Testing the Gambling Giant: Ladbrokes Casino Review

Being one of the oldest bookmakers on the UK market, when this operator expanded into the casino sector it became one of the biggest names in the industry. Our Ladbrokes casino review will give you all of the necessary details to dive into a fantastic online gaming experience. You’ll get all the information about how to sign up and what bonuses you can claim, a rundown of the most popular games, plus details on the live and mobile options.

The Casino Games Library

With a huge selection of games ranging from card and table staples to arcade games, this operator will surely have enough to keep you entertained, whether you’re a seasoned player or a newbie. Indecisive players might have a hard time here thanks to the generous selection of over 500 titles.

Slots

As with practically all of the online casinos you’ll find these days, Ladbrokes has a games library predominantly featuring slots. This is very much the case at most any operator, due to the huge number of software developers out there bringing the slots to life. The majority of the Ladbrokes selection is brought to you by one industry leader, Playtech, which has built a reputation for fun and fairly tested games. This developer has made hundreds of slots, including crowd favourites such as Lucky Panda or Cat Queen, and jackpot games like the Age of Gods series. Playtech holds the rights to the DC comic book franchise, as well as many other popular TV and film series that are sure to keep you amused.

Alongside the Playtech slots, though, you’ll also find a selection of other titles from competing software developers NetEnt, IGT and NextGen, among others. This really helps to round out the slot selection with a great variety, bringing each developer’s specialties to the fore.

The Progressive Jackpot Slot Options

Drawing its game library from Playtech also means that the Ladbrokes website is also flush with the developer’s huge jackpot slots, including the popular Age of Gods series. There’s also a stack of options from its DC catalogue, with several options featuring your favourite characters such as Batman, Superman, and various other Justice League heroes. Unfortunately, Ladbrokes seems to stick only to Playtech for its jackpot slots, meaning Microgaming’s crowd favourite, Mega Moolah, is missing from the lineup. Not to worry, though, there are 31 progressive jackpot options with huge prize pools counting in the millions. You may be thinking why anyone would ever play a non-jackpot slot, when there are such huge wins available, and the reason is that generally, the return to player (RTP) percentage of a jackpot slot is much lower than with other slot games.

The Standard Card and Table Games Plus Some Extras

On the card and table game front, Ladbrokes is leading much of the competition with a huge number of variants of the popular blackjack, roulette, and video poker games. The 15 different video poker options are of particular note, as this is a section of table gaming that is often neglected by operators, while the roulette classics are all here, plus options like Dragon Roulette, which is an exciting modern variant of the classic. Dragon Roulette also brings you the chance to try your luck in the jackpot pool, and there are also progressive jackpot versions of blackjack and poker, which are also something of a rarity as generally the progressive jackpots are more of a slot game speciality.

Bringing Live Dealers into the Mix

Further to the video-only table and card games, the Ladbrokes live casino will entice you with plenty of roulette and blackjack tables, including highlights like Slingshot Roulette and Unlimited Blackjack. Baccarat, casino Hold’Em, Sic Bo and Hi-Lo are also available, with all games upholding the fantastic Playtech quality. You can even sit in a multi-game live session to play three games simultaneously – the choice of games is yours, though we find it a bit trickier to focus on each game this way. Playtech hosts its own live dealers from its studios in both Latvia and the Philippines, all of whom are incredibly polite, professional and cheerful. Haven’t explored live gambling yet? Then check out our dedicated live gaming guide for more details.

Taking Ladbrokes on the Move

The Ladbrokes mobile casino is an option for those who prefer to play on a portable device. You can download the software for both iOS or Android. The download can be found easily through the main site. Downloadable casino software isn’t really that common anymore, particularly in the highly-regulated UK casino industry. This is because the apps have been argued to have more influence over problem gamblers, with push notifications constantly encouraging players to return to the casino. Many operators these days seem to prefer only offering a browser-based web app, relying on the software developers to code their games using HMTL5 so they are seamlessly optimised for mobile. Much of the Ladbrokes website functions in this way, so you can simply open your favourite web browser on your phone or tablet.

The Ladbrokes Casino App

• 290 mobile casino games
• For iOS and Android devices
• Fits all sizes from smartphone to tablet

Play on Mobile Here!

The website itself, when accessed on a desktop, is a real problem area, as far as we’re concerned. As Ladbrokes is actually more well-known for its prowess in sports betting, the casino section is almost an afterthought. Though there are hundreds of games available to play, our experience in actually finding them among all of the blog posts and promotional pages was unnecessarily convoluted. When you actually find the games, you can sort through using the categories at the top and click the one you want to play. The pop-up window is an annoying way of bringing you the game, rather than seamlessly bringing it to your view, as we had to turn off all sorts of pop-up blockers to actually get to the games. There’s also no way to test out a game for free, or even find out more information about the games available without being logged in. The user experience design feels outdated, which isn’t surprising considering the age of this company but still is no excuse.

Other Special and Unique Games

Apart from the ubiquitous blackjack, there are also numerous video poker games as well as diversions such as scratch cards, dice games, keno and bingo. There are seven different scratch cards with various themes including King Kong Pink Panther and a host of casino game themes like blackjack and roulette. There are also seven arcade games, which are not so much the type you’d find in an old-school arcade, but more simple throwbacks like Heads or Tails, Rock-Paper-Scissors and classics like bowling and darts. These games are a welcome addition to the standard offering of a typical online casino, but they also feel tacked on for the sake of variety, rather than adding any quality.

The Ladbrokes Payout Rates

As mentioned earlier when talking about the Ladbrokes jackpot slot games, every different game will have a different return to player (RTP) percentage. But what does this mean? Well, the RTP of a game describes the percentage of your wagers that you will get back, over an extended period of time. So, the higher the RTP the better. The RTP of each game must be certified by an independent testing authority to ensure they are fair for gamblers to play, and a casino can also publish reports of an aggregate RTP for the different casinos below. The good news is that the results show Ladbrokes has a great payout rate for its games. The table below shows the maximum and minimum RTPs for the operator. As you can see particularly in the slots category, the RTP can vary wildly from game to game, so it’s always a good idea to check in the ‘help’ section of each game before you begin to play.

Along with checking the RTPs, you’d also be wise to make sure the game you want to play fits in your budget by investigating the table limits. It’s all too easy to accidentally bet far more – or far less – than you meant to when gambling online. With Ladbrokes offering the potential to bet £250,000 for a single spin of a roulette wheel, probably good to make sure you have your correct wager selected before beginning to play. Again, this operator has an excellent spread of table limits with slot wagers as low as 1p and roulette as low as 10p. The narrowest limits are in blackjack, where lowest wager possible is £1, and only as high as £300. If you’re looking for a higher table limit in blackjack, I suggest you check out Grosvenor, where the upper bets reach up to £10,000.

An Overview of Ladbrokes Promotions

Thinking about joining the site? If so, we’re happy to tell you that Ladbrokes has a number of different promotions available for newcomers and loyal players alike. The online casino also has a selection of daily and seasonal promotions up for grabs, starting with this welcome bonus described in the table below.

Welcome Bonus at Ladbrokes

First of all, let’s look into the welcome bonus that’s ready and waiting for you when you make your first deposit. As a newcomer, you qualify for a welcome bonus of £30. This means, simply that if you deposit and wager £10, you will be given an additional £30. This extra cash will go into a Bonus Balance, and any winnings you make will go into a Pending Winnings wallet. This keeps the funds separate until you have met all of the wagering requirements, at which time they transfer automatically into your Cash Wallet.

Loyalty Programmes and Other Promotional Offers

Once you’ve made good on your welcome offer, there’s also a £50 live casino bonus, as well as the Sunday Market special that you can opt into at any point as an existing player. Once Sunday rolls around, various bonuses and prizes await that change every week, so we can’t exactly provide too much information on these bonuses. There’s also a Super Daily Jackpot Promotion for slot games that Ladbrokes says it will pay out every day before 9 pm UK time, with prizes up to £2,500 handed out daily. Apart from these promotions, Ladbrokes also looks after loyal users with a comp point scheme and VIP club. You can check out some of our other top-rated casino sites if you’d like to see how Ladbrokes compares.

The promotions and offers at Ladbrokes change often, so make sure to check back regularly.

The Welcome Bonus Fine Print Explained

One downside to the welcome bonus is the wagering requirements. You have to wager your bonus amount 40x in 30 days, and only a select group of games count towards the wagering requirements. You’ll also have to pick your deposit method carefully though, as any deposits made via Neteller, MoneyBookers, PayPal or pre-paid cards will not qualify for the bonus. Once claimed, you have 30 days for a 40x play-through requirement – that applies to the bonus amount.

The list of games Ladbrokes will let you play with the welcome bonus cash is a pretty short one, so if you don’t actually want to play any of those games on the list then there’s no point going for this deal at all and you’d be better off with the welcome bonus at 888casino, which allows every game to contribute towards the wagering requirements. If you do want to take on the offer, make sure you have any pop-up blockers disabled as there will be one that you must see and accept before you can continue.

Payment Methods

When you’ve decided whether or not you want to take advantage of a welcome bonus, you’ll need to head to the cashier to make a deposit. The minimum and maximum deposit and withdrawal amounts at Ladbrokes are some of the widest we’ve ever seen, with some methods having no upper limit at all. You can, however, set your own limits in the payment settings, which looks to be just part of how the casino ticks of part of its responsible gambling requirements. Though they are on the list of bonus payment excluded methods, PayPal payments are also available, making things easy for fans of easy and quick eWallet methods.

In what should be a standard to any online casino’s payment procedures, Ladbrokes does not charge any fees for making a withdrawal or a deposit. There are some operators out there that do have some fees, unfortunately, so it’s always good to be sure. On your end, it’s up to you to make sure that your chosen payment method doesn’t charge any fees. Upon your first withdrawal, you will also need to verify your identity by providing a photo ID and proof of address to the operator, and if you are using a debit card, you may be asked to send a photo of the front and back of the card. The withdrawal times aren’t very pleasant here; waiting eight to ten days to get your money out of your Ladbrokes account is a bit unusual.

Ladbrokes Website and Downloads

Many of the website’s games come from the house of Playtech, a game software giant known for its innovative games and live solutions. Downloads of the casino are available either on the Ladbrokes website (for Android users) or at the iTunes Store, but you can also play in-browser though an HTML5 web app. As mentioned earlier when talking about the mobile experience, the website is far short of impressive, and could certainly be more user friendly. You can download the website software to run from your computer, which is another remnant of an aging online casino, but it doesn’t hurt.

There are a lot of different slot games to choose from, powered by the likes of Playtech and Quickspin.

Customer Support

If you ever find yourself stuck with a question or problem, it’s good to know where to turn to for some help. The Ladbrokes customer support begins with an extensive FAQ as well as a searchable help page that will likely take care of the majority of your questions. Should these pages not give you the answers you need, the operator’s live chat is available 24/7 for things that can be easily explained with a short sentence or two, while the company also offers a phone line if you need to discuss something more in depth. The customer support options are excellent and all of the people we contacted were prompt and helpful.

Licencing Regulations and Safety for Ladbrokes

The site is of course properly licenced and regulated by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, which is a must-have for any operator looking to function in the UK market. On top of this, Ladbrokes also holds a licence from the Gibraltar government, which allows it to expand into other countries and avoid paying some of the hefty UK taxes that come with being based in Britain.

The Ladbrokes Website

Licence & Security Information

Regulatory Authority	UK Gambling Commission	Gibraltar Remote Gambling
Licence Number	1611
RTP & RNG Audit	Gaming Laboratories International (GLI)
Player Protection	GableAware	GamCare	Gambling Therapy
Owner of Website	GVC Holdings.
Network Security	128-bit SSL

Fairness & Technical Auditing

We’ve already covered how game fairness is tested and certified by Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), but we’ll also note that Ladbrokes is constantly undergoing up-to-date monitoring and auditing by external authorities. High-quality 128-bit SSL encryption software from industry leader, Thawte, ensures that your payments are processed safely, and your personal information is handled with utmost confidentiality. An important factor in receiving a licence from the UKGC is the casino’s partnership with responsible gambling organisations. In this case, Ladbrokes has alliances with GambleAware, GamCare and Gambling Therapy and these affiliations, along with the UKGC licence allow players to feel assured that this is no scam site.

The Whole Ladbrokes Story

Ladbrokes has been a longstanding force in the UK gambling industry dating back to the 1800s, when Harry Ogden started taking bets on horse races and became who is accepted to be the nation’s first bookmaker. Fast forward through 150 years or so of horse and greyhound betting to when the company bought its first outlet in 1962, right after the Betting and Gaming Act legalised betting shops in 1961. The company floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1967, then made a series of acquisitions between 1984 and 2000. These acquisitions of Hilton International and Le Tiercé expanded Ladbrokes into many other countries including the US, Spain, China and Italy.

In 2016, Ladbrokes merged with rival industry institution, Gala Coral. Interestingly, Ladbrokes had acquired Coral in 1998 for £363 million, but was ordered to immediately re-sell the company after the authorities found that the acquisition was ‘anticompetitive’. Now joined together as Ladbrokes Coral, the firm was acquired in its entirety by GVC Holdings, a major player in the betting scene owning a veritable stable of other gambling firms including bwin, Casino King, Casino Club, and Sportingbet, plus the Foxy and Gala casino and bingo brands.

Getting Started at Ladbrokes Casino

If you’re brand new to the online casino scene and aren’t really sure how to get started, the following section of this review will act as a beginners’ guide to Ladbrokes casino. The steps involved with signing up at any online casino are basically the same, so if you’ve done it before then you’re probably safe without the following explanation. We would however advise you to read through the bonus terms and conditions, because the restrictions absolutely can vary wildly, and you don’t want to miss out because of a simple mistake.

Making an Account

Signing up for a Ladbrokes player account is a simple, three-step process that will barely take more than a minute – depending how fast you can type. In the top-right corner of the website, you’ll find the red ‘Join’ button, which will bring up a window asking you for some personal information. You need to use your real information throughout this stage, as the casino will ask you to verify your identity as part of its anti-money laundering and underage gambling regulations. The truth is equally as important in step two, where it asks for your contact information. A little creativity is allowed in step three, though, where you can make your own unique username, password and security question. Click through your chosen checkboxes if you want to get the Ladbrokes newsletters, and you’re done! Congratulations, you’re officially a Ladbrokes member and can make your first deposit.

Loading Cash into Your Player Account

To do so, >log in to your account, find the green button on the top right-hand corner that says Deposit, which will open the payment window. Here, you can choose between the methods below to make a deposit – keeping in mind that some methods are excluded from the bonus offers. Also keep in mind the £10 minimum deposit required to activate the welcome bonus. There isn’t a code required, so you can ignore the box asking for one in this instance.

FAQ

Conclusion: A Well-Known Name with the Tools to Back It Up

This site is without a doubt a major player on the online gaming scene and has the evidence to back it up. Ladbrokes offers a gigantic selection of games for both desktop and mobile players, going beyond the standard repertoire with additional diversions from the arcade and scratch game section. We also enjoyed the Playtech-powered live tables, including the multi-table functionality that enables a more varied play experience. Overall, Ladbrokes is a solid casino that could perhaps reach for a more exciting packaging but is nevertheless rich in choice and a good pick overall.

Although the website design and navigation itself is pretty disappointing, there’s nothing left to be desired in terms of the excellent streaming quality and the company of experienced dealers. The Ladbrokes casino bonus at registration is likewise a very convincing feature – although the wagering requirements here aren’t as favourable as at, let’s say, 888casino. 888casino also offers free trials on most of its games too, so if those are some important factors to you then read more about this rival casino in our dedicated review. to see which alternative is best for you.