Bovada Sportsbook Leaves New York Market

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· 31 May 2021

The Bovada online sportsbook will stop providing betting services within the state of New York from June 21. The move seems to have been instigated by recent changes in New York’s betting legislation. Players from NY have a bit less than a month to settle their affairs on the site.

Bovada is one of the bigger players in the sports-betting market, both in New York and globally.  The sportsbook started accepting US players back in 2018, after being forced to close its doors for the first time in 2011, during the government’s ‘Black Friday’ crackdown on several gambling sites. Interestingly, when Bovada returned seven years later, online gambling wasn’t yet legalized in the state.

The reason for Bovada leaving this time around hasn’t been disclosed. However, the cause most probably lies in the fact that New York has recently put forth its own state-approved gambling sites. Non-state operators could therefore become direct competitors to NY’s own sportsbooks. Betting venues fear that they won’t be in for a fair round of market competition, as state legislators who now have a financial incentive to prop up the state operators might press sportsbooks such as Bovada harder.

As of now, Bovada has blocked the registration of any new players from NY. The site can’t even be accessed any longer without logging in.

If you are a Bovada member, you should have several things in mind. Firstly, take care of any unmet rollover requirements for your active promotions. You have only until June 21 to complete them if you want to get access to your bonus funds.

Secondly, check whether you have any active bets on events scheduled for June 21 or later. If you forget to cancel them, though, Bovada will do it for you and refund you the wager.

Additionally, any promotional points you’ve gathered Bovada will turn into cash and deposit to your player account. After that, no promotional points will be accruable. Do note that the points still come with a rollover requirement.

Bovada pulling out of New York’s market will undoubtedly leave players without a great betting site to play on. Luckily, there’s still a bunch of excellent sportsbooks and gambling sites with fun games to choose from.