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Deposit & Payout Options
Although mainly known for its sportsbook, www.BetOnline.ag is an “all-in-one” gambling site, providing casino and poker games as well. It’s on the third place in our overall US rankings and is trusted among US gamblers.
The only time they’ve had any significant negative press was around 2011 when problems piled-up with the launch of their poker site (more about that lower).
BetOnline.ag has operated since 2004 (its roots go back to 1991, though) and is currently licensed in Panama. If you’re wondering about the weird Betonline.ag domain, the site started as BetOnline.com but moved to .ag in 2012 due to increased pressure from the Department of Justice (the DOJ seized many .com gambling domains in 2011).
What’s Good?
BetOnline accepts customers from all 50 states as one of the only sites doing so (in fact, we were unable to find any other with a similar reputation). According to reports at several gambling forums, their customers have great success with credit card deposits so they get a top grade for accessibility.
Depositing money to gambling sites and (even more-so) withdrawing money from them has been a problem for US gamblers ever since 2006 and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. BetOnline provides perhaps the best banking options in the US market in terms of variety.
The sportsbook is a good fit for those looking to bet on American sports although they offer a decent amount of international betting markets as well. While signing-up at BetOnline may not be essential for non-US bettors, it definitely is that for US bettors, since there are few legitimate U.S. sportsbooks and this is one of them.
With 10+ years in the business, plenty of American betting options and banking options, plus top-class reputation, U.S. should seriously consider signing up at BetOnline.ag.
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What’s Bad?
True to our style, we like to deliver the bad news early. This way you’ll get to know about possible deal-breakers rightaway without wasting any more time on this BetOnline review, although I doubt there are any deal-breakers in this case. I already mentioned the problems following the launch of BetOnline Poker in 2011. If you’re wondering what kind of problems they were specifically, here are the main points:
- They claimed to be on their own network even though they were on Action Poker network. Lying to customers is a weird way to start doing business. (Action Poker is known as Chico Poker nowadays.)
- Their customer service representatives knew everyone’s passwords which was revealed during a live chat session with a customer – obviously this should never happen and passwords should be stored in an incomprehensible form.
- At first, customers were able to play on multiple accounts using the same internet connection, which is a rookie security error. There should be no way for two accounts to play using the same internet connection.
- Several people complained on the forums about BetOnline confiscating their money, and the amounts were in the tens of thousands of dollars. While potentially alarming, in these cases, however, it’s worth pointing-out that people often complain about these things when they’re caught cheating, and there seemed to be quite a bit of cheating going on around that time).
It’s a different story in 2015. The reputation of BetOnline Poker has improved throughout the past few years and we view it as one of the best options for U.S. players. Furthermore, its sports betting and casino operations have always had solid reputations. They’re one of our top recommendations for a reason.
We have two current BetOnline complaints: quality of customer support and banking fees. The customer support department has shown some improvement, it still needs work in terms of response times and friendliness. You also need to pay a 6% fee for card deposits on top of cashout fees (most US sites allow free card deposits and at least one free check withdrawal per month).
Deposits and Cashouts
As mentioned in the introduction, BetOnline’s customers are reporting high success rates with credit card deposits (relative to the rest of the U.S. online gambling industry). If you’re going to have success with your card deposit at some U.S.-friendly gambling site, it’s likely at BetOnline. Furthermore, the site offers a surprisingly wide variety of banking options for its U.S. customers:
Deposits
BetOnline accepts credit and debit cards by Visa, Mastercard, JCB and Diner’s Club (apparently, they also accept Amex deposits but you need to have deposited at least five times already in order to use Amex) in addition to “Visa via Person to Person” and secure payment vouchers (Visa).
Card deposits have a 6% deposit fee. BetOnline is one of the only U.S. sites charging any fee at all for card deposits (the other one being Bovada at 4.9%).
Even though BetOnline has one of the highest credit card success rates in the US market, some of you are going to be unsuccessful with your card deposits, in which case you’re going to have to settle with one of the other options above or use a credit card indirectly with some of these methods – for example, you can fund your Western Union account with a credit card.
Cashouts
You can also request a withdrawal to your credit card (rare in the US market) but only after making at least five deposits and having your account for at least a month.
Many US-friendly sites cover the costs for at least one check withdrawal per month – not BetOnline, though. They charge a $25 fee per standard check or $50 if you want the check to be deliver within seven business days.
Betting
BetOnline’s sports betting markets are geared towards its U.S. customers – you’ll find plenty of NFL, NBA, MLB and other popular American sports leagues in their selection. As a mixed martial arts fan, I’ve often been disappointed in their MMA betting options, which usually cover one or two fights per event; you’ll find lots of betting options for sports like football and basketball, though.
The range of betting options and propositions will satisfy the majority of sports bettors. Additionally, their live betting options are sufficient, and even though they may not have the most attractive betting interface, it gets the job done.
BetOnline posts betting lines faster than many of its competitors (for example, Bovada, the biggest US gambling site, is much slower) and those who take betting at least a little seriously appreciate this.
Regarding betting limits, this sportsbook ranks among the middle-tier within the US. With a minimum betting limit of $1 and maximum betting limits up to $25,000 (NFL Thursday-to-Sunday spreads), they’re able to faciliate bettors ranging from smaller bankrolls to high rollers. NBA limits go up to $10,000 (sides) and $5,000 (moneylines and totals), NHL bets max. at $3,000. Smaller markets may have caps of just a few hundred dollars.
The sportsbook has gained (and maintained) popularity in America not only due to being reliable, but because it appeals to its target market with seasonal promotions and local betting lines. The main reason we rank BetOnline in our top-3 of American-friendly gambling sites is its sportsbook.
Sportsbook Bonus
New customers get a 50% deposit bonus up to $1,000. The bonus has a 10-time rollover requirement and you need to use the bonus code NFL15 (the bonus applies to all sports even though it’s branded as a bonus for the football season). The bonus is good when compared to the competition and one more reason join this sportsbook.
On top of the deposit bonus, you can also get bonuses for live betting and mobile betting ($25 and $50 respectively). These function different from deposit bonuses, though, since you’ll get the bonus money only in case you lose (so basically they’ll reimburse your bet in case you lose).
Casino
BetOnline Casino has been online since 2009 and is powered by Rival Gaming software and offers the following quantities of different types of casino games:
- Nine variations of blackjack plus 13 different table games.
- 19 regular slots in addition to 37 3D slots.
- 17 variations of video poker.
- Live dealers for blackjack, roulette and baccarat.
Rival Gaming is one of the most frequently used casino software in the U.S. market in addition to Realtime Gaming software. Unfortunately, the best casino software can only be played at non-US casinos (made by the likes of NetEntertainment, Cryptologic and Microgaming), so U.S. gamblers have to do with what’s available.
Casino Bonus
Casino customers are eligible for two bonuses at the moment they sign-up:
- A $25 live dealer bonus (get $25 of free play at live dealer tables).
- A 100% slots bonus (deposit between $100 and $5,000, get a 100% match bonus with a 50-time rollover requirement).
In addition, casino customers are eligible for a monthly high roller bonus, a 25% reload bonus on any deposit of $25 or more, and a 10% rebate program on casino play. I consider this a sufficient amount of bonus promotions, and the $25 bonus for live dealer games is a nice one, but I wish the slots bonus had a lower rollover requirement, considering the high house edge in slots.
Poker
Compared to other U.S. poker sites, BetOnline Poker is a good option in many ways. It has decent player traffic, the general skill level is on the weaker side (typical for all-in-one gambling sites where plenty of gamblers make their way from casino and betting games to poker tables) and the site is among the fastest US-facing operations at processing money withdrawals. Trustedpokersites.com ranks BetOnline as one of the top US poker sites, and we agree.
I dislike the quality of the software – especially the graphics. My minimum requirement for poker software is to work without glitches and to be somewhat user-friendly – BetOnline fulfills that criteria but the graphics are still a turn-off. I wish they’d put a little bit of effort into fixing the most obvious mistakes, but then again, plenty of people seem to get along with the software just fine.
Poker Bonus
New depositors get a 100% up to $200 bonus (no bonus codes). This bonus is released in five stages and its average effective rakeback is around 20% (looking at effective rakeback is a useful way to compare bonuses between sites and see how easily they can be cleared).
Compared to other US online rooms, the bonus offer is average when it comes to difficulty (Bovada and Americas Cardroom have the same). In fact, the only US room with a distinctly easier bonus is Full Flush Poker at about 60% effective rakeback, although BetOnline gives you 120 days to clear the bonus while Full Flush only gives you 30 days. (As a side note, Full Flush also has slower withdrawal processing.)
Rake
Considering its rake structure, BetOnline Poker is an excellent option for micro-stakes ($5NL-$25NL) players due to its reasonable rake percentage and low maximum rake per pot. The higher the stakes, though, the worse BetOnline gets relative to other US sites; it maintains fairly low maximum rake deduction but its rake percentage is higher than others at every stake excluding the micros.
Customer Service
The customer service at BetOnline has a lot to learn from sites like Bovada. At Bovada, for example, you’ll get fast and professional replies to your questions; at BetOnline, the customer service is often rude and arrogant. It does a decent job most of the time – otherwise they’d be less succesful – but they’re far from providing an excellent experience for the customer.
They have improved since their worst days, but there’s still work to do.
The company offers live chat support, phone support and four different departments for e-mail support (general, poker, casino and skill games). Additionally, real-money customers (those who have already made a deposit) have access to live chat support. Response times are on the slower side at both e-mail and live chat supports; we have no experience from dealing with their phone support.