Is online betting safe?

We get asked this question a lot, and we always give the same answer. Online betting IS safe, so long as you know how to avoid the risks involved.

1. The good news is that the chances of being scammed by an online betting sites are actually pretty low. People do get ripped off and cheated by online betting sites. We’d be lying if we said otherwise. That doesn’t mean that online betting is fundamentally unsafe though. Actually, we would even go as far as to say that the opposite is true!
2. Sports betting is far more likely to be an enjoyable experience when it’s affordable, and there’s no need to worry about whether a wager wins or loses. Ideally, you should also use a staking plan. A staking plan is basically just a set of rules that determine how much should be.
3. Online Sports Betting at SportsBetting.ag. SportsBetting.ag is your ‘top spot’ for the best in sports betting excitement. No matter what your favorite game might be you’ll find it on the board along with a huge variety of sports and betting options. SportsBetting.ag offers all of the popular North American sports including NFL football.

There’s no denying that betting online for real money involves some level of risk. There are steps you can take to ensure your safety, though, and we’re going to explain all about them right here.

One of the most important steps you can take towards safely betting on sports online is to join a trusted betting site.

Bovada covers all the major sports. They offering straight bets, teasers, if bets parlays, futures, and props on just about any sport. This makes Bovada one of the best Online sports betting sites. BetOnline is great for sports gambling online in many ways, but especially with baseball.

You can read more about these safe sports betting sites and why we recommend them if you wish. If you’re in a hurry to place some wagers, rest assured that you can join any one of these sites right now and be assured of safe online betting experience.

Should you wish to learn more about the risks involved in online sports betting, and how you can avoid them, we suggest reading through the rest of this page.

Please note that there is ALWAYS going to be a risk of losing money on your wagers. That’s part and parcel of any form of gambling, and not what we’re discussing here. We’re talking about the risk of getting ripped off or cheated in some way, or even the risk of getting into legal trouble.

These risks, among others, are why people worry about the safety of online betting. But, although it’s not a bad thing to be wary of the risks involved, the fact is that there’s not actually much to worry about.

Very few people who bet online have to face any real safety issues, and there’s no reason why you should either. Avoiding the risks and protecting yourself is actually pretty easy.

Not convinced? Then this article is just what you need. We look at each of the most common safety concerns relating to online sports betting, and explain the steps you can take to ensure those concerns don’t become a reality.

This is THE most common safety concern we hear about. Lots of people worry that online betting sites simply can’t be trusted, and we understand why. Over the years there have been several betting sites guilty of some or all of the following.

• Disappearing with customer funds
• Not honoring winning wagers
• Not paying withdrawals, or paying very late
• Offering unfair terms and conditions

The fact that these things have happened at all reflects badly on the online betting industry. It shouldn’t even be possible for sites to rip their customers off or to treat them unfairly.

Unfortunately it IS possible though, and we’re not even shocked that it happens. There are always going to be people in this world who try to scam or cheat others rather than make an honest living. And in some ways the internet has made it easier than ever to get away with it.

Sadly, it’s not really surprising that some people don’t like the idea of betting online for real money. They’re just not comfortable with the risk of being ripped off or cheated, and who can blame them? We live in a world where these kind of things happen all the time.

The good news is that the chances of being scammed by an online betting sites are actually pretty low.

People do get ripped off and cheated by online betting sites. We’d be lying if we said otherwise. That doesn’t mean that online betting is fundamentally unsafe though.

Actually, we would even go as far as to say that the opposite is true!

A key step towards staying safe when betting online is simply to avoid the shady sites and stick with the legitimate ones. Now, we say “simply,” but how do you do that? How do you know which sites can definitely be trusted?

This is easier than you might think, if you’re prepared to do a little research. Before you join a betting site or online sportsbook, you should look in to them and see if they meet the following criteria.

• Licensed and regulated by a reputable gambling authority
• Established history and proven track record
• Lack of negative reports and complaints (at least recent ones)
• Positive online comments from bettors and expert reviewers

The first item on the above list is especially important. Any site that’s not licensed and regulated should be avoided at all costs, as it’s not obliged to adhere to any kind of guidelines or fair practices. Even though that doesn’t mean for certain that it is a shady site, there’s no point taking the risk.

Licensed sites have to comply with the rules and regulations laid down by their licensor, so they’re typically going to be much safe to use.

Note that we said typically. Unfortunately, even a gambling license doesn’t 100% guarantee that a site is legit. Some licenses are so easy to get that they’re hardly even credible. That’s why you need to check where a license comes from, and how reputable the licensor is.

To learn more about the licensing and regulation of real money gambling sites, including online sportsbooks, please see the following page.

Having an established history is also a very good measure of legitimacy for betting sites. The shady ones don’t generally last too long, as they are constantly getting shut down for one reason or another. So if a site has been around for many years, it’s likely to be one you can trust. That’s not to say that newer sites definitely can’t, but they have more to prove.

If your research turns up a ton of negative reports and complaints about a site, then that’s obviously a red flag. It is worth nothing, though, that sites do change ownership and/or clean up their act. So if the complaints and bad reports are from years ago, and there’s nothing recent, that’s a positive sign.

Positive comments are, of course, also a positive sign. Especially when they come from people who are actively using a site. Genuine user reviews usually paint the most accurate picture. It’s similar with reviews from legitimate experts, too, but you do need to be a little wary of reviews.

We have our own review section here at GamblingSites.com. Our reviews ARE honest, and based on a combination of our own experiences and additional research. We write about the good and the bad, providing our readers with balanced views and the information they really need to know.

When a betting site does engage in unethical behavior, it’s very likely that the people affected will openly express their concerns for everyone to see. That’s why we recommend searching for negative reports and complaints. Just do a Google search with the site name and “scam,” “complaint,” or something similar. If there’s anything bad you should know, you’ll probably find it. If you don’t find anything, then that’s a good sign.

Please note that none of the individual criteria we’ve discussed here GUARANTEES that a site is a trustworthy. If you put them all together you can be pretty confident that a site is legit, but you still need to proceed with caution if you want to protect yourself. We advise testing a site out with small deposits until you’re absolutely certain they can be trusted.

Of course, we realize that most people who bet online, or want to, would prefer to just sign up with a site and start placing their wagers right away. Researching various different sites and testing them out is just too much hassle. They still want to stay safe though. That’s why we provide rankings of the top betting sites, making sure that ALL of our recommendations are legitimate, trustworthy, and safe.

Our rankings cover various different categories. For all the details, please visit our page on the best online sports betting sites.

Why would anyone be worried about breaking the law when betting online? Anyone who lives in a country where online betting is fully legalized or regulated may be wondering this. Unfortunately, in other countries around the world, there are people who completely understand why breaking the law is in question.

These people genuinely don’t know whether it’s legal for them to place wagers online, because the online betting laws in their countries are either outdated, confusing or both. It’s simply not clear what’s legal and what’s not, so people naturally worry that placing an online bet MIGHT be breaking the law.

Now, we’re not lawyers. We HAVE studied the laws relating to online gambling extensively though, and we’ve come to two very clear conclusions. The first is that most online gambling legislation is aimed at those who provide online gambling services and operate gambling sites. The second is that there are no laws that explicitly make it illegal for an individual to place a sports wager online.

Well, in our opinion it means that there’s very little risk of getting into legal trouble for betting online. We can’t say for certain that you’re 100% safe from breaking the law, but we really don’t think this is an issue.

It’s important that you stay away from betting sites that might be operating illegally though. The people operating an illegal site are far more likely to face prosecution than the customers, but why risk it? Even if you don’t get arrested (and you probably won’t), guess what happens when an illegal betting site gets busted? All their assets get seized, which means you’ll probably lose any funds you have at the site.

There are plenty of betting sites that operate legally within the jurisdictions where they’re based. This includes ALL the sites that we recommend. Stick with these and you should never have to worry about any legal issues.

Personal Details Being Sold or Stolen

These are two separate risks really. The risk of your personal details being sold is easily avoided, as you just need to use one of our recommended betting sites. These are legit sites that simply don’t engage in this kind of behavior. They won’t sell your email address to other companies that will spam you to death. Nor will they sell your banking information to fraudsters.

Using reputable and trustworthy sites will also reduce the chances of your personal details being stolen. These sites use the latest security and encryption technology to ensure that your data is as safe as it can be. There’s still SOME risk unfortunately, as even the most reputable companies in the world are ultimately susceptible to hackers. Just ask Microsoft, Sony or Amazon. These companies have all been hacked and had customer details stolen.

Realistically, there’s only a tiny chance that your personal information will ever be stolen from an online betting site. Tiny enough that it’s not even worth worrying about it. What’s more likely is that the information will be stolen from YOU when you’re accessing and using betting sites.

Here are some security tips that will help you to keep your details safe, and also prevent unauthorized access to your betting accounts. We strongly recommend you follow them.

• Install anti-virus and anti-malware software on all your devices, and KEEP IT UPDATED.
• Use strong passwords. Ideally with a combination of upper case and lower case letters, numbers and other symbols.
• Use different passwords at different sites.
• Don’t give your usernames or passwords to ANYONE.
• Change your passwords regularly.
• Use unusual security questions/answers.
• Don’t send banking information via email, live chat or Skype. Only enter it directly at a betting site, where everything will be encrypted and protected.

This is a different type of risk to the others discussed so far. It’s a very real risk though, and one you should definitely be aware of. A small percentage of people do get addicted to online betting, or at least experience some form of problem gambling. If you want to stay safe from these dangers, it’s VITAL that you gamble responsibly.

Your first step should be to set a budget based on how much you’re prepared to deposit online. This should ideally be a weekly budget or a monthly budget. It should be money that you can afford to lose, and that isn’t needed for anything more important.

You then need to be very strict about sticking to your budget. Don’t justify overspending by saying “just this once” or “I’ll win it back.” That’s how problem gambling starts, and things can soon get out of control. Don’t ever borrow money to bet with either. If you don’t have the money yourself, then you shouldn’t be betting. It’s that simple.

How To Gamble On Sports

Be aware that most online betting sites allow you to set your own deposit limits. Please take advantage of this if you think overspending is going to be something you struggle with. It’s an extra layer of protection that you might be thankful for later.

We also recommend learning about bankroll management and staking plans. This will help you stay in control, and it can even improve your overall chances of winning money.

Please note that it’s best to avoid gambling all together if you have an addictive personality. You might be able to stay in control, but you might not. It’s just not worth the risk.

There’s no real reason why online betting shouldn’t be a completely safe experience. There are some risks involved for sure, but most of these risks could easily be avoided. You just need to take a few simple precautions.

How To Play Sports Betting

If you only remember one thing from this article, let it be this; which sites you choose to use CAN and WILL make a difference. By sticking to legitimate and legal sites that can be trusted, you’ll be able to eliminate many of the common safety concerns. If you also gamble responsibly, and take some security measures to protect yourself, you WILL be safe.

Then you can concentrate on having fun and trying to win some money, which is EXACTLY what online sports betting is all about.

This guide is aimed primarily at people who have never bet on sports before, and know very little about what’s involved. It contains all the information needed to get started, with everything explained in a manner that’s very easy to follow. Even those who already have some experience of betting on sports may find the guide useful, as it’s very comprehensive with a lot of helpful advice.

There are a few different parts to this guide. The first part features a number of articles that are all about the basics of sports betting. These cover topics such as the mechanics of sports betting, how to place wagers, and the roles of probability and odds. The next part contains some advice for when you first start betting, and includes some useful resources for beginners. There’s a glossary of sports betting terms, and an FAQ. Finally, there’s a collection of articles explaining all about the various types of bets and the different forms of betting.

Everything that’s included in this beginner’s guide to sports betting is listed below. If you’re a complete novice then we’d recommend reading through everything in order, but you can skip to anything that is of particular interest if you prefer. Also on this page is some additional information about some other sports betting sections on our website. These are useful if you want to expand your knowledge and improve your betting skills, and there’s some advice for betting online as well.

Sports Betting Explained: The Basics

Benefits of Sports Betting

Sports betting is one of the more popular forms of gambling, because it offers a few advantages over many of the alternatives. In this article we look at its benefits when compared to playing casino games or playing poker, and also some of the other reasons why you might want to try betting on sports.

Mechanics of Sports Betting

Before you should even consider risking your own money, you should really understand the basic mechanics of how sports betting works. This article will teach you exactly what you need to know in order to start betting your money, including the three main components that make up a sports wager.

How to Place Sports Bets

Once you know how sports betting works, you can then think about placing some bets. In this article we explain what’s involved in the process, and the various methods you can use. Telephone betting, bookmaker shops, casino sportsbooks, and online gambling sites are all covered.

Understanding Odds

Odds are an integral part of sports betting, so you really need to understand them. This article does exactly that by explaining what they are and how they work, as well as also looking at their different formats. There is a guide to the math involved in calculating potential payouts when figuring out your returns.

How Bookmakers Make Money

Bookmakers don’t just make money by accident. They use specific techniques to ensure that they (usually at least) make a profit from every betting market that they offer. You need to be aware of these techniques, as they are the reason why bookmakers have the advantage over their customers.

Probability and Value

The concept of value and how it relates to probability is vital knowledge if you are to stand any chance of success when betting on sports. This article explains what you need to know in detail, and will give you a fundamental understanding of what it takes to identify good betting opportunities.

Tips, Advice and Useful Resources

How To Make Sports Bets Online In California

The next two articles contain tips for what to do, and what not to do, when you first start betting. You should follow the advice featured in these articles from the moment you start betting. It will help you get into good habits, and greatly improve your chances of making money in the long run.

Top Tips for Beginners

There is little point in trying to become an expert on sports betting as soon as you start out. It can be hard enough trying to understand how everything works. As a beginner, it’s important to focus primarily on just the basics. There are a few simple tips that are worth following though, and we’ve listed them all in this article.

MORE Mistakes to Avoid

It’s natural to make mistakes as a beginner to sports betting, and you shouldn’t worry too much if you do. They are part of the learning process. With that being said, there are a few common mistakes that are actually relatively easy to avoid. This article provides some advice on how not to fall into the same traps that so many beginners do.

We’ve also provided two additional resources which contain very useful information for beginners.

Sports Betting FAQ

There are several questions that we hear all the time from sports betting beginners looking for advice on getting started. We’ve compiled a list of the most common ones, and provided detailed answers to them in our FAQ. The following are some examples of the questions we answer.

Best Online Betting Sports

• What Is The Best Sport To Bet On?
• What Is A Value Bet?
• How Much Should I Stake?
• Should I Pay For Tips

The answers to these questions, and more, can all be found on the following page.

Sports Betting Glossary

There are times when it can feel like sports betting has its own language, and this can make things very confusing for a beginner. Our comprehensive glossary can clear up any confusion, as it explains all the jargon and technical terms you are likely to encounter when betting on sports.

It’s not necessary to learn all the words and phrases contained in this glossary at this stage, but you might want to bookmark it to refer to any time you come across a term you don’t understand.

Types of Bets and Different Forms of Betting

Types of Bets

The following articles will teach you all about the different wagers you can place on sports events. You probably won’t want to use all of these when you first start betting, but it’s still advisable to understand all the available options and how they work.

The first of these articles contains a brief overview of each type of bet, and you should read this one as a minimum. The rest of the articles explain each bet in more detail, with working examples. You can read them now, or refer to them at a later date when you are ready to start experimenting with different wagers.

Forms of Betting

There are a few alternative forms of sports betting that provide different ways to bet on sports events. We advise familiarizing yourself with these, even if you don’t have any plans to get involved with them right now. It’s always useful to consider other ways of making money from your sports knowledge

Before You Start: Information You Should Know

For some reason, a lot of people seem to think that betting on sports makes watching them less enjoyable. This is perhaps because they are under the impression that it means taking things too seriously, and worrying about things like statistics and form rather than simply relaxing and watching a game.

Let us assure you that this is nonsense. You certainly can choose to take your betting seriously, and it may affect the way that you watch sports events, but it really doesn’t take the fun out of things. It’s quite the opposite in fact. In our view at least, placing wagers on events makes watching them even more enjoyable. It adds to the excitement, as it means there’s always something or someone to cheer for.

Where To Bet On Sports

It’s not essential to learn all about the strategy involved in sports betting, and indeed the vast majority of people who bet don’t. They simply enjoy putting their sports knowledge to the test, and giving themselves the opportunity to win some money. We do recommend learning at least the basics of what to do, but they are all that’s needed if you just want to have some fun and place the occasional wagers on your favorite sports.

As fun as sports betting can be, it’s important to recognize the fact that it does involve risk. It doesn’t matter how much you know about sports, you’re never going to be able to predict the outcome of events with 100% accuracy. Even if you mostly back big favorites, there’s still going to be the occasional upset where things don’t turn out as expected.

Risk is a part of any form of gambling, so don’t let this put you off betting on sports. It’s just that you need to be prepared for the possibility of losing money. Most people do lose money overall, and there’s a good chance that you will too. This is why you must gamble responsibly. You should set a budget to bet with, and only ever use money that you can afford to lose.

Even though most people lose money through sports betting, this doesn’t mean that you have to. The bookmakers do have an advantage because they set the odds, but their advantage is not impossible to overcome. It’s not like playing casino games where there is a house edge that cannot be beaten. There’s still some luck involved of course, but there is no reason at all why you can’t take from the bookmakers if you know what you’re doing.

If you plan on taking your betting seriously, and are aiming to make consistent profits, then you need to go a step or two further than just understanding the basics. Success takes hard work and commitment, and there’s a lot to learn, but with enough knowledge and the right approach you can be a winner. The following two sections of our sports betting guide can help you to achieve your goals.

How To Do Sports Betting Online Sites

Sports Betting Online

The information in this beginner’s guide is all relevant regardless of how you actually choose to place your bets. The advice it contains applies regardless of whether you bet over the phone, in a bookmakers shop, or with a casino sportsbook. Seeing as the most popular way to bet these days is over the internet, however, we’ve also produced a section dedicated to betting online. Check out our page that discusses both methods.

This section covers each of the following topics, and also includes a step by step guide to joining a sports betting site and placing wagers.

• Advantages of Betting Online
• Choosing Where to Bet
• Getting Started with Online Sports Betting
• Bonuses & Rewards
• Using Multiple Sites

Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, we also recommend the top sports betting sites in several different categories. We’ll help you to find the very best sites that are the most suitable for any personal preferences or requirements you may have. Each one of our recommendations is reliable and trustworthy, so you can be sure of a safe betting experience.