PokerStars Casino

I have been involved with the online gambling industry since the early 2000s and have played, reviewed and written for hundreds of gambling sites since then. In all of that time I have had more bad experiences than I can count, and I hold a negative opinion of several well known operators.

Throughout that time, PokerStars is one of the only sites that has not annoyed me. I was a member before the chaos that reshaped online poker, and I remained a member when they ventured into sports betting and casino games.

The casino is operated by Stars Interactive Limited, licensed in Great Britain by the Gambling Commission under account 39108. One account covers the casino, the poker rooms and the sportsbook.

Promotions and Loyalty

PokerStars Casino has a fantastic loyalty scheme, and it exists across the whole of the site, including its poker rooms and sportsbook. Simply put, you are given loot chests every time you reach a certain level. Opening these will reveal everything from free spins and bonus credits to poker tournament tickets and free bets.

It is one of the better loyalty schemes out there, because it works across the entire site and you do not feel that you need to be a bigger spender to benefit. That last part matters more than operators seem to realise. Most schemes are built so that the rewards only become meaningful at a level of staking most people should not be aiming at.

PokerStars Casino also has challenges you can complete to unlock prizes. These are daily and weekly, and they include everything from spending a certain amount on poker tournaments to placing bets and playing games.

Alongside those sit regular races and tournaments. These give you points when you play casino games, and the more you earn the more prizes you can win.

Games and Software

PokerStars Casino hosts games from Playtech, IGT and Blueprint, as well as a few other top developers, and it also has its own exclusive games.

In the early days it was barely an online casino. It was the virtual equivalent of someone plonking a fruit machine in a poker room and then asking players to queue up during the intermission. That has changed significantly, and PokerStars Casino is now packed with quality games.

In addition, PokerStars Casino has a live casino loaded with Evolution titles and a good selection of table games. It also has something that no other casino can offer: it is attached to the largest poker network on the planet.

Where free spins appear as a reward, they are valid on specific slot games, and there are too many to list, which is a good sign rather than a bad one. The qualifying list sits with the promotion itself, so read it on the page you land on rather than assuming your usual game is included.

That is the pattern across this site generally. The terms exist, they are detailed, and they are placed next to the thing they govern instead of three clicks away in a policy document.

The game information is better written here than almost anywhere else, too. The site explains what a slot's bonus round actually does and how its features are triggered, rather than giving you a thumbnail and a name. Knowing that before you stake is the difference between choosing a game and guessing at one.

Deposits and Withdrawals

PokerStars Casino accepts PayPal, Visa and Mastercard. The former is the quickest and easiest option and the one that I always use. There are no charges for these methods and the minimum deposit is just £10.

Incidentally, if £10 is too much, click on the Manage Currencies section of the cashier and switch your preferred currency to USD. It will let you deposit just $10, or about £7.50, and there are no conversion charges. I had my account in USD for a long time, as it used to be the default and I never got around to changing it, and I never had any issues.

Withdrawals are very fast here. In fact, I would go as far as to say that PokerStars Casino withdrawals are the fastest I have encountered.

The last time I made a withdrawal, I received the PayPal confirmation email before I had even closed the cashier pop-up. It is literally instant, and other casinos can learn a lot from these guys.

Customer Support

Support runs through a help centre with chat behind it, backed by a company that has run the largest poker room in the world for two decades. In 20 years I have never had a complaint here that needed escalating, which is not something I can say about any other brand in these reviews.

Verdict: PokerStars Casino UK Review

In the early days, PokerStars Casino was pretty poor. If memory serves it was not even called PokerStars Casino, as maybe they did not think it was deserving of such a name. These days, however, it has grown into a fully fledged online casino worthy of being ranked alongside the best in the British market.

It has many of the things I look for in an online casino and many of the things that other players want, including variety, big jackpots, reload bonuses and a loyalty scheme. What is more, you are always just one click away from the best poker site online.

The sportsbook is decent as well, though it is definitely not the best out there. In many areas it feels like a diet version of the biggest bookmakers, but you only really notice that if you are betting on obscure markets or sports.

All things considered, PokerStars Casino is worthy of top marks.