Gala Casino Review

Gala Casino is one of the many brands owned and operated by the Gala Coral Group out of the UK. Along with Ladbrokes and William Hill, Coral is recognized as the industry leaders in the land-based betting arena so you can expect that expertise to be fully utilized in their online offerings. To comply with regulations, the actual organization listed as the operator of this site and Gala Bingo is Gala Interactive Limited from Gibraltar.

The company obviously has licenses which govern their land-based betting businesses; for the online gaming portion of their empire, the sites are licensed by the UK Gambling Commission and the Gibraltar Gaming Authority. These licenses are among the toughest for any group to receive, so this should give you a great sense of safety when it comes to playing and depositing at this casino.

While the two companies sit at arm’s length, it is still very comforting to know that if you have a real issue that you can’t seem to deal with online, you can walk into a betting shop and try to deal with it that way. If I know these guys, they will not want to have any issues come to light in a public facility being frequented by other patrons. I am hopeful that you don’t need to resort to these tactics, but it is always good to know there is a face to speak with live.

When you have partnerships with all the biggest casino software companies in the world, you get access to all of their best progressive jackpot games. This is definitely the case at Gala Casino, where you will find a tab dedicated to all the ways you can hit it big with one spin of the reels. The largest of these is definitely Jackpot Giant, which currently has a jackpot that stands at well over GBP 7 Million! That is some life-changing money, and these jackpots do burst, so now is the time to jump in and give them a shot.

I will give the team at Gala credit here; they don’t shy away from the fact that they have some detailed, intense Terms and Conditions for their bonuses, especially their Welcome Bonus. Regardless, I have seen mortgages that have fewer rules and regulations written for them. Considering how small the maximum bonus amounts are, I am surprised to see the company be this stingy when it comes to allowing players actually to earn them.

I am not sure how I feel about this; I know that the land-based business and online sites are kept separate corporately, but they all roll up into the same publicly-traded entity, so it seems only fitting that you should be able to access your account and make financial transactions at the live betting shops. Not being able to walk into the shop and access your winning seems like they have missed something here. I have contacted the casino to find out why this is the case; I will update this review when I receive the answer.

Now we are into the meat of this review and trust me, I won’t be able to cover it all on this page. I am going to do my best to explain how this casino is set up and the best games for you to try. At the end of it, you will probably want to check it all out for yourself.

Normally, I would start my review with the slot catalog, but to be honest, with this many choices for Table Games, I feel it deserves the top billing. Typically, when a casino uses multiple software vendors, it is mainly to gain more slots content. At Gala, however, they also give you the option to play Table Games from different suppliers. I know that this means a lot to the seasoned gambler; sometimes it can seem that just a change of look and feel can alter a session. With Gala, you don’t have to leave the casino to get the change of scenery.

Here are the Table Games that are available at Gala, broken down by each software supplier:

But wait, there’s more! If the traditional digital versions of some table games aren’t enough for you, now you have the option of playing against a real dealer! You can stream some Table Games live from a studio somewhere in Eastern Europe which is run by Evolution Gaming, the industry leader in Live Dealer games. Using wacky looking extra large cards, you can get the feeling of playing Blackjack that you might get from sitting in a land-based casino. These games are a ton of fun to play; here are the choices you will find in the Live Casino lobby:

• Baccarat
• Roulette
• Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em
• Three Card Poker
• Casino Hold ‘Em

As I mentioned in the Bad Stuff part of this review, I was not at all thrilled to see the long list of T&C for the deposit promotions. That being said, I am still going to highlight a couple of the promotions so you can see what the site has to offer:

I will say this about the site: they did something smart when it comes to their Welcome Bonus. Casino players are typically split into two camps; Table Games players and Slots players. Unfortunately, bonuses are not usually designed with both sets of players in mind. Gala takes their Welcome Bonus one step further by giving players three different options for your first bonus. Here is how it all works:

• 100% Slots Bonus to $400
• 50% Roulette Bonus to $200
• 50% Blackjack Bonus to $200

Now, you must choose only one of these bonuses, and you only have 14 days to meet the wagering requirement or else the remaining bonus cash is removed from your account. However, I do like that they are separating the three games as they require a different type of play to be able to convert the bonus into cash.

The site also has bonuses for your second and third deposits; the full details of these can be found on their promotions page.

This is a promo that is specific to an individual variant of blackjack, but it really doesn’t require much in the way of execution, which I like. Here are the details of the promo:

Play Exclusive Blackjack in the Live Casino, and if you’re dealt a Golden Card you could win a bonus up to £100!

Here’s how:

• DEPOSIT: £20 or more during the current week
• PLAY: on our Exclusive Blackjack table on Live Casino
• EARN: a bonus up to £100 if you’re dealt a Golden Card!

If the dealer is dealt a Golden Card, every player seated at the table will win an instant £20 bonus!

As for the rest of the ongoing promotions, you will find a great selection at the casino website. I must say that I am impressed with the overall breadth of the promotions – a lot of casinos stick to just the standard reload bonuses, but not Gala! Check out their page regularly for new promotions as they look to be adding new ones on a monthly basis.

With the majority of their players coming from European countries, it is not shocking to note that the payment solutions they use at Gala Casino are tailored to that market. I am certain that they have negotiated the best rates with each supplier, which means they probably don’t care which one you use. If it were me, I would use an e-wallet solution as those are typically the fastest from a payment perspective.

• EcoPayz
• Maestro
• MasterCard
• Neteller
• PayPal
• Paysafecard
• Visa Debit
• Visa
• Skrill
• Skrill 1-Tap

• Bank Wire
• ECO Card
• Maestro
• MasterCard
• Neteller
• PayPal
• Visa Debit
• Visa
• Instant Banking
• Skrill

Gala offers its players a Comp program which is similar in nature to the majority of programs you will find at an online casino. The program is straightforward. You are rewarded with one comp point for every $10 you wager in a real money game at their casino. You can redeem points for cash at a rate or $1 for every 100 points. I always recommend that players keep an eye on their points balance and convert them as quickly as possible; not only do you want to get that cash into your account, but the points do expire, so you don’t want to get caught realizing that all hard work is for nothing.

I already talked about the nuclear option of just walking into a Coral location to have someone deal with your issues at Gala; let’s assume you won’t need to get to that point, but you may have concerns regardless.

If you need to have an issue resolved, the first thing I would do is head to their FAQ section. This is very well laid out, and you can search by your question (hopefully the right answer will come up for you!). If you can’t find what you are looking for, then you can reach them by Live Chat or by email. I did not see a telephone number for them on their site, which leads me to believe that they probably want you to use the other methods.

Well, let’s put it this way: it’s almost worth moving to one of the non-restricted countries to access everything that Gala has to offer. From an extensive list of games from multiple software providers to an incredibly detailed VIP program, there is a lot to love here. Yes, there is some red tape when it comes to clearing bonuses, but if you can look past that, then you are definitely going to find one of the best online casino experiences around. I highly recommend Gala Casino to any of my readers.