Royal Panda - Closed

Royal Panda is an exceptional online casino site that now has a sportsbook licensed in the UK.  Is this just the same as every other casino that launches a sportsbook? No.  Why? Because Royal Panda have an outstanding reputation as an independent and innovative company loved by their regular players.

Set up by a group of professionals from the iGaming industry in 2013, the brand has already developed a significant reputation for valuing the everyday customer just as much as the high roller.  This is not a sports betting site for someone that just wants a sports bookie, this is an all-round gaming and betting site that brings you the best of both worlds.

And I do mean the best.

The casino boasts well over 1000 games from a multitude of experienced and respected developers, while the sportsbook works harder in terms of betting range and depth than many that have been in the business much longer. The interface is also unique to the brand rather than being a cookie cutter site.

Casino or Sportsbook?

Let’s deal with the elephant – or should I say Panda – in the room first.

I know that Royal Panda is a very famous casino full of cartoonish branding. However, I also know that it is one of the most far reaching sportsbooks in the industry, so if you are a sports bettor who thinks this isn’t a place for serious punters, think again.

That said, the casino was the launch product and it shows. This makes Royal Panda the perfect place for those who enjoy slotting or spending some time at the casino, but don’t want to compromise on their sports betting.

The casino easily surpasses 1,100 video slots alone, before you come to deal with table games like roulette, blackjack, or poker, not to mention the Evolution powered live casino.

Being an independently run website, Royal Panda are also able to add their own twist to what an online casino should be, giving customers a truly original and bespoke layout and design, as well as features like the Hot and Cold search function which will locate slots that have or have not paid out more than an amount decided by you over a time period that you select.

The 20 virtual sports betting options help to bridge the gap between the sportsbook and the casino, but they aren’t the only thing.

Loyal Panda Points

Ignore the name sports fans, it’s what’s on offer that counts.

Loyal Panda Points are just reward points with a silly name, but they can be earned across both the casino and the sportsbook, so it doesn’t matter what you do you will still be clocking up points.

They can be exchanged for free games, bonuses, free bets, gifts, gadgets, tickets to travel destinations, and all manner of other goodies; you can even make donations to charity if you are feeling generous.

This is a tiered rewards program too, so if you play/bet a lot you will see more rewards than you would do otherwise.

Tying in with this, the promotions are well balanced between both sides of the business so gamers and bettors have enough to keep them hungry. Again, being an independent company they can structure their offers to be unique and interesting, so you might find payment type specific offers, takeovers from certain game providers and loads of associated free spins, seasonal offers, top price guarantees on more than just horse racing, free bets, free spins, and weekly bonuses.

Global Markets

The Royal Panda website is accessible in a lot of different territories, and the sorts of markets that are available to bet on reflect this. From Guatemalan Handball to Finnish Pesapallo, the range of markets on display is staggering, and the number of betting lines for these markets is equally impressive.

If we take a top level Charity Shield game between Man City and Liverpool as an example, I found 400+ pre-match markets for this single fixture. You don’t find more than that anywhere, and the bet types covered minute bets, corners, halves, handicaps, cards, everything really.

Of course not all fixtures will get this much attention, but even National League matches are busy with between 100 and 150 markets.

There are around 50 different sports available, with some of the busiest being:

• Football – More than 90 countries covered including even the likes of Kazakhstan, Bosnia, and Uganda.
• Tennis – Every major competition and games from throughout Europe, Australia, American, and Canada.
• Rugby – Both League and Union get equal attention and you will find more markets in countries like New Zealand and Australia.
• Basketball – Around 50 games at any one time, and not just from the USA either. Bahrain, Bolivia and Brazil are all options.
• Esports – Extremely well maintained betting category, sometimes better than anywhere else. Starcraft, League of Legends, Dota, Counter Strike, Call of Duty, Raibow Six, and Overwatch are all available.
• Volleyball – Surprisingly popular at Royal Panda. For instance, who knew that Russia and Venezuela were so keen on volleyball?
• Baseball – Limited to the USA, but a very busy market none the less.

This is all found using a simple navigation system and most of the sports, especially football, have very good odds that don’t fluctuate much at all. The margins are tight.

The sheer scale of what’s available has only one downside – it can slow down processing speeds so that they become noticeable. It won’t drive you mad, but you won’t get instant page loads either.

Reputation

Because Royal Panda have such a strong reputation as a casino the range and depth of their sportsbook comes as a surprise, even when you have used it before.

I can see why sports bettors who take themselves seriously might be put off by the branding but as the saying goes, you should never judge a book by its’ cover, and it has never been truer.

Royal Panda do not feel like a traditional sportsbook, but if you can get past that you will find an almost unbeatable range of markets with some really interesting sports that you don’t always see elsewhere.

The site is so well stocked that what would be considered a strength at another bookie could look like a weakness here, but that’s only because everything else around it is so diverse. Horse racing, for example, is limited to the UK at Royal Panda, which seems like a shame considering every other sport enjoys global coverage; but then this is the case at hundreds of sportsbooks, and they don’t offer nearly as much range elsewhere either.

About Royal Panda

Royal Panda Limited are a new and modern company but with decades of experience at the top.  As I’ve mentioned the independence of this brand is what makes it what it is, a player focused gaming and betting site with a primary mission to deliver what normal users want.  The whole product is directed towards the average Joe, not the high roller or big stakes bettor.

The company is based in Malta but has a full UK gambling licence.

In terms of casino games the brand has been able to achieve notoriety, and a quickly expanding loyal customer base, by tailoring their software packages to create a games catalogue full of the best and most popular titles.

Launching a sports book is a mechanism used by many virtual casinos to increase profits.  I don’t feel this is the case with Royal Panda’s sport betting.  The section is packed full of markets and you can tell this is designed to be useful to the customer, not just about getting you to bet more money.

This is quite literally the perfect site for anyone that wants to play good games and bet on all sports events, with an honest and loyal brand.  If you want the convenience of having just one account for sports and casino I can think of few options better than this.

Best of the Rest

I will quickly take you through some of the other salient points pertaining to Royal Panda that are very useful to know but don’t need to be explained at length.

Payments

A company that operates globally needs a payment system that accepts global customers, and this means they have seemingly every payment option under the sun.

This is a company that know how to treat their customers so you should find that any limits in place are not inhibitive and if you do want to make special arrangements you can contact them and ask.

Many of the methods aren’t applicable to UK customers because they are designed to handle payments from specific countries, but the following will definitely be available:

Withdrawal minimum is £10 and the maximum is £100,000, for deposits this is £10 and between £10,000 and £50,000 depending on the method you use. There are no fees.

Support

Customer care is what Royal Panda is all about. The reason they were set up and have stayed as an independent bookmaker and casino is because they want to be able to deliver a service that actually cares about its customers rather than just pretending to.

There’s an FAQ that doubles as the live chat box, so you can often find the answer you want using this.

Live Betting

It’s available and in good numbers with plenty of extra depth once the game kicks off, but I have to say the live betting platform is horrible to look at. If they stripped it back any further it wouldn’t be there at all.

That said, it works perfectly well and things do improve slightly once you choose a specific event, but not by much. On the plus side, live streaming is available on many sports, but not horse racing.

Because there are so many betting lines the filtering options here are a godsend and also help to tailor your experience to the sort of bettor that you are. It’s not obvious when you have made a selection though and they really need to do something about the interior design.

Mobile App

The app exists but it is only available on iOS operating systems, so Android users will have to make do with a mobile version of the website.

There’s not much between them to be honest, although both can be a little slow at times, and the same goes for the desktop site. One of the perils of having so much content to load – it’s a tricky balance.

Still, they are easy to use and you won’t sacrifice much by choosing to gamble on a device rather than a computer. The selection of available games in the casino might be a little lighter, but it will still outweigh most other casinos libraries.