Ladbrokes Review

Even though you have probably seen the Ladbrokes name and logo emblazoned on television screens in the United States, the fact of the matter is that you are not allowed to play their games for real money if you reside in the U.S. Having the UK gaming license is very valuable to Ladbrokes; they don’t want to risk it and their land-based business by taking wagers from Americans who would be gambling illegally. With that much at stake, it is no surprise that this map tells an abysmal story for American residents:

Is Ladbrokes Legit for U.S. Players?

Unfortunately, if you live in the U.S., you are not going to be able to create an account on this site. This is why for the time being this site, no matter how credible it is globally, cannot be considered a legit site for U.S. players. Americans should not feel alone in this situation; the UK gaming license is very strict when it comes to allowing players to accredited sites. The following countries are just some of the nations who face the same restrictions as U.S. players:

• Belgium
• France
• Greece
• Italy
• Poland
• South Africa
• Turkey
• Hungary
• Norway
• Switzerland
• Finland
• Romania
• Russia

Site Review

We are going to cover the following in our detailed review:

Casino

Starting our Ladbrokes review with its casino may seem strange for a site whose primary focus was on sports betting, but with so many great pieces of software available for players to choose from, we thought it was important to highlight the casino. There are over a dozen different software companies providing content for the Ladbrokes casino. Have a look at this incredible list of providers: You can see the quality of the casino just by scanning the names on that list. The games are available in Instant Play format (it would be tough to manage a download with all these different providers) and they are for the most part all formatted to be accessible from your mobile device.

Slots

The Ladbrokes lobby is littered with slot machines; there are over 1,000 in total. Whether you like to play classic 3 Reel games or are more into the storytelling of a multi-screen slot, you will find something you will want at this casino. We love all the different entertainment brands that cross over into this casino; have a look at the Batman games as an example: We have listed a handful of our favorite titles below; you’ll have to check out the casino lobby to see the rest.

• Age of the Gods: Fate Sisters
• Age of the Gods: Furious 4
• Archer
• Atlantis Queen
• Batman & Catwoman Cash
• Batman & Mr. Freeze Fortune
• Batman & The Batgirl Bonanza
• Captain Cannon’s Circus of Cash
• Chippendales
• Cinerama
• Funky Fruits Farm
• Halloween Fortune
• Jungle Trouble
• Jurassic Island
• Medusa’s Gaze
• Miss Fortune
• Monty Python’s Life of Brian
• Monty Python’s Spamalot!
• Ocean Princess
• Panther Moon
• Party Line
• Rock ‘n’ Roller
• Rocky
• Rome & Glory
• Rubik’s Riches
• Safari Heat
• SafeCracker
• Sultan’s Fortune
• Sultan’s Gold
• Sunset Beach
• Superman: The Movie

Live Dealer Games

Evolution Gaming, the leader in Live Dealer software, are the providers of record for the Ladbrokes Live Casino. These guys have been at it for almost a decade, and now have several studios up and running to house their 100 different live tables. Live dealer games are all the rage; sadly, they don’t have any for play money (who would pay the dealers, after all?) but you can select from any of these games to try for real money if you like:

• Baccarat
• Casino Hold’em
• Dream Catcher
• Blackjack
• Roulette
• Three Card Poker
• Ultimate Texas Hold’Em

Table Games

With so many software partners to choose from, the task of selecting which Table Games to display was daunting for Ladbrokes. In the end, they picked Playtech, Novomatic and Net Entertainment, all of which are excellent in our opinion. This also means that one of our favorite games, Blackjack Switch, is in the Ladbrokes lobby. You should give this twist on classic Blackjack a try; you can play it for free right here: Here are all the games you will find at Ladbrokes (some may have multiple versions to choose from);

• Baccarat
• Blackjack Pro
• Blackjack Surrender
• Blackjack Switch
• Blackjack/American Blackjack/Perfect Blackjack
• Caribbean Stud Poker
• Casino Hold ‘Em
• Casino Reels
• Casino War
• Craps
• Dice Twister
• Double Attack Blackjack
• Genie’s Hi-Lo
• Knockout
• Let Them Ride
• Lucky Blackjack
• Oasis Poker
• Pai Gow Poker
• Poker Three
• Pontoon
• Red Dog
• Roulette
• Sic Bo
• Single Deck Blackjack
• Tequila Poker
• TXS Hold ’em

Casual Games

This is an area of the site that is reserved for the more recreational player; the games listed below are more games of chance than skill. In fact, most of them require no effort; just press a button and see if you win. Check out what we mean by trying the Pink Panther Scratch Card for free: From scratch cards to virtual bowling, there is a little of everything in this category. Here are all the titles we found that fit into the Casual Games category:

• A Night Out
• Around the World
• Bonus Bowling
• Darts
• Derby Day
• Dice Twister
• Final Score
• Frankie’s Fantastic 7
• Genie’s Hi-Lo
• Heads or Tails
• Hold’em Showdown
• Jackpot Darts – Progressive
• KENO
• King Kong Scratch
• Love Match
• Medusa
• Penalty Shootout
• Pinball Roulette
• Pink Panther Scratch
• Pop Bingo
• Rock Paper Scissors
• Rocky Scratchcard
• Rollercoaster Dice
• Spin-a-Win
• Virtual Horses
• Wheel of Light

Sports

Ladbrokes started as a sportsbook when they opened their doors; their expertise and experience shows in their online sports platform. Built in-house (there weren’t too many options for software back in the late 1990s), the sportsbook is robust enough to handle the tens of thousands of bets the group takes on a daily basis. Have a look at all the sports listed on the sportsbook homepage:

• American Football
• Aussie Rules
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Cricket
• Cycling
• Darts
• Football
• Formula 1
• Gaelic Football
• Golf
• Greyhound Racing
• Handball
• Horse Racing
• Hurling
• Ice Hockey
• Motor Cycling
• Motor Sports
• Movies
• Politics
• Royal Specials
• Rugby League
• Rugby Union
• Snooker
• Specials
• Speedway
• TV Specials
• Tennis
• UFC/MMA
• Virtual Sports
• Volleyball

Notable in this section is Virtual Sports. Growing in popularity, these events are computer simulations of games featuring your favorite sports and teams; for those of you who can’t wait a full 90 minutes to find out the result of a soccer match, you can have the computer play a simulation with your team and bet on the outcome. It is not surprising that in this “everything faster” generation the idea of betting on a simulation of a game is just as good as or better than the real thing. Traditionalists may not understand, but Ladbrokes sure does. There is a full in-game Live Betting suite, which is available for many of the sports listed above. Also, to enhance your experience, you can download their native mobile app so you can have your bets placed quickly and accurately from your phone.

Poker

Poker was added to the Ladbrokes offering during the heyday of online poker in the early 2000s. Back then, it seemed as though everyone in the world was playing the game, and the majority were playing on multiple sites. Ladbrokes Poker is part of the iPoker Network, the network operated by Playtech. The poker world took a major hit in 2006 and again in 2011 after sites were shut down in the United States, but that hasn’t stopped this network from offering poker players a great selection of tournaments and cash games. If you want to play poker at Ladbrokes, you will have to download the poker client or the native app. Once you are there, you can use the funds from your gaming account to take to the cash tables (available for as little as pennies) or make your way to one of the dozens of daily tournaments on the schedule. The iPoker network is littered with recreational players, so if you think you have a skill advantage, you should get in and try your luck at the tables. There are hundreds of thousands of guaranteed events every month, and the freerolls allow you to build your bankroll and test the waters without even having to pay any fees.

Customer Service

As mentioned above, this area of the online site is a little confusing. For some reason, the live support team is not available 24/7. While we can understand that the betting shops themselves close for the evening, the fact that players could be playing casino and poker all night leads us to believe they should also be serviced at any time of day. This is a disappointing turn from a site that has such clout behind it.

Promotions

There are loads of promotional offers on the Ladbrokes site; many of them are tailored for specific products, so rather than review all of them, we are going to highlight a couple that stick out in our minds.

Welcome Bonus

The Welcome Bonus for casino players is straightforward enough on the outside: a 100% match bonus up to a maximum of $500. It is when you dig into the Terms and Conditions of this offer that things go a little sideways. Have a look at a couple of the Terms, and you will see what we mean:

• You will be awarded 100% of your first deposit of £20 or more.
• The minimum Deposit amount to qualify for the 100% Bonus is set at £20 as a single transaction (or currency equivalent). Fund transfers will not qualify.
• Deposits made via Neteller or MoneyBookers will NOT qualify for this offer.
• 30% stake limitation applies as clause 23 in our promotional general terms and conditions with a maximum allowed single bet amount of £50.
• The wagering requirement for the 100% Welcome bonus is twenty times (x20) your deposit amount plus your bonus amount in order to redeem any bonus winnings. For example, if you deposit £100 and receive a bonus worth £100, you will be required to wager (£100 + £100) x 20 = £4000. (Not all games count fully towards wagering requirements, see table below for full breakdown).

We are not big fans of stake limitations; if the casino wins the money, they don’t offer you anything in return, so why limit the player from making a max wager to earn the bonus? Now, 20x the Deposit and Bonus as a wagering requirement is close to the industry standard, so at least we know that the bonuses have a chance of being converted.

Ladbrokes Adventure

This is Ladbrokes attempt at running a promotion that is more like the ones you would find at your favorite social casino. The premise is based on completing challenges to earn “coins”; the more of these you earn, the more levels you unlock. When you unlock a level, you are rewarded with a prize of some sort, ranging from Free Spins to special bonuses to cash. It is great to see a casino like Ladbrokes with this stature trying something new to attract a new audience; so many times in our industry operators are content sitting on their hands and not taking the risk of going in a different direction.

Banking

For the players that can access the real money games at Ladbrokes, there are many options available to you. One method not listed here that we are sure is available is going right into a location and funding your account live. This ensures your deposit will not be tied up or rejected, and it definitely saves the casino money in fees.

Deposit Methods

• Bank Wire Transfer
• Maestro
• MasterCard
• Neteller
• PayPal
• Solo
• Switch
• Ukash
• Visa Electron
• Western Union
• AstroPay Card
• Entropay
• EPS
• GiroPay
• iDEAL
• Paysafecard
• Skrill
• Sofortuberwaisung
• Trustly
• Visa Debit

Withdrawal Methods

• Maestro
• Neteller
• PayPal
• Visa Electron
• Visa
• Entropay
• MasterCard
• Skrill
• Visa Debit

VIP/Comp Program

Ladbrokes delivers an excellent VIP Program for its players; the 4-tiered program is comprehensive on all fronts, including the details that they are willing to share with you on their site. Have a look at some of the features of the program: VIP Points are earned in the following way:

•  2 points for every £10 stake on Slots, Scratch cards, and Bingo
•  1 point for every £10 stake for all other Casino games
•  2.5 points for every £10 stake for Sports single bets
•  3 points for every £10 stake for Sports multiple bets

The below table shows the overall VIP Point targets along with the minimum deposits that must be met to qualify for the VIP Programme each calendar month. Having tiers that you can see and easily understand is the cornerstone of an excellent loyalty program. Also, being able to convert your comp points to cash is important; similarly to most of the Playtech-managed loyalty programs, you can convert points to cash at a rate of 100 for $1. We could go on and on about the rewards for each VIP level, including some of the amazing events that the Platinum members are privy to; the easiest thing to do is lead you to the page where you can read all about them yourself!

Conclusion

What more can be said about this fantastic site? Ladbrokes is one of the leaders in the gaming space for a reason; they offer a wide assortment of games to players, with an excellent VIP program and bonuses to motivate players to stay loyal to the brand. It is too bad that more countries can’t access the games at Ladbrokes, but with a massive land-based business at risk, we totally understand the company’s position. Our recommendation is that is if you are living in a country where you can make a successful deposit at Ladbrokes, you should do so immediately!

This review was made by: LegitCasinosOnline.com Rating: 9 out of 10