I’m completely happy with all three of my online sportsbooks (Sportsbook.com, BetUS, and SportsBetting, but we’ll talk more about them later). However, none of them were among my first choices, for various reasons (for one thing, I started betting online before two of them even existed!).

To be completely honest, I made all of the stupid mistakes that a new bettor could possibly make…and some of them happened a long time after I could honestly call myself a “new bettor” anymore. I chose my online sports betting sites (and online casino USA sites) based on looks when I began, and that didn’t work out very well. The next time around, I chose a site based on the big bonuses that it offered, and that ended up being an even worse situation.

Finally, I realized that it was up to me to read through all of the boring rules and regulations, and do a bit of research and networking. The best thing that you can do before you sign up with a sports betting website is to talk to people who have played there — at the very least, read through some of the forum posts and rip-off reports.

However, I caution you strongly to take Internet reviews with a grain of salt. If you search for the name of the site (whether it’s online slots or other casino games, bingo, poker, sportsbooks, horse-racing, et cetera) you’re likely to get page after page of glowing reviews — not because the writers have played, but because they’ve been paid. If you dig a little deeper, you’ll find a bunch of very negative reviews — which may be more honest, or they may be from a tiny minority of people who have had very bad experiences.

There are indeed plenty of bad online gambling sites out there, and playing at them is usually going to end in heartache. On the other hand, there are good gambling sites that go out of their way to spell out their rules, and players who ignore those rules, and then complain about the site when things start to go sour for them, simply don’t earn much of my sympathy.