I’ll come right out and admit it: I love online sportsbooks.

Sometimes I forget what it was like before I had an online environment in which to place bets. I remember all of the complications that came from making friendly wagers, football pools, and those sorts of things. Anything with money can really strain relationships…some people take these things really personally.

It’s even worse when you go through some of the bookmakers out there; operating outside the law, you can never be sure that you’ll actually get paid when you win — and it’s not like you can call the police if things get too nasty. I’d far rather worry about cybersecurity (which, honestly, I haven’t been losing sleep about in the last several years, at either an online sportsbook or an online casino USA) than about having my limbs broken or something.

In either case, nobody is all that concerned with offering a variety of bets or competitive lines. You’d think that this would be better at a legitimate brick-and-mortar operation, but you just can’t count on that. I’ve yet to see even the best land-based sportsbooks give you half of the choices that an average online sportsbook has to offer.

Even if you happen to be in an area with a legal land-based sportsbook that offers a decent range of bets (i.e., Las Vegas and pretty much nowhere else), you end up paying too much. Between all the travel and trouble, as well as the higher cost of the sportsbook itself, it simply no longer makes sense to do your betting anywhere but online. Slots, too, by the way!

Ultimately, it comes down to consistently making a profit from the betting. I can’t claim that I’ve always won (anybody who does that is definitely suspicious), but I’ve won more often and more reliably playing at online sportsbooks. And, as I’ve said, I can actually count on getting my money when I do win!