Who Is BetUS? Fact-Checking the Claims About the Sportsbook Behind Dianna Russini’s Show

Dianna Russini’s new show is reported to be “powered by BetUS”, and plenty of people are now asking: who is BetUS? The former ESPN and The Athletic NFL insider’s choice of partner has drawn almost as much attention as the show itself, with critics calling BetUS an “illegal” sportsbook where you’ll “never see your money”.

BetUS is one of the sportsbooks we recommend most, so we decided to take a fresh look at the experience and check how well-informed those claims really are.

Who Is BetUS?

BetUS is one of the oldest offshore sportsbooks in the US market. It launched in 1994, is headquartered in Costa Rica and takes bets on every major US sport, along with running an online casino. It’s built its name over three decades, mainly through its welcome bonuses and a deep range of sports and betting markets.

It’s no stranger to big names, either. BetUS has run the BetUS Unfiltered podcast with Hall of Famer Warren Sapp, which has featured guests like Adam Schefter and Ray Lewis. Russini’s show looks like the next step in that strategy.

The Russini Report and BetUS

According to Front Office Sports, Russini’s new show, The Russini Report, will air on Wednesdays at 12 PM ET. The show’s social media account originally said it was “powered by BetUS” before that line was removed, and BetUS has been teasing “something big” for November 11. Neither side had officially confirmed the deal at the time of writing.

Sources told Front Office Sports that Russini also held talks with iHeart and Betr, but all signs point to BetUS.

Is BetUS Legal?

Some critics have suggested Russini’s options were so limited that she’s been forced into a partnership with an “illegal” sportsbook. It’s a good headline, but it shows how misunderstood the betting landscape in the US still is.

BetUS is licensed overseas, under a Curaçao gaming license, rather than by a US state, so it isn’t overseen by the state regulators that cover DraftKings or FanDuel. In 2025, both Florida and Michigan ordered BetUS to stop taking bets from their residents. But those orders target the sportsbook, not its customers. In most states, there’s no law aimed at individuals betting with an offshore book, and Americans have been doing it for decades.

Prosecutions of individual bettors are almost unheard of. Gambling law expert I. Nelson Rose could find only one case of an American being charged and convicted just for betting online: a North Dakota man who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and paid a $500 fine. Enforcement has always targeted the people running the books, not their customers. A small number of states do have broader online gambling laws, so it’s worth checking the rules where you live. This isn’t legal advice.

The real trade-off is protection. With an offshore sportsbook, there’s no state regulator to turn to if something goes wrong, which is why it pays to use an established operator and to understand its rules before you deposit.

Will You “Never See Your Money”?

This is the claim at the center of most of the criticism. Both we and our players have verified BetUS as a legitimate operator and completed multiple withdrawals. When we tested BetUS ourselves over four weeks, all three of our withdrawal requests were approved, with Bitcoin arriving in about an hour and ten minutes and a bank wire in about three business days. You can read the full results in our BetUS review.

That said, the complaint does have a basis if you’re not familiar with how bonuses work. It usually comes down to two things: rollover and verification.

Rollover

Take a deposit bonus, and you have to bet a multiple of it before you can withdraw it. That’s the rollover. Your own deposit isn’t locked up, and you can always turn the bonus down, but if you take a bonus and try to withdraw before you’ve cleared it, the bonus and anything you’ve won with it can be cancelled. That’s where most of the “never see your money” stories start.

How Rollover Works: A $100 Example

Here’s the maths on BetUS’s 20% cash bonus (promo code 20CASH), compared with skipping the bonus altogether, on a $100 first deposit.

	No bonus	20% cash bonus
Deposit	$100	$100
Bonus	$0	$20
Starting balance	$100	$120
Rollover (6x the bonus)	None	$120 in bets
Can you withdraw any time?	Yes	After $120 in bets

Without the bonus, your $100 is yours to bet or withdraw whenever you like. There are no conditions.

With the bonus, you start with $120, but you need to place $120 worth of bets before you can withdraw. That sounds like a lot, but it’s just one $120 bet, or a few smaller ones over a weekend.

What does clearing it cost? At standard -110 odds, the sportsbook’s built-in edge works out to about 4.5% of every dollar you bet. So betting $120 costs you around $5.50 on average over time. Take that from the $20 bonus, and you’re roughly $14.50 better off than if you’d skipped it.

So on a small cash bonus like this, with a low rollover, taking the bonus makes sense for most bettors. It’s the big headline offers that need more care. A 125% or 200% bonus with 10x to 18x rollover can mean betting thousands of dollars before you can withdraw, and the cost of clearing it can eat up most of the bonus. Those suit high rollers and regular bettors who’ll bet that volume anyway. More casual bettors are better off with a smaller, low-rollover offer like this one, or skipping the bonus and using BetUS like a conventional sportsbook.

Two rules apply to any bonus:

• Check what the rollover applies to. If it’s on the deposit plus the bonus rather than the bonus alone, the amount you need to bet goes up fast. Here, $120 would become $720.
• Don’t request a withdrawal before you’ve cleared it. Doing so can cancel the bonus and anything you’ve won with it.

Verification

In our experience, many of the players who complain about not receiving their winnings signed up with incorrect details or never completed the sportsbook’s identity checks, known as KYC (Know Your Customer). Every reputable sportsbook, offshore or not, has to confirm who you are before it pays out, and if your details don’t match your documents, the withdrawal stalls.

If you sign up, it’s vital to use your real name and personal details, and to provide official documentation when asked, like a driver’s license or passport and proof of address. You can do this before you place your first bet. That way, you know your account is verified from day one, and your first withdrawal goes through much faster.

So, How Informed Are the Critics?

Partly. BetUS isn’t licensed by a US state, and its bonuses do come with rollover, so neither point is made up. But calling it “illegal” misses how offshore betting works for the person placing the bet, and “you’ll never see your money” mostly describes players who took a bonus without reading the terms, or who never verified their accounts. In our experience, BetUS is a long-running, legitimate sportsbook that pays out, as long as you play by its rules.

It’s also worth remembering that payout complaints aren’t unique to offshore sportsbooks. Search for complaints about the big US-licensed apps, and you’ll find plenty of bettors unhappy about delayed withdrawals, limited accounts or voided bets. It’s a common complaint across the whole industry. The main difference is that with a state-licensed sportsbook, you can take a dispute to a regulator, which is why it pays to stick with an established offshore operator that has a long track record of paying out.

How to Sign Up With BetUS

BetUS accepts players from across the US. If Russini’s show has put it on your radar, here’s how to get started the right way:

1. Create your account using your real name, address, and date of birth.
2. Verify your identity by uploading a photo ID and proof of address before you place a bet.
3. Decide on the bonus. Take a low-rollover offer like the 20% cash bonus, or skip the bonus if you want full flexibility.
4. Make your first deposit, using the promo code if you’re taking a bonus.

If you’d rather avoid rollover altogether while still benefiting from a sign-up bonus, our BetOnline vs BetUS comparison covers a no-rollover alternative.