Low deposit betting sites

Why start small

The first payout is the moment you learn what a book is. Until then you've only seen its deposit page, which is always easy. So I'd start with the least a book will take, bet it through once, and ask for a withdrawal. Note when you asked and when it arrived. If it pays, deposit more. If it stalls, you've lost little and learned a lot.

Some books hold every new customer's first payout for a set time, and some ask for identity documents before they pay anyone, which is normal and still slows you down. I'd rather find that out on $20 than on $2,000. The withdrawals page covers the usual holds and how long payouts take.

What eats a small deposit

Fees hurt a small deposit most. A 15.9 percent card fee takes $3.18 of a $20 deposit before you've placed a bet. A flat fee is worse: Bovada charges $100 for a payout by check, says its site, which is five times the whole deposit. I'd look at both ends before I put a dollar in:

• The fee on the method you deposit with, which is often nothing on crypto and a lot on a card
• The minimum withdrawal and its fee, because a book can take $20 in and refuse to pay out less than $50

The minimum also varies by method within the same book, so a book may take $20 in crypto and want $50 by card. Read the line. Each row in the list below quotes the deposit line from the review, so you can see which method the low minimum applies to.

The bonus trap

A small deposit with a big bonus attached is the worst of both. The rollover is figured on deposit plus bonus, so the bonus locks a small balance in place for a long time. On a test deposit I'd skip the bonus altogether. The bonuses page shows how to work one out if you want to take it later.

Reading the list

The list below shows the books we've reviewed whose sites state a minimum deposit of $20 or less on at least one method, A to Z. A book whose review doesn't state a minimum is left out.

Your side of it

A low minimum is a test, not a budget. Decide what you can afford to lose before the first deposit, and keep each bet to 1 or 2 percent of that bankroll. Small deposits add up fastest when there are a lot of them.