I get a lot of disapproving looks when I tell people I enjoy sports betting. “But I thought you were smarter than that!”, people say, “Why give bookmakers your money?”. I normally answer that by pointing out that I see sports betting as an extra form of entertainment – baseball sports betting, for example, makes even mid season games exciting. Also, in the long run, I usually come out ahead thanks to sensible bets and bankroll management. The occasional crazy flutter is, to me, a treat – just like the lottery tickets my colleagues like to buy.
Today I had the strangest question – “But I thought gambling was illegal! How do you bet online? Is it safe?” Well, people who live in the USA face a few tricky issues, but there are companies that will accept bets from Americans. I’m no lawyer, and I hesitate to give legal advice without even knowing what State someone lives in, but a Google for sports betting sites should turn up quite a list, and a look at their terms and conditions should clear things up.
As for the ‘is it safe?’ question, well – if you’re doing your sports betting with a well known online betting company and you’re sensible about choosing a good password, and depositing with a credit card (not a debit card), then you’re as safe as you could reasonably expect to be. Credit card companies are very good about fraud protection, and online sports betting companies take fraud very seriously too – after all, their reputation is on the line, it pays for them to keep you safe.