An online sportsbook from New Jersey’s oldest casino is always going to interest bettors. Resorts Online Sportsbook launched in 2019 amid high hopes from bettors who are famously loyal to one of the most-well-known brands of Atlantic City’s Boardwalk. Resorts Digital Gaming has delivered a no-nonsense, serious online sportsbook, but one that delivers on several fronts, especially with in-play betting and promotions. Read on to get our full analysis of Resorts Online Sportsbook.

As the first legal US casino to operate outside of Nevada, Resorts Casino has become a firm fixture in New Jersey since it opened its doors in 1978. Resorts has had several struggles, ownership changes and management woes through the years, but it has had a new lease of life in recent years, signing deals with sportsbooks like DraftKings to enter into the online sports betting market in New Jersey. Since 2012, Resorts has been owned by Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, a casino resorts and iGaming company with premises worldwide.

The security of your financial and personal details is given top priority at Resorts Online Sportsbook. The site’s servers are protected by robust and up-to-date firewalls, and any transactions sent by you over the internet are encrypted using the latest SSL technology. Several other security measures are put into place to protect your account, including two-step verification.

Resorts Online Sportsbook has a license from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to offer legal online sports betting. Perhaps hoping to capitalize on its loyal casino clientele, Resorts’ sportsbook went live in January 2019. So far, the reception to the online sportsbook has been a positive one among bettors in New Jersey. The sportsbook is integrated with the Resorts Online Casino site, and both products have been successful in attracting new patrons to the Resorts brand.

Resorts Sportsbook ticks all the boxes for payment methods, including Cash at Cage at the Resorts Casino Atlantic City. A stated $100 minimum withdrawal amount for PayPal ($10 for other methods) looks like a misstep and might turn off casual bettors.

Resorts Online Sportsbook has been optimized for mobile betting, so you can place bets on your smartphone as long as you are located in New Jersey. If you prefer using a dedicated sports app, however, you can download the betting app by visiting the sportsbook on your mobile handset. If you are using an Android handheld device, the download will start automatically once you click the banner on top of the mobile homepage. You may be prompted to give permission to install, but the download should be complete in under 30 seconds. If using an Apple device, Resorts will provide a link for the official iOS betting app. iOS 8.0 or later is required.

The Resorts Sportsbook app is neatly organized and easy to use, though it is perhaps a little sluggish for our liking. It’s not that it’s a bad app, we just found it to be a bit buggy and clunky when navigating through it. While the betting app might need a bit of an upgrade to iron out some wrinkles, it offers the full betting selection of the desktop site, including some excellent live betting features.

Resorts’ new bettor welcome offer is a 100% matched deposit bonus up to $250. Simply follow these steps as laid out on the Resorts Sportsbook website:

•         Go to My Account and select My Bonuses.
•         Enter bonus code RSBETMATCH, and then click Get Details.
•         Under Available Bonuses, click Deposit next to the code and make your first deposit.

The bonus is awarded in ‘sports bonus dollars’, which, as you might have guessed, you cannot withdraw as cash right away. You must wager the value of your bonus five times on sports betting markets. So, if you deposit $100 and get a $100 bonus, you must wager $500 to turn the sports bonus dollars into real, withdrawable cash. Any bets made to meet the wagering requirements must be greater than 1.67 (-149). There are positives and negatives about this sports betting welcome offer. On the one hand, wagering the bonus amount five times feels a little tough. On the other hand, your initial deposit is exempted from wagering, so it’s essentially a free shot at winning some extra cash.

Resorts’ sportsbook is on an integrated gaming platform with its online casino, and the majority of bonuses and promotions are aimed at online casino players (you can access all the casino bonuses and games with your sports betting account). Nevertheless, there are some strong promos specifically tailored towards sports bettors. For example, Resorts offers you a free $5 bet every week if you place 10 or more bets on the sportsbook. That may not sound like much, but those 10 wagers only need to be over $1 each, so it’s a pretty generous offer. Resorts also offers a Parlay Boost promotion, where you can earn up to 60% extra cash on top of your winnings. For example, a 3-leg parlay will give a 5% bonus, 4-leg 10%, 5-leg 15% and so on, right up to 60% for bets with 14-legs+. This is one of the most generous parlay boost offers found with any online sportsbooks. Resorts Online Sportsbook also has several enhanced offers that span several sports. Rather than focus on daily odds boosts, though, Resorts seems to favor futures markets. For example, currently the sportsbook offers boosted odds on three separate teams to win Super Bowl LIV.

Sports betting at Resorts is also linked to the Resorts Rewards loyalty scheme. You will earn one loyalty point for every $2 wagered on sports. These points can later be used to recoup cash, free stays at Resorts Casino, upgrades and other perks linked to the casino resort. If you join Resorts Rewards, you can even get a free upgrade to Gold Membership by logging on to the New Jersey site and sending a screenshot of your account membership. Resorts also offers a VIP scheme – Echelon Rewards – which is triggered when you hit certain wagering targets each month. If you meet those requirements, you will be in line to receive luxury gifts, personal account management, special bonuses and other perks linked to Resorts Casino.

Resorts Online Sportsbook is powered by software from betting specialists SBTech. The desktop betting site is cleverly organized and stylish, although the navigation can feel a little bit clunky at times. We should bring your attention to an ace up Resorts’ sleeve; namely, an excellent betting rules and information guide, which you will find under the Sports Betting 101 tab. Analysis, how-to-guides and advice is provided by Mike Gill from 97.3 ESPN Sports Bash. Sports betting is also covered in Resorts Casino Blog, which can be accessed through sportsbook homepage.

Resorts offers a signature betting game – Fast Picks. It works a bit like daily fantasy sports where you place bets on individual player match ups. Stats are calculated after the game, and your winning match ups are accumulated. The minimum entry fee for the game is $5, but you can win up to $100,000. If stats and fantasy sports are your thing, it’s worth checking out.

Resorts offers sports betting markets on 14 different sports, which is about average when compared to other sportsbooks in New Jersey. All major US sports – MLB, NHL, MLS, NBA, College Sports and NFL – are covered, as well as a full selection of international soccer, golf and tennis. Like all New Jersey online sportsbooks, Resorts is prohibited from offers betting on horse racing and events that involve New Jersey college sports teams.

The variety of markets within each sport is excellent, with 100+ markets for most soccer games, 50+ for MLB games and 30+ for tennis matches. That means there is a broad choice of different betting lines, allowing bettors to choose from moneyline, spread, totals and a huge number of props betting markets. Teasers bets are offered on selected basketball and football games.

In order to test the competitivity of the odds at Resorts Online Sportsbook, we randomly selected a sporting event – the 2019 US Open Women’s tennis singles – and compared the odds with two other New Jersey online sportsbooks – SugarHouse and 888Sport NJ. We found that all three sportsbooks were tied when it came to the odds for the favorite, Serena Williams. However, Resorts had the best price on a handful of other leading players, including the number one ranked player in the world, Ashleigh Barty. In the outright win markets for the Australian, Resorts had a price of 12.00 (+1100), compared to 8.0 (+700) for the other two sportsbooks. Bookmakers are always going to have different opinions on some events, but on the evidence of what we have seen, we would be happy to recommend Resorts as a competitive odds-setter.

Resorts Online Sportsbook has an excellent in-play betting service, which goes the same route as its pre-match betting in terms of the amount of betting lines offered. All sports listed on the site are available for live betting, although not every event is covered. The live betting console, however, is superior to the majority of NJ sportsbooks, and we particularly liked the Match Tracker feature, which keeps bettors appraised of scores, stats and plays – all updated in real time. The live bet selection is very solid, with around 40 markets offered for a typical tennis match. Those keen on live betting online will also appreciate the dedicated Fast Bets section, which allows for rapid wagering on individual plays and points. We can’t find much fault with the live betting experience at Resorts, although we were disappointed to find the sportsbook did not offer an early cash out feature for live betting.