Big Dollar Casino is an average sized below average online casino with a Curacao license (you can check the licence here), which accepts US players. It is part of the Lotus Players Club Group of Online Casinos (owned by Ardway Limited). I was a member of this casino group for about 6 years (specifically the flagship website, the Black Lotus casino, which is above average, the best of the group). I’ve seen the group change hands and expand into a decent casino network from its humble beginnings, in operation for 8+ years. (Sadly they no longer accept players from my country so my player account was closed a while back.)
I spent years playing in Black Lotus casino, the main casino of the group (recommended) and also in the smaller Grand Eagle casino (which I really don’t recommend it’s pretty abandoned, neglected at this point). The other casinos of this group are: Lucky Creek, Treasure Mile, Mandarin Palace, Lotus Asia, but I recommend registering at the Black Lotus website, it’s the flagship casino of the group that gets the most attention and it is the most well maintained.
The casino has a below average quantity of games (it was even worse just a few years ago, they had really bad games and only like 50 slots, glad to see they improved, definitely going in a good direction in this regard). In all fairness, there is barely any difference between many of the secondary casinos of this group: same games, same parent company, same customer support, same license, same issues, same flaws, same loyalty program – only the design of the website seems to be different.
I trust this group, and I had never had any problems getting my winnings, no matter how much I win, all the time (mandatory ID check of course, like every other casino, but no unnecessary delays, always got the money). However, buyer beware, I heard that it’s much more difficult and takes much longer to receive your winning if it’s a really big win (I neve won more than $3000), but more of that in the “deposit and withdrawal methods” section in the full review below.
If you don’t have time to read the full review and you are just looking for a short summary, just read this: The casino accepts players from the USA. Considering this is a casino accepting US players (US casinos always have worse and less games due to legal issues) it has an average selection of games, with Saucify, Rival, Betsoft, Genie, Nektan games, around 200. However, I don’t recommend it, because the main casino of the group (click here to check it out) is better in every way so it’s not worth registering here, just go for the main casino instead.
If you are not from the US I recommend this casino, you can read the full review here. Much better, more and better games, but does not accept US players at all.
[plain]
Simon says: In the world of digital gambling there are two big separate categories of casinos, casinos, which accept US players, and casinos which do not accept US players. Big Dollar Casino is firmly the former, accepting players from the USA and US territories. This is important to mention in a review, because radically different games are available to both of these casino types and they should be reviewed differently. Primarily European (primarily targeting European players, mostly licensed in Europe) gambling websites always have better and more games, because the best software providers, due to licensing and legal issues don’t work with casinos, which accept US players. Big Dollar Casino has around 200 games, mostly slots, some video poker, some table games, nothing really special, average casino stuff. While a typical European casino has about 800 games and has interesting unique games as well, including live dealer games, digital sports betting, regular sports betting, digital scratchcards, game show type games like Deal or No Deal, movie license slots based on popular franchises etc… Therefore a US casino is always going to look bad compared to a European online gambling website. /You can read more about why this is, and about the legal status of domestic and offshore gambling, online gambling in the USA here. Be warned, pretty complicated, dry read./ So, a good US casino would still be only 3/10 compared to a European one. However, In a review I would still rate a good US casino 7-8/10 because different context, and for different players, that’s all there is available for US players. Therefore when I review a casino I use a separate scoring system for both fundamentally different types. A good US casino will still get 7/10 or 8/10 like it should, instead of a 3/10. Just wanted to mention this, to avoid confusion as to why a 200 games US casino might get the same score as a EU powerhouse with 1000+ games. People already made remarks about this in the comments section…. I hope this clears it up why this is the way it is. If you are not form the US there is no point to play in a US casino, really, you have much better options. |
Review methodology: In each section I review one of the primary attributes of the casino, these are: list of countries not accepted, list of games, deposit and withdrawal process and methods, uniqueness. Each of these aspects then gets points ranging from +2, meaning exceptionally good to -2, exceptionally bad. Additionally at end of the review I go through what I consider to be less important secondary attributes, such as live support chat, VIP, loyalty program, mobile compatibility, other reviews, bonuses, promotions.
At the end I tally all the points and add and subtract them from 10. This will give the final score of the casino. I use a 1 to 10 scale, 10 being the best and 1 being the worst, no 0 or minus scores.
Big Dollar online casino review
1., Who can play: The most important thing for a player in a new casino is whether you can actually play or not, so here is the list of all the countries not accepted at Big Dollar Casino. So before you read any further let’s determine whether you can actually play at the casino at all.
/Clarification: The country of your residence, your official address, what’s on your ID card (or address card if it’s a separate thing in your country) is what you should be checking, not your current residence. So if you are from the UK and you currently temporarily reside in the US, you should put down your UK address. It’s important, because if you win, they will ask for your ID and/or address card to make sure you are who you said you are on the registration form, and they will check the address on your ID, if it’s not the same as what you put down during registration they will instantly perma-ban you. And all your winnings will be confiscated, no matter how much you won! Be careful! /
[sections] [section title=”Big Dollar Casino prohibited countries and territories”] The list of countries Big Dollar Casino casino does not accept players from. Click below to expand.
[/section] [section title=”Big Dollar Casino casino review – list of countries not accepted”]
Big Dollar Casino does not accept players from:
- Australia
- Curacao
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- Netherlands
- South Africa
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom?
- United States?
Everyone else can register and play at the casino.
[/section] [/sections]
It’s a short list. So they get +1 points for accepting players from many different countries. I added a “?” at United Kingdom and United States. Clearly, you can register and play from the states, or the UK, it’s one of the selling points of the casino. They are always described as a casino accepting US players on every gambling blog. And if you check the registration form you can select both the UK and US as your country when trying to register. Clearly not true. That’s quite a big mistake in the terms & conditions (that’s where the list of the countries not accepted is) and I wouldn’t be surprised if it would cost them quite a lot in a lawsuit, down the line. But hopefully they will fix it in time, -2, it’s a big and potentially costly mistake for the company, really unprofessional.
Just like all the other casinos of this network Big Dollar Casino aggressively tries to push the registration form in your face, it’s unnecessarily agressive. I can’t check out the games, no demo mode, can’t read the details of promotions, almost everything on the website is hidden behind the registration form. -1 point
Accessibility, number of countries accepted: +1
Issues with terms and conditions: -2
Aggressively pushing registration: -1
2., Games: The second most important thing to players is the number, and also the quality of the games. Some casino game developers are just better than others, Net Ent, Microgaming, IGT to name three of the biggest, but the best software developers are only available to European casinos. However, Big Dollar Casino works with Saucify (above average software developer) Betsoft (average, below average games), Genii (below average and some bad games) and Rival (below average and bad games). It’s a mixed bag but there are some good games there. Because most software developer companies don’t work with US casinos this is still an above average selection for a US casino, enough to satisfy even returning players for months (and they keep adding more regularly). 169 games, mostly slots, table games, no poker, classic casino games, no live dealers.
[sections] [section title=”Big Dollar Casino – list of games”] The full list of games at Big Dollar Casino casino. All the 600 games. [/section] [section title=”Slots”] Band Outta Hell, Traces of Evidence, Vikingdom, Mrs Green’s Plant Emporium, Beat Bots, Legends of Olympia, BigFroot, Gems n Jewels, Big Game, Buckin’ Broncos, Tails of New York, Royal Banquet, and so many more.Golden Gorilla, Alien Spinvasion, Lucky Labyrinth, Jolly Rogers Jackpot, Whale O’ Winnings, Catsino, Windy Farm, Lion’s Roar, Scary Rich, Misfit Toyland, and Arabian Tales to mention a few.
Birds! Frankenslot’s Monster, A Christmas Carol, Black Gold, The Tipsy Tourist, The Slotfather, Puppy Love, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, 7th Heaven, The Golden Owl of Athena, The Angler, Alkemor’s Tower, etc. [section title=”Table Games and video poker”]
3 Wheel Roulette, Single Blackjack, Baccarat, Caribbean Poker, Texas Hold’em Bonus, Wan Doy Pairs Poker, Roulette Master. Video poker: Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild Power Poker, Phantom Belle Bonus, Whack-a-Jackpot, Hi-Lo Techno and Granny Prix.
Roulette has classic roulette, Premium Roulette and French Roulette.
Blackjack games: Classic blackjack, Premium Blackjack, Blackjack Switch, Perfect Blackjack, Unlimited Blackjack, Alexandrite Blackjack, Royale Blackjack, Hi-Low, Spin-A-Win and Sic-bo.
[/section] [section title=”Live games”]none
[/section] [/sections]
Most of these games are mobile compatible, except for the older ones. Not enough games, above average quality for a US casino.
Games: 0
3., Deposit and withdrawal options: The third most important thing to a player are the deposit and withdrawal options. You obviously can’t win anything unless you bet money. And in this area Big Dollar needs to improve too. Apart from the usual: Skrill and Neteller Big Dollar Casino accepts credit cards as well! Which is great for US players, because due to legal reasons credit card companies refuse to deal with the overwhelming majority of US casinos. This is one of the few exceptions. They also accept EcoCard (never heard of it myself) and Bitcoin. More than most casino that accepts US players, most of them definitely don’t accept credit cards or Bitcoin.
However! These were only for depositing money, for withdrawing money they don’t accept credit cards, Skrill, Ecocard. Luckily they still do Bitcoin, Neteller, cheque, wire transfer. It’s definitely an inconvenience that they don’t just send your winnings to your credit card, the same card you used to deposit, but that’s the law. Payment processors are independent third party legal entities and it’s really strictly regulated, international transactions especially.
Another big issue is that the minimum withdrawal amount is $150. I can understand a limit of $50, because of the extremely high cost of wire transfer in the US, but $150 seems excessive.
Still, they get -2 point deduction for limited options to withdraw funds and having a relatively high minimum withdrawal amount. (Use Bitcoin or wire transfer to get the money you won, I live in Europe, wire transfers are free, that’s what I used. I got my money in a few days. But if you live in the USA, Bitcoin or Neteller might be better to avoid the crushing, usually $50-30 fee for international wire transfers. It’s crazy how expensive wire transfer is in the US! Unbelievable! The casino doesn’t cover the wire transfer cost, they deduct it from your winnings.)
Limited options to withdraw funds and having a relatively high minimum withdrawal amount: -2
4., Uniqueness: And the last one I think we all are looking for in an online casino is innovation, unique and interesting new online gambling games and features. Anything that makes you “Wow, that’s amazing.”. Does Big Dollar Casino have the so called ‘wow-factor’? No, it’s average. It accepts credit cards, that’s unique for a gambling website that accepts US players, but only for depositing money not for withdrawing so that’s not enough to be considered unique. It has Saucify, Betsoft, Rival games. But so what? A lot of US casinos have them too, agian, not enough. No unique games, no live dealers, 80% of the games are just plain old 5 reel slots, many are 5+ years old and not mobile compatible. This is an average, okay US player accepting casino, but nothing special or unique.
Innovation, interesting, unique features/games: 0, none
[plain]
The following are less important optional factors, but still contribute to the total score:
-Live support chat: Treasure Mile has live chat support, 24/7. +1. But they were slow, give basic, barely useful answers, if you are not registered they outright refuse to help you, even to the point of being rude. Typical outsourced, shared service center customer support. Sadly, that’s industry standard nowadays, but still, -0.5 points deducted. So a total of +0.5 points for the round the clock but basic customer support.
–VIP, loyalty program: They have a detailed, extensive loyalty program called Lotus Player Club, and it has 4 tiers. All of the casinos of this group are a part of it. It’s pretty great at higher tiers. Lots of promos, bonuses, exclusive codes for returning players and VIPs. I give them +0.5 for this. Better than most reward programs in US casinos, and the only reason I don’t give them +1 is that some casinos give free money to players on their birthday as part of their rewards program, no wagering requirement, just free money, that’s the +1 level. There is nothing like that here. All bonuses earned from the Player Club have wagering requirement, which is a hassle to keep track of.
-Mobile compatibility: The casino is mobile compatible, most games work on mobile devices, pretty user friendly, but you can tell the games were not designed for such small screens originally. But that’s not the casino’s fault. All the games are instant-play, accessible right from the browser, no download necessary (on mobile it is necessary, you have to download the app), HTML5 everything is cross-platform and cross-browser compatible.
-Other reviews: It’s always important to check what others say about a casino, to make sure it’s not a scam and to find out if it had any scandal. Big Dollar Casino has very few reviews, barely any, but the few out there are really bad ranging from 1/10 to 6/10. The 1/10 reviews are definitely not justified. In those reviews for some reason they claim that the casino doesn’t have a valid gambling license. Maybe that was the case years ago, nowadays they are certainly properly licensed. You can check the license by clicking on the link in the footer on the casino’s website or here. As you can see it has a valid licence so it’s either the reviewer was dishonest or at that time something was not okay with the license. I have no way of knowing, but it’s clear that’s not the case right now and it is a legally operating, licensed casino. There are claims that this is a scam site, and some people report that it takes them months to get their winnings, even if it’s as little as a $1000. My own experience is to the contrary, I got my money in less than a week. All of these reviews and complaints are 3-4+ years old, before the acquisition of the casino by it’s current owner Ardway Ltd.). I assume something really bad happened 3-4 years. I couldn’t find any recent review or complaint (sadly this happens often with smaller casinos that they get “review bombed” meaning they get a bad review and other review websites just copy that one negative review without checking it for themselves, and then they get such a bad reputation that nobody really wants to review them after a while). As I stated, I was a member of this casino group for years, I got my $3000 that I won, so in my experience this is not a scam, you get your money, still because the many bad reviews online I deduct -1, buyer beware, borderline shady behaviour in the past, but probably nothing to worry about nowadays.
-Casino bonuses: Big Dollar like every other casino of the company has bonuses with 40x or more wagering requirement for new players (anything above 30x is considered a bad bonus). They have quite a lot of bonuses and they even have bonuses for existing, returning players, which is somewhat rare. Most casinos only give bonuses to newly registered players. Even though the bonuses for returning players are really bad (for returning players the wagering requirement is usually 50x) it’s still a nice gesture (it’s optional to use these bonuses). But because every bonus has at least 40x playthrough requirement I give the casino a -1 point deduction and I recommend not using the bonuses and playing without them (they are optional).
[/plain]
Total score: Big Dollar Casino gets 5.5/10, 3/5 stars, average , recommended only for US players, avoid it it if you are not from the USA, you have better options. But even if you are from the US, I recommend the main casino instead (click here to check out the main casino here) it’s better than this casino in almost every way.
Back to the casino reviews section.
Last updated: 2020-06-05
Miscellaneous other info about the company, in case you need to contact them:
Official name: Ardway Limited, using the gaming license of its holding company Genesys Technology N.V.
Encryption: 128-bit SSL
Live Chat: 24/7
Head Office: DSLR Suite 413, Ftieh Street, Birkirkara Bypass, BKR2940 Birkirkara, Malta
Licence: Curacao
Phone: no phone number, just email
IT-Security: COMODO
Self Exclusion: Available
Email: [email protected] but use the contact form on the website instead, better, faster response
RTP Analysis: eCOGRA
Anti Money Laundering: ID-Check Required
