We’ve analysed all UKGC licensed online casinos and come up what we think to be the best online casino sites in the UK.
No matter if your preference is for slots, blackjack, roulette or live casino play, our guide will help you select and play at the best and safest UK online casinos tailored for you.
Magic Red
Get 20 Free Spins With No Wagering Upon Your 1st Deposit
Get 20 Free Spins With No Wagering Upon Your 1st Deposit
AllBritishCasino
100% up to £100 + 10% Cashback
100% up to £100 + 10% Cashback
21luckybet (Casino)
100% up to £200 + 20 free spins
100% up to £200 + 20 free spins
FafaBet
Deposit & stake £10 get up to £100 Casino bonus + £20 Free
Deposit & stake £10 get up to £100 Casino bonus + £20 Free
Casiplay
Up To £100+ 150 Extra Spins
Up To £100+ 150 Extra Spins
Yeti Casino
100% Refund Bonus up to £111 + 100 Extra Spins
100% Refund Bonus up to £111 + 100 Extra Spins
Winomania
100% Deposit Bonus Up To £100 + 100 Bonus Spins
100% Deposit Bonus Up To £100 + 100 Bonus Spins
LeoVegas
Up To £100 Reward + 25 Free Spins
Up To £100 Reward + 25 Free Spins
HeySpin
100% up to £50 & 100 Spins
100% up to £50 & 100 Spins
Now it is time to take a closer look at the best UK casino sites that are available to players in the UK. Here are concise online casino reviews about what we think to be the leading safe and secure sites for slots and casino play in the UK.
There is no ‘perfect’ online casino as what is good for one online casino player may not be so good for the next one. Below we have chosen a few important categories, and selected the casino from our best UK online casino site list that stands tallest in each.
Number one on our overall list and number one for slots we have selected PlayOJO. We love their slotting catalogue (over 3,000 titles) which features the best games from 64 leading providers including NetEnt, Play’n GO, Pragmatic Play and Eyecon. If you want to play a specific slot, then the chances are you will find it at PlayOJO.
Blackjack is a superb game, but can get repetitive unless you have options … and options are what you get at our choice for the best online blackjack casino, MagicRed. Among the offerings here are Picture-Perfect Classic Blackjack, Vegas Strip Blackjack, Vegas Downtown Blackjack and Classic Blackjack Gold, plus plenty of live blackjack casino tables too!
Roulette is another game that works best if you have options. While we advise you to give American roulette a miss because of that pesky double zero, there are plenty of other versions worthy of a spin. For our best online roulette casino we’ve gone for 10bet. This site has 30 versions of the classic casino game, plus another 21 at the site’s attached live casino.
The Brits love both casinos and variety, so for this reason we have gone for the All British Casino for our best online live casino pick. It is not so much the number of tables available but the variety. Along with standards such as blackjack, roulette and baccarat at ABC, you’ll be able to play live casino rarities such as sic bo, fan tan and bac bo. Spicy stuff!
Okay, so there are plenty of things that Brits love, but one thing that Brits hate is being kept from their money! If you win at a casino, you’ll want your money paid to you as fast as humanly possible! For speedy withdrawals, we’ve plumped for Fafabet. If you use a Visa debit card here for cash-outs, your money could be with you in a matter of minutes! MasterCards take longer, but they are still pretty swift.
While many people are ‘appy’ to play casino games while sat at a computer or desktop, may others much prefer to play using an app on their phone or tablet. As our pick for the best casino for mobile apps, we’ve gone back to number one and plumped for PlayOJO again. You can play here via a mobile browser, or you can download apps for iOS and Android. No matter your choice, both options are superb!
It is true to say that the UK stands ahead of most jurisdictions globally when it comes to real money online casino websites. British players really are spoilt for choice, with well over one hundred safe and perfectly legal UKGC-licensed all available at all times of the day. These online casinos offer a superb choice of slots, table games, live casino tables and other aspects of safe, real money gambling for UK casino aficionados.
There is also no longer any need to spend your time chucking in your chips or deciding whether to hit or stand while staring at a PC monitor as all UK real money online casinos possess mobile apps, so you easily enjoy slots, roulette, blackjack or live casino play on your iOS or Android-powered mobile device. This means you can play wherever you want – at home, while waiting for your bus/train or just whenever you’ve a few minutes to kill.
Why not give real money online casino gaming a go? Check out our ‘best casino websites’ list to start the quest to find your favourite safe and secure real money online gambling venue.
Here are the pertinent facts about the best internet casino choices in the UK.
Count of UKGC online casinos as 2023 | 225 |
Slots with Highest RTP |
|
Most awarded casino software | NetEnt, 38 awards since 2010 |
Largest jackpot as of 05 December 2023 2023 | £4.2M (Mega Moolah) |
Largest welcome bonus | Up to £400 (Queen’s Guild) |
Fastest withdrawal method | Visa debit (<1 hour) |
Minimum deposit | £5 (several UK casinos) |
Minimum stake | 1p (several UK casino games) |
You may have heard the phrase ‘the house always wins’. Well, that’s not actually true (if it was, what would be the point of playing casino games and it has been well documented that several players have won large amounts playing online casino games?) and it’s not actually the phrase, which is ‘the house always wins in the end’.
Casinos (and that includes online casinos) stay in business by offering games with RTPs (return to player) less than 100 percent. The RTP of a game is its measure of its ‘generosity’. The closer to 100 percent, the more generous a game is, however, it is not overly generous. If you play any game for a very long time, then in the long run you will always end up with less money than you started out with.
The key to playing casino games is the hope that you will encounter a winning streak as opposed to a losing one. Perhaps casino games rely purely on luck, such streaks are more common than you think.
So, what happens to a casino where players continually hit winning streaks? Well, it swiftly goes out of business! This is why all games offered by casinos have RTPs less than 100 percent. If casinos have a large number of players at all times playing such games, then overall the casino will make a continual steady profit.
So, how does this effect you? Well, to get the most enjoyment out of your online UK gambling endeavours we recommend you stick to games with high RTPs. This means that your money is likely to last the longest, and you’ve more chance hitting a winning streak than a losing one. The best payout online casino in the UK is one with the most generous RTPs, as such games have the best online casino payouts.
Here you can see the RTPs of all the most common games offered by online casinos in the UK.
Game Type | RTP (%) |
Slots | 92 – 99 (average 96) |
Single Deck Blackjack | 99.75 |
Multi Deck Blackjack | 98.5 – 99.5 |
European Roulette | 97.3 |
American Roulette | 94.74 |
Casino Poker | 96 – 98 |
Video Poker | 98.5 – 99.5 |
Baccarat | 98.76 – 98.94* |
Craps | 86.11 – 100* |
Pai Gow Poker | 98.54 |
Sic Bo | 66.66 – 97.22* |
Casino War | 81.35 – 97.22* |
Keno | 75 – 71* |
Let it Ride | 96.49 |
Red Dog | 97.2 |
*the RTP in these games depends upon the specific wager that is placed.
We don’t make casual selections when we define the best casino online for the UK. We actually look at all sites from multiple angles and define the best as the ones that score highly when multiple factors come into consideration.
Below is a list of the things that we look out for. It’s important that the best online casinos satisfy us sufficiently in each category, else they don’t make it onto our list of the best English casino sites.
Not having a current and valid UKGC licence is of course a deal breaker, but that is not all we look for. We also check to see if the site’s games have been independently ratified by a regulator such as eCOGRA, and that expected levels of encryption are in place to keep your personal data safe and secure.
We are never swayed by a big bonus. There’s no point in a casino site offer a chunky bonus if it is wrapped up in swathes of unfair T&Cs. We like to see minimal restrictions and low wagering expectations, which is how we define the best casino bonuses in the UK. We also like to see ongoing bonuses offered to regular patrons too.
We don’t as much like to see a gaming catalogue bursting with options, but a gaming catalogue full of top class games. No point an online casino boasting of 1,000s of slots if 90 percent of them are dull. Table games should be well covered too, with the classics (roulette and blackjack) mixing it up with the outlandish (pai gow poker, sic bo, etc). Oh, and a live casino is always good to see too!
Sadly, it now seems that ‘good customer support’ is a swear word when it comes to any company in this day and age, not just online casinos! We’re all frustrated when we have issues and speaking to customer support agents on the phone is less entertaining or helpful than watching a kettle boil. We though don’t stand for it with our top online casinos list – we like to see proper live chat (not just bot-driven FAQs and messaging) and even telephone support if possible too. We also always assess how supportive an online casino’s support functions actually are.
Even though the UKGC seems to continually restrict payment options for UK casinos online, we like to see online casinos that offer multiple payment options as much as they are able to. The available list is still pretty full: Debit cards, eWallets (PayPal, Skrill, Neteller etc), eVouchers, ApplePay/Google Wallet and bank transfers are all legitimate and available to be offered.
Nearly all online casinos in the UK offer bonuses, both in terms of welcome bonuses and ongoing bonuses for regular customers. To the casino newb though, bonuses can be bewildering, so here is your complete guide as to how online casino bonuses typically in the UK.
The most common type of bonus offered by all good casino sites is the matched deposit bonus. You make an initial deposit at the online casino, and the casino will match it with an identical amount of bonus cash up to a specified limit. For example, a ‘100% up to £50’ bonus will give you the same amount of deposited money, up to a limit of £50, so if your initial deposit is £100, you will only get £50.
Don’t expect to head to an online casino, make a deposit of 50p, and expect to get a 50p bonus! All matched deposit bonus deals will insist on a minimum deposit, which is usually £10 although with some deals it is £20. You only get your bonus if your initial deposit is above that minimum deposit threshold.
Many casinos will restrict the payment methods you can use to claim a bonus, usually down to debit cards only. This is to stop people from opening multiple eWallet accounts and claiming a bonus multiple times. Make sure you make your qualifying deposit with a qualifying payment method if you want to successfully claim your bonus.
An increasing number of online casinos are offering free spins along with their welcome bonuses. These are spins you get to play on slots of a specific value (commonly £0.10). Sometimes you can use your free spins on any slot, but most of the time you are restricted to a specific slot. Once you have played your free spins, the winnings are yours.
It would be ideal if bonus money or free spins winnings were paid to your directly (and sometimes they are) but more often than not you have to perform wagering first. This means you have to wager a specified amount of your own funds before winnings or bonus cash is released.
If an offer has ’30x’ wagering and you acquired a £50 bonus (or won £50 from your free spins) then you would need to perform £1,500 of wagering to get your £50. Remember this is money you need to wager and not spend.
Typically, not all games contribute equally to wagering and some will not contribute at all. Slots generally count fully, but table games only count around 10 percent or even less. These means if you place a £10 bet on a roulette spin at the casino, only £1 of it (10 percent of £10) will be removed from your wagering expectations. Always check the offer’s T&Cs to make sure you’re playing contributing games, and their contribution.
Limits on the amount you can win via an offer are becoming increasingly common. If a deal has a £500 win limit and you win £750, then once you have performed wagering only £500 will be released to you. The other £250 is confiscated.
When you sign up for an account at a UK casino, you will commonly have a limited time from the point of registration to make your qualifying deposit. You will then also have a limited time to use your bonus money and/or free spins. Finally, you will have a limited time to complete any required wagering. Keep within all these timeframes to get the most from your bonus offer.
Casino | Welcome Offer | Wagering | Minimum Deposit | Payment Methods | Game Weightings* | Winnings Cap | Expiry Date |
80 free spins | None | £10 | Cards, PayPal, bank transfer, ApplePay | None | None | 30 days | |
10 bonus spins | None | £10 | Cards, eWallets, bank transfers | None | None | 24 hours | |
50% up to £100 + 50 spins | 40x | £10 | Cards | Slots 100%; Others 10% | £1,000 | 15 days | |
100% up to £100 + 10% cashback | 35x | £10 | Cards | Slots, Others 100%; Video Poker 10%; Table Games 0% | None | 30 days | |
100% up to £200 + 200 spins | 50x | £10 | Cards, PayPal, bank transfer | Slots 100%; Table Games 10%; Video Poker 5% | 3 x bonus | 30 days | |
Up to £100 + £20 free bet | 35x | £10 | Cards | Slots, Scratch Cards 100%; Table Games 10%; Poker 5%; Baccarat 0% | £500 | 7 days | |
£100 + 150 extra spins | 35x | £20 | Cards, PayPal, ApplePay | See T&Cs | £100 per bonus | 24h (spins) 21d (bonus) | |
Bonus up to £400 | 50x | £10 per bonus | Cards, eWallers | Slots 100%; Table Games 10%; Video Poker 5% | 3 x bonus | 30 days | |
100% up to £111 refund + 100 free spins | 60x | £10 | Cards | Only Slots and ‘Other’ Games | £111 | 30 days | |
100% up to £100 + 100 bonus spins | 40x | £10 | Cards, eWallets, bank transfer | None | None | 30 days |
*always check an offer’s T&Cs as some specific games may be completely restricted
You should be able to play any casino game online that you can play at a land-based casino, with a small number of exceptions, and a large number of additions. Here is a list of the casino games that you will be able to play at online casinos in the UK.
There are plenty of ways you can deposit and withdraw money from casinos in the UK. The following is a list of payment methods accepted at UK casinos:
The following payment methods are not accepted at UK casinos:
Below is a comparison table of all these accepted payment methods and the important snippets of information about them.
Type | Vendors | Minimum Deposit | Deposit Speed | Withdrawal Availability | Minimum Withdrawal | Withdrawal Time | Fees |
Debit cards | Visa, MasterCard | £5 – £20 | Instant | Yes | £0 – £20 | 2 hours – 5 days | Rare |
Ewallets | PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, Payz, MuchBetter | £10 – £20 | Instant | Yes | £0 – £20 | 24 hours – 7 days | Rare |
Bank transfers | direct, Trustly | £10 – £20 | Instant | No | N/A | N/A | N/A |
PaysafeCard* | PaySafe | £10 – £30 | Instant | Rare | £20 – £30 | 24 hours – 7 days | Rare – 15% |
Contactless | ApplePay, Google Wallet | £10 – £20 | Instant | No | N/A | N/A | N/A |
*PaysafeCard withdrawals are only available (where available) if you have an online PaysafeCard account, which is not mandatory.
As we have previously mentioned, one of the best things about online casinos is their suitability for mobile devices. This will enable you to spin a few slots or sit down for a few hands of blackjack whenever you want, and wherever you might be.
Not all online casino apps are the same though, so below we list some pointers you might like to consider when selecting the perfect casino app for your needs.
Downloadable apps for online casinos did fall out of fashion for a while, we think because online casinos created HTML5 versions of themselves so didn’t see the point of supplying an app as well. However, in the last couple of years downloadable apps have made a comeback. On this occasion, we think online casinos under-estimated their players’ preference for apps.
How you feel about this is of course down to your preferences. If your chosen online casino doesn’t have an app, then you’ll still be able to play there via a browser. If you prefer a dedicated app, then find an online casino that supplies one!
All casino software now is written to be fully functional on mobile, however some games function better than others. Slots are fine, but on small mobile screens playing roulette and getting your chips where you want them to be can seem difficult.
If you enjoy playing live casino games then the live video streams are crucial, so you can only really play live games when connected via a decent internet signal, with 4G being the minimum. The effectiveness of a casino’s live casino options on mobile is something else you will need to consider.
Operating systems seem to self-update every couple of days, so it’s important that apps continue to function as both software and hardware advances. We’ve all experienced the loss of a favourite app because the developers have not kept up with updates.
It’s important then that apps and sites continue to function as devices evolve, and that they are resilient. Don’t worry though – if you get that big win but your app crashes before you are paid out your win will still be recorded on the site’s servers so you can gather your winnings the next time you log in.
If you have an online casino app that crashes often or causes your browser to close frequently it might be better for you to look at alternatives.
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We all have different needs and desires when it comes to online casinos, so how do you know you are making the right decision when it comes to selection an online casino? Here then are a few tips you can follow when you are going through the selection process. They should help you come to an informed decision about choosing your right casino.
So, now you’ve chosen your right casino, how do you get started at it? All casinos have different registration processes, but they generally follow the same lines. Below is the registration process you need to follow at our top choice for online casinos in the UK, PlayOJO.
You can click here to visit the PlayOJO site. Below is the image that should greet you. To start the registration process, click the ‘Join Now’ button.
Now it’s question time! Fill in all the relevant info over the next few pages to divulge all your necessary details, starting with the form that you can see below. You may also need to confirm your email address and/or mobile phone number.
As you can’t play casino games for free in the UK, you will need money in your account in order to play them. Head to the cashier section at your site. Choose your preferred payment method and then enter the size of your deposit (if you are claiming a welcome bonus that requires a minimum deposit to claim it, make sure your deposit is above that threshold).
Now that you have money in your account, it is time to start playing! Head back to the casino’s main page and choose the game or game category that appeals the most to you, and get spinning or dealing!
Well, we are not actually claiming that land based casinos are not as good as online casinos, but there are several plus points to consider when it comes to online play at casinos, and we’ve come up with a few.
The UKGC (United Kingdom Gambling Commission) was created in 2007 to oversee gambling in the UK, including arcades, betting shops, bingo halls, casinos and lotteries. It had to adapt pretty quickly in line with the rise of online casinos and betting sites.
In 2014 it was decided that all ‘remote gambling’ sites offering accounts to players in the UK must legally obtain a UKGC licence. Prior to this ruling online gambling for people in the UK was something of a ‘wild west’ scenario. Most sites at the time were licensed, but by authorities as diverse as those from Gibraltar, Malta and Curaçao. By taking responsibility for UK gamblers, it was hoped the UKGC would be placed to help them from falling foul of rogue sites and themselves.
As part of UKGC licensing, all UKGC-licensed sited must adhere to GAMSTOP which is an over-arching self-exclusion scheme. If you apply to GAMSTOP you will be required to share the following information:
If you wish to self-exclude via GAMSTOP, then you can choose to do so for a minimum period of six months, one year or five years. Once your exclusion period is up it is up to you to apply for the exclusion to be lifted as it will not be done automatically, so you could choose to self-exclude indefinitely if you wish.
Once your GAMSTOP registration is finalised, all UKGC-licensed gambling sites are legally bound to restrict you from using gambling software, or from opening new accounts, until your self-exclusion period is over.
If you feel applying to GAMSTOP is too drastic, then there are several other helpful organisations to reach out to. We have listed a few of the more prominent ones below.
If you feel you are spending too much money gambling, then you can always ask your bank to prevent you from making payments to gambling sites. Such payment receivers can easily be identified by banks, so it is a simple process for them to stop payments to online casinos and sports betting sites.
So, which is the best online casino for the UK players? There are plenty of candidates, but if you twisted our arm we’d have to say that PlayOJO takes the spot as the best casino online for real money. This site is the cause of countless positive online casino reviews, and has some of the best online casino offers we’ve found anywhere.
Any of the UK casino websites on our list are worth a look, to be honest, all with decent casino sign up bonus offers and many of the best online casino games too, from slots to table games and beyond. Why not open an account and get cracking?