Betsoft
EGT Interactive
GAMING1
Novomatic
Online casinos originated in Belgium make up a tiny portion of the global gambling market. Lucky Games is one of those rare entities to be operating and regulated in accordance with the Belgian Gaming Commission, and this exerts a strong impact on user experience of a New Zealand guest. To begin with, the casino does not offer traditional pokies. The word “traditional” in this context means a normal five-reel or classic pokie that has a specific theme, a set of bonus features, paytable and other typical properties that every gambler is aware of. The game content revolves around roulette, blackjack and dice. The last of the mentioned categories is represented by a few subgroups such as craps and dice slots, the latter being a unique phenomenon on the gambling market to be explored in detail below.
Reliability and security of all legal and licensed Belgian online casinos including the reviewed one, are beyond compare and out of question. The explanation for this is a bit unusual. The point is that all Belgian online casinos are owned by existing land-based gambling establishments that already hold a gambling license to operate games of chance. This enables the regulatory bodies in Belgium to exercise enhanced control over these gambling entities because they are very unlikely to violate applicable laws (financial affairs with customers, etc.), because this could deprive them of their license for land-based, non-virtual business. So New Zealand users should know they are securely and officially safeguarded against any fraudulent actions while in the online casino.
Banking options in Lucky Games
In order to bet real money, an NZ user should make a deposit via any of the following methods of payment: Bancontact, e-payment through Belfius, e-payment through ING and paysafecard. NZ residents would find some of the methods uncomfortable. There are no deposit limits for non-Belgian users – at the same time, the casino provides an option to set a personal deposit limit (or remove it altogether).
Withdrawal methods are the same as above. Processing of a withdrawal begins one day after the request and it takes 24 to 72 hours before the funds are reflected on the player’s bank account. Another rule is that a player cannot place a deposit to Lucky Games while there is a pending withdrawal. Limits on receiving money from the venue come in two variants, depending on the player’s status:
- Provisional players – the ones who have deposited less than $3000 to the casino since signup – are allowed cashouts of no greater than $3000
- As soon as the above deposit limit is reached, a player should submit a package of personal documentation to be assigned the status of a Definitive player, at which point and thereafter the user is entitled to withdraw more than $3000.
Lucky Games mobile casino
The mobile-adapted site looks good and smooth on smartphones. The homepage lists some 20 clickable pokie icons, shows names (aliases) of the most recent winners (+ amounts won) and offers quick links to some jackpot pokies. For complete novices, the mobile homepage shows three steps of how to get started: 1) Register; 2) Make your first deposit and 3) Play – plain and simple. A link to the Online Help page is posted in a visible location and it enables one to head to Helpdesk (live chat with an agent) and Frequently Asked Questions. Mobile casino experience in Lucky Games is very good, though the number of HTML5 games is relatively small.
Playing in Lucky Games
The online casino has no pokies in the common sense of the word. According to the Belgian legal framework, the permitted games (for class II license) can be divided into five subgroups: online dice, roulette, blackjack, video pokies and virtual races. To comply with applicable law, Lucky Games has to showcase only the allowed games.
Actually, the entire game catalogue is powered by 4 providers including Gaming1, EGT, AirDice and eGaming. The majority of games belong to the category of Dice Slots, which is a rare type of games that combine properties of a pokie and visual design of dice. This game type allows the legal online casino to cover NZ pokie fans without breaching the Belgian legislation that does not expressly permit online pokies.
When clicking on any game, a small message box opens to offer two alternatives: Play in Demo and Start Game (for real money). That box also shows bet limits for the game. Let’s have a look at a few dice slots. Comet Star by Gaming1 is a Pay-Both-Ways pokie with min/max bets of $0.20 and $20 on a spin. Having a space theme with animated alien planet background, its symbols are represented by regular dice with face values of 2 to 6, and two Chinese dice. This is actually a typical pokie except for the fact that its symbols are made of dice. There are also a few bonus features and special-purpose icons: Frozen Wilds during free spins and a Cometstar Mission bonus. Boost Racers is another dice slot from the same provider. It has a similar set of symbols (ordinary multi-colored dice and a couple of special car race icons) in addition to a number of bonus features such as Police Chase and Night Race bonuses. Bet sizes are at the low end, at $0.10 to $25 per spin.
There are 100 dice slots in Lucky Games and they have much the same dice-related style of graphics. They are actually normal pokies but closely intertwined with dice.
Progressive Dice Slots are also available. They are found in a dedicated section that contains about 20 games or so, including Fakir, Caveman Stoney and Rapid Rush. Since pokies from the said providers are not so popular on the global scale, jackpot pools tend to be fairly small.
Roulette and blackjack in Lucky Games
There are 5 roulette tables in the reviewed site, all from Gaming1. Most are designed in a classic way but some have an unusual twist. Steampunk Roulette follows European rules with one zero box and min/max bets of $0.10 and $80. Its settings and interface are common but some NZ players will enjoy its steampunk style, a pseudo mechanical wheel driven by gears and hot steam. In Deal Or No Deal roulette, a player can win up to x1000 a stake with the Bonus box. This roulette plays as normal except that there is a star arrow on top of the wheel that rotates independently and points at a random numbered box after it has stopped. If the ball and the bonus arrow combine, a player gets access to the famous Deal or No Deal game in which he has to choose a suitcase and win a valuable prize.
New Zealand users will see one blackjack in Lucky Games, Multi-Hand Blackjack by Gaming1, with a $1–$100 limit. Split once, Insurance, Surrender, 6 decks and Double Down on 9, 10, 11 are the major rules of this blackjack. Practicing the best BJ strategy, a player can maximize the RTP value to 99.56%.
Lucky Games tournaments and promotions
Players may try their luck in four daily tournaments, featuring a prize pool of $250 each, and one weekly tournament. Entry is free but a player needs to click on the Subscribe button to join the preferred tourney. An objective of most competitions in Lucky Games is to collect the highest points within a predetermined time. Some tourneys allow for a single entry while others have an unlimited re-buy option.
As for promotions, the casino has no information with regard to the availability of any bonuses such as a welcome package, reload bonuses, etc. The only non-gaming entertainment for Lucky Games players of New Zealand is playing in tournaments.
Maestro
