Nope. Bodog is not a legal Ontario sportsbook, despite all the "dot-net" ads that they still run in the province and across the country. Prior to Ontario opening their legal market, Bodog was like every other "grey market" offshore betting site. Now that Ontario has a proper regulatory framework, Bodog is now a "black market" or illegal sportsbook in that province. Bodog has not looked to gain its license from the AGCO. As a result, they do not share 20% of Ontario-based revenues with the province, like all of our listed legal Ontario betting sites or the available legal Ontario online casinos that do share them. (But these legal Ontario iGaming operations only serve those located in Ontario.)
Bodog casino games are not tested for fairness by the Ontario regulatory regime, and they have not instituted any of the player-safety or "Responsible Gambling" tools which are mandatory for all fully licensed operators. If you are in Ontario, know that you should always look for the iGaming Ontario logo at the top of any fully legal Ontario sportsbook, casino or poker provider. This logo cannot be found at Bodog.
Bodog Grade |
• Has not gained Ontario license. • Old sportbook platform, with no same game parlays, very few player props. • Average odds value at best, for a truly "offshore" bookie. • No responsible gaming tools or limits. • Little if any casino game testing results for purposes of fairness. |
Yes, they do. If you are in BC, AB, SK, MB, QC the Atlantic provinces or territories, nothing has yet changed for you. The "grey market" remains as it was outside Ontario, thus in this respect, Bodog is still a "grey market" operator. Since these other provinces have not moved to properly regulate, you can partake in sports betting and casino play at Bodog without any issue. Is Bodog one of the best online gambling options for you in our opinion? No, we wouldn't say that they are. We will elabourate on this below, but if you want, you can read our opinion on the top Canadian betting sites for players outside Ontario.
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For a betting site that does not have to pay for significant local regulation and taxes, Bodog has pretty average odds. So when they payout on a won bet, your profit will be inline with other sportsbooks that have average odds. On the main betting markets like NBA or NFL point spreads or totals, this looks like -110/-110 or 1.90/1.90. This is a margin of around 5%. If Bodog had a really complete selection of betting markets and a really great platform, we could forgive this - but they don't. There are several brands that we recommend, that are taxed and submit to a higher degree of regulation, that offer better general odds value than this. Bodog is proving that black market sportsboooks (since they illegally serve Ontario) don't always offer better value than regulated ones.
The Bodog sportsbook platform last received a major improvement several years ago now, so in comparison to the leading brands for Canada, their platform feels laggy and is showing its age. While they have a good number of team betting markets as segmented by the various periods of time within a given game - by period, half or quarter, or full-time, they are relatively devoid of good player props for most games across sports. Thus, if you really like to look for value on player-based bets, Bodog really falls down compared to the top available betting brands within the "rest of Canada" market segment.
Bodog does not appear to offer same game parlays, also known as "Bet Builder" features for use with any sport. All our top recommended sites however, do offer some form of this now very popular feature that lets you build a single combination bet with events and props that all relate to the same game or match.
Bodog offers an online poker room, where you download their poker client and play against other players. They also offer a fairly wide selection of live dealer casino games. Their approach here is interesting in that they actually show you the number of open player spots at a given live casino game table. So just like at the real casino, you can see if you are joining a busy table, or a near empty table. Plus, you can actually see who the dealer is before you enter the game. While we don't particularly think that Bodog has a good sportsbook relative to the top providers, their poker and live casino gaming verticals hold up pretty well.
The one spot where their online gaming falls down for us is their slots and regular online casino games based in Random Number Generation or RNG. While they have a lot of available games here, they seemingly provide no "Return To Player" percentages or fairness testing information. At most top "offshore" brands, you will be able to find these RTP figures for individual games, or the overall casino, so you have an idea of how fair the games are. Are you getting a fair shake if you play these kinds of games at Bodog? It is hard to tell given they are not regulated in a top international jurisdiction, and we cannot find any game testing certifications on site. So take that as you like.
Beyond this important caveat, we would have preferred that they try to enter the Ontario legal market like so many other brands have done. This is why we can't recommend the Bodog casino to our readers across Canada, outside Ontario. All our recommended Interac online casinos for Canada come to you from companies that have also moved to become fully legal operators in Ontario. So while players across Canada would play at these brands' respective "offshore" casino sites, you know that the operators are working in Canada to be fully transparent, fair & legal operators where they are allowed to by law (in Ontario), unlike Bodog.
Bodog accepts Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards, as well as Interac for CAD transactions. Bodog does not however offer popular bank debit methods iDebit or Instadebit. They also accept cryptocurrencies for exchange toward your CAD balance including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Tether. Our top sportsbooks don't accept crypto directly, although the MuchBetter e-wallet app can work as an intermediary payment solution. If however you are interested in betting directly in units of crypto from Canada, we delve into this issue, with one standout crypto sportsbook option.
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Bodog has a sportsbook offer of 100% up to $400, which you will see if you visit there on your own. For offers from superior sports betting providers, see our Canadian sportsbook bonuses page. For Bodog slots players, there is a bonus of up to $600. Again, our recommended casino operations and bonuses are better and larger respectively.
Bodog has been serving the Canadian "grey market" for a long time now. While they are a reputable company that pays out to winners, they don't have a particularly good platform relative to those providers that continue to innovate and update their platforms regularly. Bodog also does not offer any of the important and helpful tools for players to help keep control of their spending. Plenty of "grey market" sportsbooks provide these tools, just like the tools mandated in Ontario, even though they don't have to. Like it or not, Bodog stands to benefit from those that might be vulnerable to spending above their means. Of course, they would never state such a thing, but their lack of these player tools speaks volumes.
Beyond this, despite being run from Antigua & Barbuda, their odds margins or "juice" are no better than average. With such low regulatory oversight, one would expect far better margins and odds, but again, this is not the case. From a casino perspective, their operation is also not very transparent. If you want to play with with brands that have superior platforms, betting features, RG tools and more operational transparency, find our top Bodog alternatives for players in Canada, but outside Ontario.