Play Poker Award

I've had nothing but positive experiences with Bovada Poker over the years, and as a result, I consider it to be among the most legitimate online poker sites around. Also, Bovada Poker has twice as many players as the next most popular US-friendly poker site, and it consistently ranks in the top five worldwide.

Bovada Poker has one of the more relaxed clienteles among online poker players because to its casino and sports betting undertones. Just two US-facing poker sites, including Bovada Poker, allow for real-money mobile gaming. Bovada.lv was the first US-facing poker site to support Mac computers.

Bovada was also the first online gambling site to provide consistently fast payments to players in the United States. Although other US-based poker sites have since caught up, Bovada Poker was truly paying out players long before it was cool to do so. When it comes to payment times, Bovada has a significant edge since Bitcoin withdrawals are often processed instantaneously.

Bovada Poker is a legitimate poker site since they have been operating for a long time without any significant scandals or issues with their payouts. In fact, "Never missed a payment" was formerly Bovada Poker's slogan.

The combination of these factors, plus the fact that I've used Bovada Poker for over 15 years without incident, leads me to believe that they are as legitimate a poker site as any other serving the United States.

The United States of America's Top Online Poker Room, Bovada

For the last decade, Bovada Poker has earned my confidence more than any other US-facing poker site.

Joshua's Animated Character

CEO and Co-Founder of Beat The Fish, Josh H.

There are a lot of good poker options in the US market, but they all have their flaws. Although I'm not a fan of Bovada Poker's lack of a licence, I think it goes above and beyond that. Still, after more than a decade of use, I believe they are the greatest overall poker site still accepting players from the United States.

Bovada Has a Legal Gambling License. Curaçao eGaming, which is regulated by the government of Curaçao, has issued Bovada a gaming licence once again. It means you may play poker and other casino games on Bovada without worrying about breaking the law.

In 2016, Bovada severed ties with the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. Self-regulation implies that Bovada has been operating without a proper licence up until recently.

That choice puzzled me, and it was my main criticism of an otherwise excellent poker site.

I'm happy to say that Bovada has received its gambling licence once again. For player confidence's sake alone, poker players should expect a site to have some kind of regulatory control in the form of a licence before they deposit any significant sums of money.

Although I realise that not all licenced poker sites are legitimate, I feel most comfortable playing at Bovada. I've been a customer since they were still known as Bodog, almost two decades ago. Throughout that period, I have never had a problem with my finances, and I haven't heard of anybody else having one either.

Bovada has been granted a licence and is governed by the appropriate authorities.

Bovada has a current and active licence, which can be verified by clicking on the Curaçao seal at the bottom of every page.

Bovada Poker Has Its Flaws

If you believe I think Bovada Poker is perfect, you'd be incorrect. There's also a lengthy history of reliability that's kept me coming back to Bovada Poker since 2004.

Bovada.lv is, in my opinion, the greatest poker site available to those in the United States. If Bovada Poker really wants to make it to the next level, there are a few things they need to fix first.

The software might need some tweaks.

When functional, the Bovada Poker software is a visually appealing and smooth experience. Unfortunately, there are still times when I run the desktop app and see nothing but a blank lobby. But, one of my main problems has been addressed by Bovada's addition of tournament possibilities on mobile.

Added rake

A year ago, in 2017, Bovada Poker followed the lead of other online gambling sites by increasing the maximum rake on poker tables from $3.00 to $4.00. In the long run, that will improve your success rate somewhat but reliably.