And Bovada also has one of the largest varieties of sports on which to bet in the world. Bovada’s network is powered by RTG, which is one of the premier gaming platforms online, so their software is known to be updated, graphically gorgeous, and able to run without lags and glitches.
They also have a solid record for paying out winnings, some very strong security, and they put an emphasis on customer satisfaction. As a member of Bovada, you are privy to some very lucrative ongoing promotions.
BetOnline Sportsbook – 50% Bonus Up To $2,500
Founded in 2004, it wasn’t until 2011 that BetOnline really made a big push as a legitimate player in the sports betting world. After revamping their entire network, BetOnline started to attract people to its book with great software, lucrative bonus structures, and one of the largest varieties of sports in the business.
Everything from a local MMA fight in Europe to the World Cup has betting options you can choose from on BetOnline. The site also offers quality support and enough payment options that you get to choose your banking rather than having your banking chosen for you.
Within the BetOnline network, players can also choose to participate with the site’s poker room and casino, though their bread and butter really is their vast array of sports betting. From customer reviews to expert third-party assessments, BetOnline averages around a 9 of 10, and that’s absolutely stellar for an online gambling site. They’re known for tight security, fair play, and all the sports you can handle.
What You’re Looking For In A Reputable Online Sportsbook
Reading about a sportsbook and ultimately joining one are two very different things. You might read that a book is on the up and up, but to risk your money you may want more than a kind word spoken. This is why we want to make it clear to you what you should be after when in the market for an online sportsbook. Below, we’re going to list some of the things you want to look for in a quality sportsbook. You want your site to offer a lot to you, including but not limited to:
• A solid reputation on social media and throughout the entire network
• A very large selection of sports on which you can wager, from popular to niche sports
• A live betting section and prop bets so that you have plenty more ways to win
• A strong security suite that’s sure to keep you and your money protected
• A lot of banking options so that you get to choose which method you use
• A good support staff that will help you with any issues you encounter
• Solid bonuses and promotions that make it lucrative for you to join with the site
• Attractive software that looks great while you’re playing
• A platform that will operate while on a desktop or while playing via mobile device
Reputation And Honesty
The better sportsbooks out there easily cover this list of criteria. In fact, the three sites we quickly reviewed above cover these criteria. Though not all sites do manage to cover these points, and so those sites should be avoided. Now, there are two ways you can practically go about things here.
With the first, you can do thorough research of each site for yourself, finding out about their reputation as a vegas online sportsbook, their banking, their software, their security, etc. It takes a while and may require you to sign up, but it can be done personally. The second way, which is much easier, is to let Vegas Bookmakers put in the legwork. We’ll sign up, play and review these sites, and we’ll work to determine which of these sites meet the criteria listed above.
Our reputation is on the line here. If we recommend a site that’s not everything we say it is, we take a huge reputation hit. So when it comes to finding the right sort of sportsbook for gamblers, we take this task very seriously and work to ensure that we’re only recommending the best of the best.
There’s a whole lot you can learn about the sports betting genre by doing your research. But betting on sports should be fun, not tedious. So if you’re interested in true Vegas-style bookmakers, use our information to guide you in your decisions. This way, you can quickly learn about the genre and just go have fun and gamble.