Crab Sports Review

Crab Sports launched in 2023 as the sportsbook from Maryland, for Maryland. It isn’t flashy, but it’s a book that is effective.

In the areas where Crab Sports shines, it competes with all of the major sportsbooks. Live betting is seamless and immediately available for every sport. It felt like there was always something new to bet on with Crab Sports because of the countless sports leagues available.

Clear descriptions and strong organization help Crab Sports swing upward, especially with so many sports to choose from. Using the desktop version of Crab Sports is no different than the mobile app.

Crab Sports' bet slip is genuinely one of the strongest in the nation.

Yet, it’s impossible to ignore that the rest of the nation can’t access Crab Sports, which limits its reach. Although the betting aspect is competitive, odds aside, there isn’t much more that Crab Sports can flex. It doesn’t have a rewards program, live streaming, or a casino.

Navigating the app oscillates between tricky and buggy. It’s very disappointing that players can’t be searched and that player props are limited compared to competing books.

Overall, Crab Sports is a bare book clearly designed to offer Marylanders pride in a local option and the opportunity to bet on almost every sport in the world. It succeeds in that mission, even at the expense of an elite sportsbook experience.

Every day, there’s an opportunity to use a promotion with Crab Sports. The best part is that none of them need to be claimed first, as qualifying bets will automatically have the promo applied. Along with those, special DMV-based promotions will pop up throughout the year to celebrate the local teams. Crab Sports’ daily promotions don’t change, which adds a comforting level of consistency.

On the flip side, the promotions don’t support people who want to gamble on a budget. The minimum wager amounts are higher than Crab Sports’ peers, especially with the limited number of promotions offered. The odds to qualify for promos and use the corresponding bonus bets are clearly designed to reduce the chances of users winning. The capped winnings on the bonus bets are equally frustrating.

The welcome offer may only apply once, but Crab Sports users can earn a bonus bet every day if they build a qualifying same-game parlay. Any SGP with at least three legs and a $50 wager will automatically qualify for insurance. Customers can only claim Crab Sports’ SGP insurance once per day.

Every leg must be a pre-game bet, so live bets don’t work with this promotion. The qualifying bet must be placed with real money. You need to create a same-game parlay with at least +500 odds to be insured.

If the qualifying SGP loses, you’ll earn a bonus bet worth 50% of the initial SGP stake. This bonus bet is also rounded down to the nearest multiple of 25.

The bonus bet will expire after seven days. Winnings from this promotion are capped at 10x the stake amount. However, the bonus bet must be wagered on anything with at least +300 odds.

Another automatically applied boost, this promotion applies to any parlays, not just SGPs. Unlike the other promos, only select sports apply for the parlay booster.

Each leg of the parlay has to be longer than -303 odds. The smallest parlay that applies must have at least three qualifying legs. Each additional leg increases the percentage boost for the parlay as follows:

This is a book that gets right to the point when it comes to betting.

It’s evident immediately that Crab Sports will have sports leagues that most other books do not. From the NBA to the Vietnam Challenge in badminton, bettors won’t run out of sports to gamble on. It offers more than just moneylines for all of these markets, too.

It feels refreshing that Crab Sports doesn’t plaster the premier leagues front and center.

Finding sports is simple on the site and the app. Everything is well-organized and clear. The SGP builder is one of the easiest to use because it is very well marked. Although none of the promotions need to be claimed, there are easily accessible links that provide more details on each promotion.

Crab Sports has tools to help users control how they wager with their accounts. Maryland lovers will enjoy that local teams are always towards the top of the featured games, and the special attention the book gives to those squads.

It may be a small book, but Crab Sports holds its own when it comes to betting features.

Live Betting

The staple of its app and website, live betting is easily accessible through Crab Sports. As soon as you open Crab Sports, you’ll be greeted by the top live matchups. The quick links at the top start with all the live options, the sports tab has a live selection listed at the top of “All Sports”, and there’s also a tab to the right of the bet slip for every live event on the app.

The odds update smoothly and constantly while you’re on the app. There’s a small indicator in the top right of a matchup indicating how deep into the contest that matchup is. The bet slip has an option to “accept any odds changes,” which cuts down on the clicks to lock in live bets as they evolve.

Crab Sports feels like one of the best live betting books on the market when compared to its competitors in Maryland, at least in a strict betting sense.

Some of the holes with Crab Sports’ live betting stem from a lack of features. Live streaming has become a staple for American sportsbooks but is noticeably absent from Crab Sports. There aren’t any live same game parlays or player props available with this book either, whereas companies like DraftKings boast about those capabilities.

Early Cash Out

Like most other books, Crab Sports offers a cash out option on bets. These can be pre-game cash outs or live.

Same Game Parlay Tool

Crab Sports also offers same game parlays for sporting events. Any matchup with the same game parlay option will have orange “SGP” text in the matchup box with the betting lines. Select the game and then select the orange “Build Now!” box to get started.

From there, a window will pop up in the app or website with all of the parlayable options available. The best part of Crab Sports’ SGP builder is that it’s well-organized. That helps to make up for a betting selection that can be more limited than some of the bigger books in leagues like the NBA.

Odds

Better pricing isn’t something that you will often find on Crab Sports. In leagues like the NFL and NBA, it’s typically behind top books such as DraftKings. These uncompetitive odds are most noticeable in moneyline odds. For a sportsbook that’s likely to be a secondary option, this is an area where Crab Sports needs to improve.

The good news is that Crab Sports has sports selections that other books don’t. Along with that, Crab Sports’ odds are better than competing options in less popular leagues. Flipping to Crab Sports for World Cup qualifiers is probably a better choice than turning to it for the Stanley Cup.

One of the best parts about betting with Crab Sports is that it features a ton of different leagues to wager on. There are sports across the globe that deserve recognition and this is a sportsbook that puts a spotlight on whatever’s live.

If you can think of a professional sport or league, Crab Sports probably has lines for it. If you like variety, you’ll love the options available on Crab Sports.

Crab Sports will have any bet type that you may be interested in. From spreads and totals to round robins and futures, it’s available for Crab Sports users.

• Moneylines: Pick who you think will win
• Spreads: Betting on a team to beat a point spread (e.g. BAL -23.5)
• Totals: Taking an over/under on the final score of a matchup
• Live Bets: Wagers placed while a game is being played
• Prop Bets: Bets on a player, team, or game that isn’t bound to the outcome
• Parlays: Combining multiple wagers into one larger one with increased odds
• SGPs: The most common abbreviation for a same-game parlay
• Round Robins: Turning a group of single bets into every possible parlay combination
• Futures: Crab Sports features team-based long-term bets, such as who will win a championship, and select sports have player-based futures
  

Crab Sports doesn’t hang its users out to dry, offering them tools to manage their betting habits. More information on these options is also easily found at the bottom of Crab Sports’ home page, both on desktop and mobile.

• Loss Limits: Setting a maximum limit for the amount of money you can lose throughout a day, week, or month
• Wager Limits: Limiting the maximum amount that you can wager during a day, week, or month
• Maximum Wager Limits: Capping the highest amount that you can wager on a single bet
• Deposit Limits: Setting a maximum limit on the amount you can deposit in a day, week, or month
• Session Time Limits: Capping the amount of time (in hours) that your account can be logged into Crab Sports on any given day
• Temporary Suspension: A way to lock yourself out of your account for a set amount of time
• Voluntary Exclusion: Permanently removing access from your account without closing it

Using the Crab Sports mobile app comes with plenty of positives and negatives. It’s easiest to start with what works for Crab Sports.

As soon as you log into the app, you’ll be greeted by a promo and live events. Scrolling and changing screens is more seamless than a lot of books on the market. Crab Sports will not leave you frustrated because of lag.

Speed and responsiveness are never an issue with Crab Sports.

The blue and white design, with crustacean red highlights, is simple but easy on the eyes. The sports tab has the promotions first, featured sports second, a live option, and every sport sorted further by league or country. Crab Sports may have the easiest bet slip to understand in the country.

However, this app isn’t much different from the desktop interface, which hurts it a bit.

The app button doesn’t have a back button built in like a web browser would. Swiping on the screen doesn’t send users to the previous page, either. Going back requires tapping a small blue tab above the available bets you’re viewing or hitting home and starting over. It’s tricky for new users and a major reason that maneuvering the app swiftly takes time to learn.

That’s just the beginning of its shaky navigation. The search bar is prominently in the upper left of Crab Sports’ website, but hidden in the sports tab of the mobile app. Searching for players won’t yield results.

Crab Sports also tends to open windows. Building a same game parlay will open a new window within the app until you complete it. Opening the promotions tab will redirect to a web page on your phone’s browser, just as the desktop creates a new tab.

When you learn how the app works, its speed and simplicity make it enjoyable. Unfortunately, there’s a steep learning curve when initially using Crab Sports’ mobile app.

The Crab Sports mobile app has a 4.2/5 rating on the App Store and a 3.7/5 rating on Google Play. These are some of the reviews left by users on those respective platforms:

*Certain grammatical errors in these reviews were changed for clarity*

There aren’t a ton of banking options on Crab Sports, but it covers the primary online methods. Any bank account can link to Crab Sports for deposits or withdrawals.

Any transactions with Crab Sports are fee-free. Every method has a minimum $10 deposit, while there’s no minimum for withdrawals.

Where Crab Sports lacks in banking variety it makes up for in speed. Deposits are lightning quick every time with this sportsbook. Withdrawals are quicker than a lot of the competition.

Competitors in Maryland, such as Fanatics Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook, offer popular e-wallets like Venmo and Paypal. Unfortunately, Crab Sports does not offer Venmo or Paypal for deposits or withdrawals.

Crab Sports’ customer support can only be contacted via email. The FAQs are also pretty thin. Those are the cons of a customer support system that’s otherwise fantastic with its responsiveness.

We sent Crab Sports an email asking for assistance with a few things regarding our new account. The customer support team responded in less than 10 minutes with concise and accurate answers.

Everything we wanted to know was explained neatly. When we sent the email, we weren't expecting a response for a while considering the method. Crab Sports pleasantly surprised us with its quick turnaround.

Most user reviews for Crab Sports mentioned the incredible customer support, particularly David. They weren’t exaggerating at all, as those testimonies completely match our experience.