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| Bonus | 100% up to $500 |
| Rakeback | Not available |
| Room type | Licensed |
| License | Curaçao |
| Payments | |
| Platforms |
| Reliability | 4.5 |
| Game selection | 4.7 |
| Bonuses and promotions | 3.9 |
| Casual players | 4.7 |
| Deposits and withdrawals | 4.1 |
| Convenience of the software | 4.0 |
Bovada Poker Review
Bovada Poker is another US-facing skin of the PaiWangLuo poker network. Best known as a sportsbook, the site shares traffic with Ignition Casino. The online poker room runs an "amateur-friendly" pool, and the rules behind it cut both ways.
The reason to sit down is the field: nicknames are hidden, Quick Seat picks your table and cash games stop at four tables, so a reg can neither hunt the weakest player nor farm a dozen tables at once. Jackpot Sit & Go adds a lottery element, with prize multipliers of up to 4,000x the buy-in. Bovada has been online since 2011 and accepts players from every US state except 19 and the District of Columbia.
For the first 30 days, the welcome bonus (code BPWB500) hands back roughly half of what you pay in rake. After that, Bovada pays no rakeback of its own, while our rakeback deal for players who come through us keeps running: ask our team for the terms. Our players have been on Bovada since 2018 without a single blocked account or withheld cashout, which is our traffic's record rather than a promise. The site, however, publishes no license number, leaving players without a clearly identified regulator for disputes.
In our opinion, Bovada Poker is good for recreational players, MTT players and anyone who pays in crypto. If you're into HUDs, grinding cash games on a bunch of tables or playing above $10/$20, Bovada might not be your best option.
Our team has reviewed this poker site in detail and answers the key questions:
- Which US states can play at Bovada Poker?
- How soft are the poker tables?
- How can I deposit and withdraw from Bovada Poker?
- Is there any rakeback?
Who can play at Bovada Poker?
Bovada is only open across the US except in 19 states and DC, and Canadians can't register at all. The closed list, according to Bovada's terms:
- ❌ Arizona
- ❌ Colorado
- ❌ Connecticut
- ❌ Delaware
- ❌ District of Columbia
- ❌ Kansas
- ❌ Louisiana
- ❌ Maryland
- ❌ Massachusetts
- ❌ Michigan
- ❌ Nevada
- ❌ New Hampshire
- ❌ New Jersey
- ❌ New York
- ❌ Ohio
- ❌ Pennsylvania
- ❌ Rhode Island
- ❌ Tennessee
- ❌ Vermont
- ❌ West Virginia
Washington and Kentucky are open. Bovada isn't shutting down: since 2024 it has left a string of states after cease-and-desist letters from state regulators, and a closed state loses the whole platform, poker included. Where online poker stands in each state is covered in our guide to online poker laws by state.
If Bovada leaves your state while you hold a balance, withdraw it through support, usually in crypto. Don't try to get around the block: under Bovada's terms, that gets the account closed and the balance forfeited.
If your US state is closed to Bovada, check Ignition Casino, a sister site on the same PaiWangLuo network with a shorter closed list: only Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, and New York.
Canadians reach the same tables through Ozoon. Bovada was never renamed: Ozoon is the former Bodog.
Bovada Poker bonus code and welcome bonus
All new players get a 100% poker welcome bonus of up to $500. To get it, you must use the code BPWB500 when depositing for the first time.
The deposit must be at least $20, by any method, crypto included. The bonus unlocks in $5 pieces, one for every 150 Rewards Points you collect within 30 days of that deposit, at 15 points per $1 of rake or tournament fees. The released amounts carry no rollover. While you clear it, the bonus gives 50% in cash games and tournaments and about 70% in Jackpot Sit & Go.
Bovada Poker rakeback
Beyond the 30-day welcome bonus, Bovada pays no rakeback of its own, neither as a percentage nor as tickets for points; here it comes only through affiliate deals like ours. It's the price regs have to pay to get access to its extremely soft field.
You earn points while playing at Bovada Poker under the Rewards program. They feed the welcome bonus and the 14 levels of Bovada Rewards, but the rewards store trades them only for casino free spins: 10,000 points buy five $1 spins, which returns about 0.75% of your rake. Rewards bonuses don't work in the poker section.
Players who register through Worldpokerdeals get our rakeback deal on top of the welcome bonus. It covers poker only, not the casino or sports betting, and our manager has the terms.
Rake structure
Bovada charges 5% rake across all cash games, with different caps. The cap tops out at $4 and depends on the stakes and the number of players dealt in.
Rake at limits up to NL25 inclusive:
| Number of players | Rake | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 5% | $0.50 |
| 3–4 | 5% | $1.00 |
| 5+ | 5% | $2.00 |
Rake at stakes above NL25:
| Number of players | Rake | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 5% | $1.00 |
| 3 | 5% | $2.00 |
| 4–5 | 5% | $3.00 |
| 6 | 5% | $4.00 |
Dedicated heads-up tables are capped at $1.00 at every stake; the two-player cap at other No Limit and Pot Limit tables is $0.50 up to NL25 and $1.00 above it. Fixed Limit games have caps of their own:
| Stakes | Cap |
|---|---|
| $0.05/$0.10 | $0.10 |
| $0.10/$0.25 | $0.20 |
| $0.25/$0.50 | $0.40 |
| $0.50/$1 | $0.50 |
| $1/$2 | $1.00 |
| Above $1/$2 up to $30/$60, 2–3 players | $1.00 |
| Above $1/$2 up to $30/$60, 4–5 players | $2.00 |
| Above $1/$2 up to $30/$60, 6+ players | $3.00 |
At every table, Bovada takes $0.01 for each $0.20 in the pot. Tournament fees depend on the format:
- Jackpot Sit & Go: 7%
- Regular SnG: 5–10%, depending on the structure
- Tournaments: 9–10%
Games and traffic
Exotic formats are trending at Bovada Poker, thanks to the presence of American fans. Besides the traditional No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha, you will find Fixed Limit, Omaha Hi/Lo, among others. There are also heads-up tables. Stakes run from $0.02/$0.05 to $10/$20, up to $30/$60 at limit tables.
Fast-fold poker (Zone)
Amateurs hate wasting time while playing. Hence, the fast-fold poker variant, Zone, is trending at Bovada. It covers $0.02/$0.05 to $2.50/$5, and most of the action is in Hold'em.
We checked the Zone lobby on the PaiWangLuo network once and counted 33 players, all at Hold'em between $0.10/$0.25 and $1/$2; the Omaha pools were empty.
| Stakes | Game | Players |
|---|---|---|
| $0.02/$0.05 | Hold'em | 0 |
| $0.10/$0.25 | Hold'em | 21 |
| $0.25/$0.50 | Hold'em | 10 |
| $1/$2 | Hold'em | 2 |
| $2.50/$5 | Hold'em | 0 |
| PL $0.10/$0.25 – $0.75/$1.50 | Omaha | 0 |
| PL $0.05/$0.10 – $0.25/$0.50 | Omaha Hi/Lo | 0 |
Tournaments and SnG
Bovada guarantees up to $2,000,000 a week in tournaments, led by the $200K GTD and the $100K GTD High Roller. Buy-ins run from micro events under $5 to high-roller events, satellites start at $1, and every daily that starts on the hour allows at least one re-entry. Two series anchor the calendar: the Black Diamond Poker Open in early spring and the Golden Spade Poker Open in early fall. The lobby also has a Mystery Knockouts section.
Regular SnGs take from two to 45 players, with buy-ins up to $200. Formats include Deep Stack, Turbo, Hyper Turbo, Double Up, Triple Up and Satellite.
Jackpot Sit & Go
Another design for casual players. The popular Spin & Go is called Jackpot Sit & Go, and in the beginning, a spinning wheel defines the prize pool, which can reach 2,500x to 4,000x the buy-in, depending on the stake. That top multiplier comes up about once in a million games, while over 70% of games land on x2.
Each game is a three-player hyper turbo: 300 chips, blinds up every 3 minutes and a 7% fee, with up to four games open at once.
| Buy-in | Top multiplier |
|---|---|
| $0.50 | 4,000x |
| $2 | 2,500x |
| $7 | 2,860x |
| $20 | 2,500x |
| $50 | 3,000x |
| $100 | 3,000x |
The softness of the field
Bovada follows the same "rules" about ecology as the rest of the PaiWangLuo network. All usernames are anonymous, table selection is forbidden, and third-party software is severely restricted. Also, Bovada is better known as a bookmaker than a poker site, which is why it brings sports bettors to the poker tables.
Bovada shares its player pool with Ignition in the US, Latin America and Australia, and Ozoon in Canada. Our players describe the field as unusually soft—some say playing there feels like stepping back into online poker in 2010. That is their impression of the games, rather than a measure of how strong every table will be.
Is Bovada Poker legit? License, RNG and reputation
Bovada has taken US players since 2011, yet it holds no license a player can verify, so the case for trusting it rests on its history. Here is what we could and couldn't confirm:
- Year of foundation – 2011
- License – not published (terms under Anjouan law)
- RNG certificate – not disclosed
- Identity verification – necessary
It launched as Bodog left the US market, and its poker product continues the Bodog Poker line. Poker is only a secondary business for the management, and the tables themselves run on the PaiWangLuo network.
Bovada doesn't publish a license number. Its terms are governed by the laws of the Autonomous Island of Anjouan (Union of the Comoros), and we found no Bovada entry in Anjouan Gaming's public license register. Press reports name Harp Media B.V. as the operator; the site itself doesn't.
We were unable to find any information on their RNG certification. This is a common situation among US-friendly online poker sites.
State regulators give the hardest evidence: since 2024 several have sent Bovada cease-and-desist letters, and it left each of those states. At the time of this September 2026 review, the Trustpilot profile of www.bovada.lv scored 3.7/5 from 2,805 reviews, 52% of them one-star. Most complaints are about withdrawal delays, verification and account limits, and Bovada replies to negative reviews. These are player opinions, not verified cases.
Our own record points the other way: we've sent players to Bovada since 2018, and none of them has had an account blocked or a withdrawal refused. That's our players' experience, not a guarantee.
Attitude toward professional players
A reg at Bovada Poker may use any tool that gives no live edge over an opponent:
- Hand converters (after the session only) – ✅ yes
- Real-time HUD – ❌ no
- Auto-seating scripts – ❌ no
- Bumhunt – ❌ no
- Data-mining – ❌ no
Predatory regs are not welcome here, but anyone playing by the book will be allowed to swim with the fish.
Bovada Poker software
The Bovada Poker platform is the same as on any other PaiWangLuo site, and that makes it unlike most sites outside the network. Its lobby shows only a quick seat feature for cash games, and only the tournaments section (MTTs, SnG, Jackpots) resembles a regular site. There are native clients for macOS and Windows, plus an HTML5 version that runs in the browser. The platform is user-friendly and runs without lags even on older computers.
However, after opening any table or event, you'll only see tags "player1", "player2", etc., as all players are anonymized. Our Poker Catcher / Card Catcher collects those hands for PokerTracker 4, Holdem Manager 3 and Hand2Note, and Worldpokerdeals players get it free. In Zone it saves hand histories only, without a HUD. It's not a perfect solution, but it's better than nothing.
Bovada's affiliate manager told us they know of no bans for converters. Still, Bovada's terms prohibit external player-assistance programs, and the site doesn't officially approve converters. In practice, uploading hands after the session is tolerated, while a real-time HUD is prohibited.
Mobile app
There is no Bovada Poker native client for iOS and Android, but the development team has created a mobile-friendly version via the website. All formats are available, and you don't need to download or install anything to your gadget. On mobile, you can play up to four cash tables or tournaments at once; the 15-table tournament limit applies to the desktop client.
Deposits and withdrawals
Bovada Poker offers many deposit and withdrawal options in the cashier, but we strongly recommend using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Bovada charges no fee for crypto deposits or withdrawals.
Cards are free on the first deposit and cost 15.9% or more after that, depending on the card. By Bovada's own figures, Bitcoin withdrawals arrive within 24 hours of approval and other coins within an hour; we haven't timed them ourselves.
Zelle isn't a separate option: it works only inside MatchPay, and cards take deposits only. Check by Courier costs $100 per withdrawal, and amounts above $3,000 go out in $3,000 parts, one every 7 days.
Every deposit must be wagered in full before you can withdraw. If you ever deposited by card, you also file a Credit Card Verification Form before your first withdrawal, even a Bitcoin one.
| Method | Min. deposit | Max. deposit | Min. withdrawal | Max. withdrawal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | 0.0001 BTC | $5,000 | $10 | $9,500 |
| Bitcoin Cash (BCH) | 0.001 BCH | $5,000 | $10 | $9,500 |
| Bitcoin SV (BSV) | 0.2827 BSV | $5,000 | $10 | $9,500 |
| Litecoin (LTC) | 0.01 LTC | $5,000 | $10 | $9,500 |
| Ethereum (ETH) | 0.002 ETH | $5,000 | $60 | $9,500 |
| USD Tether (USDT) | 5 USDT | $5,000 | $60 | $9,500 |
| Bitcoin Lightning | 0.0001 BTC | $10,000 | $10 | $10,000 ($25,000 daily) |
| Visa / Mastercard / China UnionPay | $20 | $1,000 | — | — |
| Direct Bank Transfer | $20 | $1,500 | $20 | $3,000 |
| MatchPay | $10 | $3,000 | $10 | $3,000 |
| Check by Courier | — | — | $20 | $3,000 |
Customer support
Bovada's support runs 24/7 through an email form and live chat; no phone number is published. The email form sits in the Contact Us section of Bovada's Help Center.
The live chat link appears in Help once you answer "No" to "Did you find what you were looking for?" There's no separate poker desk, only a Bovada Poker category within general support.
Pros and cons of playing at Bovada Poker
What do we like
- Incredibly soft traffic with casino fans at the tables
- Anonymous tables; no approved real-time HUD.
- Amateur-oriented design
- Cross-platform software
- Crypto cashier
- No Bovada fees on crypto deposits and withdrawals
Thingsto improve
- Max 4 cash tables (15 tournament tables on desktop; 4 on mobile)
- No rakeback from the site itself
- 15.9%+ fee on card deposits after the first
- No license number you can verify
Who is Bovada Poker for?
Bovada Poker works best for recreational and tournament players; the same rules that keep its field soft cost a HUD-dependent, multi-table cash reg.
Bovada Poker suits you if:
- ✅ You play for fun: anonymous tables, Zone, Jackpot Sit & Go and a browser client on your phone add up to a platform designed for recreational players.
- ✅ You play MTTs: guarantees reach $2 million a week, though a real-time HUD stays at your own risk.
- ✅ You pay in crypto: Bovada takes six coins plus Bitcoin Lightning and adds no fee to any of them.
Look elsewhere if:
- ❌ You grind cash for volume: rakeback machines have no reason to stay after the welcome bonus unless they play through a rakeback deal, and cash games stop at four tables (15 for tournaments).
- ❌ You need stats on opponents while you play: the terms ban assistance software.
- ❌ Your game is cash above $10/$20: that's the ceiling, and most crypto cashouts stop at $9,500 per request.
Advantages of our affiliate service
Worldpokerdeals has many years of experience in the professional affiliate services market for players all over the world. To play Bovada through us, register via Worldpokerdeals, use BPWB500 with your first deposit; our hand converter comes free.
Contact us for a special rakeback deal on top of Bovada Poker promotions 😎. We are online seven days a week!
Responsible gambling
Poker is entertainment, and winnings aren't guaranteed, so play only with money you can afford to lose. Bovada accepts players aged 18 and over. If gambling stops feeling like a choice, these resources can help:
- 1-800-GAMBLER: call or text, 24/7
- NCPG
- Gamblers Anonymous
