SugarHouse Sportsbook launched in New Jersey in August 2018 as the sports betting arm of the popular SugarHouse Casino. While the sportsbook is essentially an extension of the online casino site, SugarHouse Sportsbook has quickly become one of the most popular NJ sports betting options. SugarHouse offers some of the most in-depth betting coverage of any online sportsbook, with a special focus on in-play betting events. In addition, it has an excellent welcome offer for new bettors. 

SugarHouse is a relatively new gaming brand. The company has operated a land-based casino in Pennsylvania since 2010, and subsequently added an online casino in New Jersey in 2016. SugarHouse and its parent Rush Street Gaming have had different licensing partners, including the Golden Nugget, but they’re now tied up with Monmouth Park racetrack. Having an established presence in New Jersey allowed SugarHouse to launch one of the first online sportsbooks in the state in August 2018.

SugarHouse has been licensed by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement and is listed as authorized to offer legal online sports betting. 

The reception to SugarHouse Sportsbook has been a positive one, both from bettors and industry experts. As you can see in reviews and comments across the internet, there is particular appreciation for the sportsbook’s excellent in-play betting options and depth of betting markets.

There are plenty of payment methods to choose from, although some bettors might bemoan the absence of PayPal (Neteller is the alternative offered). SugarHouse aims for fast processing times of withdrawals, normally within 24 hours. 

You can download the SugarHouse App for both Android and Apple handheld devices. If you have an Apple smartphone or tablet, you can download the official app from the Apple Store (you will need a device with iOS 9.0 or above). For Android, the download is taken directly from the SugarHouse site. Simply click the Android icon at the bottom of the homepage to start the download, and then click install once the download is complete. You may have to adjust settings on your handheld device, but you will be prompted if this is needed. 

The app has had some fixes recently (the current version is 3.0), which was designed to get rid of some of the earlier bugginess. To an extent, that’s worked, but there are still some slightly annoying issues that persist. However, SugarHouse Sportsbook is a perfectly serviceable smartphone betting app, giving you access to tons of markets and betting features. As with the sportsbook for desktop (see below), we would like to see the SugarHouse Sportsbook as a standalone app. As it stands today, it is shared with the casino and bingo product, which makes it a bit more cumbersome than ideal. Still, if you like playing casino games, it’s neat to have all options in a single app.

The main welcome offer for new SugarHouse Sportsbook bettors in New Jersey is a 100% matched bonus on your first deposit. The value of the bonus depends on your first deposit amount, with anything from $25 up to $250 being matched. So, if you deposit $80, SugarHouse will add a further $80 in bonus cash to your account. That might sound like a fairly standard promotion, but it is set apart from rival sportsbooks’ welcome betting offers by the generous terms applied to them. Effectively, you must wager the bonus money just once in order to turn it into real cash. You can choose to bet on sports markets or casino games. Comparable new bettor betting offers tend to have much stricter terms, so SugarHouse definitely gets a thumbs up here. The bonus funds will be credited within 48 hours of your deposit (enter promo code 250MATCH), and you will have 30 days to wager the bonus amount. 

As for other sports betting promotions, SugarHouse bettors might have a hard time finding regular sports betting promos. There are several promotions on the site, but they are not exclusive to sports betting. Instead, SugarHouse has a bunch of bingo and casino promotions. That, of course, isn’t a bad thing, but it’s part of the overarching issue with SugarHouse; namely, there is a lot of conflation with its sports betting and other gaming products. On one hand, that’s fine for those who enjoy all types of gambling. Yet, others might prefer a sports-specific product. Regardless, you can avail yourself of some promos that can benefit your sportsbook wallet, including a refer a friend bonus with a mystery prize between $50 and $500 and a reward program. The latter, which is termed iRush Rewards, will award bonus points for each wager made on sports. The program is tiered, so if you are a high-stakes bettor you can move up to the VIP level and unlock some great rewards, including a personal account manager, luxury gifts and many other perks.

The design and layout of the SugarHouse Sportsbook online site is fine, albeit it can feel a little clunky at times. The blue on white color scheme works well, and everything is easily accessible with a couple of clicks. However, as mentioned above, the sportsbook would arguably be better served if it was its own standalone product. For example, clicking on tabs like Promotions and Rewards brings you to a part of the site shared with bingo and casino products. It would be a much more pleasant and speedier experience to have a drop-down menu with sports betting promotions. Indeed, there are some issues with bugginess on the desktop site. For example, the live chat icon covers some of the betting market menu making it difficult to know which sport you are selecting.  

That criticism shouldn’t detract from the quality and depth of coverage in the sportsbook, which is, frankly, excellent. SugarHouse covers all major sports leagues from the US and around the world, with a few niche sports like Australian Rules and darts available as well. Horse racing betting is excluded, as is betting on NJ college sports teams. However, all other popular sports are covered on the site, and we are hard pressed to cite something that SugarHouse lacks. SugarHouse Sportsbook’s website software is provided by Kambi, a UK-betting software specialist that supplies betting solutions for several of New Jersey’s top sportsbooks.  

Within each sport, a broad range of betting lines is offered. For example, we looked at an MLS game between New York Red Bulls and New York City FC and found an impressive 340 betting lines across 109 individual betting markets for the game before kick-off. We also found excellent coverage for MLB, basketball and tennis matches. We should also bring your attention to SugarHouse Sportsbook’s Parlay Builder feature, which lets you combine several betting lines from a single event into a parlay bet. At the moment, the Parlay Builder is restricted to soccer, but expect it to be extended to other sports in the future. The parlay-building feature is common in Kambi-powered online betting sites.

As for the all-important quality of betting odds at SugarHouse Sportsbook, we decided to pick a random sporting event and measure the odds against rival NJ sportsbooks. We chose the 2020 NBA Championship, and compared the SugarHouse’s odds for the LA Clippers, LA Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks with those offered by playMGM and DraftKings Sportsbook. We found SugarHouse had the best odds or joint-best odds for three of the four teams. We did the same test for the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals, and we found that SugarHouse came out on top again alongside DraftKings.

Sugarhouse Sportsbook had gained a reputation for providing an excellent in-play betting service online, and we weren’t disappointed with what we found. A large selection of in-play betting markets is available for each sport. For example, MLB games will have 30+ betting lines and high-level soccer games will offer 90+ betting lines. In addition, there is an option for fast bet, which allows you to make instant in-play bets on mini events like the next corner in soccer or next point in tennis. Infographics are provided for each in-play event, with game stats and other information updated in real time. SugarHouse is also among the first New Jersey online sportsbooks to offer live streaming of sports through its site, which comes thanks to a deal with IMG Arena. It is expected that more sports will be added to the portfolio soon.