In Which States is Sahara Bets Legal?

Sahara Bets is licensed and operational in Arizona exclusively for now. The Sahara Bets website features a dropdown state-selector menu that indicates future expansions are in the works, but the company has not detailed its intentions in other states beyond the Arizona sports betting market.

For now, Sahara Bets customers must be 21 or older and physically located within Arizona borders. Bettors can download the Sahara Bets app from anywhere to register, deposit, and view the lines, but they must be physically located within Arizona lines to place real-money wagers.

Sahara Bets Promo Code

Sahara Bets Bonus Offer

Sahara Bets welcomes new customers with a 100% first bet match bonus on their first deposit. Bettors who sign up for accounts and make a first deposit of $20 or more qualify for a free bet voucher of equal amount.

For example, if a new user registers for an account and makes a first deposit of $50, they will receive a $50 free bet voucher.

New bettors can claim their free bet voucher in four steps:

1. Download the Sahara Bets app or visit SaharaBets.com
2. Sign up for an account and log in
3. Click or tap the “add funds” button
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to make a first deposit of at least $20

No promo code is necessary to claim this bonus.

The Sahara Bets bonus looks standard at first, but it functions differently than most. Bettors cannot use the free bet voucher as a single bet or break it up to use as they wish. Instead, Sahara Bets automatically applies 5% of the free bet voucher to every cash wager customers place. For example, if someone with a $100 free bet voucher places a $50 wager, only $5 of the wager will be placed as bonus funds, while the other $45 would come from their cash account.

Sahara Bets Promotions

SaharaBets.com is still light on promotions at this early stage. It will likely introduce additional offers as it gets its footing, but its current promotional lineup is limited.

Currently, Sahara Bets offers exactly one promotion:

All customers receive a $10 free bet voucher on their birthday each year.

It’s a nice promotion, but it’s not much. Sahara Bets does not yet advertise odds boosts, reload bonuses, or even a loyalty program. In short, Sahara Bets has a lot of work to do before it can compete with other legal sports betting sites for new customer incentives.

However, look for Sahara Bets to significantly expand its promotional lineup as it settles in. Its advertising partnership with the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes clears the way for unique and potentially lucrative promotions.

In fact, Coyotes President Xavier A. Gutierrez alluded to such in a statement announcing the partnership:

“The Coyotes are dedicated to providing innovative and entertaining experiences for our great fans. Our partnership with SaharaBets will offer next-level gaming experiences for fans who want to unleash their competitive spirit.”

Considering the competitive nature of the sports betting market, Sahara Bets will likely launch many more promotions in the future. Bettors have too many options at their fingertips for any one sportsbook to make a dent in the market without regular promotions.

Sahara Bets App Review

The Sahara Bets app suffers fatal flaws in its current iteration, but there are glimmers of hope for its future. However, many users report launching the app only to watch it freeze indefinitely at the loading screen. As a result, many users cannot even use the Sahara Bets app to log in or place wagers.

BettingUSA managed to preview the app one time but has been unable to use it in every instance since. When it does work, the Sahara Bets app looks nice and runs well – but successfully running the app has been the exception, not the rule.

At this stage, BettingUSA cannot recommend the Sahara Bets mobile app to readers. The SaharaBets.com website functions fine, but the mobile app is simply not usable today.

Sahara Bets In-Play Betting

Sahara Bets offers a perfunctory in-play betting experience with live wagers on professional and college games seven days a week.

The live betting catalog provides an adequate variety of sports coverage every day, but the individual games it covers are short on betting markets. Additionally, the interface lacks live data. As a result, bettors interact with a relatively bland interface with little contextual data to rely on.

Betting markets for most in-play events consist of full-game moneylines, totals, spreads, part-time results, and team totals.

While other sports betting apps provide extensive betting markets, including short-term wagers, Sahara Bets sticks to the basics.

Sahara Bets Sports and Markets

Most fans will find Sahara Bets’ sports coverage more than adequate for their needs. Sahara Bets offers pregame and live betting on a full range of professional US games, college sports, and international events.

Fortunately, Sahara Bet’s pregame market depth is much deeper than its in-game wagering menus for professional leagues. Bettors can visit any game page on the Sahara Bets app or website to bet on the outcome, point spread, part-time results, game props, and player props.

Sahara Bets provides considerable depth in its pro player props markets, with dozens of statistical wagers organized by category such as passing yards, rushing yards, receiving yards, and so on.

College betting receives less attention, with just a few standard markets for each game. Whereas Sahara Bets provides dozens of lines for the NFL and other pro sports, it only provides the basics (spread, total, moneyline, 1^st half) for most college games.

However, market depth ranks well in one-off events such as UFC fights and championship games. In the days before a recent MMA fight, Sahara Bets provided moneylines, round totals, winning methods, and will the fight go the distance markets for every matchup.

All sports Sahara Bets covers:

Sahara Bets Deposit Methods

Sahara Bets only accepts one deposit method, but it provides several funding mechanisms that should cover most bettors’ needs.

Customers can deposit to Sahara Bets by visiting the cashier and registering for a Play+ account. From there, they can fund their Play+ accounts via credit card, debit card, bank transfer, and PayPal.

Sahara Bets FAQ

Expert Opinion: Is Sahara Bets Legit?

Sahara Bets is a legitimate and licensed online sportsbook. Its parent company operates two land-based casinos in Nevada and is headed by a respected gambling business leader (Alex Meruelo).

BettingUSA has no concerns regarding Sahara Bets ability to pay winners and maintain its licensing status in the highly regulated online sports betting industry.

However, its lackluster promotional lineup, limited in-play betting options, and broken mobile sports betting app are impossible to overlook. Sahara Bets will likely improve on each of those issues as it establishes its footing in the competitive online sports betting market, but in its current form, it comes up short relative to the competition.