888 Casino Review

888 Casino Is ROGUE - Why Big Isn’t Always Better

Written By: Casinomeister
Nov 26, 2024

Casinomeister's Verdict

This casino may have had some massive marketing in the past, mostly blackhat SEO and other dodgy adventures. Despite being one of the larger online gambling companies around, 888 Casino is not reliable – and we’d recommend avoiding playing here at all costs.

Ethically challenged predatory marketing

1 Our Rating
1 Player Rating
888.com
1997
Payout speed
starstarempty starempty starempty star
Withdrawal limits
starstarstarstarempty star
Customer service
empty starempty starempty starempty starempty star
Software & Games
starstarstarstarempty star
Licensing
starstarstarstarempty star
Gibraltar, UKGC
Ash Gaming, Blueprint Gaming, Electracade, GamesOS, IGT, NetEnt, NextGen Gaming, Rival, WMS Slots Provider Review...

First Impression

888 Casino has, in the past, utilized unorthodox marketing methods to include Blackhat SEO and Blog spamming. They were tossed into the Rogue Pit in April 2006 but reviewed for a year beginning in November 2006. There were no further incidents, so they were removed from the pit.

Over the years, though, we have had numerous complaints of players unknowingly playing at their white label casinos and being either bonus banned or winnings/deposits confiscated. These casinos will not identify themselves as 888 Casino/Cassava white labels when signing up – only when they confiscate your winnings will they do this.

It’s predatory, unethical, and rogue. 888 Casino has a policy to not have any contact with Casinomeister concerning player issues. We have a No Can Do policy with these guys. So, play here at your own risk. Find out why else we don’t recommend playing here in our 888 Casino review.

Pros

  • Easy to remember URL

Cons

  • Too many complaints

  • Predatory in nature

  • Questionable ethics

  • Unhappy to discuss complaints

BONUSES AND PROMOTIONS

The main 888 Casino welcome bonus, their no-deposit bonus and comp points scheme are all discussed below.

Welcome Bonus

The main deposit bonus/888 Casino bonus is a simple 100% matched deposit bonus up to $200 – so nothing too impressive to be found here. This deposit bonus is available to new players only, and it’s only available to claim on your first deposit.

This 888 Casino bonus has a wagering requirement restriction of 30X, and you’ll need to complete these wagering requirements within 30 days for the deposit bonus to be converted into real funds. Certain deposit methods like Neteller are also excluded from the welcome bonus.

There’s also a premium welcome package offered at 888 Casino – another type of welcome bonus – and this appears to be geared more towards high-rollers. Given that we strongly recommend against playing at 888Casino, we’re not going to talk about their other welcome bonuses here.

No-Deposit & Free Spins Offers

888Casino offers a no-deposit bonus that allows you to claim $88 in free money upon joining the website – without you making a deposit. However, while it looks generous, the 888Casino no-deposit bonus comes with stringent terms and conditions, high wagering requirements and a max cashout limit – so it’s not the best we’ve seen. It looks much better on paper than it is in reality.

VIP and Loyalty Programs

Another bonus at 888 Casino is their comp points scheme, and players begin to earn comp points from their first deposit. The more you deposit, play, and wager, the more comp points you will earn. Once you’ve earned enough of these points, you can exchange them for a selection of bonus promotions, including bonus cash, a reload bonus, bonus spins and other bonus offers.

Banking & Payment Methods

888 Casino offers a fairly large selection of banking options. However, the deposit methods available to you at 888 Casino differ, depending on your playing location.

Some of the main deposit options you can use for deposits and withdrawals at 888 Casino include VISA, MasterCard, Maestro, Neteller, Skrill, PayPal, Wire Transfer, Interac, Sofort, iDebit, QIWI and PurplePay.

The withdrawal methods are largely the same – although some deposit methods can’t be used as withdrawal methods, including some credit cards and prepaid cards/vouchers. 888 Casino provides more information from their “Banking” page.

Withdrawal Speed

888 Casino has a relatively slow withdrawal speed – and 888 Casino themselves state that they take up to 48 hours to process withdrawals. Players accessing 888 Casino from the UK will not be able to reverse their withdrawals while they’re in a pending state. Players at 888 Casino from outside of the UK can, yet another reason not to play at the casino.

Once 888 Casino has processed your withdrawal, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few business days to reach your account, depending on which withdrawal method you chose.

Average Based on 1 real users

REQUEST DATE
COUNTRY
BANK METHOD
REVERSE TIME
PAYOUT HRS:MIN
ID REQUIRED
WEEKEND REQUEST
AVERAGE
74:0
111:0
31 July, 2015
United Kingdom
Debit Card
74:00
111:00
No
No

Responsible Gaming

888 Casino does, to their credit, offer a selection of responsible gambling tools – but this isn’t really the result of 888 Casino having a strong stance on responsible gambling, and more because their regulators require it.

At 888 Casino, players can set deposit, wager, and session limits, which are all self-managed. 888 Casino also offers players the ability to take a time-out or use self-exclusion in cases where they want to completely block access to their 888 Casino for a long period.

Customer Support

If you run into problems while playing at 888 Casino, you can get in touch with the customer support team via live chat. If you prefer not to use the live chat facility, they also offer a FAQ section that answers some of the most commonly asked questions.

Players from certain countries can also contact 888 Casino via phone – and email support is also available to players from all countries.

KYC

888 Casino, like any licensed online casino, is required to carry out KYC (Know Your Customer) checks on their customers – and this is one of the main areas we notice players posting complaints about around the web. 888 Casino doesn’t appear to prioritize the processing of players’ documents. Once you submit yours, you may well find that 888 Casino takes days – sometimes, even weeks – to process them and verify your account.

As we mentioned earlier, despite looking attractive from the outside, 888 Casino is not a reliable casino to play – and if you’re looking for a trustworthy casino to play, you should consider one of the many Accredited Casinos we have here at Casinomeister.

Desktop and Mobile Gaming

888 Casino is available in both a desktop and mobile version. The 888 mobile casino is available as a downloadable app, which, when putting this review together, we tried out. To be honest, it’s nothing special, especially when compared to what we see offered from other online casinos – and we feel that 888 Casino has really dropped the ball when it comes to their mobile casino.

The user interface is quite clunky, and I didn’t find it particularly easy to navigate or easy to use. 888 Casino is one of the world’s most well-known online gambling brands – but, as we’ve seen, that doesn’t always equate to a positive thing. The mobile casino 888 offers nowhere near up to scratch for hassle-free online gaming, in our opinion.

You can also play at 888 Casino from your mobile device’s internet browser without needing to download or install an app. Again, we weren’t overly impressed with how 888 Casino has developed this and lacks quality.

Poker and Sports Betting

Alongside the main 888 Casino, 888 also offers sports betting and poker facilities; although again, like their online casino, their sports betting and poker facilities are classified as being rogue – and have, at times, been seen to be operating unethically.

From a purely informational point of view, the selection of betting markets is fairly good – but odds wise, the sportsbook isn’t that solid. There are many better options available to you, including Bet365.

Brand games

Providers

The games offered at 888 Casino are fairly varied and can be played in instant play mode. They offer poker games, slots machines, Roulette, Blackjack, Video Poker and jackpot games.

The online gambling site offers games from several software providers, including 888, AGS, Big Time Gaming, Blueprint Gaming, Elk Studios, Eyecon, GamesOS, Greentube, IGT, Inspired Gaming, Merkur, Microgaming, NetEnt, NextGen Gaming, PariPlay, Playbetter, Pragmatic Play, Quickspin, Red Tiger Gaming, SG Gaming, Skywind, Thunderkick, and Yggdrasil.

Play Iconic Slots Like Nightmare on Elm Street

The number of games players can play for real money at 888 Casino is relatively decent, and they offer one of the biggest selection of games when it comes to slot machines – although this is in no way a recommendation to play at the casino; they’re rogue and rely on unethical business practices.

Our review of the casino found the number of slot games available includes classics from game developers like NetEnt – Dead or Alive II and Jack Hammer, along with more modern slot games like Madame Destiny Megaways and Diamond Mine.

All of the video slots and casino table games can be played in instant play mode, and the slot games 888 Casino offers and all be played for real money and free play; the latter option allows you to try out their range of video slots for free.

Live Casino

The 888 live casino is powered by Playtech – one of the biggest producers of live dealer games. While the live casino may look impressive – 888 Casino has a number of their own exclusive live dealers and live dealer games, for example – don’t be fooled – this is not a legitimate site to play.

In terms of live dealer games, 888 offers live dealer Baccarat, Live Roulette, Live Blackjack, and some more unusual games. Live Spin a Win is a good example of one of these “unusual” games – and while it’s basically a clone of Evolution Gaming’s Dream Catcher, it’s still relatively popular with players.

Roulette

Unlike most online casinos, 888 Casino offers a relatively small selection of casino table games. When looking at Roulette, aside from the live games, they offer just five titles for players to play.

This includes European Roulette, 3D Roulette, American Roulette, Super Stakes Roulette and French Roulette. These games can be found in the “Casino Games” tab, and Roulette has its own dedicated section.

Blackjack

Roulette and Blackjack are both available at 888 Casino, although, the Blackjack selection is even worse than the site’s Roulette offering; you’ll find just three games to choose from, including Multi-Hand Classic Blackjack, American Blackjack and Super Stakes Blackjack.

These games are all found under the “Blackjack” tab on the “Casino Games” page.

Table Games and Video Poker

888 Casino also offers a small selection of other casino table games and video poker machines – and the casino table games can be found on the main “Casino Games” page. Here, you’ll find titles like Three Card Poker, Caribbean Stud Poker, and Casino Hold’em Poker.

The video poker machines are found under the “Video Poker Games” tab. Here, you’ll find Joker Wild Poker, Jacks or Better Poker, Deuces Wild Poker, American Stars Poker, VIP Gold Poker, Aces and Faces Poker, and Bonus Poker.

Progressive Jackpots

Players love progressive jackpots – we all know that – and 888 Casino offers a pretty underwhelming selection of progressive jackpots for players to play. This includes the likes of Millionaire Genie and Pirates Millions, along with Rameses Rumble, Safari Riches, Sizzling Hot Jokers Daily and Irish Pot Luck.

Any jackpot slot at the online casino can be found under the “Jackpots” tab. Unlike most online casinos, the 888 online casino jackpot offering is small – and we don’t see any major games that would make us want to immediately sign-up and join.

About the Team and History

888 Casino was established in 1997, making them one of the oldest casinos on the planet. Many players assume this automatically makes 888 Casino a legitimate place to play – but, as you’ll see below, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

888 Casino holds online gambling licenses from the UK’s Gambling Commission, the Malta Gaming Authority and the Gibraltar Gambling Control Commission. Their UK Gambling Commission is what all UK players play under, while most Europeans and Canadians play under their MGA license.

Complaints and Track Record

As regular readers will know, we’ve had a rocky relationship with 888 Casino and their related 888 Holdings and Cassava Ltd properties. To cut a long story short, the whole business has come down to head office saying about 8 months ago that they require a signed statement of authorisation from the player before discussing that player’s issue with us. Since then, they have not cooperated on a single player issue.

A recent complaint (PAB) against 888 Casino brought this to where we are today. The player’s complaint stated they’d been ejected from the casino for “employing a gaming strategy” — and when asked, they submitted the requested signed statement through the forum rep — who acts as the go-between to the casinos and/or head office.

The casino’s reply was, “operations have given their answer to him, and it won’t change”, and when we then requested further details from the online gaming site, they ended up completely ignoring us.

We then asked them why they were not honouring their agreement to discuss the player’s case after the requested statement had been provided. 888 Casino responded by saying: “there was no point”.

After many attempts to get them to state whether they would discuss the player’s case or not, they finally replied (again, through the forum rep) saying:

“Due to the fact that the issue was resolved, they are not willing to share any details on this issue”.

The player reported that 888 hadn’t bothered to contact him, never mind offering a resolution. Presumably, when saying “resolved”, they meant it had been resolved to their satisfaction.

The bottom line is that this casino group has no intention to discuss player cases. The “permission statement” from the player is just a stalling technique: we run around trying to satisfy their request(s) while they sit on their hands and ignore the player issues at their leisure. When everyone does what they have asked, they simply make a unilateral statement that they’ve made their decision and won’t change it, that there is “no point” in discussing the player issue(s).

In truth, Cassava and its properties have never properly cooperated with the player complaints process regarding the involvement of third parties like us: their operating procedure has always been to decide players’ fates as they and they alone see fit.

If the player or anyone else doesn’t like it, that’s too bad. If the truth gets bent, broken or thrown out the window as they “resolve” these issues, what do they care about? No one can touch them. It has been this way with these casinos for well over a decade. Occasionally they’ll make noises that they’re willing to be more cooperative, but it always ends up back in the same place: they control player monies, and the door to discussing complaints is closed.

We have no doubt that 888 and their parent company have become exceedingly wealthy from the losses of their players. Unfortunately, this seems to have left them perfectly happy to act alone in dictating terms, and everyone else is damned.

So be it, but that is a toxic environment for players: nobody is perfect, and a company holding the purse strings of player accounts must be accountable to those players, either directly or through a player’s designated representative if necessary. Because of their closed-door policy, 888 and the rest of their lot are accountable to no one. As such, this Warning is wholly deserved:

Warning: 888 and related 888/Cassava properties are ignoring player issues and will not discuss player complaints. Players must be aware that Cassava considers itself the final authority on player complaints. They offer no recourse for players who are dissatisfied with the company’s decision(s) against them: the player is totally at their mercy, for better or worse. The only alternative — such as it is — is to turn to the licensing body, Gibraltar or try eCOGRA.

We can offer no assistance if things go wrong between the player and these casinos. Players are advised to avoid these casinos unless they are willing to accept these conditions.

Casino Facts

Founded1997
AccreditedNot Accredited
JurisdictionsGibraltar, UKGC
Casino representative
Affiliate program888affiliates
Is this casino certified at CasinomeisterNo
Payout TimeN/A
Reverse TimeN/A
Payout Limits£/€/$/30,000 per month
Weekend PayoutsYes
Locks WithdrawalsNo
Chinese, English, German, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish
American Express, Apple Pay, Diners Club International, Entropay, Euteller, EZIPay, Giropay, iDEAL, instaDebit, Maestro, MasterCard, Neteller, PayPal, Paysafecard, Payz, Skrill, Sofort, Trustly, Visa, Wire Transfer
Entropay, Neteller, PayPal, Paysafecard, Skrill
Casinomeister
ConnectConnectConnectConnect

The man with the plan here at Casinomeister. Bryan Bailey has been running Casinomeister since its launch in June of 1998. He has watched the industry grow from its primeval stage to what it is now. The Meister has attended nearly 100 conferences in the past 20 years and has either been a speaker or a panel moderator for at least 60 events. He has always been an advocate of fairness and reason and is known to like German beer, a good Scotch, and astrophotography.
bryan@casinomeister.com

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