Review Of Bovada Casino - Rtg - July 2012

Review of BOVADA, RTG by Talk2molly:



Overview:

If you are looking for a casino that offers a large variety of slots, each with it's own unique theme, beautiful color schemes, and intriguing bonus features, look no further; Bovada is your new casino! The current first deposit offer includes a generous **100% match bonus**, Visa is accepted, and the entire Bovada package helps to make up for the (hopefully) temporary delays they are currently experiencing with payouts. Read on for more information about Bovada Casino!

Bodog/Bovada Connection:

Bovada Casino is the U.S. version of the well-established and equally respected Bodog Casino. The U.S. Dollar is accepted at Bovada, and other currencies are available at Bodog, which remains available outside of the United States.

Bovada Specifics:

As a regular depositor at Bovada Casino for the last six months, I keep returning to the casino for many reasons. The selection of slots at Bovada is very good, and Bovada offers most, but not all of the familiar RTG games that we have come to embrace since the departure of microgaming. Bovada does not offer the newer RTG games, like Lochness Monster, or the Three Stooges II, or Count Spectacular, my personal favorite, just to name a few, but it does offer a really terrific group of slot games that are fresh and new and much more reminiscent of microgaming slots, all with different features and graphics that are eye-catching and exciting to play. My favorite games are the newer “featured” games, like Dragons, Jack the Ripper, Indiana Jane and the adorable TeaCup Dragons, all with unique bonus features and spectacular themes. The person responsible for the artwork of the games is nothing short of a genius. Some of the games, like Hercules and Dragons are stunningly beautiful.

At Bovada, playtime is generally quite long for a deposit of $25.00, which has many times allowed me to play for several hours. Although I have won several times, I have withdrawn $400 on one occasion; my withdrawal is a subject I explore further below.

Bovada accepts Visa and Mastercard on an international Level, and Visa, Western Union/Money Gram for those residing in the U.S.. As a U.S. citizen, my deposit method is a prepaid Western Union Visa card. For deposits made via Western Union, or Moneygram, Bovada waives the deposit fees (see below) for deposit amounts exceeding $300.00. There are, of course, fees associated with sending the funds through either Western Union or Moneygram.

Customer Support:

Customer support at Bovada is excellent. Although there is no live support, a live agent is always available by phone. For less urgent matters, Bovada responds to e-mail requests within a promise of four hours, which is actually much closer to one hour after communication is initiated by the player.

Bonuses:

Bovada offers a somewhat vague loyalty bonus that is based on both deposits, and play-time during the week. On Monday, players are rewarded for play between Wednesday and Sunday. On Thursday, players are rewarded for play between Monday and Wednesday. I have deposited anywhere from $20 to $200 or more, and have received $5.00 to $20.00 in my account as loyalty. Oddly, the bonus seems to rely more on playtime than deposit amount. The longer you play, the higher the loyalty bonus usually is. I've gotten as little as $5.00 after depositing $200.00 that went way too fast, and felt extremely cheated by the small bonus. On the other hand, I've played for hours, and ended up losing it all, and found a nice $20 bonus in my account. All in all, I like the loyalty system, but I would like to see a comp point system put in place in the future. Regarding freebies, such as “no deposit” bonuses, they do happen at Bovada, but are extremely rare.

Payouts:

Payouts are a huge issue for Bovada Casino right now. Bovada seems to be having more of an issue processing payouts to the United States than some other casinos. Everygame, for instance, processed a payout that I received in less than one week in the form of a check.

At Bovada, courier checks are available for U.S. citizens, but the casino is currently experiencing serious delays in payouts, which can extend beyond sixty days. I requested my check over the phone, and was happy to hear that there is no charge for the first withdrawal each month. That’s a savings of $50.00! However, I ended up waiting about sixty days for a $400.00 check which arrived via DHL courier. The check was drawn from a Singapore Bank, and looked quite foreign to me. On Bovada's recommendation, I deposited the check into the ATM at my credit union with no difficulty. Bovada is currently working on a solution that will enable them to process payouts more promptly. The important thing to remember here is that Bovada has a good reputation, and will payout . . . eventually.

Recommendation:

Bovada is a great casino, and I recommend that others give it a try. Although I prefer to play slots, Bovada has much more to offer, such as sports betting, poker, and horses. There is something for everyone at Bovada Casino, and each branch of the casino offers its' own unique bonuses and promotions.

Similar to any other casino experience, it is true that dry spells can occur, where playtime is brief and unsatisfying, but most of the time, a small deposit at Bovada can keep you playing for hours. The games seem fair, and hit the bonus round often, with wins that vary anywhere from just okay to fantastic. There are so many games to choose from, and the featured slots, which are the newer games, are much closer to a microgaming experience than other RTG games tend to be. They aren't consistently as good as microgaming, in my opinion, but that's partially sour grapes on my part because I am from the U.S. and therefore subject to extremely slim pickings since the government took our microgaming away. Boy, I really miss Stash of the Titans and Break Da Bank Again!

In the future, I would like to see Bovada offer more regular match-bonuses. Currently, there are promotional periods where match bonuses are offered, and a couple of times a week when matches are offered (6:30pm-12 midnight on Tuesday, for instance). It would be nice to be able to receive match bonuses more consistently, and it has been my experience that playtime is noticeably extended when there is a play through to meet. Also, it would be nice to be tossed a “no deposit bonus” more often. “No deposit” bonuses at Bovada a few and far between.

Worst Criticism of Bovada:

As mentioned briefly above, Bovada charges a credit card deposit fee of 4.9%, which adds up over time. To my knowledge, they are the only casino to charge a fee to play, and there is no reason given for the fee. As I've explained, however, the games are better than regular RTG games, and so I continue to deposit. As a U.S. player, if I want to deposit $25.00, it costs me $4.95 to load my debit card, which brings my total to $29.95, and then Bovada charges me $1.33, which brings my total to $31.28, and then the debit card company charges around $1.81 to handle an international transaction, bringing my grand total expense to $33.09 for a deposit of $25.00. That's a painful $8.09 every time I deposit $25.00 at Bovada Casino!

U.S. players have many disadvantages in online gaming right now, and it would be nice if Bovada recognized this fact. How about offering a standard 5% match on deposits, instead of charging a fee to deposit? This would help to offset the other costs of depositing, and just one example of something realistic that Bovada could do to make U.S. players feel better about depositing, and to encourage more frequent deposits.

At present, Bovada Casino is not part of our VIP Program, and in addition,
Bovada does not have an exclusive CC Offer at this time.

**1ST DEPOSIT DISCLAIMER**
Casinos sometimes change their 1st Deposit Offer, therefore the 1st deposit in this review may NOT be currently available.