BetOnline.ag[1] is a world-wide sports betting website which first went online in 2004. It is perhaps best known for in its key market, the United States of America. While it is first and foremost a sports book, it also operates an online casino and online poker room. BetOnline (BOL) is part of the Chico Poker Network[2], along with other poker websites such as Sportsbetting.ag. Chico is one of the leading offshore poker networks that serves the United States.
BetOnline has been the subject of criticism from players regarding payouts in the past, but the site has come a long way since these complaints were relevant. The turning point came in 2011 when BetOnline was taken over by a new ownership team[3]. Now, it is considered a trusted source of games for online poker players.
BetOnline holds a license from the Panama Gaming Control Board.[4]
BetOnline Poker was one of the first online poker rooms to use the cryptocurrency bitcoin.[5] As of 2022 the company has continued to embrace crypto-currency and now offers many options such as Bitcoin Cash, LiteCoin, Stellar Lumens, Ethereum, Ripple, etc.
Site Size and Player Traffic[]
The cash game lobby at BetOnline is pretty large and features dozens of cash game tables running at any given point in time. The level of player liquidity at BetOnline and the rest of the Chico Poker Network is enough to place it third among all U.S.-friendly internet poker rooms.
Cash game lobby at Betonline
The tournament scene at BoL has historically been rather small, but the company has been doing more of late to expand its tourney lineup. The flagship event is the weekly Sunday Main Event, which costs $109 to enter and distributes prizes guaranteed to be at least $60,000.
Software[]
BetOnline operates its own poker software that was created in conjunction with Connective Games[6] and exists across the Chico Poker Network. There are versions for both Windows and Mac OS.
The main lobby is set up in a simple fashion with cash games, tournaments, and sit & gos all featured separately. Within each lobby, games and tables can be sorted by table size, game type, buy-in/blinds, and a few other criteria.
As for the playing experience, the software is simplistic in its design and highly user-friendly. Unlike some other US-facing sites, BetOnline does not employ any sort of anonymity for players. Instead of being given generic designations based upon their seat positions, players select a screen name that remains the same unless it is manually changed.
For smartphone and tablet users, there is a mobile poker software client. Users of iPad3 or higher and iPhone 5 or higher can scan a QR code to open us the poker room in their web browsers. Android OS 6+ users, by contrast, must download and run an app to access the poker action. There is additionally a web-based interface that is compatible with most modern browsing software.
Betonline cash game table during gameplay.
Unlike at some competing sites, the mobile poker app at BetOnline permits access to almost the entire range of games that are listed in the standard desktop versions. Multi-tabling is even possible on mobile systems.
Cash Games[]
There are a few different game types offered, with a majority falling under NL Hold’em and PL Omaha (both Hi and Hi-Lo). There are some fixed limit Hold’em and Omaha games; however, these tables are much less frequented by players than the big-bet games.
As far as the limits where the most consistent traffic exists, that is usually at the $1/$2 and $2/$5 NLHE tables and the $2/$5 PLO tables. Unlike with other sites, traffic is concentrated at the medium blind levels rather than the low/micro tables. There are also plenty of populated micro-stakes games available with blinds as low as $0.05/$0.10. Higher stakes games are offered – up to $10/$20 in NLHE, $5/$10 in PLO, and $15/$30 in fixed-limit formats – but they tend to be sparsely populated.
Other game types that exist include variations of the games that have already been mentioned, including Fast-Fold poker and 6+ Hold'em. 6+ is also known as Short Deck Hold’em and is played with a 36-card deck where every card ranking lower than 6 has been removed. Fast-Fold poker, as its name implies, is a game that takes one to a new table the second a player folds, thus maximizing the quantity of hands that can be played within a given timeframe. BetOnline calls its fast-fold offering Boost and gives a special icon to applicable tables in the poker lobby.
Most tables will accommodate a maximum of 6 players, but there are a few 9-max tables here and there.
Tournaments and Sit n Gos[]
The tournament selection is nothing to scoff at and will feature games at all hours of the day and night. In fact, even weekdays will see an average of 40 different tournaments with prize pools as small as a few hundred dollars to those that exceed five figures. What’s more, buy-ins consistently stay below the $50 threshold.
Of course, there are tournaments with larger buy-ins, but those are more commonly found on weekends than any other time. The most important of these is the weekly Sunday Main Event, which costs $109 to enter and disburses prizes worth at least $60,000.
While many tournaments feature different prize pools that are determined by buy-in amount and quantity of players, there are plenty of daily guaranteed tournaments, including Daily Dozens with anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 guaranteed regardless of how many players buy in.
Sit n Gos at BetOnline are also quite prominent, as there are dozens and dozens of them offered every single day. Buy-ins for sit n gos start at $1.50 and climb as high as $200. [7]Windfall is a type of sit n' go wherein a multiplier is randomly chosen at the beginning of the game, and this number determines how big the prize pool is.
In 2023, BetOnline introduced Open Face Chinese Windfall tournaments with a maximum 500x multiplier. Usually, these events are winner-take-all format, but if a jackpot multiplier is won, 2nd and 3rd place will receive a prize as well.
Restricted Countries[]
In order to comply with Panamanian gaming law, BetOnline restricts a number of countries from participating in is online poker games. Here is a full list of restricted countries:
- Australia
- Afghanistan
- Central African Republic
- Ivory Coast
- Cuba
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Eritrea
- France (including French Guiana, French Polynesia, and French Southern Territories)
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Iran
- Iraq
- Lebanon
- Liberia
- Libya
- Mali
- Malta
- Myanmar
- North Korea
- Panama
- Slovenia
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Syria
- United Kingdom
- Yemen
- Zimbabwe
Casino and Sportsbook[]
BetOnline is known for its sportsbook, but there is also a fully functioning casino available. The casino is basic in what it offers, but it does cover all the bases in that slots, table games, video poker, and more are available. There's a Live Casino too with the gaming apparatus being handled by real-life, human casino employees.
The sportsbook focuses primarily on US sports and leagues, but has grown to be quite expansive in that the most popular global sports are featured as well. eSports is separate division of the BetOnline gambling portfolio with such games as Overwatch, Counter-Strike, and Dota 2 available for betting. In-play wagers, where money is risked while the events in question are underway, are supported for some contests.
One other notable feature offered at the BetOnline sportsbook is that players can stream numerous sporting events from within the live-betting software. Any player that logs in to the BetOnline sportsbook will be able to watch many live sporting events for free.