Powered by eSportz (six years experience in the industry ), BoDog Sportsbook and Casino (based in Costa Rica) has become the "leader of the pack" with high limits on all the big sports, an extensive range of original exotic bets and props, and favorable, unique lines across the board.

Vegas Experts: Can you give me a brief overview of BoDog Sportsbook & Casino?

Rob: We work hard to be the choice of high rollers and we offer a premium level of service and product selection that discriminating players demand. The site looks great, loads fast and is simple to navigate. Players also have instant access to a full "no-download" casino from their sportsbook account. Super-fast payouts, weekly Bonuses and fantastic customer service complete the package.

VE: Is BoDog Sportsbook & Casino endorsed by any of the watchdogs?

Rob: We are currently monitored by Covers.com, Bettorsworld and The Prescription.

VE: What bonuses and incentives do you currently offer your customers?

Rob: We offer a huge variety of incentives, but they are too numerous to detail in a couple of minutes. I always tell people to do two things to get the most out of our Bonus programs. First, check out the site and click on the 'Bonuses' icon on the home page. This gives a brief summary of the most current programs. Then sign up. We have a great weekly mailer that tells all about our latest offers, and is a lot of fun to read. You'll get this every week just by opening an account, even if you don't want to deposit right away. The big news right now is that we are offering up to a 50% deposit bonus for new accounts, as a way of kicking off the NFL season in style.

VE: Which sports are most popular with your customers?

Rob: The big 3 - football, basketball and baseball, but we did see a big surge in hockey handle towards the end of the season. Our PGA, NASCAR and boxing volumes have been very solid all Summer. Arena Football, WNBA, Soccer and F1 are showing steady growth too. If there is a sport that we don't offer, I encourage clients to let us know and we will do our best to add it. We had several requests for CFL and it has proven to be very popular for us.

VE: How do you ensure the security of your site and clients?

Rob: A couple of ways. First, we do not contract out our payment processing systems. We also do not store credit card information between transactions. Lastly, we use the latest encryption technology and firewalls to protect the privacy and security of our customers.

VE: Where are you located, and what are the advantages of being based in your location? What role does the government play?

Rob: We are in San Jose, Costa Rica. The local government has been very supportive of the industry and has taken steps to make sure that only legitimate operations are based there. The government has proven to be very stable politically and that helped in making our choice. Costa Rica also has a great high-tech infrastructure and a well-educated and highly trained pool of labor to draw from. The weather is always warm [chuckle], even if it isn't always dry.

VE: What methods of payments are available for deposit and withdrawal? What do you recommend?

Rob: For deposits, we accept all major credit cards, Western Union, bank wires, personal checks and we are now proud to offer PayPal as an option. For withdrawals we offer credit card reversals and check by mail or courier. Western Union has become very popular, and the nature of the transaction makes it very safe for both parties, so we continue to advocate this as the best choice for mid to large size deposits. Bank wires are still the best way for very large deposits, but I think credit cards are still the most convenient choice for the average player. We know some banks have made it more difficult to make credit card transactions for wagering sites and we recommend that anyone so affected should use PayPal and spend the little bit of time to set up their bank account for direct deposits.

VE: How fast do payments to and from usually take?

Rob: With credit cards and Western Union's Quick Collect program, payments can be processed almost instantly. PayPal requests are processed very quickly as well. Bank wires and personal checks take longer as they are at the mercy of third parties. Withdrawals are processed as quickly as humanly possible but there is sometimes a small wait, as credit card companies aren't as quick to credit your account as they are to debit it. Couriered checks normally arrive a day or two after they are sent and mailed checks are usually there in 3-7 business days after the postman comes by.

VE: Some sportsbooks are trying to limit their exposure to professional gamblers. Some choose not to pay players. What is your policy on taking "sharp" action?

Rob: I am proud to say that we have never refused a payout. We have no problems taking "sharp" action, but we manage it on a per sport or per game basis. If someone beats us over a long period of time, we may restrict play, but we certainly won't stop them from wagering [chuckle], but that hasn't happened yet.

VE: What are your betting limits?

Rob: That's tough to answer in a sentence or two, especially as we are stilling finalizing our numbers for this season. To give you an idea of our Internet Maximums, we are looking at around $3000 for NFL sides, $2000 for College Football side and $1000 for football parlays and teasers. We are happy to take much larger bets, just contact our wager center and let us know what you want to wager on. We are always raising our maximum bets as we continue to grow, so check the site often as our fabulous Help section always displays the most recent 'Net maximums.

VE: Do you have any promotions that are BoDog originals?

Rob: There have been many! Again, I would suggest people check out the site and sign up to get our weekly mailer, but I'll give you some of the most popular examples. We have a great VIP comping program where we reward our most loyal players every month. We've also offered promotions for free wagers on the Indy 500, free wagers on Arena Football, free casino chips, no-vig events and many, many more. We offer a couple of unique bets every week including the Special K on Tuesdays and Saturdays where you pick the pitcher who will strike-out the most players. I noticed recently that this has popped up on other sites, but I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I don't think this will be the last innovation of ours that becomes industry standard.

VE: What is the hardest part in running a sportsbook?

Rob: Is there an easy part!? There are lots of challenges, but when you love the industry and the job as much as I do, nothing is insurmountable. There are the day-to-day issues of any business, compounded by the fact that we are dealing with many different technologies. It hasn't been easy, but I feel great about the hard-working team we've assembled over the past seven years and I look forward to taking on many more challenges in the years ahead.

VE: What is the biggest advantage to using BoDog over other books?

Rob: We are truly the best Sportsbook on the Internet. We offer everything a player could want from big maximum bets on NFL, NBA and college sports to fun and exciting prop bets and futures, to great customer service. There are a couple of important points I would like to add. We make reasonable attempts to balance action. We also don't subscribe to the popular theory of moving lines "on air" just because the rest of the pack does. It's also easy to find the lines, because only eSportz software allows you to see the lines you want in a single click from the home page! Once any serious player finds out that we offer unique lines that are super fast to access and review, we quickly become one of their outs. In many cases, we become the first place they shop!

Please contact BoDog at:
Website: www.bodog.com
Phone: 1 888 263 0000
Email: service@bodog.com