Shopping for lines is one surefire way to increase your payout in sports betting. However, with literally thousands of online bookies in the market, how do you know which one is legit? Thankfully, most online bookies in the market are legit, and the illegal ones are in the minority. However, this doesn’t mean that you should be complacent when checking if the online bookie you’re betting with today is legit or not.
How confident are you with your bookies online? Do you trust them with your deposits and winnings?If the experience you have had with your online bookie is satisfactory, that’s great. However, how do you know exactly which bookie to pick when shopping for lines?
People often make one mistake: they go for sites with rewards and sign-up bonuses without checking if the site is legit. That’s a surefire way to lose all your deposits in one go. But how do you know exactly if a bookie is legit?
Here are some signs you should know about.
Sportsbook License
Of course, without a license, a sportsbook wouldn’t be able to operate in any state. An online bookie without a license is a huge red flag as it means that it has difficulty getting a license because of the shady dealings that website is probably doing.
Also, many reputable sites, such as FanDuel.com, make a great effort to show their customers that they have a license, which can be found somewhere on their sites. In fact, for some, it’s a matter of pride, and they are so proud of it that it can be seen on their first page.
Not only that, but licenses also mean that the proper authorities have audited the online bookie, but what does it mean for a bookie to get audited? It means that their financial dealings and operations are legit and completely legal. If you see a license in an online sportsbook, it’s a good sign that it’s legit.
Allows Book-to-Book Transfers
One great thing about online bookies is that they have a function called book-to-book transfer, which is great when you’re shopping for lines. But what is book-to-book transfer? It’s a feature that allows the bettor to transfer their bets to another online bookie.
For example, let’s say that you have bets for college football betting in your current bookie but you saw bettors on another. With the book-to-book transfer allowed, you’re able to transfer all of your bets to another site with no hassle.
If your current bookie allows this feature, then it means that they have good business dealings with other online bookies. Not only that, but you can also see this as a sign that they are legitimate. Why?
Online bookies are business at the end of the day, and if they are associated with an illegitimate online bookie, their reputation might be in tatters. If possible, an online bookie will avoid dealing with an illegal bookie as much as possible. That means that if your current online bookie doesn’t have the book-to-book transfer feature, it should indicate something wrong with your bookie.
Multiple Payment Methods
One of the things that you should consider before picking an online bookie is to make sure that your payment method applies to them. Most bookies have many ways for their customers to deposit their money like Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, etc. This is a sign that these popular institutions trust their business and are willing to collaborate with them.
Take Fanduel, for example. When you want to deposit your money into your Fanduel account, all you have to do is press the deposit button, and you will be presented with multiple choices on how to deposit your money. If the current bookie you’re with doesn’t have a lot of options and is missing some of the most common payment methods out there, it should be a sign that something is wrong.
As mentioned earlier, businesses don’t often want to do business with shady companies. If they see that a business is illegitimate, they will cut all ties with it and refuse to collaborate with it again. Reputation is essential in business, and if your company is associated with something illegal, then your business will take negative criticisms from customers.
Reasonable Terms and Conditions
One trick that illegal bookies use to try and prey upon their customers is to hide their illegal practices behind their terms and conditions. Thus, before you sign up for anything, make sure to check if their terms and conditions are reasonable and acceptable first.
Yes, reading the terms and conditions can be tiring, which is why illegal practices are often hidden behind them but if you want to check if the online bookie you’re with now is legit, then better take out your reading glasses.
Final Words
Fortunately, most online bookies are legit, but that doesn’t mean that predatory sites don’t exist. This is why as responsible bettors, we need to check each nook and cranny if we want to catch these predators. Or, if you want to avoid these scammers, you better check each online bookie you come across.
