Canada's Best Betting Sites

Choosing an Online Sportsbook

Sportsbook Review Odds – Getting Started Checklist

In principle, this is no different than deciding who will fix your car, who will handle your taxes or cut your hair. Do they have a good reputation, do you trust them with your car/tax information/locks of hair, will they treat you fairly if you have a complaint?

While the mantra of “location, location, location” is preached in setting up land-based businesses, we feel “reputation, reputation, reputation” is the biggest key with sportsbooks.

Reputation

While some watchdog organizations will trumpet a sportsbook’s reputation and encourage you to sign up there, beware those claims. Most such sites accept advertising dollars from the same books on their Best Books list, which obviously taints their objectivity.

Research several books, check out our list of client sportsbooks as well, we make all efforts to ensure businesses advertising on our site are credible, reputable and fair.

Location

We give location #2 billing here. Different locales have different licensing and regulation stipulations. Stronger nations typically have stronger regulations and more ability to crack down and investigate any wrongdoing.

Security

Read up on the type of security technology they use to guarantee the safety of your online transactions.

Customer Service

Sample their email and telephone contacts to see if they respond promptly and intelligently. Request a payout of some winnings to see how they respond. Quality books pay right away, others may seek to stall or slow-pay.

Bonuses/Incentives

Most books offer some type of incentive to win your business. As with any offer, beware the outrageous claims. The standard of 10 or 15% bonus of your sign-up amount is typical. Read the fine print and ask questions about these bonuses, some have “rollover” requirements (you must bet your deposit amount once, twice, five times before you can withdraw any bonus money) and some are matchplay (you get $20 bonus, but if you bet $20 and win, you only keep your winnings, the matchplay bonus portion dissolves. In this case, you still have $20, not $40).

Are we Ready?

After you have satisfied yourself that the book is solid and that they offer a range of betting selections that suits your needs, follow one of the sportsbook banners in our sportsbook review odds area and be transported to the site.

Most have easy-to-follow instructions on funding your account, setting it up and then placing wagers. When that is done, getting some pointers on how the books charges commissions and how the experts manage their bankrolls is a great idea before going crazy with a bunch of bets.