Best online casino for most U.S. players: Bovada

If you're a gambler in CT, DE, MI, NJ, PA, or WV, your state has licensed online casinos, and you should play at one of the licensed casinos.

Otherwise, Bovada accepts players from most other states (but not AZ, CO, CT, DC, DE, KS, LA, MA, MD, MI, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, TN, and WV), even though it may or may not be legal for you to play in your state (though enforcement is rare and penalties are usually slight; see previous link). 

If Bovada takes players from your state, and if there’s no law against gambling in your state (or the penalty is modest and you’re willing to risk it), then Bovada is your best bet, not because they're especially good, but because everything else is even worse.  I'm reminded of the Simpsons episode where the RV salesman is telling Homer, "Simpson, you're never gonna own a finer RV.  And I don't mean that in a good way, I mean this is IT for you!"

THE GOOD ABOUT BOVADA

  1. Play the practice (not-real-money) games without having to register an account.  Other casinos force you to register so they can market to you.  Bovada is the only casino serving most of the U.S. I know of that lets you play right away with no registration.  (They throw up a registration box, but you can cancel it and continue to the game.)  For example, here's the free-play blackjack.  And the games play right in your browser, so you don't have to download any special software.
  2. Better reputation.  Online gambling is mostly unregulated so if a casino refuses to pay your winnings you have little recourse.  But Bovada has a better reputation on payouts than its unlicensed competitors. (Not perfect, but better.)

THE BAD ABOUT BOVADA

  1. Not licensed.  Because online gambling in most states isn't explicitly legal, no legitimate authority will license a U.S.-wide casino.  That means if you have a dispute, you have no recourse.  This is the biggest problem with Bovada, but if gambling isn't licensed in your state, you're not gonna find better.
  2. Various other issues. Detailed here.

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Gambling problem?

  1. Call the 800-522-4700 hotline or get online help
  2. See these horror stories.
  3. Know that aripiprazole and Parkinson's drugs encourage gambling.

Map of the Las Vegas Strip, Sept. 27 2021

Here's the current map if you're looking for the current version.

Updates since the last version:

  • Moved the street names to the left side, to make them consistent and easy to find.
  • Added the label for Tropicana Ave.
  • Added back the labels fdor the defunct casinos, and Wet 'n' Wild
  • Added the pedestrian bridge crossings

Older versions of my strip map


Practice gambling with play money

Before you throw down your hard-earned cash in a casino, PRACTICE FIRST!  Learn the games with play money where it doesn't cost you anything if you lose.  Seriously.

You can play Bovada's games (below) right away without registering for an account.  Most every other online casino makes you give up your email address just to play the fake-money games — ugh.  That's the main reason Bovada is the only online casino that gets advertising space on my site.  (When you see the registration box, you can cancel it and proceed to the game without registering.)

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