Bitcoin Sportsbook

Before we begin our guide. You are standing at a crossroad with two options:

1. Chose a bitcoin sports book from our list and start playing - AND don’t forget to claim the bonus!
2. You keep reading and learn everything there is to know about online betting with bitcoins.

We can promise you this, that both options are really *Awesome! *For those that already know everything about betting and want to start playing, we wish you good luck! 

For the curious ones, we bid you welcome to our betting guide!

Bitcoin betting guide

Ready to become an explorer? We will explore many aspects of the betting and give you cool tips and tricks so you can avoid common mistakes.

You will find the answers to:

• What do I need to start betting with bitcoins?
• How to choose a bitcoin sports book?
• How to play in a sports book?

And much, much more!

This guide is divided into three parts. Each part serves a specific purpose and can be read together or separately. We start by looking at what you need to do before you bet. Then we take a look at how to choose the best bitcoin sports book. We finish by answering; how to make bets and understanding them.

So let’s get started.

Bitcoin sports betting - What do I need to start betting with bitcoins?

To start betting with your bitcoins, you will need… You’ve guessed it: Bitcoins! A lot of you have already read our Bitcoin Casino Guide where we guide you through the process of buying your first bitcoins (It’s very easy). If you haven’t read it, we recommend that you do. As a bonus, we have added our cool infographic to make things easier for you. Nevertheless, we will do a quick recap.

Step 1: Get a Bitcoin Wallet

The wallet will be the place where you store your bitcoins. We recommend a mobile-based wallet which is secure and at the same time convenient to use. You can choose anyone you want, however we have found the Bread wallet most useful and reliable.

Step 2: Buy bitcoins

It’s time to fill up the wallet with bitcoins. We do that in a marketplace also known as a crypto exchange. Do you have a favourite exchange? No? Try one of these:

• Green Address
• Electrum
• Kraken

Step 3: Transfer your bitcoins

When the bitcoins are bought just transfer them to your Bitcoins wallet. Don’t worry, it is straightforward process. Just follow these steps:

1. Go to your bitcoin wallet and copy your bitcoin address.
2. Open up the exchange where you have bought the bitcoins and paste in the address
3. Double check that everything is correct
4. Click Send

And that’s it! Now you are ready for the world of bitcoin betting.

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How to choose a bitcoin sports book?

There are a lot of different online bitcoin betting sites out there. A lot of them are good, unfortunately there are also a lot of bad apples among them. In this part, we separate the wheat from the chaff.

Find the good ones!

As with most bitcoin gambling sites, we can divide the bookies into two main categories.

• Bitcoin or crypto only sportsbooks
• Online sportsbooks accepting bitcoins

**
The difference?** A Bitcoin only sportsbook is an online bookie that only takes bitcoins. Well, actually only accepts different cryptocurrencies. An online sportsbook is a site where you gamble with fiat currencies while making deposits using your bitcoins. Both are good in different ways which we will explore in a minute.

Just one thing before we do, we just want to congratulate you on making it this far into our guide! Imagine that just by reading the basics above you know more than most people when it comes to online bitcoin gambling. When you finish this guide, you’ll be a real bitcoin betting expert so keep going!

Now, back to the question at hand. How to choose a bitcoin sportsbook?

Irrespective which type of sports books you choose the benefits of using bitcoins apply:

• Fast deposits
• Fast withdrawals
• Secure transactions
• Low-cost transaction

Still there are also some differences between the two. The advantages with a bitcoin-only sports book are the following:

• Anonymous - BTC sports books are more anonymous
• Play with Bitcoins directly - No exchange to fiat currencies
• More massive bonuses - There are some big bonuses out there

The disadvantages might be:

• Not regulated or licensed - Not always yet sometimes
• No track record - In comparison, the bitcoin-only sports books have not been around for a long time.

However, the fact is that the regular online sportsbook also has their benefits as well as their faults. The benefits being:

• Longer track record (not always)
• They are regulated
• They have licenses
• Might have a broader range of betting options

This on the one hand, of course, is good, on the other hand, it creates a trade-off which can be seen as disadvantages such as:

• Not anonymous
• Higher fees and costs
• Smaller bonuses

Starting to see a pattern here? Yes, you are right, the benefits of one type are often the disadvantages of the other kind. Before we answer our question which site to choose we need to point out a couple of things.

Here at casinobitcoins.io we have tested and reviewed all sites. Our process of choosing to add a sports book to our website is long. We look at a lot of aspects, security and the people responsible for the site being our top priority. With that being said the pure bitcoin sportsbooks presented here are safe options to play at. How do we know that? Well, we’ve done the researched and played on the sites ourselves.

So to answer our question what sportsbook to choose, ask yourself this:

What do I value the most?

If you value anonymity, massive bonuses and using the cryptocurrency to place the bets - Choose a bitcoin-only casino. - Cloudbet has a good reputation.

If you appreciate a long track record, and the additional safety a license might bring - Choose a hybrid sportsbook. - BetPhoenix is a well-known and respected brand that accepts bitcoins.

Option three is to try both and see what you like more. Regardless what you choose remember to check out our list with the best bitcoin betting sites at the top of this page. Selecting one of those you know you will be dealing with professionals.

A short summary what we have accomplished this far. We have created a wallet and bought our first bitcoins. We have also explored what two types of BTC sports books there are. In the last part we managed to compare the two types, and hopefully, we now know what to look for when choosing a site.

How do we review a bitcoin betting site?

It takes a lot of time and effort to review a bitcoin betting site down to its core. Luckily for us, we love what we do so it is really easy and fun to explore new websites. The best part is that we can share our findings with you hopefully making it easier for you to find the best betting site!

We appreciate transparency ourselves so we want to share our process with you.

1. General check - The general overview allows us to discard a lot of sites that don’t make the cut. We ask ourselves some questions the main one being: Would we play on this site ourselves? Other queries might be: How does the site look and feel? Honestly, who wants to play on a shitty looking site? Is the user experience good and is the service and customer support good? Finally, we read the T&Cs to check for rouge terms (Trust us, this part is not always so fun to do nevertheless very important).
2. Security - If the site passes our first filter we deep dive into the security aspect. Does it have a license or not? However, remember when it comes to bitcoin betting sites a license is not always a good thing. So we look for the sites track record, scan the Webb looking for warning signs and contact the people behind the website.
3. Sign up process - A good site has a good sand smooth sign-up page. The sign-up process should be quick and easy. We appreciate and value sites that respect the integrity of the user.
4. Deposits - We look at several aspects when it comes to deposits. Asking question along the way. How do one make a deposit? Is it easy and fast or complicated and slow? What are the fees (if any)? Then we make a deposit ourselves to try it out. We want to have skin in the game before we recommend it to you.
5. Bonuses - Who doesn’t love a good bitcoin betting bonus? We check out how they work if there are any wagering requirements and what other terms and conditions apply.
6. Odds - Are the odds good or bad compared with other bookies? Is the amount of different games and betting options good enough?
7. Mobile friendly - We know a lot of you appreciate the possibility to play on your phone. So we look at the mobile-friendly aspect of the site. Loading speed, responsiveness and general feel on the small mobile screen is things we look for.
8. *Withdrawals *- Let’s not forget about the last step in the process when playing. We are of course talking about withdrawals. How do they work, what are the fees and how long does it take? Think about it, what good are your winnings if you can’t withdraw them?

In each step, we look at strengths, flaws, and weaknesses scoring each site so that you can get a good overview in seconds.

If you feel ready, it’s time to choose one of our great BTC sports books at the top of the page. If you are interested in learning more about how to play keep on reading.

Bitcoin Betting Bonus

There are a lot of good sites offering Bitcoin betting bonuses to players. It is a great way to boost your betting wallet with some extra dough. A bitcoin betting bonus often comes in two different formats.

• A match bonus - Your deposit is matched with 100%
• A free bet - A bonus that is released after you have placed your first bet

The match bonus is pretty straightforward. Especially if it gives you 100%. Deposit one bitcoin and get another one to play with. Pretty simple.

The free bet is often released after you have made your first deposit and made your first bet. The site adds the free bet or a bonus balance equivalent to the amount you have wagered. Now you can use this free bet or free money to bet.

In the end, the bonuses are more or less the same thing. The most important thing to check before claiming the bonus is what the wagering requirements are and what the minimum odds are for the bet to be counted towards the wagering requirements. Remember, the lower odds, the easier to wager!

How to play on a bitcoin sports book?

Playing on a bitcoin sports book is almost the same as playing at a regular betting site or physical store. The basics are the same. The difference is that you are using bitcoins to play.

Placing A Bet

To place a bet simply choose a sport or event that you want to bet on. Most sites have a clear way to sort and filter for a particular game. More often than not you can also search for an event or see which events are happening the same month, week, day and even hour. A lot of sites also offers live betting. That is betting in real time.

When you have decided what event you want to bet on it’s time to choose on who or what you want to bet on. And that’s it! We will take a closer look at different types of odds and gameplays a bit later.

The Stake

Awesome you have chosen the game and result you want to bet on. Now it’s time to place the stake. The stake is simply put the money you are putting on the line. In other words, betting. Not to be confused with the winnings, which is the money you have won.

The stake + winnings are called your return - what you will be paid. Why is this important?

Because some sites will only show you the winnings on your betting slip while some will show the returns. The amount of the stake can’t be greater than your balance. Depending on the site you will find your balance somewhere on the screen. More often than not you can see it at the top of the screen.

Calculating Your Payout

It can be handy to be able to calculate the odds and the payout, still honestly, it is not necessary. All sites do this automatically. When choosing an event to play on an entering the stake, you will see the potential payout. This is a great feature all professional betting sites offer. Especially if you add several games to one coupon (several games on one betting slip).

Confirming Your Bet

You have found a game to play on, chosen the winner and placed the stake. Don’t forget to confirm the bet. Just click the confirm/place the bet - button. If you forget, the bet will not be placed. 

A good thing to know is that if you put a game on your coupon the odds can change during that time. In that case, you will get a warning telling you that the odds have changed and the potential payout as well. This is because the odds are working as a market where the odds are constantly changing. More about that in a minute.

Reading Different Types of Odds - Understanding Sports Betting

An aspect of bitcoin betting and sports betting, in general, is that there are different ways to present the odds. This can be very confusing for a lot of people, especially when playing on a site that offers other types than you are used to.

We can divide these into three different categories:

Decimal (European)

Arguably the easiest way to present the odds is the decimal system. Simply take the stake and multiply it with the odds. If you have an odds of 2 and bet 100 your return will be 200 (2 x 100). If you bet 100 and the odds are 1,5, you will get 150. So the larger the number, the larger the pay.

American (US)

The American style can seem to be complicated at first yet is not so hard to understand when explained. Think of every bet as being relative to let’s say 100 dollars (it can also be applied to bitcoins, let’s say 1 BTC). If your outcome has a negative number, -200, that tells you that you have to bet USD 200 to win 100 (the equivalent of 1,5 in decimal terms). A positive number as +100 will give you 200 dollars if you bet 100 (2,0 in decimal terms).

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Fraction (Traditional in the UK)

Finally we have the fractions popular in the UK. For most people this might be the most complicated type to understand. However we have a trick we will share with you.

A fractional odds looks like this: 1/2. Look at the number to your right that is the amount you need to wager, and the number on the left is what the stake will payout in winnings.

In this case, every 2 dollars bet will get you 1 dollar. The same is true if the fraction looks like this 6/2. In this case for every 1 dollar wagered it would payout 3 dollars in winnings.

The favourite will have the smaller number, and the underdog will have longer odds and bigger payout.

How Sports books Set Their Odds

To understand odds, we first we need to know how the bookmaker makes their money. Imagine a coin toss. It is a 50/50 shot for it to be either head or tails. A bookmaker will not give you +100 (1/1 or 2,0) on either head or tails since that would mean that the bookie would break even assuming equal amounts of bets on both head or tails. 

Instead, the bookie will give you -110.00 (91/100 or 1,91). Now let’s assume that two persons bet a $110 each (to win a $100), one person bet on the head and the other on tails. The winner will be paid using the losers 100 dollars and the site would pocket the reaming 10.

Now that was just an example to illustrate the principle. In real life, the margins might be much smaller, the point is that the sports books make money on the margin also known as the ”vigorish” aka the ”vig” and not on the outcome. Now sometimes the bet is not balanced so the result of the game might affect the sportsbooks winnings.

*Shifting odds or why do odds change?
*

Ever heard the expression ”timing is everything”? Well, when it comes to odds and betting it is not everything, but timing definitely matter.

Imagine that a lot of people are betting on one result. Now, remember that the sports book business model relies on making money on the margin and not on a game going one way. Now they can earn more or less depending on a result. However, the main goal is to have a balanced number of bets on each side. Let’s take the coin as an example again.

In our example a lot of people bet on the outcome being heads and no one on tails. Now if it comes out tails the company will earn the lost money. However, if it comes out heads, they have to pay out a lot of money.

In some cases, more than they can afford to pay. With the risk of sounding like a broken record, remember that the sports book makes money on the margin, not the outcome of the bet.

So to counter this risk the odds will change. If more people bet on outcome A the odds of outcome B will rise thus making the incentive higher to bet on outcome B.

In our example the chances of the outcomes are 50/50 although the odds in a scenario would suggest heads being the favourite to win. So, if you place your bet at the right time you can get greater odds for the same risk. That is why timing can be a crucial factor when betting.

The next part of our guide will take a closer look at different types of bets.

Single bet vs. Multiple Bets

A single bet is one bet on one game. A Multiple Bet is a bet on several games. Pretty simple, right? Well, when it comes to multiple bets, there can be some confusions. Let’s say that there are two games we want to play on. Now we can either:

• play on each game on a separate betting coupon
• play on both games on the same betting coupon

The difference? If we chose the first option, we basically play two different singles. The outcome of each game will not affect the other. If we place both on the same betting coupon or betting slip, now both games need to win to cash out.

So why would anyone put two games on the same ticket, wouldn’t that make it harder to win?

Yes, it would. Instead of one game clearing, both must win. The reason you might want to play both games (or even more games) on the same slip is that the odds increases. Usually, you multiply the odds with each other and the amount you want to play. This means that you can bet a lot less and win a lot more.

Basic Betting - Moneyline

The most basic types of betting are picking a winner in a game. In the US where people like to bet on NBA, NHL, NFL, or the MLB or sports where there has to be a winner, the most common type of betting is just picking a winner. This type of betting is often referred to as Moneyline.

Betting on the Lakers to win over Golden State is an example of such a bet. The outcome is binary, or in other words, one team will win, and one side will lose.

Three-way-betting or 1X2

Similar to moneyline is the three-way-betting also known as the 1X2. Three-way-betting is more common in Europe, Latin America and Africa where soccer (football) is the biggest sport. 

Three-way-betting is simply betting on a win, loss or a draw. The 1 stands for the home team, X for the draw and, *drumroll* the 2 for the away team. As you can see it is basically the same as moneyline the only difference being the draw.

Betting against the spread - Point spread and Handicap

To bet against the spread also known as point spread is basically the same thing as the handicap bet. So if you see any of these terms used you know they all mean the same thing. Now let’s take a look at how to use Point spread when betting.

Since the odds on Moneyline and 1X2 can be very uneven betting on the favorites can give you a minimal return. That is where betting against the spread comes in. Imagine that you have a top team in a league playing one of the worst team this season. The odds for the favorite to win will pay you a minimal amount. If you use a point spread or handicap, the odds will change. Why?

Let’s illustrate with an example.

Let’s say the Knicks are playing Cleveland with the Knicks being an extreme favorite (Sorry Ohio!) and having -18 in their favor on the point spread. Now let’s say that the Knicks win by 116-110. This would mean playing Cleveland + 18 have covered the spread, and you have won.

Confusing? No worries, Here is a way to look at it that most people understand. Imagine that at the beginning of the game a team starts with +18 points. The final result in our example above would be that Cleveland would start with 18 points. That would make the final result 116-128 in favor of Cleveland.

Half-points

Half points are great to determinate a draw. Regardless if we play on basketball, football or any other sport, this can be applied. However, there is a risk that with a handicap or point spread it might result in a draw. To take the same example as above imagine the Knicks winning by 118-100 and you playing Cleveland +18. This would make the final score 118-118 on your bet. However the game is finished and the Knicks won so there will not be any over time.

In such a scenario some betting sites pay back the stake. Others use Half-points. So, now imagine that Cleveland would have +18,5. Since it is not possible to score half a point, there will always be a winner and a loser.

Over/Under

Another popular form of bitcoin betting is Over/Under. This is quite simple to understand. Let’s take soccer (sorry Europe we are using the US-term). This is a bet on whether a team (or a game in total) will result in more or fewer goals. 

Let’s say Liverpool is playing Manchester United. We bet on over 2,5 goals total in the game. _This means that our bet is in the money if either team scores 3 goals or if a team wins with two to one. In other words, will there be over three goals scored during the game? _

Betting On Futures

Fact: All bets are betting on the future. What we mean with betting on the future in this section are bets that span over a more extended period. We are talking about months or in some cases years. The most common one might be betting on who will win the championship, major award or World cup.

Hedging Your Bets

Earlier we explained why odds change and the importance of timing. This can, of course, be good and it can be bad. One way to mitigate risk is to hedge your bets. In a moneyline game, this can be done by betting on both sides on a game. Since we know that there is a spread that the companies makes money on we need to do it when the odds change. _Once again timing is crucial when hedging. 

_

Let’s say that a NBA game is two weeks out and you bet the Lakers to lose. A week before the game there is news circulating that LeBron is injured and won’t play. Since he is such a key player the odds change. To hedge your previous bet, you place a bet on the Lakers to win to a higher odds. Now you are hedged. Think: Limiting the downside while keeping some of the upsides.

Making Prop Bets

A prop bet can be described as a side bet. They take a lot of different forms, the most popular ones are player bets (how many points will a player score, who scores first, etc.), different team bets (Who will make the first goal) or game bets (will the game go to overtime).

Live Betting

Live betting or in play betting is betting when the game already has started. This is a trendy way of betting since it allows you to see the form of the team and players that particular day before making a bet. Most sites offer live betting and it can be a fun way to watch a game.

There you have it folks, the Ultimate Bitcoin Betting Guide.

With all this new knowledge you are ready to hit the bookies! Don’t forget to check out the best BTC sports books at the top of the page and claim your bonuses. We bet you won’t be disappointed (Pun intended)!

Be happy, Get lucky!