So you find yourself interested in getting into the world of sports betting? Join the millions of other Americans who have started to wager on sports on a daily basis. With more and more states legalizing sports betting, either online or in person at sportsbooks, it has become more accepted as a form of entertainment in mainstream society.

Although sports betting is gaining momentum in states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the mecca of gambling remains squarely in Nevada. This is the ultimate Nevada Online Sports Betting Beginner’s Guide that will help you navigate the wide world of Nevada sports betting, from signing up for online accounts to actually getting into the action and placing your bets.

If you are just starting out and looking for a new online sportsbook to join with, you may have your work cut out for you. With hundreds of online sportsbooks out there, it is a daunting task to filter through all of them and decide which one is best for you. Remember, you should never feel you need to be loyal to a certain sportsbook. Many sports bettors have multiple accounts to maximize the welcome bonuses as well as something called line shopping, which is comparing several different sportsbooks to find the best odds for the match that you wish to place a bet on.

So where do we suggest you start? Check out user reviews for sportsbooks. If there are a lot of negative reviews and complaints from customers about things like slow payouts or bad lines/odds for games, then it probably is not a company you should trust your money with. So do some research into some sites you are interested in signing up for. If you use the analogy that many sports bettors use: that sports betting, when done right, is more like investing than gambling, then you should look at sportsbooks like you would banks. If a bank had a reputation for customer dissatisfaction and shady practices, you probably would not feel great leaving your money with them either. The same should apply to your sportsbook.

Don’t believe people’s information blindly and make your own decisions: Some individuals might just want to throw off others’ predictions by giving out false information, to sway the odds and gain higher profit for themselves. Hence it’s better to not take everything at face value and make your own end decision through research.

The welcome bonus is one of the most important factors to signing up with a particular sportsbook and many casual sports bettors overlook these as an incredible opportunity to start out with a larger bankroll. These welcome or sign up bonuses only happen once so it is something you are definitely going to want to take advantage of. There are various sign up bonuses that are offered and we will go into detail about how each one works.

Sign Up Bonus: Definitely the most straightforward where the sportsbook will offer a bonus to bettors who sign up for a new account. Usually these are paid out as a percentage of your initial deposit and are more often than not paid out using a rollover system. Rollovers are a way for sportsbooks to ensure that customers are not just signing up for an account to receive a lump sum of cash in their account, but a certain number of bets need to be placed, before the customer can cash out their winnings. Here is an example:

Sportsbook A offers a 50% Sign Up Bonus with a 3x rollover. 

Customer deposits $100 and receives the $50 in Bonus from the sportsbook. 

Customer must wager $450 or ($100 + $50) x 3, before being able to cash out any winnings. 

Deposit Bonus/Deposit Match: Some sportsbooks will offer a Deposit Bonus or Deposit Match where they will match what the customer deposits into their account, up to a certain amount. For example, a sportsbook may offer a 100% Deposit Match up to $500, with a 3x rollover once again.

Sportsbook A offers a 100% Deposit Match up to $500.

Customer deposits $500 and receives the $500 in Bonus from the sportsbook.

Customer must wager $3000 or ($500 + $500) x 3, before being able to cash out any winnings. 

These are the two most prevalent Welcome Bonuses that sportsbooks offer, and players should definitely try and maximize these offers when signing up for a new account. There are further bonuses offered by sportsbooks to reward a customer’s loyalty over time as well including things like Free Bets, Enhanced Odds, and Reload Bonuses. While these are great bonuses to receive, they pale in comparison to how lucrative the initial Welcome Bonuses can be.

Once you have chosen the sportsbook or sportsbooks you want to bet with, it is time to think of a strategy that should match what type of sports bettor you envision yourself to be. Like any new endeavor, especially one that involves money, you should set out some limits to ensure that you are able to remain in control while betting. We can’t tell you how to manage your bankroll, but we are definitely going to provide you with some tips on how to succeed.

• Bankroll Management: This is the most important rule in sports betting. Control the amount you bet and learn to be able to walk away when either winning or losing. Set a limit as to how much you can afford to spend in one day, one week, even one month. Always remember that this should not be your ‘get rich quick’ plan. Sports betting should be a controlled form of entertainment and played with money that you can afford to set aside. Setting limits also helps mitigate the risk of losing your entire bankroll chasing games in one night.
• Bet on What You Know: Make bets on the sports that you know and understand. If you understand the rules of the NFL, bet the NFL. If you understand the rules of NBA basketball, be the NBA! Learn to stick to what you are good at: if you can learn to read spreads well, then bet spreads. If you aren’t as sharp at point totals, then steer clear of point totals. This all seems very straightforward but new sports bettors often fall into the trap of feeling they need to make certain types of bets. Here are a few examples of bet types to get you started:
• Moneyline: As straightforward as it gets, pick the winning team of the game you want to bet on. You will notice the odds for moneyline favorites can be quite low depending on how lopsided the matchup is perceived to be.
• Point Spread: One of the more popular ways to wager on a game, the point spread is essentially betting on the difference in points in the final score. In games like the NHL or MLB, these can be called pucklines or runlines, but point spreads are most commonly used in basketball and football. Here is an example:
  • Pittsburgh Steelers @ New England Patriots -3
  • The Patriots need to win the game by more than the three-point spread in order for bets to cash.
  • If you bet the Steelers, they need to finish within three points or win the game outright for bets to cash.
• Over/Under: Pick the total points of the game over or under this mark. This can be for the total game, a period, a quarter, or a half.
• Futures: Think you have insight on what will happen in the future? Picking division winners, conference winners, and even championship winners is a popular bet for many sports bettors as you can get some high returns on the odds for some teams. There are also futures bets available on individual player accomplishments, statistical totals, and even end of season awards. The only drawback with these bets is you usually have to wait until the end of the season, so your money is tied up for several months.

• Learn the Odds System: Take the time to do your due diligence and learn the vocabulary of a sportsbook. Jumping in blind and betting parlays or yankees is a sure way to burn through your bankroll faster than you can deposit. Figure out which type of odds you like to read: decimal odds, American betting odds, or fractions. Anything that can help you understand things better, the more chance that you can be profitable in the long run. Big odds for big payouts, usually is not a winning proposition. Learn how odds are calculated across the different systems: American Betting odds of +200 is not the same as decimal odd of 2.00.

Watch the Games: Again, this sounds pretty straightforward, but you will be surprised at how quickly you can learn things by just watching a team play. The more games you can watch, the more you will understand how games are handicapped, and even be able to begin to formulate some transparencies and values in the lines and odds. For example, you may begin to see that a certain team plays better in night games or gets off to slow starts when playing at home. Anything you can educate yourself with will help you when it is time to place bets. All of the information and resources are available to you, it is a matter of making the effort and taking the time to learn.

Pick the Sport you want to bet on, learn the dynamics of the games, and tap into the best betting strategies developed over the years. Can you build that elusive hot streak? There’s only one way to find out. Always remember, Bet Responsibly, Bet Greatly:

Nevada is unique in that if you head to Las Vegas, you know they have their brick and mortar casinos. A lot of the sportsbooks inside the casinos will take in-person deposits even if it is for an online account. Of course, if you are using an online sportsbook, it is always easier to just deposit directly from your computer or mobile device. Let us go over the most commonly accepted ways in which you can deposit to your bankroll at an online sportsbook.

Credit Cards: Straight forward and probably the most common way that players can deposit right into their accounts. Most major credit cards are accepted including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. Keep in mind that some credit cards do not allow the cardholder to make purchases on gambling sites, so be aware of any such issues before reaching for that credit card.

Debit Cards/Bank Transfer: Same idea here, except that debit cards, can also be used in person at the casino or sportsbook. A bank transfer is a direct debit from your personal bank account and is just as fast as paying by credit card.

PayPal: PayPal is another popular money transfer company, but you do need to sign up for an account and link it to a bank account before you try and use it at your sportsbook. It is safe and easy to use though and has become increasingly used at online sportsbooks as a method of payment.

Other eWallets: PayPal is probably the most well known of these, but there are other smaller eWallets that are starting to become popular as well like Skrill, WorldPay, and Sage. All of them work the same way, and it is definitely easier for a player to set limits on their spending if they use a secondary account like these.

Bitcoin/Cryptocurrencies: Cryptocurrencies are also becoming more commonly used, especially at online-only sportsbooks. Similar to an eWallet, a player would link up to their Bitcoin or Crypto wallet and use the funds from there to place bets on the site. Using cryptocurrencies is not for the faint at heart as daily fluctuations in the value of something like Bitcoin can have a positive or very negative effect on the value of your bankroll.

Not to fear if you have any questions or concerns about something that happens at the online sportsbook, as many of them have customer service representatives available around the clock. Because online sportsbooks and online casinos are open 24 hours a day, there is always some form of customer service available via methods like e-mail or a chat function. These customer service representatives can assist you with anything from deposit or withdrawal issues to questions about certain types of games or bet styles.

Sports betting has been around in Nevada since the 1940s, and still remains one of the biggest draws for Nevada tourism to this day. The first sportsbooks that were set up in Nevada dealt almost exclusively with horse racing until in 1951, when Congress passed a 10% tax on the operations of legal sportsbooks, and nearly all of the sportsbooks in Nevada closed down. This opened the door for the sports betting industry to be taken over by organized crime and illegal underground bookies who operated alongside the mob. In 1974, congress finally lowered the tax on sportsbooks to 2%, which ushered in the age of sportsbooks operating legally out of casinos in Las Vegas and all over Nevada. In 1984, congress lowered the tax even more to 0.5%, which is what it remains at to this day.

Currently, there are over 100 legally operated sportsbooks in Las Vegas alone, with many of the major ones still operating out of casinos to allow for resort sports betting in person. Don’t bother trying to enter one if you are under the age of 21 though, as Nevada has taken a hard stance against underage gambling, especially with the popularity of sports amongst a younger audience. For anyone over the age of 21, Las Vegas is the place to be for resort sports betting, especially during bigtime events like March Madness or the Super Bowl. Many of the sportsbooks even have mobile phone apps specific to their Las Vegas location, where bettors can place bets on the run, without physically having to be in the sportsbook. With so many sportsbooks in Nevada, you may feel overwhelmed at first, but you will come to find that a majority of them will offer very similar bonuses and user experiences. After reading this Nevada Sports Betting Beginner’s Guide, you will be fully equipped to jump right into the action and join in one of the fastest-growing entertainment industries, not only in America but the world.

As more and more states legalize sports betting around the country, it will be interesting to see what Nevada does to keep up with the times. For years, Nevada has had a near-monopoly on sports betting and gambling, but the long head start they have had in this industry is quickly dwindling. Huge sportsbooks on the East Coast operated by FanDuel and DraftKings are taking a lot of the online business away from brick and mortar sportsbooks. As these companies gain more reach into different markets, the edge that Nevada held could disappear.

The future of any sports betting hinges on the online presence of the sportsbook, especially with mobile phones. It was not too long ago that sports bettors needed to line up and place bets at a counter in person. While people still do this at brick and mortar sportsbooks, a vast majority of the action is played online now. In a post-Covid19 world where in-person activities and limitations on how many people can be in the same building may be the norm, it is easy to see the appeal in playing at an online sportsbook. Las Vegas has its Vegas-specific apps that can be used by visitors and residents of the city but isolating yourself to one market seems counter-intuitive, especially considering how quickly FanDuel and DraftKings are growing. The huge Vegas sportsbooks like Circa and Caesars may need to consider allowing people to bet at their sportsbook from anywhere in the country where it is legal to place sports bets, or else Vegas could fall behind as the rest of the country moves ahead in the digital sports betting space.

In 2019, the sports betting industry in Nevada took in an all-time record of $5.3 billion in bets, a figure that has a higher GDP than 36 different countries. With the advent of online sportsbooks, the ease of being able to place bets at your fingertips at any time of the day has led to a boom in the industry. Nevada still remains ahead of New Jersey as the sports betting leader in America, but the gap is quickly closing. Still, there is an aura of exclusivity in Nevada that cannot be replicated in any other state, even for gambling online, and that is something that Nevada sportsbooks are clinging to.

With the introduction of the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights and soon the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, professional sports are at the forefront in Nevada for the first time in a while. The success of the Golden Knights has sparked a keen interest from locals in Nevada who now have home teams to cheer for other than their college teams at UNLV. No doubt, the ability to watch a professional sports team while staying on the Las Vegas strip has resonated with visitors and locals alike.

The NFL remains king of sports betting though, as an estimated $6 billion was wagered in America on the Super Bowl game alone this year. Other popular sports to bet on include the NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA, MLS and European Soccer, UFC events especially when held in Vegas at places like the MGM, and PGA Golf. Stand alone events also bring in tons of betting action, including the Super Bowl, March Madness, the Haskell Invitational or any other big horse race like the Kentucky Derby or Belmont Stakes, and Golf majors like the Masters or U.S. Open. You are not limited to professional sports leagues though as even things like Triple-A league Baseball games, eSports, and politics can be gambled on online at sportsbooks.