Best California Sports Betting Sites for October 2024 |
Believe it or not, fans in the Golden State can get in on the California sports betting action – you just need to know where to go. Yes, that’s right, despite multiple bills that have failed to pass, sports betting in California is still possible through sites that are based outside the USA.
And best of all, these sites have great odds, markets, and bonuses that put sportsbooks in states with regulated markets to shame. Let’s take a look at what’s on offer.
$250 in Free Bets and 100 Free Spins |
$250 in Free Bets and 100 Free Spins
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US Betonline |
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FREE250
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50% match bonus up to $250 |
50% match bonus up to $250
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US Bovada |
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NO CODE REQUIRED
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Welcome Bonus of 125% up to $1,250 Bonus Code: BIGACTION |
Welcome Bonus of 125% up to $1,250 Bonus Code: BIGACTION
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US Betwhale |
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BIGACTION
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150% Welcome Bonus Package |
150% Welcome Bonus Package
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US BetNow |
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NO CODE REQUIRED
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100% Welcome Bonus up to $1,000 |
100% Welcome Bonus up to $1,000
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US Everygame |
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WELCOME500
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100% up to $1,000 + $10 Casino Chip |
100% up to $1,000 + $10 Casino Chip
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US MyBookie |
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MB100
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Top Football Live Betting Action |
Top Football Live Betting Action
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US CoinPoker |
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NO CODE REQUIRED
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125% Sign-Up Bonus:100% up to $2,000 on sport and 25% on Casino |
125% Sign-Up Bonus:100% up to $2,000 on sport and 25% on Casino
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US BetUS |
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JOIN125
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50% Welcome Bonus for up to $500 |
50% Welcome Bonus for up to $500
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US Sportsbetting.ag |
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DOUBLEUP
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50% Credit Card Welcome Bonus up to $200 (1x playthrough) |
50% Credit Card Welcome Bonus up to $200 (1x playthrough)
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US Xbet |
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DAILYX
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Yes and no. There are tons of horse-racing tracks, and even off-track California betting apps, where you can put down their money either online or at horse-racing establishments like Santa Anita Park, Del Mar or Los Alamitos.
You can also take part in betting-style games like daily fantasy sports or sweepstakes social casinos. But traditional retail sports betting in the Golden State has not yet been legalized, which means U.S.-based California betting apps and websites are not available right now.
But as we mentioned earlier, offshore sportsbooks have been available in the Golden State for a long time now and there are no legal restrictions on accessing them for sports gambling in California.
Sports betting has been all over ballots in the Golden State, most notably when there was an aggressive push to legalize the practice in Fall 2022.
There were two sports-betting-related measures on the statewide election ballots that year, Prop 26 and Prop 27. But neither passed, which sent state-licensed sports betting into limbo, and there has not been significant-enough political will to advance sports betting to a vote since.
It used to be that you’d have to drive to Las Vegas in order to bet and win big on the biggest games or your favorite teams.
But in the internet age, we can bet on sports from anywhere and at any time of day, even in California where the various propositions haven’t quite gone in U.S.-licensed sportsbooks’ favor.
With that in mind, here are some of the best options if you are trying to bet on sports in California.
Odds: Through our research we found BetOnline offers comparable odds to other U.S.-regulated sportsbooks. Like all sportsbooks, there may be some variation depending on your prospective bet, but BetOnline’s odds are usually better.
Sports coverage BetOnline has loads of sports-betting markets from around the world depending on what is going on. Unlike state-licensed sportsbooks, BetOnline has unique markets like esports, horse racing, political odds and potential futures, like the first coach to be fired in a given season. If you’re looking for those types of bets specifically, BetOnline is an excellent option.
Features: BetOnline has spectacular features, like live betting, promotions and boosts, like parlay boosts too. Its betslip is easy to use making building bets a breeze.
Promotions: BetOnline offers competitive promos like odds boosts and a welcome offer for new players, putting it on par with other offshore sports-betting options.
Banking: Unlike some sportsbooks and online casinos, BetOnline offers crypto, credit cards and online banking for depositing and supports online banking and crypto for withdrawals. Its crypto withdrawals are among the fastest in the business.
Site Design: The red-and-black interface gives a dramatic, yet modern-looking, interface. The sportsbook is easy to navigate and makes bets on sports easy to place.
Pros
Cons
Odds: Everygame has sports-betting odds on almost every market available in the globe, plus non-sports markets too like the lottery and politics. Everygame’s odds are competitive, within a few cents of any other sportsbook’s odds.
Sports coverage: Everygame gives sports bettors markets for all the marquee action around the globe, especially football, baseball, basketball and soccer. But if you’re looking for non-traditional markets, including politics, Everygame has those too.
Features: Everygame is unique in that with one login, you can access four platforms. There’s the full sportsbook alongside two casinos and a poker platform. These features may not be sports betting related but they do set Everygame apart from the masses.
Promotions: Everygame gives you high-value promos as a new user and offers variable new player offers based on how you deposit with crypto offers usually a little higher.
Banking: With crypto and online banking available, along with credit cards, Everygame has a depositing option for everyone. As with BetOnline, crypto payouts are by far the fastest.
Site Design: Everygame’s interface is not as modern as some of its competitors, but the easy-to-use interface still makes depositing and betting a cinch.
Pros
Cons
Odds: BetUS offers odds on markets that are equal to or, in some cases, better value than the competition. The odds on NFL bets are particularly good value especially when combined with a boost here and there.
Sports coverage: BetUS covers all the main US major leagues and plenty of niche sports too. You’ll also find a solid selection of global sports leagues with lots of markets on soccer in Europe.
Features: BetUS knocks it out of the park when it comes to features most of which are based on giving you the best advice for betting. BetUS TV has some great game previews and tips for making your picks for the big game.
Promotions: This is one of the top offshore sportsbooks for promotions. This includes odds boosts and multiple new-user offers. You even get regular reload bonuses too for just topping up your account.
Banking: The traditional banking options include cards and online banking, but it’s the crypto methods that really impress with instant processing on some payout options.
Site Design: The site’s design is user-friendly and makes finding betting markets in your preferred sport a breeze, especially if we’re talking major league sports. Everything from the betslip to the menus are easy to use with no learning curve at all.
Pros
Cons
Each California online sports betting site has a ton of great markets, and they all have their benefits. You really can’t go wrong with any of them, but you should go with the one that best fits your sports betting needs.
Here’s a look at the features from the best online sportsbooks.
Sportsbook | Live Sports Betting | Loyalty/VIP Program | Casino | Full Racebook |
BetOnline | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Bovada | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
BetWhale | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
BetNow | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
Everygame | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
MyBookie | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
CoinPoker | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
BetUS | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Sportsbetting.ag | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
Xbet | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
There are various types of new-player offers and promos for existing players as well. Here are a few of the most popular ones and how each works.
A first-deposit match or deposit bonus is an excellent new-user promo that gives you a certain percentage of site credit that matches the initial deposit amount
For example, if you have a 100% first-deposit match up to $1,000, the CA sportsbook will match your deposit up to a maximum of $1,000. So if you deposit $500 you’ll get $500 in site credit.
Some sites that offer sports betting in California will refund your wager stake if it fails. Opt in and if your initial wager is unsuccessful you’ll get a second bet equal to the first up to a certain amount. No-sweat bets can be for any given amount from $10 all the way up to $1,000 or even more.
A less-prominent offer among offshore sportsbooks, the bet and get gives players a specific amount of site credit after placing a minimum initial first wager.
For instance, if you deposit $10 then make a first wager of $5, you’ll get a specific amount of bonus bets whether that initial wager is successful or not.
In an odds boost, sportsbooks are giving you more valuable odds than the standard odds.
Odds boosts can work in one of two ways: curated boosts or custom boosts. In a curated boost, a sportsbook will create either a parlay or single wager and make the odds more valuable, giving you a bigger payout if it hits.
The other type of odds boost is when books invite you to create your own custom parlay or boosted single bets – typically done so as a percentage. For example if you wanted to bet a team to win on the moneyline at -120 but have a 30 percent boost, you can get it at +138.
Odds boosts are one of the rare ways a CA sportsbook can differentiate itself from the competition. Since many sportsbooks in California offer odds boosts every day, it’s worth having money in multiple accounts, just in case you can get the odds boosted on your favorite wager anyway.
Parlay insurance is another promotion CA sports betting sites use to promote betting among users. Typically in parlay insurance, you would get your stakes refunded if the wager is unsuccessful.
Be sure to read the fine print because some parlay insurance is only unlocked with minimum odds – sometimes as long as +400. There are also sometimes other criteria required to receive the bonus bet, so make sure to check all the requirements before diving into a long-odds wager.
Each of the sportsbooks listed on this page have comparable and fairly standard wagering types. Here are the most common bets you can place at these California sportsbooks.
Moneyline wagers are simply which team wins and loses. A sportsbook will give you corresponding odds – the favorite will always have a minus before its number, and the underdog will typically have a plus.
The wager is simple. Pick which team wins, and you win too.
Points spread betting is when you bet on the margin by which a team will win or lose a game, rather than just the outcome. The sportsbook sets a “spread,” and you choose whether the favored team will win by more than the spread (covering) or whether the underdog will lose by fewer points or win outright (beating the spread).
If the final score lands exactly on the spread, it’s considered a “push,” and the bet is refunded.
A totals bet is a bet on the number of points in a game. Sportsbooks will give users a predetermined number of points/runs/goals, and you must decide if the score will be over or under the number.
Prop wagers are those that are not tied to the final outcome. There are a few varieties of prop bets, namely game props and player props. Game props are those that are tied to the game – like whether a game will go to overtime or how many points will be scored in the first quarter. Player props are wagering on players to produce either more or fewer in a stat category like points, hits, or assists.
Futures bets are wagers on long-term outcomes like championships, division titles or conference titles or to make the playoffs or surpass a predetermined number of wins in the season.
Futures wagers can be tough because they can take a while to pay out – hence the name “futures”. But if you are right, and can practice patience, they’re worth the long odds that come with them.
Parlays are multi-leg wagers where every leg is required to hit in order for the wager to win.
There are a few varieties of parlay bets, including same-game parlays – multi-leg bets that feature prop wagers along with the total or an outcome from a single event. Some sportsbooks will even give users same-game parlay+ bets, where players may combine same-game parlays.
But traditionally, parlays are multi-leg wagers where you combine multiple outcomes like moneylines, spreads, totals and more. Since it can be tough to get multiple legs to hit, there are long odds with parlays.
Round robins are a type of parlay wager too where you don’t need every leg to hit to be successful. But to account for the shorter odds, you would need to put out an enhanced stake while round robin betting, depending how many of wagers can hit.
Californians tend to play more sports than any other state in the U.S. – seriously, Golden State high schools offer water polo and beach volleyball, just to name a few.
Plus, there are more pro NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA and MLS teams in California than any other state in the country.
Here are some of the high-profile pro and college sports and teams that Californians can bet on
MLB
NBA
NHL
NFL
Esports
MLS
NCAA Football/Basketball
Each sportsbook in California listed on this page is a solid option for betting on all sports, but some are a little better than other when it comes to a specific sport. Here are some of our favorites.
Each sportsbook listed above is tailor-made for NFL betting, since football is the most popular North American sport to wager. But our favorite sportsbook to wager NFL is BetOnline, since it is usually the first sportsbook with odds and super-speedy payouts.
The NBA is arguably the most popular sport in California, especially to bet, and all of our recommended sportsbooks do a great job of covering the game. But SportsBetting has props, futures and competitive moneylines for NBA, WNBA, and NCAA basketball games that are hard to beat.
Everygame is the best betting platform for baseball betting, since the sportsbook gives great odds and props for baseball. There are also some great exclusive promos for select games that could see you land bigger profits just by opting in. These can even include free bet specials.
Yes, we’re back to BetOnline once again and with good reason. This California sports betting site has some great odds on all NHL games thanks to its reduced juice offer. This means that the sportsbook takes a lower commission on NHL bets giving you better odds and more profits.
If you’re looking to wager on U.S. politics then BetUS is the option because it has presidential elections from the U.S., election betting for the U.K. and even covers political markets around the world. There are even some fun and custom props to get in on.
Each CA sportsbook on this page offers card and crypto banking options as a minimum while some also offer support for eWallets and online banking. All are solid deposit methods but when it comes to payouts, there’s one clear winner.
We’re talking instant payouts through crypto at some of the CA sportsbooks we recommend which is pretty impressive. Sure, there may be a slight learning curve but all in all, crypto seems to be the way to go.
Online sports betting in California may seem all about gut and hunches, but there’s a method to it too. Here are some tips.
You’re going to want to have a preferred sportsbook, but it’s also integral to have funds in multiple accounts, so you can consult each site’s odds and betting markets, since not all California sportsbooks offer the same bets.
Every little bit counts in terms of odds differences, which means a -101 wager is better than a -105 bet, and the -105 bet is much better than -110. You’ll kick yourself if you bet a market at -115 then see it later at -100, even though the payout might seem negligible.
Of course you’ll want to study up on tips and trends, as well as history and matchups that may give you the bettor any advantage that can be gleaned. The best wagers are when your opinion is backed by facts and data, so look to California betting sites like BetUS that offer extensive tips and previews for games.
If you have bonus funds in your account, play with them, and take some risks with those. No CA sportsbooks will ever give players their stakes plus profit when wagering with bonus bets, so there’s very little reason to spend a bonus bet on a -200 market, since the payout is negligible.
So take your bonus funds and play with them as you would your own money. But don’t be scared to make mistakes as you learn the ropes.
If you’re looking for an edge, all California betting sites empower players to live bet on the action. Live betting is wagering on games as they are ongoing, and that practice is unique to online sports betting.
There’s a level of risk associated with live-betting, since the action can shift quickly, and you need to act quickly and decisively to get the best odds before the action affects the odds once again. Sure, live betting might not work out, but if you’re looking for ways to get a more lucrative payout, it’s a good option.
Sports betting in California may seem tricky since local lawmakers haven’t gotten behind state-regulated sports betting. This is despite numerous opportunities to advance bills that could have made U.S.-regulated books available to Californians.
This means that online sports betting in California is only available at offshore sites. Signing up for an offshore account, depositing and placing a wager is just as easy as betting with any other sportsbook in the U.S. and there are no legal restrictions on these sites in the state of California.