Every once in a while people just want to let their hair down, gamble, and have some fun. Watching a football game with your friends and eating some chicken wings and drinking beer is a great time, but what makes it even better to some is betting some money—and winning some money—on the game in question. This is where you might want to sign up with an online sportsbook. What about the Cloudbet sportsbook? Is this a website worth your time? From first glance, it's easy to see that Cloudbet stands out a little more than the competition. For starters, they are a Bitcoin site, which means you can link your Bitcoin wallet and instantly deposit and withdrawal. Secondly, they're also a full-range gambling site. While the main site itself is a sportsbook, you will also find casino games like roulette, blackjack, and more by clicking on the tabs via the homepage.

One thing that drew us to the site and made us want to review it for sports gamblers is the fact that Cloudbet is very open and transparent. They give you some detailed information about their ironclad security online, walking you through their 128 encryption software. They're also fully licensed and regulated by the government gambling authority of Curacao, which is an offshore site not located in the USA. Yep, you guessed it: This means they accept players from the USA! That's a big deal in the world today, especially with a site making it easier on you with Bitcoin as a banking option. While our first impression was good, let's see what else the site has to offer before we render a verdict.

When you deposit with Cloudbet, you can take part in their 100% deposit match bonus. There is no set limit on cash here. The sportsbook will match you on five Bitcoins. Bitcoins today are valued at right around around $400, so if you deposit five coins, you are receiving over $2000 in equivalent cash from the site. However, don't start jumping for joy yet. You have to understand that this isn't money that's going to be put into your account right away. They don't have crazy stipulations that will take you years to clear, but you are going to have to make real-money bets on sports or casino games before they start releasing these pieces of coins into your account. After all, if they just gave you the coins right away, there's nothing to stop you from leaving with the free money and playing somewhere else.

There aren't many more bonuses or promotions to speak of on Cloudbet. Their welcome bonus is pretty much the big player here. However, they do sometimes offer member bonuses like loyalty rewards, so make sure you tune in to the site to see what they have cooking. By the time you're reading this article, the site may have changed some of its offerings. We recommend getting the information straight from the source here.

When searching around for a site's reputation, we look at a wide range of things to determine the site's legitimacy. We're looking for grass-roots-level opinions about the site. In the Bitcoin gambling community, Cloudbet is a name spoken quite often. People speak very highly not only about the instant transactions due to the Bitcoin angle, but also about the site's tight security. Of course, that isn't to say that people don't list their complaints. If ever you want to hear what's really wrong with a website, just find somebody who puts their money in it. They will let you know in a hurry.

Overall, on a 10-scale, we'd say that Cloudbet's reputation is a solid 8.5. They are lacking in a couple of areas, which we will touch on below, but they more than make up for those things in game selection, bonus offerings, and with the Bitcoin angle.

You have to understand here that Cloudbet is specifically a Bitcoin only site. This means that you cannot play there for real money unless you do have a Bitcoin wallet and some coins to transfer to the site. However, you only need 0.01 Bitcoin, so it's not as if you have to go out and purchase an entire coin. You can invest a couple of bucks in a part of a coin and experience fast transactions, ironclad security, and more benefits by using this method. In no way do you need a full coin to participate.

Bitcoin is Cloudbet's angle, so don't expect them to introduce e-wallets like Neteller or PayPal, or any credit cards like MasterCard or Visa.

To help you make a better decision about whether or not to play at Cloudbet, let's go through a few pros and cons of playing with the site.

Positives

• Cloudbet has a very wide list of sports, including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, golf, racing, volleyball, Olympic games, and more
• The site also has casino games you can play
• Some of their casino games are live-betting games, meaning you get a real dealer and a true-to-life experience
• The site's software runs on any device and doesn't require a lot of power to operate, so there's no real lag to speak of
• The sign-up bonus offered is quite lucrative, up to five Bitcoins
• Cloudbet sets their own in-house lines, so they're not grabbing other sports lines from outside the source, meaning you get independent odds which may be better
• You can make a wide range of bets, including parlays whereby you will roll your winning bets over
• Bitcoins are kept in "cold storage" off-site, which means that nobody is going to be hacking in and stealing them
• You will find very high betting limits, great if you're a high-roller, or you can bet for as little as 0.01 coin
• The interface is very clean and user-friendly
• All financial transactions are instant and free

Negatives

• The site unfortunately does not have live support (phone, 'net chat)
• You cannot play anonymously - some bitcoin sites don't even require registration
• Cloudbet doesn't offer any e-sports
• Only bonus is the welcome bonus - no loyalty program

For a Bitcoin sportsbook, Cloudbet is a very to-the-point website that offers a whole lot more than meets the eye. Not only can you bet on a slew of domestic and international sports, and gamble freely as an American, but you can also play a lot of casino games and even live casino games. The site definitely doesn't skimp on these sorts of features. While they might not offer every single thing a gambler could want, our verdict is that this is a very good site (one of the best reputations in the business) if you want to bet on sports using Bitcoin.