SI Sportsbook Review

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Although the Sports Illustrated brand has been known to fans for decades due to the magazine and website, the sportsbook is a relatively new venture.

In 2021 SI partnered with English company 888 Holdings to launch an online betting platform that was first active in Colorado, then spread to Virginia and Michigan.

There has been some turmoil with SI Sportbook recently as 888 sold assets that included the online sportsbook to Hard Rock Digital in March. It remains to be seen whether the Sports Illustrated brand will remain attached to this product in the long term.

SI Sportsbook does not currently offer a welcome bonus. The online sportsbook has had such offers in the past, but the fact it may soon retreat from Colorado and Michigan like it did from Virginia could be a factor here.

Sign-up bonuses are designed to incentivize users to stick around with a sportsbook over the long haul and if SI Sportsbook won't be around for too much longer it might not see the value in handing out bonus bets.

For many sports bettors, a strong initial bonus is an enormous part of the appeal of joining a new sportsbook and it's worth noting that SI falls short in this area.

SI Sportsbook's lack of a welcome offer doesn't mean it has no promotions. It offers daily odds boosts, and allows users to participate in a free contest known as Perfect 10 every week of the NFL season where they could win up to $10K.

This contest asks customers to guess the outcome of 10 NFL games and they win prizes based on how successful they are. The prize breakdown is as follows:

• 0/10 - 5/10 — no prize
• 6/10 - $1 SI sportsbook bonus bet
• 7/10 - $3 SI sportsbook bonus bet
• 8/10 - $5 SI sportsbook bonus bet
• 9/10 - $10 SI sportsbook bonus bet
• 10/10 - A share of $10K prize depending on how many players were successful.

SI Sportsbook is available in two states: Colorado and Michigan

The sportsbook was once a sports betting option in Virginia, but pulled out of that market on June 3.

While how a sportsbook or app feels to use is a bit subjective, our impression of the SI Sportsbook is that it's a bit ugly and clunky. The red-and-black color scheme is nothing new, but it looks worse than usual here against a grey background.

Nothing is notably hard to find, but the search function is easy to miss as a small icon in the top left of the screen on desktop, meaning some users may have trouble discovering sports that don't find their way onto the main landing page. It takes a surprisingly long time to load different pages, which can be an issue in live betting situations.

Between the uninspired look and lethargic navigation, there's plenty to nitpick here, but those things may not be the top priority for sports betting fans.

Signing up for a sportsbook account with SI Sportsbook is a relatively straightforward process. 

After you hit the ‘Sign Up’ button on the website or app, you’ll be directed to a page entitled ‘Tell us about yourself’ that will ask for the following information.

• Your name
• Your address
• Your date of birth
• The last four digits of your social security number

The next page you’ll be directed is called ‘Let’s set up your account’ and it ask for:

• An account email and password
• A security question
• Your phone number

After getting through those two pages, you’ll be ready to make your first deposit and begin betting.

The SI Sportsbook mobile apps present similarly to the desktop, but with one notable added feature — access to Sports Illustrated articles.

At the top of the apps, users will find a section entitled 'Made for You' with popular bets on upcoming events, then a 'Popular Events' section where they can browse all of the markets for the biggest games or fights on a given day.

In our experience with these apps, we found them to be on the slow side with a lengthy location check and significant loading times for the deposit and withdrawal pages. It was more inconvenient than totally disqualifying, but it's notable for those who enjoy in-play betting where even slight lag can be detrimental.

Below you'll find a summary of what real users had to say about their experiences with the SI Sportsbook apps.

SI Sportsbook attempts to meet the needs of North American users interested in online sports betting with all of the betting types they've come to expect. Like many other online sportsbooks, SI Sportsbook allows customers to wager on individual games, prop bets, and live events for several popular sports.

Below summary of the betting options you can find at SI Sportsbook:

While SI Sportsbook's interface shows tabs for futures bets, it seems that they have taken down some markets that would be available at other sportsbooks.

That's likely due to the uncertainty surrounding SI sportsbook, whether it leaves either of its existing markets or gets folded in under the Hard Rock Digital brand in the months ahead. For bettors who prefer futures betting over other wagering types, SI Sportsbook is not a good option right now.

Like most of its competitors, SI Sportsbook has live betting functionality with a prominent 'Live Now' tab that includes a variety of sports currently taking place around the world.

These offerings are fairly comprehensive as during test during non-peak hours we found markets on basketball games in three countries, soccer in six different leagues from Uruguay to New Zealand, 12 tennis matches, and both men's and women's volleyball.

For bettors who prioritize live betting, there is no shortage of options with SI Sportbook.

One notable feature of SI Sportsbook is that it tracks the most popular bets made by users on what it calls a 'Betfeed'. Whether bettors are willing to trust in the wisdom of crowds or not is their prerogative, but this feed may present options for users they might not have considered otherwise.

When we examined this 'Betfeed' feature we found that it generated a variety of suggested bets ranging from fairly standard over/under plays on individual MLB games, to three-leg WNBA parlays, to longshot prop combos that paid out at +11900.

These bets can be sorted by most recent, most popular, and start time or divided up by sports or bet type. That allows customers to create a heavily customized Betfeed if they find the feature to be useful.

Like most sportsbooks, Sports Illustrated's betting platform offers plenty of parlay options from cross-sport plays, to intra-sport multi-leg bets, to same-game parlays.

Building a same-game parlay with the sportsbook is fairly intuitive, but the 'Single Game Parlay' tool does not apply to every sport. For instance during a test we were able to used it with a WNBA game, but not an AHL hockey matchup.

While SI Sportsbook has enough parlay functionality to suit most bettors, if prospective users are interested in more niche sports they would be well served to take a look at its offers in that sport.

SI Sportsbook's odds can be easily found on the landing page of the SI sportsbook or on the mobile betting app.

It's wise to compare the available odds to other sportsbooks. The current industry standard for vig — or the house's edge — ranges between 3.66% and 4.61% depending on the bet type.

We found SI Sportsbook to feature lines with more vig than average. It was typical to see live odds with a vig above 5% and as high as 6%. Using odds boosts could help bettors mitigate some of that house edge, but this sportsbook's strength does not appear to be its lines.

Here are some examples of SI Sportsbook's lines compared to some other players in the online sports betting space:

SI Sportsbook provides several different methods for users to fund their accounts.

Some online sportsbooks are relatively opaque about how financial transactions with them. Unlike those other sportsbooks, SI has a dedicated page with a comprehensive list of withdrawal and deposit options.

SI Sportsbook Deposit Methods and Withdrawal Options

Sports bettors have a variety of different needs when it comes to funding their accounts. Some prefer credit cards and cash apps while others use direct online banking methods.

Below is a summary of what methods work with SI Sportsbook.

Deposit methods that can also receive withdrawals

• VISA and Mastercard debit cards
• ACH Bank Transfer
• Play+
• PayPal

Deposit-only methods

• VISA, Mastercard, and Discover credit cards
• Instant Bank Transfer
• PayNearMe

Name	Deposit			Withdraw
	Time	Min	Fee	Time	Max	Fee
VISA	0-1 day	$1	2%	2-7 days	$50000	2%
Mastercard	0-1 day	$1	2%	2-7 days	$50000	2%
Discover	0-1 day	$1	2.8%	N/A	N/A	N/A
PayPal	0-3 days	$10	1.9%	2-7 days	$60000	1.9%
Bank Wire Transfer	0-1 day	$10	0%	1-7 days	$50000	N/A
ACH/eCHECK	0-1 day	$10	0%	N/A	N/A	N/A
Play+	0-1 day	$5	0%	2-7 days	$25000	1.9%
Paynearme	0-2 days	$10	0%	N/A	N/A	N/A

SI Sportsbook has limited customer support options compared to many of its competitors. It doesn’t provide any options for live chat or calls, meaning that users must email in their issues and wait for a response.

While that response may be helpful, it might not come in time to resolve a customer’s problem. In our experience with this system, we quickly received an email letting us know that our inquiry had been received, but things didn't go well from there.

In a couple of cases, we received responses on the day our question was sent in, but on multiple other occasions it took 3-4 days for SI Sportsbook to try to answer our question — and those answers weren't necessarily satisfactory. Customer service is a massive weakness for this sportsbook right now.

SI Sportsbook also has a limited social media presence, as the main Sports Illustrated accounts use their large reach to post about them instead of dedicated accounts existing. There is an SI Betting account on X, but it promotes betting content rather than performing any kind of support function.

SI Sportsbook has a page on its website with responsible gambling content, outlining various tools such as self-imposed deposit and wagering limits that can be set for daily, weekly, or monthly periods.

Customers can also set playing time limits or take a break and suspend their sportsbook account for any specified duration — or indefinitely.

SI Sportsbook directs customers to resources such as the National Council on Problem Gambling's website.

Below is a summary of SI Sportsbook's responsible gambling tools:

It is understandable for sports bettors to have a level of caution when they engage with any online sportsbook, but there isn't any reason to doubt the legitimacy of the SI Sportsbook.

While the Sports Illustrated name may not mean as much as it once did to sports fans, this is a sportsbook that was initially started with the help of an established operator in 888 Holdings, that is passing into the hands of another credible player in the sports betting landscape with Hard Rock Digital.

SI Sportsbook is a fully licensed, legal online sports betting operation in multiple states that has the safety features that sports betting enthusiasts have come to expect.

SI Sportsbook provides some information for new bettors who might be unfamiliar with some of the mechanics of sports betting, but it doesn't stand out in this area.

Instead of providing a comprehensive 'Sports Betting 101' section, basic information about betting terms and types of wagers can be found in the 'SI Sportsbook Support Center' section of the website under the heading 'Games'.

Once there, users can see information on SI Sportsbook's rules and learn more about basic concepts like live betting, parlays, and cashing out. 

There isn't anything wrong with the information itself, but it may be difficult for some users to find, particularly those who are new to navigating sportsbooks — a type of customer that might benefit from this material the most.