How to Make an Online Sports Bet

More and more sportsbooks are appearing as states continue to legalize sports betting.

The good news is that you no longer have to drive to a physical sportsbook to place a sports bet; there are plenty of online sportsbooks allowing you to place bets online all from the comfort of your couch or having a bud with your friends next to the grill.

But how do you make an online sports bet?

We’ve put up simple step-by-step instructions on how to place an online bet so you’ll be a pro in no time.

Each step also has a link to a more detailed description of each step just in case you get stuck.

Steps For Making a Sports Bet Online

1. Find the right Sportsbook

The biggest and most important choice you will have to make will undoubtedly be choosing which is the best sportsbook.

BetRivers, Sugarhouse, Fanduel, and many other major betting companies have online sportsbook betting apps available. But before jumping in and going with the one your friend recommends, I highly suggest you check out the pros and cons of each sportsbook first!

This can be quite a daunting task depending on where you get your reviews, so we have taken the liberty of creating a simple pros and cons list for each sportsbook.

The simple thing to remember is that some sportsbooks offer different promotions, some offer live streaming, some offer bonus bets, and others provide various betting options.

At the end of the day, these are the only things that make a difference when choosing which sportsbook is best for you.

Please take a peek at our real player reviews for a first-hand professional look at each sportsbook.

Don’t be scared to seek advice from those who have previously bet on sports. For example, some may tell you that it’s a pain to register with certain websites or that their cash out procedures are inconvenient.

The more information you can obtain before making your wager, the better your sports betting experience will be and the better off you will be in the long run.

2. Create a Sportsbook Account

Now that you have found a sportsbook that ticks the boxes of what you are looking for (or at least most of them), it’s time to sign up and create a sportsbook account. You can do this by heading to the preferred sportsbook site and clicking the “sign up”, “join”, or “create account” button.

This will then redirect you to another page asking for personal details, which are used to verify the account is registered to an actual person and not a fake account designed for illegal activities.

These signup details change from site to site; however, mostly they are the same; these include typical information including:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Date of Birth
• Address
• Username
• Password
• Email Address

Once you have filled out your personal information, your account will be created, and you will be good to go!

3. Make a Deposit

Now that you have made a sportsbook account, it’s time to pop some money into the account so that you start placing some bets and get in on the action.

To make your first deposit, you will need to head over to the deposit button, which will bring you to a separate page.

Because this is the first time you are making a deposit, you will need to choose an option to fund your account. Different sportsbooks offer different payment options for financing your account, though most offer what would be considered standard depositing options.

These are typically:

• Credit or Debit Card
• Prepaid card (sportsbook card)
• PayPal
• Online Bank Transfer
• Check
• Wire Transfer
• ACH (eCheck)
• Play+
• PayNearMe

The fastest methods of receiving your money are ACH, credit or debit cards, and bank transfers. However, It can sometimes take hours or several business days for any winnings you withdraw to appear in your bank account.

Play+ disrupts the traditional cash-based ecosystem model, and it can be used for your daily spending, both online and in-person, and at ATMs worldwide. Play+ is a payment option offered by many respected sportsbooks that allows you to fund your betting account, withdraw your winnings quickly, and access your money anywhere. In addition, Discover or Mastercard is accepted at ATMs throughout the country and worldwide.

Don’t Forget the Sign Up Bonuses

When you first create a sportsbook account, they will typically offer you a signup bonus when you first make a deposit; these are commonly known as risk-free bets (which is essentially the sportsbook matching your initial deposit with free bets you can use which cost you absolutely nothing).

One additional note to consider is that we have partnered with a lot of these sportsbooks, and they have given us better sign up bonuses that they offer to their regular sign up customers! Again, these can be found in our review section.

4. Understanding Betting Rules

All sportsbooks have set rules and regulations that both the sportsbook and yourself are required to follow to keep their betting license. If, by chance, you did not have the opportunity to look at these before signing up, then they can usually be found in the terms and conditions section located at the bottom of their website.

Before placing a bet, don’t assume you know the rules. It’s always preferable to double-check the regulations rather than being caught off-guard by something after your money is on the line.

5. Set a Budget

This is possibly the essential part of creating your betting account; you need to set a deposit limit!

The most common blunder by novice sports bettors is not having or maintaining a budget.

Only ever spend what you can afford to lose; far too many times have people ended up homeless because someone in the family had a few too many whiskeys and decided to pop another bet on because they thought it was a “sure thing”.

You can usually find the deposit limit option in the same section where you add funds to your account; however, this changes from sportsbook to sportsbook. If you cannot set a deposit limit when creating your account, you will find it in your account section.

6. Place Your Bets

Finally, the time has come to place some bets!

Whether you are into sports or racing, most sportsbooks appeal to a broader audience and offer both markets on their site.

To place a bet, it is as simple as navigating your way to the sporting event of choice, choosing between single bets and same game parlay, clicking the betting option you wish to place a bet on, which will then bring up a betslip.

The betslip will have all the required information about the bet you wish to place, so if you have made a mistake, you have to option to delete the error or delete the entire betting slip and start again.

Now all you need to do is choose how much money you wish to set as your betting wager and check whether there is an option to use your bonus bets, click “Place Bet’, “Bet’, or another variation of the bet option, confirm your bet, and you are done!

Now all you need to do is sit back, relax, and wait to see whether your bet was a winner.

7. Check other Sportsbooks

Don’t just limit yourself to the one sportsbook, though you have found the one main sportsbook you like; I am sure there were a couple of others you were tossing up between; now is the time to go back and check our reviews to see which sportsbooks regularly offer decent promotions.

Everyone at the office here is signed up to numerous sportsbooks at all times and take advantage of each sportsbook’s bonus bets and promotions as they see fit. For example, if several sportsbooks offer three bonus bets per day, but I want to place a wager on every NFL game, I will spread it out across numerous sportsbooks to take full advantage of the promotions they have on offer.

How to Make an Online Sports Bet FAQs