Sign up for
C$400 Welcome Bonus
Bodog is one of the more recognisable names in the online gaming space, especially in its home market of Canada. In this Bodog sportsbook review we look at the sportsbook’s offering, sports covered and the user experience, live betting and how easy it is to deposit and withdraw your funds.
Bodog’s sportsbook offering is comprehensive, and the site also runs a book for horse racing, but which is separate from the main sportsbook. First-time depositors can claim a 100% deposit matched bonus up to C$400.
Bodog Sportsbook Review
Established back in 1994, the Bodog brand is one of the best known in the space of online sportsbook and gaming. It’s been something of a rocky road for the brand at times, but today it operates a popular sportsbook and casino for its primary home market of Canada.
Bodog has a sister site, which it operates primarily for the US market, in Bovada. While the two sites operate under different brands, their offerings are very similar.
| Pros | Cons |
| Established sportsbook in Canada | Can’t buy crypto on site |
| Wide-ranging sports offering | Limited number of cryptos available |
| Sophisticated betting tools | Not the most generous bonuses… |
| … but play-through requirements are reasonable | Casino cross-sell may be off-putting |
Pros
Cons
Comprehensive Sports Offering
Bodog’s sports offering is as comprehensive as that of its competitors, with betting markets available across a wide range of sports.
Representative of its primary Canadian market, the top sports most easily accessible via the main sports navigation header are, in order, Hockey, Soccer, Basketball, Tennis, MMA/UFC and Esports.
From there, users need to click on “All Sports A-Z” to see the alphabetically organised drop down of all other sports and categories, which are listed as:
| Aussie Rules | Football | Snooker |
| Badminton | Golf | Soccer |
| Baseball | Handball | Table Tennis |
| Basketball | Hockey | Tennis |
| Boxing | Horses (Futures & Props) | UFC / MMA |
| Cricket | Motor Sports | Virtual Sports |
| Cycling | Numbers Game | Volleyball |
| Darts | Politics | Winter sports |
| Entertainment | Rugby League | Prop builder |
| ESports | Rugby Union | Specials |
On the left navigation bar, Trending Events are highlighted for easy access to popular competitions at any given time.
Sophisticated Betting Tools
Bet Builders
While all the main moneylines, point spreads and Totals (Over/Under) markets are on offer, Bodog also has a range of specials including prop bets and futures/outrights.
It also has a slick Bet Builder tool that give you easy options, fast.
Choose from three tabs on the Bet Builder screen:
- Build (see below).
- Quick Picks for easy access to main markets.
- Over/Under for game and period Totals.
To build your bet:
- Stat: Chose a player and a specific stat. Here we’ve got Hawks PG Trae Young for at least 42 combined “Pts + Reb + Ast”, at odds of -117.
- H2H: allows you to pit Trae head-to-head against another player, to outscore, or “out-total” him.
- In a Trio, you can add a third player, and for your bet to hit, your need all three players to finish in your chosen order.
Parlay and Teaser builders
When you add two or more bets to your bet slip, Bodog automatically gives you the option, if appropriate, to lay a teaser as well – and to buy points for that teaser if you wish – or a parlay, which Bodog calls an Accumulator (or “Acca” for short).
Either way, the sites automatically gives you odds and/or payout totals, making for a pretty sophisticated and slick betting tool.
Requested props – #NameYourPlay
If you’re looking to lay a bet that you cant find on the site, Bodog might just make it for you. If you head to their Twitter feed you can ask for your specific market if you hashtag it #NameYourPlay or #BodogProps and the sportsbook says it will do its best to price your market for you – within reason. Any requests that come in less then two hours before the start of an event are unlikely to be met.
Sticking with basketball, here’s currently what’s at the top of requested markets:
Cash Out early
The Cash Out feature allows you to cash out on a bet that is in a winning position for a smaller payout before the final whistle.
The Cash Out feature is only available across some sports, including NFL and NCAAF moneylines, spreads and totals; 1×2 soccer and hockey bets; and baseball and basketball run / moneylines. If the function is available on your bet of choice, you’ll see the option on your bet slip.
Bodog Sportsbook Review – Live Betting
To compete online with other sportsbooks these days, Live Betting is a must.
Mainline markets are available in real time – odds moving as dictated by both play and action coming in (remember, all sportsbooks are always trying to balance the market), which is a basic minimum really.
Moneylines – in hockey, three-way moneylines – Spreads and Totals are available, as well as those same bets per period of play where appropriate. Usually you’ll also find a selection of relevant player and/or team props – in the hockey game below, “Next to Score”, for example.
Of course, the bet offerings will differ depending on the sport in question.
In baseball, markets exist for each at-bat (hit, strike or walk), while in football you can bet on each play (rush, complete/incomplete pass, turnover). For basketball, the moneyline, spread ranges and totals are generally divided into per team over/unders and combined totals.
One negative on the Live offering – and unfortunately it’s quite a big one – is a lack of any live streaming, a function that other sites like Cloudbet and Stake do offer.
Bonuses and Rewards
Welcome Bonus – 100% up to $400
Bodog’s Sports Welcome Bonus is a 100% matched deposit bonus, up to C$400 – with the added extra of 50 free spins for use in the casino. To take full advantage of the offer, therefore, you must deposit C$400 to receive C$400.
In our Sportsbook Reviews we have focused exclusively on the sports-betting offering from various online operators, but all have casino offerings as well. The free spins will be for use in the Bodog casino, though there will be terms and conditions associated with these as well.
Rollover requirements
This is a Welcome Bonus, so only applies to your first-time deposit. All sportsbook bonuses, promotions and special offers come with various terms and conditions – most often at sportsbooks this takes the form of rollover and play-through requirements.
Like its sister site, Bovada, the rollover requirements are the same – 5x on sports and horses, and 40x in the casino on both the initial deposit and the bonus amount. For winning wagers in sports, the amount that contributes to your rollover will be the lesser of your risk or win amount at the time of settlement, while for losing bets the amount wagered will be used. At 5x on sports, you would thus need to rollover C$4,000 in play before making a withdrawal.
We have said it before and we’ll say it again – it is important you read the terms and conditions of these offers closely because they do differ from sportsbook to sportsbook.
For example, some books will not allow you to make a withdrawal until these requirements are met. Bodog, on the other hand, does allow withdrawals, but if you make one before bonus terms are met, all bonus funds, as well as any money earned by wagering the bonus, will be forfeited.
While those requirements might seem quite tough to a sports-betting newcomer, the fact is that they stack up quite well compared to some of the competition. For example, 5x rollover for sports betting compares favourably to the 10x or 14x required at BetOnline, but is remarkably good compared with the 40x required at Stake.com.
| Bodog Welcome Bonus | BetOnline Welcome Bonus | Stake Welcome Bonus | Bovada Welcome Bonus | Cloudbet Welcome Bonus | |
| Fiat | 100% matched up to C$400 | 50% matched up to $1000 (10x on sports) | – | 50% matched up to $250 (5x on sports and horses) | – |
| BTC | Supplementary C$300 BTC bonus available | 100% matched up to $1000 (14x on sports) | 200% matched up to $1000 (40x) | 75% matched up to $750 (5x on sports and horses) | 100% matched up to 5 BTC (~$200,000; but unclear rollover requirement) |
Bitcoin Bonuses
It is not uncommon for sportsbook to offer more generous – or at least larger – welcome bonuses in cryptocurrency to encourage new players to adopt crypto use over fiat currency.
While Bodog doesn’t have a different Welcome Bonus for crypto deposits, it does offer a one-time C$300 matched bonus if you deposit bitcoin to bet on sports (this jumps to C$900 if funds are deposited to play in the casino, although play-through requirements are more stringent).
On the C$300 bitcoin sports offer, play-through is 5x on sports and horses, and 30x in the casino. The C$900 casino bitcoin promotion comes with a 25x requirement. Like the Welcome Bonus mentioned above, making a withdrawal before meeting these play-through requirements incurs the same hefty penalties.
Refer A Friend
Bodog also has a 200% refer-a-friend bonus, up to C$100, of your friend’s first deposit. You can earn an extra C$25 if that friend deposits in BTC or BSV.
Rewards
Once you’re an active player at Bodog you automatically start working your way up through the six-tier Rewards programme. Each tier is based on the number of rewards points you earn as you go:
| Bet type | Dollar wagered | Reward Points earned |
| Sports single bet | $1 | 3 |
| Sports teasers | $1 | 15 |
| Sports Round Robin/Parlays | $1 | 25 |
| Racebook straight wager | $1 | 40 |
| Racebok exotics/multiples | $1 | 60 |
As you bet, and earn reward points, you progress from Bronze (starting point, 0), to Silver (2,500 reward points up), Gold (25,000 up), Platinum (150,000 up) and Diamond (1,000,000), all the way up to Black (5,000,000 reward points).
Your reward points can be redeemed for cashback along the way. The higher your tier, the fewer reward points required to redeem each dollar back. At the Bronze and Silver levels you have to redeem 2,500 reward points per C$1, but this decreases as your tiering rises (Gold: 1,666; Platinum: 1,250), until you hit Diamond and Black, where it levels off at 1,000.
This essentially means that as you play, Bodog returns to you a certain percentage of your losses. Points earned are earned for life, meaning there is no decay if you don’t play; this is not the case at all sportsbooks where sometimes you lose reward points if you don’t play regularly, or fail to wager a certain amount within a specific timeframe.
Deposits, Withdrawals and Limits
Depositing at Bodog is a pretty straight-forward process once you create an account, but the site lacks somewhat in options compared to others, especially when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
Fiat deposits
For players looking to deposit in fiat curency – i.e., Canadian dollars – credit cards accepted are fairly standard: Visa, Mastercard and Amex.
Bodog also allows transfers made via Interac e-Transfer, a Canadian funds-transfer service that allows people to move funds form personal accounts to business accounts within participating institutions. All of Canada’s Big Five banks, along with many other second-tier banks, financial institutions and credit unions are on the Interac network.
Lastly, Bodog accepts bank wire transfers.
Bodog adds no extra charges on deposits made via these methods, but they are subject to whatever fees the credit card operators or banks/financial institutions may charge for transactions.
Crypto deposits
Bodog does not seem to be quite as crypto-positive as some other sportsbooks out there – and perhaps this is because it doesn’t offer a particularly great crypto offering.
Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) are available to play with, as is Litecoin (LTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Compared to crypto-heavy books like Cloudbet and Stake, this is a very limited range. BetOnline, for example, offers 15 cryptocurrencies to choose from.
Bodog also lets itself down by not offering the ability to buy crypto on site. BetOnline also falls in this category, as does sister-site Bovada, while Cloudbet and Stake both make it easy to buy on site.
When you deposit using cryptocurrency, again Bodog charges no extra fees but you may have to pay a fee to your crypto exchange for the transaction. As is the case with on-chain payments, you may also be able to opt to pay more to prioritise your settlement if mining/gas fees dictate.
Neither does Bodog charge withdrawal fees. If you wish to withdraw via a cheque, you can get one free cheque per 30 days, otherwise there is a $50 fee and a $40 fee should you wish to place a Stop order on a cheque already issued.
Deposit and Withdrawal Limits
Bodog has both deposit and withdrawal limits on the funds held in your account.
The table below shows both minimum and maximum deposit and withdrawal limits, in Canadian dollars and equivalent.
| Payment method | Minimum deposit/withdrawal | Maximum deposit | Maximum withdrawal |
| Visa / MasterCard | $20 | $1,000 | – |
| Interac e-Transfer | $20 | $500 | $3,000 (once per 7 days) |
| Direct Bank Transfer | $20 | $1,500 | $3,000 (once per 7 days) |
| BTC, BCH, BSV, LTC | $10 equivalent (0.01 LTC; 0.0002 BTC minimum) | $5,000 | $9,500 once per three days until settled |
| ETH | $60 equivalent (0.01 ETH minimum) | $5,000 | $9,500 once per three days until settled |
Bodog Community – Player Transfer
Another cool way to exchange funds at Bodog is to join the Community via the Forum and use the Player Transfer function. While it may sound like you’re trading hockey players, this is a way to move funds around through the community at zero cost.
That said, when we visited, the Forum didn’t look particularly active (there were no active users in there) and a lot of the information was dated.
Customer Support
This is an area of weakness. When on site, the only Help button we could find takes you to the Help Centre. This is a searchable information pool designed, we assume, to be able to answer the most frequently asked questions. There are explainer articles, such as how to read or use the Bet Slip, and how to use the bet builder tools, for example, but if you were having a crisis while trying to get a bet on, it looks like that would be a frustrating user experience.
As far as we could see, there isn’t even a support email address or a hotline number to call. Most other sites also have some sort of live chat support function, but this too is missing from Bodog.
Security / Trustworthiness
We have generally said that longevity in the space of online gaming and sportsbooks serves as a decent benchmark for trustworthiness, or else it is more than likely that the business would not have survived.
In Bodog’s case, this longevity comes with a very interesting story that involves its founder Calvin Ayre, who has somewhat reinvented himself after having something of a colorful past.
However, we do believe it fair to say that the negative headline-grabbing was all done some time ago now, and none of it really deserves to impact the product that is on offer today. As things stand, Bodog today seems as trustworthy as its competitors when it comes to handling funds, security and settling withdrawals.
Is Bodog Legit?
Bodog’s online sportsbook is legit. Though historically the brand may be better known for its early foray into online gaming and poker, Bodog’s sportsbook stacks up.
Registered and licensed in Antigua, Bodog is regulated by the Antigua and Barbuda Financial Services Regulatory Commission.
Is Bodog illegal in Canada?
Although it is illegal for Bodog to incorporate in Canada, they operating company is registered in Antigua, so the site is viewed as an offshore betting provider.
Is Bodog reliable?
As we say in our comprehensive Bodog sportsbook review, the site is reliable; its betting markets are wide-ranging and competitive and its deposit and withdrawal systems, while limited compared to others, do function well and in a timely manner.
How does Bodog payout work?
Bodag’s payout system depends on the manner in which you request your withdrawal. For cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV, withdrawals usually settle within 24 hours. For LTC and ETH this may extend to 48 hours.
If you request withdrawal via a traditional fiat banking method, such as cheque or wire transfer, they will take longer to settle.
What is wrong with Bodog?
This is a dated question now, but was perfectly justified in the past – and was asked at a time when the site was offline due to legal issues around it, and its founder, Calvin Ayre.
The site had been shut down and four Canadians were indicted, including founder Calvin Ayre, at the behest of US federal investigators, under allegations of illegal gambling winnings and money laundering.
However, none of these issues affect the site today, the way it works, or the betting experience on offer.