Intertops.com is the oldest, and one of the most trusted, online sportsbooks in the business. Their story begins in 1983 in London, when they opened a phone-in betting shop under their former name International Gaming & Entertainment Limited. In 1992 their operation moved to Austria, and soon later their first website launched, available in both English and German. Intertops accepted what many believe was “the first ever online sports bet” on January 17, 1996. Over the past 15-years many online betting sites have come and gone, while Intertops now headquarter in Antigua, remains a global leader in online sports betting.

There are many reasons to choose Intertops as a betting out. Online for more than 15-years with never a missed payment complaint; this is a brand the players trust. While reputation alone is probably enough, Intertops also offers a plethora of bonuses and promotions. Personally, I consider their impressive reputation, bonuses and promotions icing on the cake. What I love most about Intertops is their massive selection of betting odds.

As a truly global brand Intertops bread and butter is no doubt soccer. However, despite most of their customers coming from outside the United States, they offer a massive selection of wagering options on American sports. For NFL football, straight bets, moneylines, totals, teasers, parlays, half time wagers, and at least 20 propositions are offered on every game of the season. If you’re looking for something different, here you can also find a wide variety of entertainment, political, financial, and movie prop bets.

I’ll discuss wagering options in more depth later in this review, and then conclude with +EV betting tips, but first, I’ll cover the Intertops.com bonus and promotion offers.

Intertops Bonus Offers and Promotions

Intertops offers new players the choice of a 25% (up to $100) initial deposit match with 8-times rollover, or a $20 free bet with 16-times rollover. The initial deposit match is only available to residents of USA, Canada, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. To claim this bonus you need to email e-mail [email protected] (Subject: 25% Sportsbook Sign-up Bonus) within 48 hours of signing up, and after the first deposit has been made; be sure to state your user name in the email. The $20 bonus can be claimed within 30 days of sign up, after first staking at least $20, so long as a withdrawal hasn’t been made. To claim the $20 free, use request form from the promotions section of the Intertops website..

In addition to their sign up bonus, Intertops.com offers two weekly reload bonuses, a loyalty rewards scheme, and a “refer a friend” program with details as follows:

Tuesday Reload Bonus

On Tuesdays, players depositing via a method other than credit card receive an extra 10% up to $50 free. Only clients with a balance under $200 and no withdrawals in the past 28 days are eligible. If you meet this criteria, after making your qualifying reload deposit, email [email protected] (Subject: 10% Tuesday bonus) to request credit.

Thursday Reload Bonus

On Thursdays Intertops offers a 10% deposit match bonus up to $50 on deposits made using a method other than credit card. For this reload bonus only accounts with a $0.00 balance and no withdrawals in the past 21 days are eligible. To claim, send an e-mail [email protected] (Subject: 10% Thursday bonus) after making your reload deposit.

Refer a Friend Bonus

The Intertops referral program offers a bonus 10% the size of each referrals initial deposit. As an added bonus, this amount increases to 50% for every fifth referral.

Note: All 10% reload bonuses and the “refer a friend bonus” carry a 6-time rollover requirement. For the reload bonuses this is based on deposit plus bonus amount.

Bonus Points Program

Intertops.com offers an ongoing loyalty scheme called “bonus points”. All bets placed at Intertops, except ones with odds -500 or steeper, earn bonus points. The number of points earned depends on stake and odds, but to give an idea, when betting at -110 odds each dollar wagered is worth 3 points. As career bonus point earning milestones are reached, cash bonuses are credited. This starts at $10 for reaching the 10,000 career points. These bonuses have no rollover requirement.

Note: While the math is a little complex, for someone who wins 50% of their -110 bets, cash-back from reaching bonus point milestones equates to about a 3.3% vig savings.

Intertops runs other promotions on a seasonal basis. These promos include chances to win Super Bowl tickets, a March Madness bracket challenge, free bets, and cash lotteries. To see a list of current promotions visit the Intertops Sportsbook and then click “special offers” from the top menu.

Intertops Wagering Options

Intertops.com is one the few online betting sites that caters well to both American and European sports bettors. The sports offered include football, soccer, baseball, basketball, boxing & UFC, ice hockey, golf, motorsport, rugby, and tennis. Several hundred betting odds for soccer exist on most days, and on Sundays during the NFL season things really start to heat up. Intertops offers prop bets on every single game of the regular season, playoffs and Super Bowl.

Some of my favorite props Intertops offers for every game of the NFL season include:

• Which team will score first?
• Will there be a score in the first 6 mins 59 secs of the game?
• Will there be a score in the final 2 mins of the 1st half?
• Which team will score 10 or more points first?
• Which quarter will have the most points scored.
• Will either team make 3 consecutive scores?
• Which team will make the longest successful field goal?

Other props available include over/under lines on total sacks and field goals, as well as exact score of first quarter, double results, end zone triplets, pick-off twins, first scoring play (six-way market), first touchdown scorer (massive multi-way market), quarter back match up on passing yards (two-way market using a spread), multiple two way receiver markets, multiple two way rush+pass markets, and a three way market on total penalty yards.

Intertops also offers prop bets on politics, the stock market, and entertainment options such as movies, who will win Dancing with Stars, American Idol, Survivor etc. Movie props are a specialty of Intertops; while betting limits are rather small ($250 per shot), the overall value is amazing.

For those who enjoy other forms of gambling, you might be pleased to learn Intertops offers an online poker room on the Merge Network, and an online casino powered by Real Time Gaming. The Intertops sportsbook, casino, and poker room, are seamlessly integrated together, meaning each can be accessed with the same account log-in and player balance.

Once again no matter what your wagering preferences are, the chances are high Interops has exactly what you’re looking for.

Intertops.com Tips from a Professional

What you need to understand first is that Intertops is a recreational sportsbook. This means they prefer small bets, and will limit-collar advantage players, sharps, bonus whores, and any player they’re unable to beat. Understanding this, if you’re a talented sports bettor you now have two options to choose from. Do you want to go for the kill by betting as much as possible before your limits are cut to a measly amount, or do you want to hang around a while slowly shearing, but not skinning, the Intertops sheep? No matter which option you choose, you can be confident that no matter how much you win, Intertops will make good. The only thing at risk for an advantage player is their ability to bet significant amounts in the future; their account balance is always safe.

Assuming you’d like to hang around for a while shearing the sheep, here are a few tips.

Deposit Sizing

Intertops.com offers a plethora of reload bonuses, two every week in fact. If your last activity was a withdrawal, or you made any withdrawals in the past month, you’re likely ineligible for Intertops reload bonuses. For that reason you should look to limit your deposit size to one bet at a time. This way, should the bet lose, you can take advantage of the next reload bonus offered. Using this strategy, combined with Intertops bonus point loyalty scheme you’re getting far betting than -110 on 50/50 type bets.

Future Bet Funneling

Intertops offers competitive odds on many future bets. Price shopping futures against their competitors, you’ll often find one or two teams at better than market price. If on a reload day your balance is low, but not low enough to qualify, consider reducing it by making a long-term future bet at favorable odds.

Cover Play

Intertops.com offers $100 in bonuses every week ($5,200 per year) to remain eligible I strongly suggest you give them cover play. Betting a little in the casino, having some fun with parlays, and even occasionally taking the worst of it by betting the wrong side of a line that is off, can go a long way. The goal is shear the sheep placing many more +EV bets than -EV ones, while also creating the image you’re a fish and this is mere coincidence.

If you’re a recreational player you can ignore all the cover play advice. Those who make their living sports betting realize it’s hard to keep betting limits at recreational sites, and need to pull a few extra tricks on occasion.

With the topic of how to shear, but not skin, the Intertops sheep out of the way, here are two final betting intricacies about Intertops you might never had known about, had you not read this Intertops review:

NBA Futures

Intertops tends to leave their NBA future bets up, 24/7/365, where other sites take them offline as the first game of the day is about to tip-off and then put them back online the next morning. This is beneficial because in the NBA there are key games. For example, the 2010/2011 season started with a game between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. The Heat were dominate preseason favorites to win the NBA Championship, while the Celtics were 11/1 at Intertops, 5Dimes and Sportsbook and 10/1 at Bodog, Bookmaker, and DSI. Immediately after the Celtics pulled an upset in game one, I bet 11/1 at Intertops. Every other site had their NBA futures offline, and the next morning reopened them at Celtics between 8/1 and 9/1.

Movie Props

Accessible from the “Entertainment” section of the Intertops website, several movie related prop bets are offered. Gross sales for an opening weekend, head to head match ups and over/under on tomatometer readings are common offerings. While most of these props carry just a $250 maximum betting limit, many of them are so soft that anyone good at using Google search can pick them off.

To conclude this review I’ll say this: Due to small betting limits you probably are never going to make a fortune at Intertops.com. However, if you’re looking for to make $5,000 or $10,000 extra per year picking off soft props, future bets, and taking advantage of twice a week reloads, Intertops is a great out. If you’re a recreational bettor who just bets on your favorite team, any or all televised games, or just picks randomly on gut feel, you couldn’t possibly be in better hand than at Intertops. I said it in the intro to this review and I’ll say it again now, “Over the past 15-years many online betting sites have come and gone, while Intertops (the first ever online sportsbook) remains strong.”

To get started wagering online, and to claim a 25% up to $100 sign up bonus, visit www.intertops.com.