Intro
At first glance, there’s a lot to like about PocketWin Casino. Established in 2010, it’s been on the scene for longer than many other mobile casinos in the business, and that shows in many areas. The first thing to note about this casino is that all of the games are built entirely in-house by PocketWin’s parent company, Intouch Games. That means you won’t find the usual games you tend to get at most other casinos, which makes a refreshing change. When you combine that with a generous welcome bonus, 24/7 customer support, and regular promotions, it’s definitely enough to make us sit up and take notice.
PocketWin Welcome Offer & Bonuses
When you’re looking to sign up to any online casino, one of the first things you’re likely to check out is the welcome bonus you can expect to receive. Well, with PocketWin we don’t think you’ll be disappointed, as the welcome bonus is pretty attractive. You’ll need to sign up and then activate your account using the code they send you by text. When you’ve done that, they’ll give you a free £5 bonus, and you might be surprised to hear, that’s without making a deposit. More surprising still, that bonus only has to be wagered once before you can withdraw any winnings from it. The only downside here is that the max you can withdraw from it is £50, but we’ll take a free £50 any day thanks!
They also offer 100% first deposit match, so if you decide to keep playing after you’ve used up your free bonus, you can get your first deposit doubled up to £100. So if you’re feeling flush and you max out that deposit match, you can get up to £105 for free in total. Not a bad start.
We also checked out the bonuses available to existing players. Do they offer anything for those who stick around or is it all about getting new players in? Luckily it looks like PocketWin recognise the value of retaining existing players, because there’s plenty on offer for regular return visitors.
They aim to release a new game once a month and that seems to always come with free spins, a bonus or a deposit match offer for new and existing players. Then there’s loyalty bonuses for players who are active and depositing regularly, and you can also get a £5 bonus if you refer a friend to PocketWin through the app or website. They’ll have to join and activate their account before you’ll receive the referral bonus. Plus, if they make a deposit, you’ll get a bonus worth 50% of their first deposit too.
If you’re a social media sort of person, the PocketWin Facebook page runs competitions every week where you can win free bonuses. They announce any new games or promotions there too, so if you’re signing up, it’s well worth giving that a ‘like’.
PocketWin Casino Game Selection
When we started researching this review, we were excited to get stuck into playing through PocketWin’s collection of exclusive slots games! As mentioned earlier, they’ve all been made by the in-house team, so they’re different from the games you usually expect to find at most mobile casinos. For that reason, we spent a bit longer than usual here trying the games out and getting a feel for what players can expect.
Overall we were blown away by the individuality of the games and the bonus features packed into each one. As PocketWin has been around a long time, some of the games do look a bit dated, but the more recent ones like Lucky Forest Casino, Temple 10,000 and Diamond Geyser look great and are a ton of fun to play. Most games have at least one mini-game where you can pick up some decent multipliers, while others have Gamble games or free spins features. They all have a progressive Jackpot too – you have to line up 5 Jackpot symbols on an active win line to get your hands on one of them. We didn’t manage it this time but we’ve got our eye on some of those bigger ones!
If you like your classic table games, PocketWin also has mobile versions of Blackjack and Roulette, both of which use an RNG to decide the outcome of each play. We found their Roulette really straightforward and slick to play, but it’s clear that the star of the show here is the exclusive slots.
PocketWin Bingo Games
Bingo fans will be impressed with PocketWin’s 90-ball mobile bingo game! There are 5 themed chat rooms to choose from and each one has a progressive Jackpot – FYI, you need to get a full house in under 35 calls to win that.
It’s a really social game and we can see why players enjoy chatting to their friends and the bingo admins while they play. There are regular quizzes and prize draws going on in the chat too, which all helps to keep things interesting. With tickets for only 10p each, it’s an affordable way to play.
There are some extra freebies on offer here too, with the bingo loyalty scheme. You earn points every time you buy a bingo ticket, and they’re also given away as prizes in the quizzes. They can be swapped for bonus credit or actual prizes in the loyalty shop when you have enough!
Deposits & Withdrawals
PocketWin accepts deposits from your credit or debit card, Paysafecard, Skrill, PayPal or phone bill and you can do that through the website or the mobile app. There’s a low minimum deposit of £5 by most methods, and deposit by phone bill is even lower at just £3. If you deposit by phone bill, it will either be added to your next bill or be taken from your credit if you’re on pay as you go.
If you’re lucky enough to win, you can request a transfer to your bank account, or withdraw to PayPal or your card. You’ll be happy to hear that there’s no minimum withdrawal amount here, but if you’re trying to withdraw less than £10 you will be charged a £3 processing fee, so keep that in mind.
Withdrawals can take a bit longer here than at some other casinos we’ve played at, but that doesn’t bother us too much as long as it comes through eventually! We were told it would take 3-4 working days to be checked by the banking team – after 3 days we were asked to send in a few forms of ID. We did that through the Send ID feature in the app and it was all accepted fine. A couple of days later the payment was received. Just be aware that if you’re asked for ID it can delay things a bit, so get it sent in sharpish and you should be fine.
PocketWin Safety & Security
This is always an important factor to consider when you’re choosing an online casino to play at, so we did some digging in this area. PocketWin is registered in the UK and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission – this is reassuring to know, as that means they have to undergo regular audits to make sure everything is up to scratch. That’s both in terms of security, and the fairness of the games. Each time a new game is made, it has to go off for testing from independent testers, decided on by the UKGC. So until the game has a certificate to say it’s fair and up to standard, it can’t be released.
It’s also stated on the website that they use 256-bit TLSv1.2 digital encryption to keep your details and payments secure, and they’ll never pass your details on to third parties. We’d hope not!
What about responsible gambling? Hopefully, you’ll never be in a situation where you need to use the responsible gambling tools PocketWin offers, but it’s good to know they’re there. As you’d expect, there are session limits, deposit limits, cool down periods and of course self-exclusion options if you need them. PocketWin are GamCare certified, which means they’ve met high levels of dedication to responsible gambling. They’re also registered with the GamStop scheme, so if you’ve signed up for that, you’ll also be blocked from visiting PocketWin and any of its sister sites.
PocketWin Help & Support
One of our sticking points with a lot of casinos is how difficult it is to get help when you need it! Luckily PocketWin’s UK call centre is open 24 hours a day, every day. Apparently even on Christmas Day, if you’re not too busy with your turkey. If you’ve got the app installed, it’s probably even easier than using the contact details below as you can access everything through the ‘support’ menu.
You can ask for a free call back through the app, or talk to someone on live support if you don’t like talking on the phone. You can also call 01384 888100 or text ‘support’ to 88600 for a free call back. There is an email address but apparently it can take 24 hours to get a response, so if your question is urgent you might want to use other methods. If you want to send an email, it’s [email protected]
One last feature worth mentioning in the support section is the ‘send ID’ feature – that’s really handy if you’ve been asked to send in ID. Do it that way and it goes direct to the support team with all of your account details attached, so it can save a lot of hassle with sending it in by email.
Summary
All in all, we had a great time playing at PocketWin Casino and there were few drawbacks to report. It was great to play some different games to the usual selection – and to have a few surprises in terms of the mini-games and other features. We found the customer service spot on, but if we’re being picky, withdrawals could do with being a bit faster. Still, with that free upfront bonus on offer, we’d recommend giving PocketWin a try and decide for yourself. You may well discover your new favourite mobile casino!
