1. Real Gambling Sites Online Games
2. Real Online Gambling Sites
3. Online Gambling Sites For Real Money
4. Real Gambling Sites Online Poker
5. Real Gambling Sites Online Usa

Now is the time to start playing, having fun and winning and with our list of real money online casinos, you really can. Looking for real money online casinos for play using the Rand (ZAR) currency? Play Slots, Card games, Table Games, Poker & many more casino games for real money at these #1 rated SA online casinos featured below! In Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey, some forms of online gambling have been legalized and regulated (only state-licensed sites are allowed to operate legally). In other states, it’s likely (although not widely agreed upon) that playing – and certainly operating – online gambling games for real money is illegal. Step #2 – Navigate the Real Money Casinos Online After we’ve done some digging on the site itself, it’s time to get our hands dirty and start peeking around the actual casino. We’ll look at how the site feels and functions and look for things that might be broken and seem fishy.

• They should choose a reputable online casino of course, and especially one which offers rapid payment of winnings and convenient ways to deposit money and play for real money. Playing at online casinos was never an issue in the state of Nevada, and it is still perfectly legal for a Nevada resident to play online.
• Online Casino Sites. Those primarily interested in table games or slots should look for gambling sites with an exceptional online casino. We recommend one of these two casino sites, which accept players from the United States, Canada, and the UK, as well as many other countries.

With the world we live in today, staying safe online is an absolute must. And staying safe at online casinos is no exception. So, if you’re here, you’re probably looking for a safe US online casino to play at. Well, you’re in luck!

We’ll spare you the trouble if you’re ready to get started right away. Our team has meticulously researched these sites and carefully tested them with real money deposits and various other methods. If you’re looking for safe online casinos, this list is where you should start.

If you’re not entirely convinced, and want to do a little more research, we commend that! The rest of this page will be dedicated to showing you our process for finding and vetting the safest online casinos. Let’s get to it!

Safe Real Money Online Casinos in the USA

This page is specifically meant for US players looking for safe online casinos they can play at. Often times, most of the concerns we get from people are if playing at online casinos in the US is legal.

There are several legal US online casinos you can find out there where you can play safely. The only variable that comes into play you have to check with is how your individual state handles online gambling laws.

Most laws that are currently in place for gambling mainly pertain to brick and mortar locations, leaving the world of online casinos and sportsbooks in a bit of a gray area. For all intents and purposes, unless you are opening a casino operation and taking people’s money and making wagers, you aren’t in danger of getting in trouble in the US.

How to Find Safe Casino Sites Online in the US

If you are curious, we are going to share with you our step-by-step process on how we find and select the safest real money online casinos to recommend to our users.

Step #1 – Research the Casino’s History

After we have selected a US online casino we want to test, we immediately start digging through forums and try to find as much history we can find. Check out some of the qualities we look for below.

• Does this online casino have any problems with paying out to their customers?
• What kind of complaints do users have about this United States casino site?
• How long have they been around for?

Any USA casinos online can claim this or that, but we’re more interested in how actual customers have responded to the casino. If they haven’t paid out winners or people complain about customer service, we will find it.

If they don’t pay out winners, then it’s obviously not one of the safest online casinos where you can deposit your money with confidence. If they have a lot of people complaining about them online, that’s a huge red flag.

If they are new to the industry, that doesn’t mean they can’t be safe. Still, it’s definitely trickier recommending newcomers to the market until we see how they handle business.

Step #2 – Navigate the Real Money Casinos Online

After we’ve done some digging on the site itself, it’s time to get our hands dirty and start peeking around the actual casino. We’ll look at how the site feels and functions and look for things that might be broken and seem fishy.

What we mean by that is you can usually detect when things feel off on a website just by how it’s cared for. If the website hasn’t had proper maintenance or has broken links or designs, it can sometimes set off the alarm bells that it might not be a real money safe online casino.

Step #3 – Test the Casino Games

The software that a US online casino chooses to use is another vital part of telling if it’s a safe casino to play at or not. Many software providers exist, but not all are legit providers to use for games. Some may have complaints of rigged or broken games. Others might just not even work at all!

At this point, we don’t make an actual deposit, we’re just testing to see if they have free play options for the games. And if they do, we want to see how they work.

Step #4 – Make a Real Money Deposit and Play Different Games

This is the somewhat scary part. We give real money to these US online casinos unsure of whether or not it is safe. Don’t worry, it’s not a lot, and we do it for you! Losing a small amount of money is worth it on our end if we can ensure you won’t lose any!

Online casinos that are safe will always handle our money fairly and never make us worry. Sometimes we try different bonuses, but we, of course, always need to abide by the bonus’ terms and conditions.

If all goes well on this end, we head over to the final phases of our process.

Step #5 – Test Customer Service

At this point, we always contact customer service. Usually, just to ask something like, “I want to withdraw my money now, how long will it take?” Or something along those lines. We try every method that is available to us, sometimes it’s calling, emailing, or live chat.

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For us to consider the site to be one of the safe online casinos we recommend, a few things must happen. Customer service has to be painless, and they have to be able to answer all our questions.

Step #6 – Try and Withdraw Funds

This is quite possibly the most important step. The site must always pay out our withdrawals in the time frame they claim if they want us to recommend them as a safe online casino.

We usually try a few different methods of real money banking like cryptos, so we can get quicker withdrawals. This allows us to test more online casinos and see if they are really safe. We’ll also try out slower banking methods like getting mailed checks because we believe in being very thorough.

If this seems like a lot, well, it’s because it is. We hold nothing back when finding the safest online casinos for our readers.

How Safe are Real Money Online Casinos?

If you’re reading this page, this is what you came here to find out! We definitely need to help you outline exactly how safe real money casinos are. Before you give your personal information to an online casino, you have to know how safe the site is.

So, we’ve spent a lot of time going over our review process and how we examine sites, but you’re probably asking yourself, “why should I trust these guys?” Great question! Let’s talk about that for a minute.

Why You Can Trust Our Recommendations

We’ve helped thousands of people find online sportsbooks and safe online casinos in our time. We started this site initially to help people find sports betting sites. As we’ve evolved, we’ve grown to also help people find USA online casinos as well.

You can trust us because we genuinely care for you. Read any of our pages on finding sportsbooks or casinos, and you’ll see that our primary focus at all times is our users.

Safest Banking Methods for Playing Real Money Casino Games

There are many different banking methods to take into consideration when it comes to real money online casinos.

Here, we’ll outline some of the safest methods that you should use for depositing your money into a safe US gambling site.

Any Cryptocurrency

Our first recommendation is to use any cryptocurrency the casino will accept. Many casinos will accept Bitcoin as an acceptable banking method. Any crypto is a smart choice to stay safe at real money casinos. If you’re new to cryptocurrency, you should start with Bitcoin. It’s easy to get started with, and all major online casino sites will accept it.

Prepaid Debit Cards

Prepaid cards are a great way to bank at online casinos without having to give any of your personal information. You can buy these at your local drug store or online, and you have put the prepaid card’s information on the site rather than your real credit card or banking information. This will help keep your personal data safe and secure.

What Are Blacklisted Sites?

On a page where we talk about the safety of US online casinos, we can’t sugarcoat the fact that there are casino sites out there that are unsafe. In the industry, we call them “blacklisted” sites.

An online casino site is blacklisted if they’re unable to pass our rigorous vetting process. But even more than that, we go off of the public’s critiques as well. Some are obvious, and some are a little better at hiding their scams.

We say the word “scam” because that’s exactly what these casinos do. Blacklisted sites want only one thing, to take your money. These sites exist only to get you to deposit money, only to never give your winnings to you.

Avoid these USA gambling sites at all costs. Only use our recommended real money casino sites, and you’ll be all set with nothing to worry about.

Frequently Asked Questions About Finding Safe Casinos Online

Here, we cover a few common questions we get about how to find online casinos that are safe.

Real Online Gambling Sites

• As long as you stick with our recommendations, you will only find safe online casino games! Stick with the safest casinos online and you will be guaranteed secure deposits and fair games .
• Most real money casinos online won't require your Social Security number. However, in order to make a deposit, you will obviously have to provide credit card or banking info. Sometimes, casinos might even have you scan your driver's license to confirm identity.

  This is only because of the gambling law ages, and casinos can lose their gambling licenses if they let minors gamble on their site.

• I know there can be a lot of anxiety when it comes to your money. And we know that you want to be smart about it, that's why you're on this page! Finding safe US casinos online is the first step, and as long as you use the sites we've recommended, you are in safe hands.

Skip the Headaches and Play at a Legitimate Site

You’re looking for a legitimate U.S. gambling site, but can’t decide which site to trust with your hard-earned money?

Good news! We’ve been in the online gambling industry for over a decade (several decades, really, if you add all of our experience together), and we’ve spent countless hours to bring you a list of the most legitimate sites.

Here’s what all of these sites have in common:

• 10+ years in the business with strong reputations.
• Attractive promotions for first-time customers.
• Quick money withdrawals (relative to the U.S. market).

Why Bovada Is #1 in the U.S.

#1: Fastest Check Cashouts

Bovada gets 10 times as much traffic as its second best US competitor and still delivers check payouts faster than any of them. Bovada processes check withdrawals in 7 days; many of its competitors take weeks, some more than a month to do the same. (There are other fast options, like the #3-ranked BetOnline, which delivers checks in 14 days.)

#2: Service

An equally important aspect of Bovada’s operations is its customer service. If there ever was an indication of how much a company respects its customers, it’s the level of customer service the company provides. I haven’t found any US-friendly site doing this aspect of the business better (although 5Dimes is a worthy runner-up).

#3: All-In-One

Finally, all parts of Bovada’s business (sportsbook, casino, poker, racebook) are popular. Bovada is best-known for sports betting and casino games, however, even its online poker room has around four times as many players online as the second biggest US poker site. You can access all of their games with one player account.

… But You Should Know This

Bovada is recreational-friendly, perhaps more-so than any other US site. You’ll find few golden opportunities in their sportsbook (read more about their use of dual lines), they have a relatively high overall house edge (especially after recently increasing house edge in video poker games) and their online poker room only has “anonymous” tables.

Although not everyone agrees with me, the recreational-friendly part is an advantage for skilled poker players. Since Bovada appeals to recreational gamblers, you’ll be like a shark among regular fish.

Bovada charges a 4.9% fee for credit card deposits (a lot considering how most sites charge nothing). The impact of the deposit fee is slightly compensated by their welcome bonuses, which are better than average.

All online gamblers look for entertaining games, attractive promotions and aesthetically pleasing software. To have a safe experience, however, you want a site to:

1. Serve its customers with safety and respect,
2. Operate with a reasonable house edge, and
3. Handle money transactions promptly.

Yes, the third point is included in the first point but it’s also such an essential part of the customer experience that it must be mentioned separately. Many online gambling websites operate without an adequate level of service so these points are worth considering. It’s rare to find a combination of all three points.

Bovada fulfills all of the above criteria better than other sites but 5Dimes does well, too. In fact, I’m confident in ranking those two as the best USA gambling websites specifically because they deliver so well in the areas related to safety and trustworthiness. A site without proper customer service and safety measures is not one you should deposit money to, regardless of its promotions and whatnot.

What Are Some Alternative Options?

For Sports Bettors

5Dimes.eu is the best betting site in the US for the following reasons: they’re professional-friendly and offer reduced juice betting lines (in other words, less house edge). Before betting on any game, I recommend taking a look at the odds 5Dimes is offering. They’ve been a reliable sportsbook for over 10+ years — you’ll find few complaints about 5Dimes online, and the ones you find have been resolved quickly.

For poker and casino games, I would go with Bovada. But for sports bettors, it makes the most sense to have an account at 5Dimes.

Another Solid Option

BetOnline.ag is my third suggestion. It’s not significantly better than the others in any area but they’re simply a solid option. Prompt cashout processing, decent poker traffic, good sports betting options and entertaining casino games. Additionally, I’ve had good experiences with their customer service.

For sports bettors, BetOnline is worth signing-up at simply to be able to compare betting lines among a few sites. For poker players, BetOnline may offer some good games every now and then (keep in mind: you can bet on sports and play casino and poker games with the same account, so plenty of gamblers will stumble on the poker games eventually). For casino gamblers, BetOnline has a basic but reliable offering.

BetOnline charges a 6% fee for credit card deposits.

Is It Legal to Play?

The definition of ”gambling” and the laws surrounding vary depending on which state you live in.

In Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey, some forms of online gambling have been legalized and regulated (only state-licensed sites are allowed to operate legally). In other states, it’s likely (although not widely agreed upon) that playing – and certainly operating – online gambling games for real money is illegal.

On a federal level, sports betting is the only form of prohibited gambling via the Wire Act of 1961. For several years, the Department of Justice (DOJ) maintained that the Wire Act applies to all forms of online gambling, but in December 2011, they corrected that stance by stating that the Wire Act only applies to sports betting – a result of a 13-page memorandum from the Office of Legal Counsel to the Criminal Division of the DOJ (source).

State laws, however, often indirectly prohibit gambling. Or to put it another way: it would be difficult to claim any forms of online gambling legal with absolute certainty in most states (lotteries and such aside). Most state laws indirectly prohibit gambling simply by making all forms of gambling unlawful that have not been made lawful.

Purely based on history, it’s unlikely you’ll get into legal trouble; then again, if something is illegal, you can get into trouble, and someone probably will. Gambling online may be illegal where you live. Contact a local gaming lawyer to get a better idea of your local laws.

Legal Troubles

Industry-changing events have taken place in the online gambling world – mainly concerning online poker – such as the UIGEA and Party Poker’s exit from the US market, or PokerStars’ exit from the US market in 2011.

Those crimes were committed by online poker operators, though, not players. Still, the mere fact that online poker companies were targeted was enough to cast a shadow over the legality of US online poker, and furthermore, players grew more and more worried about one of these sites getting shut down along with the money on their player accounts.

In fact, there is a legitimate reason to worry about dishonest US gambling sites taking your money. Some sites have indeed taken off with the money – a recent example is Lock Poker, which currently may owe its customers over $15 million. I created LegitGamblingSites.com mainly to give more exposure to the sites with strong track records of honest business practices.

The lawmakers, in that regard, have a point about not allowing unlicensed sites to provide online gambling games to US citizens. While that may not be the reason, it’s likely one of them. (If I had to guess, I’d say they’re more concerned about losing out on tax dollars and protecting the interests of brick & mortar casino owners such as Sheldon Adelson, although through the RAWA – Restore America’s Wire Act legislation – he tries to do that by himself.)

How to Move Money Around

Ever since the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) became a law, US citizens have had a more difficult time finding a suitable deposit method.

Online Gambling Sites For Real Money

There are only a few left, actually.

The most common deposit method for US citizens is still credit card deposits, out of which VISA is the most widely accepted brand, followed by Mastercard, with American Express being a distant third. Cards must be eligible for both international and online transfers.

The alternative method is to use a money transfer service such as Western Union. Western Union is mostly a deposit-only method. (Bovada is an exception since they only allow you to withdraw money via a check.)

Why to use a money transfer service instead of a credit card?

• A card deposit fails to go through. This happens every now and then, and the only way to know if your card will be accepted is to try. According to various forum reports, Vanilla VISA is declined at most sites while Netspend VISA has been successful.

  Surprisingly, players have had problems with card deposits even at state-licensed sites due to banks like Bank of America outright declining all gambling transactions. Things will likely get better with the new MCC codes for VISA, Mastercard, American Express and Distant which will help casinos to identify gambling transactions more accurately. It’s unclear how much of a help this will be since banks still have the right to decline transfers marked with the new MCC codes, and due to not wanting to violate the UIGEA (according to which they’re prohibited from knowingly processing unlawful gambling transactions), banks may decide it isn’t worth it and keep cancelling transactions even if they were for state-licensed sites.

  This is expected to change once bigger states – perhaps even the biggest of them all, California – join internet gambling, since declining the transactions will then affect such a large percentage of any bank’s customer base.

• You want a faster cashout. While money transfer services cost more (many sites, like Bovada, allow one free check cashout a month), the money is usually delivered to be picked up at a local Western Union location in five days or less.
• You don’t want a check cashout. You need to go to a cashier to cash a check. Most people would rather avoid doing this, especially since banks aren’t allowed to knowingly process online gambling related transactions (unless in Delaware, Nevada or New Jersey, but people have had problems in those states as well).

In general, you’ll have higher transaction costs with money transfer services than with a combination of credit cards and checks. BetOnline and Bovada are the only major USA sites charging for credit card deposits and most allow one free check cashout per month – some, like True Poker, allow a free check withdrawal every seven days.

How to use a credit card/check combination?

1. Enter your credit card details online after which you have the money on your player account instantly.
2. When done playing, order a check cashout, which will take from a week to over a month depending on which site you’re dealing with.
3. Go to your local bank to cash the check.

How to use a money transfer service (like Western Union)?

1. Go to their website or a live Western Union location and send money to the gambling site. (You’ll need to contact the gambling site first to get their transfer details.)
2. When done playing, initiate the withdrawal from your player account.
3. Go to a live location to collect the money.

State-Licensed Sites

As mentioned, Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey have legalized and regulated some forms of real-money online gambling. Delaware started with online poker but has since expanded into casino games as well; Nevada offers online poker games only; New Jersey offers online poker and casino games.

As you can see, not a single one of these states offer online sports betting. In New Jersey – clearly the biggest market of the three – there’s a clause according to which sports betting may be considered to be added in the future.

Requirements

You must be physically located within a state’s boundaries to play at the licensed sites. If you’re currently located in California but live in Nevada, you’re unable to play until you return to Nevada; if you’re currently located in Nevada but live in California, you can play as long as you stay within Nevada’s state boundaries.

Licensed sites have to make sure nobody outside of the state can participate in the games. Geolocation – identifying exactly where a person is located – has been difficult, and there are still people who are unable to play even though they’re located within those states. This is one of the reasons licensed online gambling sites have done financially worse than expected.

Only existing brick & mortar casino owners within those states can apply for licenses, although they can apply together with an existing online gambling site in a software-licensing agreement, like Caesar’s Interactive and 888.com have done. If a poker site kept operating in the US after the UIGEA of 2006, it will be subjected to a ”bad actor” clause in Nevada and be prohibited from operating in the state for now.

Performance

Each state has had a rocky start, although New Jersey is doing OK. In March 2014, they did $11.87 million in revenue, which grew into $13.16 million in March 2015. A growth rate of 14.57% year-over-year is better than nothing, but still a far cry from the $1 billion within the first 7 months of operating Governor Christie expected (New Jersey gambling sites were launched in November 2013). In other words, his expectations were a little over $140 million a month on average, or about ten times the current revenue.

According to PokerScout.com, Nevada’s online poker revenue is going downhill. Year-over-year decrease in revenue of around 44% (from February 2014 to February 2015) is, no matter how you look at it, a disappointing result. Problems with card deposits and geolocation – both of which exist in other states as well – and player liquidity have undoubtedly contributed to the significant decrease. Players have to deal with fewer problems when playing at offshore sites, and as long as that continues, it will be difficult for state-licensed sites to gain major traction.

In Delaware, the state keeps all yearly revenue up to $3.75 million. Since total revenue for 2014 was around $2.1 million, gambling operators have made nothing. The main reason for such a low amount of revenue is Delaware’s population of 0.94 million (in comparison, New Jersey has a population of 8.9 million). Liquidity is important for online poker since you need lots of players to run games at various stakes, in several forms and throughout the day. Delaware is trying to improve its poker liquidity by combining player pools with Nevada but so far there hasn’t been a significant improvement to its online gaming revenue.

If all of the three states were to combine their player pools, it would create a poker economy of around 12 million people, which could add significant liquidity to the games and thus bring in more revenue to each of the states.

Real Gambling Sites Online Poker

Offshore Sites

Gambling sites accepting US customers from outside of the three states are all ”offshore” sites, meaning they operate from outside of the US and have no license to operate within the US. They have obtained a license in some other jurisdictions – such as Antiqua & Barbuda or Panama – but many of those jurisdictions have less-than-stellar reputations.

The disadvantage of gambling at offshore sites is the lack of safety. For an outsider, it’s impossible to know how strict testing measures these sites go through to prove their legitimacy, and hypothetically, if one of them were to disappear from the internet tomorrow along with your money, what could you do about it?

Lock Poker, as already mentioned, is an ongoing example. They’ve now lost their license in Curacao (weirdly, they were able to keep the license easily over a year after refusing to process customer cashouts) and there’s nothing anyone can do to make sure Lock Poker’s customers have their money returned. All we can do is spread the word to the people who are considering signing-up and depositing money to their site.

The best thing you can do is consider the reputation of the site rather than the jurisdiction since all jurisdictions have had dishonest sites. The longer a site has been fully operational, and the fewer complaints it has generated, the better. Essentially, Bovada has been in the online gambling business since 2000 when Bodog.com was founded (the US-friendly operations of Bodog were re-branded as Bovada in 2011), and as mentioned, they’ve achieved an excellent reputation with a high level of customer service.

But there are advantages to playing at an offshore site, too, and you can legitimately argue that the advantages override the disadvantages. Offshore sites place fewer restrictions on customers, need less personal information and have to compete with lots of other sites (within US states, competition is limited) which forces them to be at their best in order to succeed. There are no geolocation issues either.

Safety and legality aside – although obviously, both are big considerations – offshore sites are the better option in almost every area. Since only three states have legalized some forms of real-money online gambling in the US, they’re the only places for internet gambling for around 96.4% of US population.

What’s Next?

US online gambling is in a transitional phase: after a long wait of legalization, three states have done it, mostly with lackluster success. Suggesting geolocation and deposit issues are resolved, revenue streams may grow. With online poker, though, most likely at least one of the bigger states has to legalize it and combine player pools with the others to create a meaningful poker economy.

Real Gambling Sites Online Usa

A federal legalization would create much-needed competition and player pools, which in turn creates a bigger incentive for operators to participate and, in many ways, a better environment for gamblers. If internet gambling was to be legalized nationwide, every operator and their grandmother would want a license. As of now, it’s more beneficial for most operators to stay outside of the US.