Alternative Betting Options Beyond Regulated Sportsbooks

To an aspiring sharp sports bettor there’s nothing sweeter than winning money from the big regulated sportsbooks that dominate this industry. Likewise, there’s a sour taste left in their mouth when they find they’ve been cut down to $3.65 wager limits. 

If you’re fortunate enough to be in a state with plenty of regulated options, you can always move on to another sportsbook in pursuit of an edge. However, for many, the list of regulated options is a short one. Before long they find themselves out of outs. At that point, it’s time to discuss your betting options beyond the regulated markets.

What Is Unregulated Sports Betting?

There is a wide spectrum of unregulated options which would fall under some interpretation of “being sports betting.” Some of them are very upfront about how they fit into the sports betting ecosystem. Others are a bit more obtuse about their existence. The focus here is not to opine about the legality of these options. I’m looking to give you ideas. It is up to you to decide if these options are right for you.

I will explore unregulated options that range from U.S. companies to offshore entities. Options that use credit cards and bank transfers to options which require crypto and hand-to-hand cash transactions. In most states, it is not illegal for you to make an unregulated bet. However, there are exceptions. Be sure to do further homework into these betting options and assess your own risk tolerance. I’m certain I’m not leading you down a bad path here, but it’s important that I mention that this article is not an implicit endorsement of any of these methods or products.

What Are Some Unregulated U.S. Betting Options?

It wasn’t long ago that DraftKings and Fanduel operated as unregulated U.S. betting options. They found a loophole in the restrictive Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 that allowed them to operate as fantasy sports operators. Today, there are other companies looking to use legal loopholes to operate in a space outside of state regulations.

First, came DFS pick’em sites. Underdog, and later PrizePicks, excelled in the market by offering a product which could be interpreted as daily fantasy sports. It is basically prop parlay betting. Put together a roster of prop bets, and if all (or most) of them go over or under their number, you win a (mostly) fixed payout. It appeals to most recreational bettors because rec bettors love parlays. 

They tend to focus on states where DFS is legal but sports betting is not. There’s likely no gaming commission in states without sports betting. Which means nobody to call this sports betting and require them to get a regulated license.

Today there are quite a few DFS pick’em sites, including Sleeper and Splash Sports. All of whom you’ll find on the Unabated Prop Odds Screen. The edge for sharp bettors is that the lines on these props typically don’t adjust as the rest of the market moves. So it’s possible to find stale lines for those willing to fade the large variance involved in parlay betting.

Pari-Mutuel Based Sports Betting Options

Another legal loophole is to operate as a pari-mutuel product where bettors are competing against other bettors, rather than against the house. The house still gets a rake for their service, but the winnings come from other bettors.

This alternative allowed operators to penetrate even further into states where pari-mutuel betting is permitted in the form of horse or dog racing. It also allowed for regulated operators to compete head-to-head without jeopardizing their licenses in other states. DraftKings Pick6 was one of the first, then came Underdog Champions and PrizePicks Arena. Recently Splash Sports has debuted a pari-mutuel product as well. 

Again, these options create possible expanded surface area for bettors to attack. While still a parlay payout structure, they reward potential pros-versus-Joes angles. With the public more inclined to bet Overs, there can often be value in fading key players in these products. 

Sweepstakes Based Sports Betting

By far the hottest trend in unregulated options is the sweepstakes-based product. Here’s a quick video to explain how it works:

Essentially, it’s going to work just like any other sportsbook you’ve used. You’ll see a lot of the same types of bets from straights to props, even same-game parlays. Sweepstakes betting also allows innovation to thrive in the form of low-margin options. Like how on exchanges, you can offer your own lines. If an exchange has Washington -10.5 (+100), but your numbers suggest the Commanders win in a route, you could offer Washington -13.5 (+120) and create your own plus-EV situation for anyone who takes the offer.

Two operators who previously were in the regulated space, NoVig and ProphetX, both allow you to name your own price and get matched by other bettors. There are plenty of other sweepstakes operators, with the largest by far being Fliff. 

Advantage, and Risk

The biggest advantage the unregulated U.S. operators have over other forms of unregulated betting is their ease of money transfer. Many of these sites accept credit cards and online banking transfers, and payouts tend to be speedy. 

With sweepstakes betting becoming more popular comes risk of less-than-reputable operators spoiling the space. Be careful with unregulated operators, even those who operate on U.S. soil. The best way to protect yourself is to be conservative with the amount of money you trust to be on deposit at an unregulated sportsbook. Of course, that amount will vary based on bankroll size and how much you want to bet.

Unregulated Offshore Operators

The offshore betting industry has been around for decades. It’s important to note that many of the sportsbooks I’ll mention here are regulated, just not in the U.S. They hold licenses in other countries and it’s safe to assume that the level of regulation isn’t on the same level as many U.S. state gaming commissions. 

That said, there are many offshore sportsbooks that do more business individually than the sum total of all the sportsbooks in a U.S. state. I’ve long told people who ask my advice to “stick with the B’s” when starting out in the offshore world. 

Bookmaker, Bovada, BetOnline. These are large, well-run, and well-funded operations. I’ve probably had disagreements with all of them at some point, but that’s the nature of offshore play in the last couple decades. There’s no gaming commission to take your complaint to. You have to resolve it directly with the sportsbook and in a lot of cases you and they may have different opinions of what is right. However, my money was always safe at these shops and there were always plenty of lines to bet into. 

All three of these pulled out of my state, New Jersey, back when regulation was looking likely. So it’s been a few years since I’ve played with them. However, today’s bettors have the same confidence in depositing and playing there.

Lately, I’ve been willing to add another name to the B-List. Bet105.eu. It’s a fairly new operation, but the people behind it have a very sterling reputation. It’s a unique setup because they tend to copy Pinnacle’s lines at open and then adjust to their own trading as the day goes on. As the name implies, bettors can find reduced vig -105 lines. You’ll also find clearly stated bet limits and a good array of betting options. 

We look forward to adding them to our odds screen soon as it has become a strong out for sharp bettors who want the chance to bet into some Pinnacle-like pricing.

Transferring Funds to Sportsbooks with Cryptocurrency

All of the offshores I’ve mentioned so far are “post up books.” Meaning you have to post up the money you want to wager with. That’s as opposed to a sportsbook which operates on credit (we’ll get to that shortly). These offshore operators have weathered decades of changing landscape when it comes to moving money offshore. The previously mentioned UIGEA was created to stop the flow of U.S. funds out of the country for gambling use. It was effective for a little while, but then cryptocurrency came into our lives.

Crypto has revived the offshore betting industry and to non-boomers, it’s accepted as a form of legal tender. You’ll find most offshore sportsbooks take different coin types, but the standard is still Bitcoin. 

One important note when it comes to transferring crypto is that the major exchanges like Coinbase often have restrictions against sending crypto for gambling use. You can still purchase your crypto via these exchanges, but you’ll want to hold your crypto in a different wallet. Then transfer from your wallet to the sportsbook and vice-versa. 

What Is a PPH? Credit-Based Betting

Perhaps the most traditional method of unregulated sports betting, and one which is surprisingly still thriving, is the local bookie. These days your local bookie probably runs their operation through a Pay-per-Head (PPH) site.

You are given an account and password for an online sportsbook and when you login you’ll find you already have a positive balance. That’s your line of credit and then you’ll settle up with the local bookie using cash, Paypal, Venmo, or even crypto. 

By far, the most common question I get regarding PPHs is where to find them. Finding a local bookie is like finding your local weed guy. It seems everyone knows him except you. When you do find him, it opens up another world of possibilities. 

I used to tell people to go to your closest poker room and you should find someone taking action. Could probably find multiple people in fact. These days with the prevalence of sports betting and the dearth of poker rooms. You will have better luck finding your local bookie more out in the open. A sports bar or a Starbucks might be better these days. 

Don’t be too concerned if you start out with a low-limit bookie. You can always work your way up to higher limits, or to higher-limit bookies. In fact, my best advice for dealing with local bookies is to use them to find other bookies. Chances are your guy works for someone bigger or knows of other higher-limit bookies. 

Ironically, the best time to ask about accounts with other bookies is when he no longer wants your action. He knows you’re a winning bettor and he’d like to use that to his advantage by finding places for you to bet where he doesn’t have to fade your skill. I’ve had many situations where closing one account door has opened up many other doors of opportunity. 

Other Alternatives for Bettors

If you’ve run out of regulated sportsbooks willing to take your action. A common workaround has always been betting partnerships. This topic is too massive and too nuanced to begin to broach here.

However, my advice here is to understand that having multiple accounts at the same sportsbook is frowned upon. There are laws against messenger betting in some states. That doesn’t make betting partnerships illegal though.

You can work with other people to have them get down bets for both you and them. It’s more of a division of labor rather than annexing someone else’s name for your benefit. Be sure your partner knows what to expect in working together. Betting partnerships can be very lucrative for the both of you and may even extend into alternative markets like the ones listed above.

Conclusion

The regulated betting space in the U.S. can sometimes be too confining for the aspiring sharp bettor. By expanding your horizons and looking for edges in non-traditional ways you can often overcome a lot of those restrictions. These options may take you outside your comfort zone but leveraging them is definitely part of the art of sports betting.

A good place to discuss these alternate methods is in the Unabated Discord. It’s a healthy community of thousands of bettors to bounce ideas off of. I’ll see you in there.