Royal Vegas Online Casino Review: Old Dog, New Tricks

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Royal Vegas Casino is one of the veterans in the industry. They have been around since 2000, and have managed to maintain a decent reputation throughout the years. The casino holds a gambling license by Malta Gaming Authority, historically one of the most involved, player-friendly regulatory bodies when it comes to complaints against the casinos. Although Royal Vegas is a US-friendly online casino, they do not accept players from the UK.

Back when it first launched, the Royal Vegas Casino was a flagship site of the Fortune Lounge casino group. Today, the casino is owned and operated by the Digimedia group. Most of the casinos under Digimedia’s umbrella were ambivalent when it comes to resolving player issues through various mediators. Whereas Royal Vegas Casino used to swing both ways before, depending on their mood, last year they’ve clearly stated that they won’t have anything to do with mediators in the future.

No matter how you choose to look at the situation, it’s undoubtedly a turn for the worse. In light of the 2018 management change, the number of player complaints increased rapidly. The casino used to have a reliable payment history, but two-week delays have become a common occurrence in the past year.

So, should you be playing here? Let’s take a closer look behind the curtains, so you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into, before you opt for Royal Vegas Casino.

Terms & Conditions

Reading through the Royal Vegas Casino’s terms, there is nothing that immediately stands out as predatory or anti-player. Still, there are a few clauses you should be aware of, if you intend to play at this online casino:

Euros Only

One of the casino’s terms pertains to the currency used to pay out player winnings. Namely, the casino reserves the full right to pay the players in Euros, regardless of which currency you use to fund your account.

Although we understand why this claus exists, and won’t condemn the casino for it, it still is an inconvenience for a fair number of players. Regardless of how much money you’re withdrawing, you will inevitably lose some due to currency exchange rates.

Bonus Eligibility

There aren’t any specific countries that are excluded from claiming the bonuses at Royal Vegas online casino. This may lead people to believe that, if they can play at the casino, they can leverage the bonuses and promotions it offers.

However, this isn’t necessarily true. In fact, you will not be eligible for the casino’s bonuses if you’ve claimed a bonus at ANY other casino in their group, prior to becoming a player at Royal Vegas.

The only way to circumvent this rule would be if you’ve wagered the said bonus, plus the associated deposit amount, at least 100 times. We understand that the casino wants to prevent bonus abuse, and isn’t keen on providing the bonuses to a player who already claimed them at one of Royal Vegas’ sister casinos. But, that doesn’t make the clause any less ridiculous.

Furthermore, we find it odd that Royal Vegas chose not to list the sister casinos in question. We’ll spare you the trouble of browsing the web for that piece of information. Other casinos in the Fortune Lounge group are: All Slots Casino, Wild Jack Casino, All Jackpots Casino, Euro Palace, Vegas Palms, 7 Sultans, and Platinum Play.

So, if you’ve claimed a matching deposit bonus at any of the casinos above, you’ll have no other option but to play with your money only, if you opt for Royal Vegas now.

Bonuses Automatically Credited

Another thing to be aware of, when it comes to Royal Vegas casino’s bonuses, is that you’ll receive them automatically. Now, please understand that this statement bears a negative connotation. This is tied to the previous term, and we’re guessing the 1 hour time frame they give to award the bonus is them actually checking if you’ve claimed a bonus at a sister casino.

Regardless, in the best-case scenario, you would have to wait up to an hour for the bonus funds to appear in your account. Now, why is this a problem? Well, it’s a major inconvenience for anyone who doesn’t wish to play with bonuses and bother with wagering requirements.

Contrary to bonuses where you simply type a code and claim the offer, here you have no option not to take the casino’s generous gift. If you don’t want it, you will have to contact customer support. They will retroactively remove it, but only if you haven’t placed any bets using either bonus or your deposit.

5.7.2 If you do not want any Bonus which has been deposited into your account by the Casino then you are entitled to request that it be reversed out of your Casino account, subject to no Play Through having taken place on Bonus, the initial deposit and/or associated Sign-Up Bonus. You can do this by contacting Customer support by email or live chat. If any part of the Bonus has been used, then the Bonus may not be removed from your account (either by means of withdrawal or a request to the support staff) until the Play Through Requirement associated with the Bonus has been met.

In other words, if you don’t want a bonus, you’ll be tapping your foot on the ground nervously for hours. After the initial hour, it might take the customer service just as much to remove the bonus. And if you succumb to the temptation and decide to play a few rounds, there will be no going back. You’ll have to either “zero out” or meet the wagering requirements.

Responsible Gambling

The Royal Vegas Casino takes a serious, professional approach to responsible gambling. Apart from the links towards outside help group, the casino has policies in play which allow for self-imposed deposit limitations. Additionally, you may request to be excluded or suspended from the casino at any time, with no questions asked.

8.1. Gaming is supposed to be fun but can be addictive. We promote responsible gaming by:

Enabling the blocking / suspension of accounts upon request

Allowing You to contact one of our Player Support Representatives or click through to one of the links provided in the Responsible Gaming page.

8.2. For full details about the Group’s Self-Exclusion Policy, please refer to the Responsible Gaming Page

8.3 Although every effort will be made to action your request via email within a reasonable period of time please bear in mind there may be a slight delay to action. The casino is not liable for losses due to pending communications.

For queries requiring immediate attention please contact Customer services via live chat.

With problem gambling rapidly becoming a severe issue in land and online casinos alike, we must commend Royal Vegas for their amicable approach.

Games and Providers

Royal Vegas Casino provides its players with over 400 world-class casino games, from several reputable software providers. Apart from Microgaming, which sits firmly at the top as one of the best providers in the online gambling industry, with a most varied library, the casino offers games from Spin3 and Fortune Factory Studios as well.

There’s a reason Microgaming remained among the best of the best for over two decades. In a casino powered by this industry giant, such as Royal Vegas, players can expect to find an abundance of uniquely-themed games. Moreover, the games feature crisp visuals, smooth animation, and outstanding audios, thus providing a truly immersive gaming experience.

Some of the most popular Microgaming titles you’ll find at Royal Vegas include Thunderstruck II, Avalon, and Break da Bank. Moreover, there’s a good selection of video slots with progressive jackpots on offer: Mega Moolah, Cash Splash, and Fruit Fiesta, to name a few.

If you prefer table and specialty games or are an avid fan of video poker, Royal Vegas doesn’t lag behind in this department either. There’s enough variety at this online casino to satisfy all your gambling needs and keep you entertained for hours on end.

You can enjoy all of your favourite casino games in an Instant Play casino, or download the client for your convenience. If you wish to play during your daily commute or on the go, you’ll be happy to find out Royal Vegas offers a mobile casino as well, with an equally as impressive games library.

Vegas-Style Games

Apart from the typical categories you’ll find in almost every online casino, Royal Vegas Casino also features a game category named “Vegas.” As you might expect, these are games that you would expect to find in Sin City. This allows players to simulate the thrill of playing popular Las Vegas casino games, without having to plan a trip to Nevada.

Live Dealer Games

If you like faster-paced table games that replicate that feeling of physically sitting at a table in a land casino, you’ll love the Live Dealer games at Royal Vegas. The Live portion of the casino is supplied by Evolution Gaming, an undisputed leader among live casino games providers.

There are multiple live tables available for each game. You’ll find live games like Blackjack, Hold’em, Roulette, Caribbean Stud Poker, Double Bonus Poker, and many others under the “Table” tab in the casino’s navigation bar.

Financial Information

The Royal Vegas casino supports a decent number of banking options. Sadly, Bitcoin isn’t among them. So, if you intended to fund your casino account through cryptocurrency alone, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

The casino leverages the digital encryption technology to ensure all transactions are safe and secure, and your private and banking information is 100% protected.

Furthermore, they urge players to get in touch with a help desk that’s available 24/7/365 for any questions regarding deposits and/or withdrawals. When deposits are concerned, the support team will be all over you. However, if you’re having trouble withdrawing your winnings, their attitude shifts 180 degrees.

So far, Royal Vegas has a spotless track-record when it comes to processing deposits. However, the story is a bit different when it comes to withdrawals. But, more on that in a second. Let’s take a look at all the available deposit options first.

Deposit Options

As we mentioned, there are multiple ways to fund your account at Royal Vegas Casino. Although Bitcoin is absent, the options the casino does offer should suffice.

Neither minimum nor maximum deposits aren’t defined on the casino’s Banking page. We inquired about the deposit limitations on Live Chat, but the representative merely informed us that the minimum deposit is €10.

Judging from our experience, we find it hard to believe that €10 is the minimum for all 6 available options. However, we’d hate to jump to conclusions. Still, it remains unclear every deposit has the same minimum, or some require a higher minimum, since we didn’t get a specific answer.

Regarding the maximum allowed deposits, there don’t seem to be any limitations on the casino’s side. In fact, the players have the option to put self-imposed limitations in place. You can contact the casino and request that they limit the amount of money you can deposit daily, weekly, or monthly.

Here are all the ways in which you can fund your Royal Vegas account:

  • Credit Cards (Visa/MasterCard)
  • Debit Cards (Maestro, Visa Electron)
  • Bank Transfer (iDebit, Trustly)
  • Skrill
  • Neteller

Withdrawal Options

When it comes to the withdrawals, Royal Vegas casino shows severe rogue tendencies. They offer a dozen different withdrawal options, but whether you’ll get your money and when is up for question.

The maximum withdrawal is quite generous, at €10,000 daily. This is excellent news for high rollers who only feel the thrill when the stakes are high, and are used to withdrawing large amounts. Or rather, it would be, if the casino’s new management actually paid the players…

Progressive jackpot wins are exempt from the maximum withdrawal terms. If you’re lucky enough to win any of the jackpots on a variety of progressives Royal Vegas offers, the casino management will get in touch with you and discuss a payment method suitable for both sides.

That said, we can’t ignore the fact that the bulk of player complaints online mention long waiting times as the major drawback of the Royal Vegas Casino. Players even report that customer support is terrible, and oftentimes rude, when approached with withdrawal issues.

It’s not uncommon for different Royal Vegas casino representatives to give the players different timelines as to when they can expect to receive the payment. It’s apparent that they were instructed by the management to “get the players off their back,” even if that means providing false information.

So, although the banking options at Royal Vegas look good on paper, in reality you can expect long delays without ever receiving an explanation from the casino. Judging from the sheer number of player complaints over the course of 2018 alone, it would appear that the recent management change was for the worse.

Available Withdrawal Methods

Again, the casino doesn’t state what the limitations for withdrawals are. Instead, they merely list out all available options. The maximum of €10,000 daily is stated a single time, in the casino’s general Terms and Conditions.

Here are all the options you can use to (eventually) claim your winnings:

  • ecoPayz
  • Neteller
  • Solo
  • Entropay
  • Maestro
  • Visa
  • Cheque
  • Skrill
  • Bank Wire Swift
  • Bank Transfer
  • Credit/Debit Cards

The standard review period is 48 hours. On top of that, the pending times for different methods are as follows:

  • eWallets: 24–48 hours;
  • Credit/Debit Cards: 2–5 business days;
  • Wire Transfer: 14 business days

Bonuses

The first thing that will poke your eyes out, as soon as you load up the casino’s website, is their welcome bonus. More specifically, they advertise €1,200 of “FREE” money. As you might imagine, this offer is not quite as good as it appears at a glance.

Although the casino opted for one of the most powerful words in copywriting—“free”—this offer is anything but a free chip. That should be obvious when you see the bonus amount, but in our opinion, their approach borders false advertising.

The welcome bonus consists of four identical 100% matching deposit bonuses, up to €300. As we’ve mentioned before, the bonus is automatically added to your account within an hour of depositing. The minimum deposit amount that will trigger the bonus is €10. During the wait, you’re free to play with your deposit, without any limitations.

This is the case because the wagering requirements for these bonuses are 50x the bonus. The trick is, you must meet them using only the bonus money. Although the WRs are a bit high, any money you have left over after you’ve met them will be transferred to your cash account. In other words, the bonuses are cashable, and any winnings you accrue during bonus play can be withdrawn.

Although, in theory, you can try to fulfill the wagering requirements while betting on most games, only Slots, Keno, and Scratch Card games contribute 100% towards the WRs. Most table games and Blackjack variants only contribute 8%, while only 2% of wagers on Classic Blackjacks, All Aces video pokers, and all Jacks or Better video pokers count towards meeting the playthrough requirements.

Baccarat, all Craps variants, Red Dog, and Sic Bo are excluded from bonus play.

Free Bonuses

At the time of writing this review, the casino only offered the aforementioned Welcome Bonus. However, Royal Vegas does occasionally provide no-deposit bonuses such as free spins and free chips.

The general terms and requirements apply, meaning you’ll have to wager the bonus/winnings from free spins 50x to be eligible to withdraw your winnings. The maximum amount you can withdraw from free play at Royal Vegas is €100.

Moreover, the casino has a comp point program in place to reward loyal players. For every 1 credit (Dollar, Euro, Pound, etc.) you wager on slots, you will receive 1 comp point. You can accrue comp points while playing other casino games as well, although the ration isn’t 1:1.

Every 1,000 comp points are worth one credit. So, in the best case scenario, you’ll get €1 for every €1,000 you spend. Talk about generosity…

Customer Support

As we mentioned, player’s aren’t exactly thrilled with the casino’s conduct lately. It doesn’t help that the customer support is perpetuating the scam by providing false and misleading information.

Insanely long payment delays aren’t exactly a rarity at Royal Vegas nowadays. When you attempt to contact the support with your issue, you would hear all the usual excuses. If you’re persistent in getting answers, you’ll notice that the answers from different casino representatives often don’t match, and are sometimes even contradictory. Players who keep pressing the issue often simply get locked out of their accounts, with no access to their funds.

In one of the more recent cases, a player reports that the casino owes them roughly €300,000 since 2015. After countless attempts to claim their winnings, the casino simply decided to cut off all communication with the player. According to this player, the casino even went as far as to delete the email correspondence to “cover their tracks.”

We’ve had an interesting experience with the casino rep on Live Chat, as well. The chat connected instantly, and the representative was quick to respond and quite friendly. However, they were actively trying to avoid answering our question.

Whereas we inquired about the deposit and withdrawal limitations, they talked about the minimum deposit to claim the bonuses. They kept ushering us to create an account, despite refusing to provide us with a clear answer to the question. After they got tired of beating around the bush, they simply closed the chat and went on their merry way.

Due to an exuberant amount of player complaints in the last year, and our personal negative experience, we highly suggest avoiding this online casino.

Summary

Sadly, Royal Vegas Casino isn’t what it once used to be. Prior to the 2018 management change, the casino had a spotless track record regarding payments of winnings. Today, it’s evident that the new management is adopting a no-payment policy and leaning towards blatantly rogue behavior.

It’s a damn shame to see a once reputable online casino, with a rich game library, go down the rogue road nearly two decades after joining the industry. All things considered, we have no other option but to implore you to play your favourite games of chance elsewhere.

Rating

Reputation 2
Software/Games 5
Banking Options 4
Banking Times 1
Support 1
Bonuses 2