Written By Jeremy Olson |
Updated on 17 December, 2024
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Sports betting apps mean the days of having to visit a retail sportsbook or even sit at your laptop to place a bet are long gone. These mobile gambling apps are super convenient, helping you take advantage of soft lines and odds changes no matter where you are.
But where can you find the best sports betting apps and what exactly do they offer? We’ll explain all that later, but first take a look at our list of the best betting apps and mobile sportsbooks below.
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A betting app is just like the apps you download for social media, shopping, or any number of things. The obvious difference is that you’re downloading a mobile sportsbook that gives you access to betting odds, bonuses, and different types of wagers.
In fact, a sportsbook app gives you the exact same experience as desktop betting—only with way more convenience and mobility.
State-licensed operators are more likely to offer sports gambling apps, but we prefer offshore sportsbooks for reasons we’ll get to later. Most of these operators don’t have apps but they do have mobile betting sites that can be accessed on any mobile device.
You can bet at these sites via Safari, Chrome, or another browser. Some of these bookmakers even offer Android or iOS gambling apps directly through their websites.
We want to give you an in-depth look at five of our favorite sports gambling apps. Check out the pros and cons of each one and figure out which bookmaker is right for you.
Odds: BetOnline is one of the earliest mobile sports betting platforms to release lines. You can find soft moneylines, spreads, and totals when you’re quick to these odds. If you don’t find what you like, BetOnline offers plenty of alternate lines on big games.
Sports Coverage: We count 25+ sports at the time of writing, which is a few more than the average online betting app. Beyond its number of sports markets, BetOnline stands out for deep coverage of entertainment, financials, and politics.
Features: The BetOnline mobile site provides quick access to several features through a drop-down menu. You’ll find live betting, a props builder, odds boosters, Mega Parlays, and a Top Leagues category.
Promotions: This mobile sportsbook features over a dozen promotions, which is outstanding. The current BetOnline sign-up bonus gives you free bets. Some other promos include daily cash races, risk-free bets, money line insurance, reduced juice, and parlay insurance.
Banking: BetOnline offers more than its fair share of banking options, including four credit cards, 16 cryptocurrencies, bank wires, checks, money orders, and Person2Person. You can withdraw up to $100,000 through certain crypto. Our only issue is credit card fees, which can reach 9.75%.
Mobile Usability: The browser-based mobile experience here is mostly good, with the sports, odds and lines being easy to scroll through. We did feel like the mobile drop-down menu is cluttered with different categories, but nothing too difficult to overcome.
Pros
Cons
BetOnline has several big strengths, which is why it’s our favorite mobile bookmaker. We like the early lines available across two dozen sports. The many promotions are also great, giving you lots of chances to earn bonus funds.
We don’t recommend depositing here with a credit/debit card, unless you love paying fees. Luckily, BetOnline offers plenty of other banking methods with crypto the standout option for fast payouts. tAll in all, one of the industry’s best mobile betting experiences.
Odds: We checked Bovada odds on football, basketball, and baseball, finding that they’re better value to most betting apps. We saw multiple examples where a moneyline favorite and underdog provided more favorable odds than the competition—this means there are smaller margins for the bookmaker. Like BetOnline, Bovada provides many alternate lines to give you more options on the odds.
Sports Coverage: You can wager on more than 30 sports here, such as baseball, boxing, football, golf, hockey, horse racing, soccer, and MMA/UFC. Bovada also offers odds on entertainment and political events.
Features: Bovada has an average number of sportsbook features, including a props builder, live betting, and lobby filters. It also features an online casino and poker room, with the latter running up to $200,000 weekly tournaments.
Promotions: This is the only department where Bovada struggles, with only a sports crypto welcome bonus and parlay boosts available. A rewards program makes up for the lack of promos to some degree. Another positive is 5x wagering requirements on the sports bonus.
Banking: Bovada banking primarily revolves around credit cards and crypto, although vouchers and player transfers are also available. Be careful when depositing with credit cards because fees can top 15%. This mobile sportsbook allows huge cashouts, including up to $180,000 through Litecoin.
Mobile Usability: Bovada has a simple mobile interface that you can access through a smartphone or tablet browser. We appreciate the limited promotional banners and graphics when using the sportsbook section.
Pros
Cons
We’re impressed with Bovada’s odds and alternate lines, which you can use to get better prices versus most online gambling apps. Other Bovada benefits include up to $180k LTC withdrawals, hundreds of casino games, and a large online poker room.
Much like BetOnline, a big weakness here is high credit card fees. You can bypass this downside and enjoy the many advantages by depositing with crypto or vouchers.
Odds: Our research on CoinPoker odds for football, basketball, and soccer revealed fair prices. Sometimes the juice would be less on one side and higher on the other—something you’ll come across quite often in mobile sports betting. It’s worth checking here if you’re looking for stronger odds on a particular side.
Sports Coverage: We count 16 sports markets at CoinPoker, which is pretty average. The sports platform only launched in 2023 so we hope a few more will be added over time.
Features: Earlier, we mentioned how many offshore operators don’t have sports betting apps, but CoinPoker is among the few that provide an iOS and Android betting app, which you can download on-site. CoinPoker is also a no verification betting sportsbook which means you don’t need ID to sign up.
Promotions: CoinPoker really needs to get its game together here because it doesn’t have any sportsbook promos. You’ll find plenty of poker bonuses, though, including 33% rakeback and up to a $2,000 signup bonus. The casino runs weekly drawings with USDT prizes.
Banking: You can fund your account and cash out with six cryptocurrencies. CoinPoker is one of the best sports betting apps at making fast payouts, with some payments arriving in 15-60 minutes.
Mobile Usability: We downloaded the CoinPoker iOS gambling app using instructions on the website. This sportsbook app is easy to use, with the markets, odds, and lines being well-organized.
Pros
Cons
CoinPoker offers one of the rare opportunities to download a sportsbook app at a highly recommended offshore operator. If you win here, you can sometimes cash out within an hour. Online poker is worth mentioning thanks to tournament prize pools reaching $200,000 while it’s also considered one of the top casino apps in the business.
This gambling app could make a massive upgrade by adding sportsbook promotions. Other than this, CoinPoker has about everything else you could hope for in a mobile betting platform.
Odds: BetUS doesn’t get greedy with juice, but the best deals are usually on one side of the line or the other—not both. For example, a BetUS point spread might have -104 odds on one side and -116 on the other. The industry average is -110 odds on spreads and totals.
Sports Coverage: You’ll typically find over 25-30 sports categories at BetUS, such as baseball, basketball, esports, football, golf, hockey, soccer, and tennis. We love the in-depth politics section, which offers lots of futures for the biggest elections.
Features: BetUS is our favorite mobile sports betting site for features. You can enjoy contests, the Locker Room (free picks), Wise Guy (tips & features), BetUS TV (YouTube channel), and crypto guides.
Promotions: This sportsbook offers two welcome bonuses (crypto or fiat) worth thousands of dollars. It also provides reload bonuses and a loyalty program with free play, larger offers, and exclusive phone support.
Banking: BetUS has a nice mix of crypto and fiat banking methods, including cash transfers—something we don’t see at other sports gambling apps. The banking page mentions fees on some withdrawal methods, so be careful when cashing out with anything besides crypto.
Mobile Usability: The BetUS mobile landing page has plenty of promotional banners, but you can quickly visit the sportsbook through a drop-down menu. We found it easy to locate the lines, sports, and features using this menu.
Pros
Cons
BetUS brings you the complete mobile sports betting experience with free picks, crypto guides, tips, YouTube videos, and contests. It also has several bonuses worth thousands of dollars and VIP rewards. This bookmaker has also been running successfully since 1994 which says a lot about its reputation.
This mobile gambling site does have high bonus rollover and fees on certain withdrawal methods. Even with these minor drawbacks, BetUS still stands above many betting apps for odds and markets.
Odds: We compared Xbet moneylines, point spreads, and totals to other best sports betting apps. The spreads and totals match up well to other top betting apps in our list, while the average moneyline has a slightly higher margin. All in all, not bad—just watch the moneylines.
Sports Coverage: Xbet does a great job with its sports coverage, offering more than 30 markets and a loaded live betting section. The live wagering area impresses us because it covers over a dozen sports markets. Xbet also has a larger horse racing section than most mobile betting apps.
Features: Notable sportsbook features here include live sports news, picks, and a random bet generator. The best football betting apps also have NFL contests that pay out thousands of dollars if you’re good enough to win.
Promotions: Xbet promotions include a welcome bonus, horse racing rebate, and refer-a-friend bonuses. While the number of promos isn’t overwhelming, we’re seriously impressed with the 1x rollover on the welcome offer.
Banking: This betting site accepts plenty of deposit methods, including credit cards, P2P, and several cryptocurrencies. By contrast, Xbet only offers payouts through Bitcoin and bank wire.
Mobile Usability: The Xbet layout is a bit unusual compared to other mobile betting operators. The only reason we say this is because sports markets are in a side-scrolling menu instead of a drop-down version. Once you’re comfortable with the side-scrolling menu, you should be fine.
Pros
Cons
This bookmaker is our favorite for live mobile betting due to how many markets and wagering opportunities it offers. Xbet also has the lowest bonus wagering requirements possible at 1x. Other pros to this betting site include 30+ sports, a large racebook, and entertaining NFL contests.
It could improve by lowering moneyline margins and offering more withdrawal options. Even without these improvements, we still like what Xbet brings to the mobile sports betting scene.
Most offshore sites — including four out of the five we’ve reviewed — don’t offer sports betting apps. You might wonder if browser-based mobile wagering is as good as an app. Judge for yourself by checking out the following pros and cons on mobile gambling apps and browser betting.
Pros
Cons
Pros
Cons
We’ve vetted many sports gambling apps to bring you the best, but maybe you’re interested in doing your own research. If that’s the case, then here are some key things to watch out for when trying to find the best online sports betting apps.
Are you mostly interested in major North American sports and leagues? Maybe you’re hoping to find soft lines in obscure markets like badminton or water polo? The number of available sports is a big deal in the second case.
You’ll also want to consider the coverage on your favorite sports and the live betting section. Deeper coverage means access to more props, futures, live bets, and alternate lines for your preferred sports.
Most sportsbook apps start you off with a welcome bonus and offer extra promotions afterward. More promos mean more chances at earning more money beyond your bets. Check the terms on each promo to ensure the wagering requirements, minimum odds, and everything else is fair.
You’ll want to look into a betting app’s reputation for making timely payouts and offering good customer service. You might even consider testing support yourself by using live chat and/or sending an email. Also consider if a betting app is licensed (e.g. Gaming Control Anjouan), has responsible gambling tools, and promotes responsible play.
Sports gambling apps make their money by taking juice from the losing side, which is understandable. But you shouldn’t have to overpay when using bet apps. Look for sportsbooks that consistently take less juice (e.g. -107 > -111) and pay more for underdogs (e.g. +175 > +170)
Don’t torture yourself by using slow gambling apps with poor navigation. Test a betting app by visiting different pages and adding wagers to your bet slip. You want to ensure the experience is good and that you can place bets within a reasonable time.
Does the sports betting app have a cash out function? This is a crucial part of betting for most people now, especially on mobile, as it can allow you to lock in profit before the event has finished.
Some of the best betting apps and new betting sites will live stream major events so that you can watch the action on your phone while placing and checking bets. If there is no licensing in place, there may be a live 3D graphic depicting the action as it unfolds.
Below is a rundown of our top 10 betting apps and some of the key features on offer:
Brand | Sports Covered | Welcome Bonus | Payout Speed | Dedicated Sports Betting App? |
BetOnline | 30+ | $250 in Free Bets + 100 Free Spins | 0-24hrs | ❌ |
BetWhale | 25+ | 125% up to $1,250 | 0-24hrs | ❌ |
Bovada | 30+ | 50% up to $250 | 0-24hrs | ❌ |
BetNow | 12+ | 150% Welcome Bonus Package | 0-24hrs | ❌ |
Everygame | 30+ | 100% up to $1,000 | 0-24hrs | ❌ |
CoinPoker | 25+ | 150% up to $2,000 | 0-12hrs | ✅ |
MyBookie | 32+ | 100% up to $1,000 + $10 Casino Chip | 0-24hrs | ❌ |
BetUS | 37+ | 125% up to $2,000 | 0-24hrs | ❌ |
SportsBetting.ag | 30+ | 50% up to $500 | 10-12hrs | ❌ |
XBet | 31+ | 50% up to $200 | 0-24hrs | ❌ |
We all hope to be successful bettors who can win through our wagers alone. But using some promotions to boost your bankroll doesn’t hurt either.
Sportsbook apps and sports betting sites need a way to get you through their mobile doors, which is where a welcome offer comes in. This is the top bonus at any bookmaker, and it can offer hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Of course, money isn’t everything—especially if you must work way harder to get it. Seek the lowest rollover possible and other favorable terms and conditions before going for a sign-up bonus.
Nobody likes a bet app that hangs them out to dry after a welcome offer. Reload bonuses give you extra opportunities to cash in on promotions as an existing member. We prefer mobile gambling apps with at least 1-2 consistent reload offers.
You should take advantage of free wagers when available—after all, you’re betting with house money. The catch is that you only get winnings from a successful free bet, rather than the wager amount plus winnings. This is a minor downside in what’s otherwise a great opportunity.
A risk-free bet acts as insurance for your wager. You make a $100 bet, for example, and you’ll get a $100 refund if it loses. Sometimes the refunds come with wagering requirements, which you must meet before the money is cashable.
Sports betting contests are usually free and let you make picks to win prizes. For instance, you might choose who you think will win each NBA game for the week. More correct picks will move you closer to available prizes.
Mobile betting apps can enhance the odds on certain outcomes and make them more interesting. For example, a bookmaker might boost the St. Louis Cardinals’ odds from +175 to +250. You’d now win an extra $75 ($150 total profit) for every $100 successfully wagered.
A loyalty program gives you yet another way to earn extra money at sports bet apps. You’ll typically receive points for every sports wager, while casino and poker bets also count when available. These points help you move up in status, and you might be able to convert them to cash and/or free bets.
Where should you start looking for the offers mentioned above? The following sports betting apps are our favorites for specific promos:
Xbet lets you choose between a fiat and crypto welcome bonus, with both having incredible 1x rollover.
Real User Review on TrustPilot.com: ‘Great site with heaps of games and bet opportunities. Great customer service and speedy payouts.’ 5/5.
This bookmaker regularly provides crypto reload bonuses—some of which are worth thousands of dollars.
Real User Review on TrustPilot.com: ‘This site is 100% top offshore book I’ve ever used. Customer service is quick and payouts even quicker. Real player and have cashed out multiple times via crypto and all have arrived within 24 hours of approval.’ 5/5.
BetOnline features over a dozen promotions, including free bets and risk-free wagers.
Real User Review on TrustPilot.com: ‘Love this site. Best sportsbook with a ridiculous amount of sports. If you know cryptocurrency, they make it easy to deposit and withdraw. Props builder, casino, racebook, free contests, etc. Highly recommended.’ 5/5
Every sports bet earns you points, which you can convert to cash.
Real User Review on TrustPilot.com: ‘If I could give them 10 stars I would. [My withdrawals] have never taken more than 20-25 minutes. Quick deposits, quick withdrawals, honest company.’ 5/5
You’ll find several types of entertaining wagers at online betting apps. Let’s go over each one so you can figure out your next bet.
Moneylines are crucial to using online betting apps because they’re the basis of many wagers. Your goal is to pick the game winner, although each side has different odds. Here’s a moneyline example:
Not everything in mobile betting has to be one team versus the other. A totals bet involves wagering if two teams will collectively score more or less than the given point total. You can see how this works below:
A spread gives the underdog points and takes them from the favorite. You decide which team is more likely to cover their spread, like in this example:
Prop betting opens up another world of interesting wagers that don’t center on match winners or final scores. Here are props examples:
A futures bet involves predicting a distant outcome, such as the Super Bowl winner, NBA leading scorer, or NHL player with the most goals. Futures are available before seasons start and throughout the season as well.
Parlays feature two or more outcomes on the same bet. You must win every pick for a successful wager, which is tough considering that getting one correct outcome can be difficult. But the payoff is that you stand to collect much more money when your parlay wins.
A same-game parlay (SPG) is much like what’s described above. The key difference is that all of your picks come from the same game. For instance, you might choose the moneyline winner, spread winner, and leading scorer for a 3-leg SPG.
Live betting sites provides lines after a game starts, with examples including:
Some mobile sportsbooks feature more than 30 markets, giving you lots to bet on. We won’t go over all of these sports, but you can see what to expect with the biggest markets below.
The following banking methods are common at mobile gambling apps. Let’s discuss the highs and lows of each option:
Debit and credit cards let you deposit and start placing mobile wagers immediately. Check to see if a sportsbook charges card fees before depositing with this method.
Cryptocurrencies let you deposit and withdraw funds directly through gambling apps—no middlemen (banks) involved. They’re extremely fast for withdrawals compared to other payment methods. Be sure you get the correct wallet address, though, because you’ll lose crypto sent to the wrong address.
This option lets you transfer and receive money through your bank account. Online banking is great for security, but it provides slow withdrawals and isn’t usually available at offshore sportsbooks.
Bank wires are most commonly available for cashouts at sports bet apps. They’re secure and easy to use but often come with $30 fees or higher.
You can request check payouts at certain gambling apps. The one major issue here is that you’ll wait 2-3 weeks for the check to arrive.
You’ve probably seen plenty of sports betting tips, but what about advice specifically for mobile gambling? Here are five tips that focus on using betting apps:
We’ve had lots to say about sports gambling apps, so you might need the following summary to remember the main points.
We chose BetOnline as our best sportsbook app due to its early line releases, user-friendly mobile site, and many promotions. This bookmaker also offers two dozen sports and free contests. BetOnline has our trust too because it has been accepting online bets since 2001.
Some operators only offer browser-based betting and not apps. We’re not bothered by this, though, because they can be just as good—if not better. Mobile betting sites don’t make you download anything, use phone storage, or sign up without browsing first.
The average mobile gambling app offers several types of bonuses. Common examples include a welcome bonus, free bets, risk-free wagers, odds boosts, and VIP rewards.
Much like bonuses, you can also find a variety of sports markets and wagers. Some sports you can bet on include Aussie rules, baseball, basketball, cricket, esports, football, hockey, soccer, table tennis, and tennis. Common bets are moneylines, totals, spreads, props, futures, parlays, and live wagers.
BetOnline is the best app to bet on sports because it has over a dozen promotions, early lines, contests, and easy-to-find features. Other worthy mobile bookmakers include Bovada, Xbet, CoinPoker, and BetUS.
State-licensed and some offshore sportsbooks feature gambling apps. CoinPoker is an example of an offshore bookmaker that has an Android and iOS betting app.
Yes, many mobile sports gambling sites are generous with promotions. Some available bonuses at the best online betting apps are deposit bonuses, free bets, parlay insurance, and odds boosts.
BetUS, CoinPoker, BetOnline, Bovada, and Xbet all take mobile sports bettors aged 18 and over. But they also caution you to follow age-related gambling laws in your given jurisdiction.
Yes, you can wager on sports through a mobile browser (e.g. Safari) and apps. Some mobile sportsbooks have an app and browser-based wagering, while others only offer a browser version.
You’ll find state-licensed and offshore sports gambling apps in the US. We prefer offshore mobile sportsbooks because they’re available throughout most of the country and don’t have geolocation requirements.
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