Europa Casino Review

Europa Casino premiered in 2003 in the middle of the first
wave of online gambling obsession in the US and Europe. Europa
is owned by the Winner Casino Group. Now that Europa Casino is
well into its second decade, it’s time to take another look at
this long-lived and controversial gambling site. Europa runs
entirely on Playtech software, hosting more than 450 games as
part of its download client. The instant play library is
smaller. I cover more specifics on the game library below.

Introduction

Let’s start with the best features of Europa Casino –

A Few
Reasons to Consider Opening an Account:

The site hosts hundreds of casino games.
Instant play customers won’t have access to quite that many, but
if you’re into variety, and if you download the software, you
can play on one of the largest Playtech libraries in the
business.

Europa accepts a wide variety of currencies and does
business in many world languages. Reviewers sometimes
call this “accessibility” – it means a lot of different people
have access to the site. That’s good for marketing, but it’s a
big deal to translate your site, your games, and provide
customer support in a dozen languages.

The variety of deposit and withdrawal methods is
impressive. As an American, I’m always amazed by the
number of deposit and withdrawal methods Europeans have access
to. But even at other Euro sites, I’ve not seen quite the list
of available payment methods that you’ll find at Europa.

And Now for a Few Things About Europa Casino That I Don’t Like:

Europa Casino is blacklisted by Casinomeister for its
progressive jackpot terms. As a “Playtech casino with
progressive limitations,” Europa Casino has earned a spot on
Casinomeister’s blacklist. This is a bad sign – the
Casinomeister staff is thorough, and I usually trust their
findings. The reason for the blacklisting – “predatory terms,”
related to the limiting of payouts on progressive jackpot
winnings. According to the site, “To place a withdrawal limit on
these winnings is not only unethical, it’s predatory and
indefensible. The only reason why they do this is because they
can; they are calling the shots.”

But if you’re not chasing progressive jackpots, this probably
won’t bother you that much.

No access for American players. This one
should be obvious – I live in the United States, so when a site
doesn’t give access to Americans, I’m left out in the cold.

The Playtech-powered library is large but boring.
I know – they have 450-something games in their download client,
and that’s amazing. But they’re all Playtech games – that limits
the variety. I’m also unimpressed with a listing of that many
hundreds of games when only eight of them are video poker
titles, and about that many again are blackjack variants.
Clearly, the library at Europa Casino is aimed at slots players.

Withdrawals face a longer-than-usual pending period.
According to information in the site’s T&C pages, some
withdrawals may be listed as “pending” as long as 96 hours,
which is three times longer than the posted wait times at other
online casinos. A friend of mine pointed out that this could
mean that Europa is more honest about its wait times, since
plenty of casino customers complain that their pending period
was longer than advertised. He may be right – maybe Europa is
just setting the bar low so that customers don’t get angry.

I’m not sure how to feel about this, but I put it in the
negative column because it just seems like such a long time to
wait.

I’m not a fan of the heavily-restricted bonuses now
available. All of the site’s bonuses (outlined above)
are aimed at slot players – the list of restricted games is long
and complicated. I also don’t like the wagering requirement for
the referral bonus, which is four or five times larger than at
other online casinos.

Bonus Details

All the bonuses below have wagering requirements which must
be cleared by wagering on a list of specific games.

Here Are the
Games Excluded From Bonus Clearing Requirements:

• Baccarat
• Roulette
• Sic Bo
• Darts
• Heads or Tails
• Video Poker
• Blackjack Switch
• Blackjack Surrender
• Pontoon
• Craps
• Wild Viking
• Spin a Win

All other games in the site’s library count toward clearing
bonuses.

Here’s a Breakdown of All the Promotions Running at the Time
of My Review:

• $2,400 Free Bonus:

  Europa Casino
  heavily advertises a “$2,400 Free Bonus”, but it’s really
  just a combination of their three main promotional offers: a
  first deposit bonus, a series of eleven monthly reload
  deposit bonuses, and the customer’s use of the $25 weekly
  loyalty bonus. If a player were to max out all 72 of those
  bonuses over the course of a year, they’d have earned a
  total of $2,400 in deposit and reload bonuses.

• 100% First Deposit Bonus:

  New
  depositors are eligible for a 100% match bonus worth up to
  $100. The minimum deposit to trigger this bonus is $25. This
  bonus carries a 20x deposit-plus-bonus wagering requirement.

• $25 Weekly Loyalty Bonus:

  Repeat
  customers can earn $25 once a week for making a deposit of
  $100 or more. Each $25 bonus you earn is subject to a 20x
  bonus wagering requirement.

• $500 High Roller Bonus:

  New customers
  who deposit $1,000 or more are eligible for a bonus award of
  $500. The wager requirement is 20x the bonus plus deposit
  amount, or a total of $30,000 in wagers, to clear the full
  amount of the $500 bonus. Now you see why it’s considered a
  high-roller bonus.

• Refer-a-Friend:

  You can earn $50 for
  each new customer you refer to the site who deposits a
  minimum of $25 and downloads the casino software within a
  week of signing up. Referrers are required to wager $1,250
  before the entire $50 in bonus cash is cleared. Players can
  refer an unlimited number of people to the site but can only
  earn $250 a month in referral bonuses.

Banking Options

Europa Casino Provides Currency Support For:

• Australian dollars
• Canadian dollars
• Euros
• Norwegian kroner
• British pounds sterling
• South African Rand
• Swedish kronor
• Swiss francs
• US dollars
• Denmark kroner

Europa Casino accepts a long list of deposit methods. I count
forty-five accepted deposit methods, listed with details like
mobile compatibility, average deposit time, available bonuses,
and compatible currency. It’s a beautiful table with lots of
useful details in an easy-to-read layout.

The deposit methods range from the universally-accepted
(PayPal, credit/debit cards, bank transfers) to methods only
available for citizens of a single country (Swiff, TrustPay,
DineroMail). Included is a long list of eWallets, prepaid cards,
and instant banking features.

Withdrawal methods are more limited.

Here’s the Full List of
Ways to Request a Payout From Europa Casino:

• Check by mail
• Check by courier
• ClickandBuy
• MyCitadel
• Neteller
• Visa Electron
• instaDebit
• Visa
• Skrill

Players are limited to $9,990 (or currency equivalent) in
withdrawals per month.

Here’s an overview of each of the game categories at Europa
Casino:

Slots

More than 200 total slot games are available on the site’s
download platform, with nearly that many also available in
“instant play” mode. Slots is the largest category of games –
and that makes sense, considering Europa Casino’s slot-friendly
bonuses.

Playtech has designed a bunch of slots with familiar licensed
themes. These are games based on popular films, TV shows, game
shows, and licensed characters. These slots are just as popular
online as they are at land-based venues. Titles like Iron Man 2,
Incredible Hulk, Gladiator, and Fantastic Four combine familiar
themes with Vegas-style slot play.

Europa is home to classic slots, video slots, and progressive
games. Classic slots have simpler rules and payout tables, fewer
reels and symbols, and little in the way of bonuses or extras.
They’re popular because they’re affordable, easy to learn, and
easy to play. Any other slot game is considered a video slot, so
named for the video and audio effects used to tell a story.
Progressive slots are any slot games with an ever-increasing top
prize.

Roulette

Europa Casino hosts thirteen different Playtech-designed
roulette games, most of which are just variations in features
like table layout and graphics quality. Roulette lends itself to
a little bit of variation, and Europa covers American, European,
and French rules as well as a decent multi-wheel game. The rest
are just window dressing.

Here’s the Full List of Roulette Games Now Available at
Europa Casino:

• American Roulette – classic double zero
  roulette
• Multi Wheel Roulette – single zero
  roulette with multiple results per round
• Premium European Roulette – single zero
  roulette presented with premium graphics
• Premium French Roulette – a game
  played by la partage rules presented with premium graphics
• Live French Roulette – a live dealer
  game played under la partage rules
• Roulette Pro – a version of single zero
  roulette played on a fancy layout
• Marvel Roulette – double zero roulette
  using licensed symbols and characters from Marvel
• 3D Roulette Premium – double zero
  roulette with premium 3D graphics
• AR Roulette – a new variant involving
  special bonus payouts and different ways to wager
• Premium Roulette Pro – a premium
  graphics version of Roulette Pro
• French Roulette Multiplayer – a
  multiplayer version of the classic French roulette game
• European Roulette Multiplayer – a
  multiplayer version of the classic Euro roulette game
• Premium American Roulette – a
  multiplayer version of the classic American roulette game

Progressive Games

Rather than being a unique category featuring titles you
won’t find elsewhere on the site, the Progressive Games heading
is more like a place to gather up all the titles with jackpot
prizes so that fans of jackpot games can find them with a single
click of the mouse.

Sixty titles with some form of progressive jackpot are
gathered in this category. Some casino sites only offer
progressive prizes on slots – not so at Europa. They include
slot games, casino games, and at least one video poker title in
their jackpot library.

Blackjack

Europa hosts thirteen blackjack variants in this heading –
and as a fan of online blackjack, I was excited to see so many
different versions available.

• Unlimited Blackjack Live – a live
  dealer game with higher wagering limits
• Blackjack – the site’s standard
  blackjack game
• Double Attack Blackjack – uses eight
  Spanish decks and unique rules
• Blackjack Pro – a standard version of
  blackjack with fancier graphics and a different layout
• Blackjack Switch – a variant in which
  players can swap their cards for better ones
• Blackjack Multihand – allows up to five
  hands at a time
• Live Blackjack – a live dealer game
  with standard rules
• 21 Duel Blackjack – includes a special
  bonus round and payout under certain game conditions
• Blackjack Multiplayer – allows up to
  five players at a time
• Progressive Blackjack – classic
  blackjack with a progressive top prize
• Perfect Blackjack – a variant involving
  special bonus payouts
• Blackjack Surrender – a variant in
  which players can surrender for a loss of half their wager
• Pontoon – based on the rules of an old
  British game similar to blackjack

Live Casino

Under This Heading, You’ll Find All 10 Live Dealer Games Currently Available at the Site:

• Casino Hold’em Live
• Live French Roulette
• Progressive Live Baccarat
• Sic Bo Live
• Unlimited Blackjack Live
• VIP Baccarat Live
• Live VIP Roulette
• Live Baccarat
• Live Roulette
• Live Blackjack

Card Games

I was surprised to see just four casino-style card games on
the menu. Casino-style poker is both popular and potentially
lucrative for the house, and lots of casino poker games are
available in both desktop- and mobile-friendly versions. That
said, I believe Europa picked four of the more popular casino
card games to offer, so I can’t fault them for that.

Here’s a Breakdown of Each of the Site’s Four Card Games Now
Available:

• Caribbean Poker – A casino version of
  five-card stud.
• Pai Gow Poker – Based on the rules of
  an old Chinese domino games.
• Baccarat – The casino classic, but only
  available in one variation.
• Casino Hold’em – A casino-style variant
  of Texas hold’em poker.

Scratch Cards

Scratch cards are becoming a big deal online – or, at least,
I’m seeing them more often at online gambling sites. Most of
these collections are sparse at best, with RTG casinos usually
hosting one or two different games. That’s not the case at
Europa Casino – there
is a complete list of forty-nine different lotto-style online
scratch card games available at Europa.

Video Poker

Most of the games gathered in the Video Poker heading are
line variants of Jacks or Better and Aces and Faces. The classic
variants – Deuces Wild, Joker Poker, Jacks or Better – are here,
but the variations outside of those classics are dull.

Here’s the Full List of Video Poker Variants Available at
Europa:

• Deuces Wild
• Joker Poker
• Mega Jacks
• 10-line Jacks or Better
• Jacks or Better
• Tens or Better
• All American Video Poker
• 25-line Aces and Faces
• 4-line Aces and Faces
• 4-line Deuces Wild
• 2 Ways Royal
• 4-line Jacks or Better
• 50-line Jacks or Better
• Jacks or Better Max Bet

Customer Support

You Can Contact Europa Casino Via Live Chat, Email, Postal Mail, or Telephone:

• A live chat feature is available about sixteen hours a day.
• The toll-free international contact number is +63-2756-7823.
• The best email address for customer support is [email protected]
• The postal address for Europe Casino:

Europa Casino
P.O Box 1279
Makati Central Post Office 1252
Makati City, Philippines

Site Software and Customer Support Are Available in the Following Languages:

• English
• French
• German
• Greek
• Magyar
• Italian
• Czech
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Spanish
• Swedish

Summary

Europa Casino has been around for over a decade, and it
offers a large download library of casino games in a variety of
categories. I’m not impressed by the bonus offers or terms, and
there’s the whole progressive jackpot withdrawal issue to worry
about.

On the other hand, they have a large library, an
easy-to-navigate site, and a number of currency and language
options to accommodate a variety of customers.

Verdict

I’m put off enough by the inclusion on the blacklist
that I don’t think I’d make a deposit to this site. I’m no fan
of Playtech, but if you are, or if you’re into slot games, you
might consider opening an account here. Otherwise, I’m going to
stay neutral on Europa Casino.

Europa Casino FAQ

Here Are Answers to the Most Common Questions I Get About Europa Casino: