Website: | DragonaraOnline.com |
---|---|
US Players: | US Players Are NOT Accepted |
Online Since: | 2014 |
Bonus: |
Welcome Bonus €200 + 50 Spins
|
License: | UK & Malta |
Software: | Microgaming, NetEnt, Play'n GO, IGT, Evolution Gaming |
Location: | UK |
Banking: |
What Dragonara does well, it does very well indeed. The games are excellent,
the website is nicely designed and easy to use, and the bonuses are definitely
worth taking.
There are a few areas for improvement, though, as you’ll discover as this
review progresses. I’ll get into those in more detail in the relevant sections,
but for now, let’s just say that the customer service and banking options, which
are quite important elements, got the lowest scores of this review.
The best way to describe this site is “hit and miss.” It hits bullseyes in
some areas and has work to do in others.
This is definitely one of Dragonara’s strong suits. I found just about every
casino game I could even think of, with few exceptions.
There’s a huge number of slots which will take you forever and a day to play
through, including some great progressive jackpot games like Divine Fortune and
Mega Moolah.
Another strong point is the live casino, which offers all the most popular
card and table games. I like that this can be accessed from any sort of device,
too.
All of the games come from reputable providers, and so I’m more than happy to
give Dragonara top marks for its game selection.
While the range of deposit methods is ample and satisfactory, Dragonara
stumbles and falls when it comes to withdrawal methods. There’s only one, and it
can take up to five business days to get your money.
This is something I always call online casinos out on, and that’s why I’m
mentioning it here. There are also 2% fees on every withdrawal, no matter which
kind you use, which is a little steep.
I definitely feel the banking options could be improved. All that’s needed is
the addition of a few web wallets like Neteller and Skrill.
Dragonara offers an okay selection of bonuses, although there could
definitely be more for regular players.
I think the welcome offer of 150% up to €200 + 50 free spins is enticing
enough to make it worth taking. The wagering requirements are a little higher
than average (40x), but so is the bonus amount, so that’s probably fair enough.
I also like that there is a monthly and weekly reload bonus. This definitely
makes Dragonara a potentially long-term prospect. I like to find a great site to
play at for a while before moving on and occasionally dipping back in for an
offer, so if you’re the same, this is worth keeping in mind.
To find out the exact bonus amounts and terms, you can skip ahead to the
bonuses section below.
This is another area which Dragonara has to work on. It’s actually pretty bad
that live chat isn’t available in this day and age, and this could cause a few
problems if you were to have an urgent account issue like being locked out.
Email responses can take up to 12 hours at busy times, so this could be an
issue if you’re in a bind. To be fair, though, the customer service team
themselves are pretty helpful when the responses come.
The addition of either a telephone hotline or live chat is a must for
Dragonara in the future. Until then, the customer service score will stay low.
The overall design and user experience at Dragonara is one of the best things
about the casino, in my opinion.
I really like the red and black color scheme and can tell a heck of a lot of
effort has gone into designing the site. The menu tabs are clear and simple with
white text on a bold black background. It’s extremely easy to find what you’re
looking for, and the games are categorized in a way which makes sense.
There’s no clutter, which I like a lot. Perhaps that’s my slight OCD talking,
but I reckon anything unnecessary in a website’s design just serves to
inconvenience users.
If you visit the site on a mobile device, you’ll be shown a version which is
automatically optimized for your device and browser. It’s an extremely simple
mobile site, although it looks great. A banner with offers, the games, game
categories at the bottom, and a drop-down menu with different sections of the
site is all you’ll find, and that’s all a mobile casino needs, really.
There’s no Dragonara app, so no matter what device you visit on, you will be
able to access the flash site. I visited on both Safari and Google Chrome, and I
found Chrome to be the better of the two. The site loaded faster and seemed to
work faster overall on it.
I would have given this casino 5/5 for mobile compatibility, except for the
fact that an app is lacking. I personally don’t like downloading them, but I
know some players prefer the convenience of being able to access the casino
straight from the operating system.
Dragonara holds valid gaming licenses from both the UK Gambling Commission
and the Malta Gaming Authority. This gives me a lot of confidence since these
are two of the toughest regulators in iGaming.
Dragonara made the transition online in 2014, but it’s actually been
operating a world-famous land-based casino since 2010. The Dragonara Palace is
located in Malta, and it’s incredibly luxurious. It’s widely regarded as one of
the top casinos worldwide. It’s pretty safe to say these guys know what they’re
doing.
The Dragonara Palace has actually been in operation since 1964, but Dragonara
Gaming just took over in 2010. It has over 300 slot machines, 15 gaming tables,
and an exclusive poker room. They’ve poured €25 million into it since. This is a
huge operation, as you can probably tell.
The Dragonara online casino is managed by EveryMatrix Ltd. This is an
award-winning casino platform operating out of Malt It was co-founded by Ebbe
Groes and Stian Hornsletten in 2008 and has gone from strength to strength
since. It manages some big casino brands such as PlayFrank, Fantasino, and
Casino Cruise. I have every confidence in this team.
So, based on the initial information I could dig up, things are looking good.
This is a company with a long history, running one of Europe’s premier
bricks-and mortar-casinos, managed online by an award-winning team in charge of
multiple big names. Unfortunately, if you live in one of the countries listed below, you cannot play on this site.
There are a decent number of ways to deposit at Dragonara, but there’s only
one way to get your money out. This is pretty poor and is another area Dragonara needs to work on. Why make
it so easy to deposit, yet relatively difficult to get what’s yours? I’ll now take a closer look at all the different deposit/withdrawal methods
in turn.
Dragonara does offer a welcome bonus to new players, and as you’ll see below,
it’s a pretty generous offer. There are two main regular bonuses if you decide to play here long-term,
consisting of one monthly reload bonus and a weekly free-spins offer, too. On top of these offers, a loyalty/VIP program makes sure that the more you
play, the more you get. So, what exactly do these bonuses consist of and how do they stack up against
what else is out there? Let’s take a closer look at each one now.
You can claim a 150% deposit match up to €200 + 50 free spins on NetEnt
slots. When you register and go to make your first deposit, you’ll have to select
this bonus from a dropdown list. The minimum deposit for this offer is €20 and the wagering conditions are
40x. Each free spin will be worth either 0.01 or 0.02 cents (Euros). While the bonus offer is generous enough, I’d definitely like to see lower
wagering requirements. 30x is pretty average across the industry, so 40x is a
little on the high side.
Each and every month, regardless of how much you play, you will be able to
claim a reload bonus of 50% up to €100. The reload bonus is subject to 40x wagering requirements and a €20 minimum
deposit. As with the welcome bonus, you’ll need to select this one when making your
deposit. Again, it’s a nice offer, but those wagering terms need to come down to make
it as competitive as it could be.
As the weekend approaches, you can claim free spins on the designated game of
the month every Friday. To qualify, you’ll need to have made and played with deposits of at least €20
in the week leading up to the Friday in question. Weekend bets don’t count, as
the window of opportunity runs from Monday-Thursday.
The number of free spins you actually get depends on how much you’ve
deposited:
The free spins are given once you have wagered your deposit once, and
anything you win needs to be wagered once, too.
Every bet you make at Dragonara earns you loyalty points, like the kind you
earn for shopping at your favorite supermarket. You earn 1 point for every €10 deposited, and you can trade them in as soon
as you have 200 points. You can trade them for cash at a rate of €1 per 100
points, or you can accumulate them and trade them in for bonuses. There’s actually very little information on the website about how the loyalty
scheme is structured. What are those perks? Faster withdrawals, your own personal account manager,
extra bonuses and promotions, and invitations to exclusive games and
tournaments. That all sounds good, but ideally I’d like to see a detailed breakdown of how
many points I need to earn to climb the levels, and what exactly is on offer at
each stage.
I can usually size an online casino up within a few seconds of visiting, and
I definitely formed an initial positive impression here. The site is well
designed and organized, and there looks to be plenty of variety in terms of
games.
Regarding bonuses and promotions, this casino looks pretty average. There’s a
decent-sized welcome bonus and also two ongoing bonuses for regular players.
I’ll dig deeper on these a little later in this review to cover the important
details.
As with most online casinos, the vast majority of the games here are video
slots. There are hundreds of them to choose from. There are also a couple of
dozen digital versions of card and table games, and a live casino.
As I expected from an experienced operator like this, Dragonara Casino has
been expertly designed for maximum appeal. Instead of focusing in on just one
area, as many other casinos do, this site casts a wide net and caters to every
type of player.
This casino also works perfectly on mobile devices. I visited on my Android
phone as well as my iOS desktop device, and in both cases, the experience of
navigating around the site was smooth as silk. I’ll explore the Dragonara mobile
casino in more detail below.
Let’s now turn our attention to each of the important elements of the site,
zooming in for a closer look at each one.
The selection of slots at an online casino is a make-or-break for me, and I’m
sure many of you feel the same way. Slots are the primary reason I play at
online casinos, and I like to see a large variety without compromising on
quality.
In an ideal casino, I’ll see popular NetEnt, Microgaming, Betsoft, IGT, or
Playtech games. I have my favorites, and they tend to come from these firms. I
also want to see at least a handful of progressive jackpot slots. I’ve read the
stories about £/€ 15,000,000 jackpots, too, and I want in on the action. So,
progressive jackpots are a must.
I’m glad to see many of the best slot games at Dragonar NetEnt, Microgaming,
and IGT have a clear and visible presence here, which is excellent. There’s
plenty of variety, from classic slots all the way through to the latest games
with epic bonus rounds themed on hit movies.
As far as progressive jackpot games go, there are plenty, and a few of the
great ones are available. Don’t miss Mega Moolah, Mega Fortune, or Divine
Fortune.
You can play many of the slots for fun, but you’ll need to create an account
first. The registration process takes about 30 seconds, so it’s well worth
doing.
Some of the games I recommend playing include:
There are many other slots (582 total) to choose from. I just listed the
above as they are some of the top slots on the web and can all be found here.
When I think “gambler,” for some reason I think video poker first. I love
playing it, and there’s no doubting that this is one of the most popular game
types at any online casino.
Dragonara offers a large selection of titles, which makes me happy. When you
first land, you’ll only see around 10 thumbnails, but click to play and you’ll
be prompted to select from a much larger number of variants.
You can select from:
These are the main base games, but there are 1-, 5-, 10-, 25-, 50-, and
100-hand variants of many of them.
Unless you’re a seriously hardcore video poker player, this should be more
than enough to satisfy you.
As I touched on a little earlier, the digital table and card games at
Dragonara are provided by three solid software firms – Microgaming, NetEnt, and
Play’n GO. As a result, the quality is fantastic, and I experienced no freezes
or jumps in the games I played.
While digital table and card games are often overlooked these days in favor
of live dealer versions, I still like to check them out. I almost always find
there are more options in the digital casino, and that’s the case at this
casino.
Some of the games you can play include:
That’s a pretty extensive range of digital casino games. Most are variants of
the four most popular games, but that should be enough for any casual player.
Note that some of these games can be played for fun, but not all of them.
Feel free to try your strategies and ideas out on the ones which are available
for free.
All of the live dealer games are provided by Evolution Gaming. I played
several of them, and as expected, the games were a cut above average.
Live games include:
You can’t play these games in “for fun” mode, unlike some of the other games.
You can also clearly see on the thumbnails what the table limits are in each
game. Some start as low as £0.10 per bet, while others start at £100 per bet.
This is where Dragonara falls behind a little, and the only way to get in
touch is via email.
You can reach them onbetween the hours of 00:00 and 08:00 CET. Live chat is pretty much a base standard these days, and it’s a little
underwhelming to have to write an email outlining your questions or concerns.
Live chat has a much faster dynamic to it, allowing you to talk as situations
change and evolve. The email responses come in between six to eight hours. This isn’t fast
enough when things like being locked out of your account come up.
Dragonara has got to do better in the customer service department.
No matter what sort of casino player you are, Dragonara has the games for
you, that’s for certain. If you’re the sort of person who plays slots every day and wants free spins
and reload bonuses daily, then this might be the best casino for you. If you’re
a casual player who logs in every now and then for a bit of everything, this
casino could be a great choice. The only real downsides are the customer service and limited withdrawal
methods, but that’s the way it is for now and I can only hope Dragonara does
something about this soon. Don’t let those negatives totally overshadow
everything that’s great about this site, though, which is plenty. It’s definitely worth checking Dragonara out for yourself. Since you can play
the games in demo mode, what have you got to lose?
No, there’s a deposit bonus and regular free spins, but it doesn’t
offer anything like no-deposit free spins. Perhaps as a loyal player, these
sorts of deals are offered, but I wouldn’t count on it if they aren’t offered at
the beginning.
This casino holds two licenses from highly respected gambling
authorities. The UK Gambling Commission and Malta Gaming Authority have both
given it their seal of approval. It also runs on a secure, encrypted connection
and all the software providers are legitimate. It’s as safe as they come.
Unfortunately, this is NOT a US-friendly casino.
No, although you can play directly on the mobile flash site on your iOS
or Android devices.
I’d check out Mega Moolah by Microgaming and Mega Fortune by NetEnt.
These two are renowned for making millionaires. If that’s not enough, check out
Hall of Gods by NetEnt, too.
No, all you need to do is click through and register. You then claim
each offer from a drop-down menu when making deposits.
This review was made by: GamblingNerd.com Rating: 3.5 out of 5