ShadowBet Casino

The range of ShadowBet games used to be limited to slots. The brand, however, expanded its lobby with other options too. There are table games, instant win, and virtual betting categories, but they are unfortunately not too extensive at the moment. The variety of slot games and jackpots is good and perfectly ample for players who just focus on playing slots.

Slots and table games

When doing this ShadowBet Casino review, we found hundreds of slots to choose from. The selection of games is developed by around 30 different providers, each of which can be filtered through the use of highly functional search options. The list of providers includes NetEnt, Pragmatic Play, and Yggdrasil. Being able to choose from a list of distinct providers allows for a large selection of high-quality and popular slots, including Dead or Alive, Vikings Go Berzerk, Deco Diamonds Deluxe, and many more. Game thumbnails also offer up some nice pieces of information from the selection screen. You can immediately see whether a title is new, hot or part of a promotion. This is coupled with some great search functionality that makes it easy to browse through the vast collection of slots available.

The site has only two table games - craps and roulette. This is disappointing to say the least. You can also find a category labeled as Instant Win, which includes a small selection of specialty games, including Bingo. There are also a few virtual betting picks. It is slightly disappointing to see that there is such a small range of games outside of slots, but at least some effort is made visible with this category being present.

Jackpots at ShadowBet

You can find a separate category for jackpot games that has a little under 20 titles to choose from. These include some large progressive jackpots, including the record-breaking Mega Moolah. What we did find strange, however, was the fact that some supported jackpot titles not being present in this category. Hall Of Gods and Mega Fortune are both progressive jackpot slots that have achieved some of the highest payouts in the online casino world and yet they are not included in the Jackpots category. You can find them listed within the Featured category, as well as search for them manually, so this oversight just comes across as very strange.

With that being said, we do appreciate that the largest current pots are displayed front and centered on the Featured screen, along with an ongoing jackpot amount counter. You can also see the current progressive jackpot amount directly from the thumbnails of the games within the Jackpots category. We always appreciate it when this nice visual feature is added, as it makes it a lot easier to keep track of the various games and their ever-changing potential prizes.

The welcome offer includes both a ShadowBet bonus, as well as a bunch of free spins. Applicable on your first deposit only, you will have a 100% deposit bonus up to €100, as well as 100 free spins up for grabs. The bonus allows you to essentially double your playable funds, as a €100 deposit will net you €200 to play with. The spins, on the other hand, can be played on either Book of Dead or Royal Masquerade, which are both excellent slot games in their own right. Book of Dead is a particularly popular title.

While you won’t need a ShadowBet bonus code to activate the offer, as you can instead select an available offer from the deposit screen. Each available offer will become present once you select your chosen deposit method. This is quite a smooth way of doing things, as it instantly allows you to compare promotions and select the one that suits you best. The terms are also presented here, as well as the option to deposit without activating any bonus. Unfortunately, there's no ShadowBet Casino no deposit bonus on the menu for newbies.

Bonus terms and wagering requirements

It is normal to expect some concessions when receiving a welcome offer that includes spins, however, the terms here are actually very fair. There is a 35x wagering requirement for both the spins and the bonus. This is a typical amount of turnover for bonus funds, although rather low for free spins, especially in a welcome offer. All you need is to deposit at least €10 to activate all of this, which is again more than reasonable.

You will need to keep in mind that the 100 free spins are split into sets of 20. Each batch is credited and available within a 24-hour window before the next batch is then activated. A max bet of €2 is also placed on your bonus funds and free spin winnings, although we would imagine this isn’t that big a deal for most players frequenting the slots.

Promotions and bonuses

There are a few regular offers found on the ShadowBet Promotions page. What stood out to us was the Ouroboros free round that you can immediately claim without having to make any deposit. A single spin from this game can grant various rewards, including ShadowBet free spins. These spins are wager-free and allow you to pick one of the four available games to play on, NetEnt’s Aloha being one such choice. The Ouroboros promotion is also available on your birthday if you have made at least one deposit within the past year. 

Other promotions include weekly free spins and time-limited campaigns. Unfortunately, there is no dedicated loyalty page present on the site or some exclusive ShadowBet no deposit bonus deals, which is very disappointing. It is rather common these days for online casinos to provide a transparent and tangible loyalty program that allows players to see their progress and available perks for advancing.

We certainly can fault the look and composition of the site design. The black and yellow color palette provide a great contrast between the shadowy feel that the site is aiming for, while effectively avoiding drowning out important functionalities. The game search options are also great with some useful filters implemented to make browsing through the vast collection of slot games a breeze. The Rewards icon at the top of the page also allows you to instantly see what offers are currently available to you with the use of notifications. All good things in our book.

There are however quite a few minor issues that have a habit of adding up to a less than smooth experience. We find the fact that the site is presenting empty game categories to be the most egregious of these issues, as it can very easily build up false expectations. Also, we think that the account settings interface could use a revamp. We feel that the player balances should be presented clearly on the main screen and not hidden behind a profile icon. This profile icon’s only other purpose is to give a link to your account settings, rather than immediately directing you to those settings. The last issue we felt we had to mention was the use of broken English in some sentences. While all of the text is still perfectly understandable, it does tend to add slight doubt towards the establishment’s eye for detail.

Mobile Casino

You also have the option of playing on the ShadowBet mobile casino site. Featuring a great design that is optimized for smaller screens and gaming on the go, the mobile site allows you to play the same great range of slots as its desktop counterparts. A navigation bar can be found at the bottom of the screen, allowing you to browse through games and rewards. There is also a menu icon, found at the top left of the screen, where you can access the cashier, promotions and live chat pages. To access your account settings, you will just need to press on the profile icon located at the top right of the screen.

While the mobile casino site does present some of the same usability issues as the desktop version, it does offer the same great style. The design is very visually appealing and easy to navigate through and with some of the same fixes to the usability and expanded availability of game types, which the desktop version could also use, we think that this could be an excellent platform for gaming.

An up to scratch FAQ page can be found at the footer of the site. The page consists of 21 questions and answers that are presented clearly and concisely. Visiting this page also allows you to browse through a sidebar that is populated with useful informative pages, such as a Complaints page that goes through the complaints process for you.

The customer support team can be contacted from 10 AM to 8 PM CET every day of the week. This unfortunately isn’t quite on par with a lot of other casino support teams, who are able to operate on a 24/7 basis. As a casino’s customer base is potentially from all corners of the world, this can become a particular issue with some people who are well outside of the CET time zone. The live chat functionality is rather good though, as it allows you to send in the documentation, while giving the option to leave a thumbs up or down rating, along with a comment box for feedback.

A dedicated Payment Options page can be found at the footer of the site. We often lament when such a page isn’t offered at a casino, as this otherwise means having to scroll through the site’s terms or going through each payment method one by one. The page provides a detailed breakdown of all available deposit and withdrawal methods, including transaction limits, processing times and any applicable fees. You can expect to find the usual suspects being supported here, with Visa, MasterCard, Neteller and Skrill all being accepted. The minimum deposit amount is €10 across the board, while most payment methods can go all the way up to €5,000 in a single transaction. Furthermore, all deposit methods are also processed instantly with no fees applied.

Withdrawal methods will generally take between one and three working days, although E-wallet methods can be processed instantly. Most withdrawal methods also only require a minimum amount of €10 to be transacted. What is especially appreciated is the fact that there appear to be no fees taken by the fees for any of the withdrawal methods.

Verifying your ShadowBet account

As per anti-money laundering legislation, all licensed online casinos are required to carry out somewhat extensive verification processes. The process will usually only start when you decide to request a withdrawal, however, will require you to send in some documentation. These documents include a proof of address, proof of identity and a proof of ownership of your chosen deposit method. 

It is great to see that ShadowBet has taken steps to make this process easier for its users. A dedicated uploader can be found under the Identification tab, found by clicking on the My Account button and then selecting More Details. The uploader found here allows you to select a document type before sending it directly to them, without the need of any third parties. This also allows you to get the process over and done with immediately upon account creation. What this means is that there is a much smaller risk for experiencing any delay to your future withdrawal requests, which could otherwise occur due to this process.

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) is the main license holder of ShadowBet. Widely respected and highly dedicated to player safety, the MGA is a pillar of online gambling licenses. It is well known for imposing strict conditions to ensure that casinos uphold a high set of standards when it comes to fairness and responsible gaming. The site also used to hold the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) approval. So, you may find other ShadowBet reviews claiming the brand is licensed in the UK. However, its license with them currently appears to be inactive. The UKGC only maintains one jurisdiction, although it is another highly respected licensing authority that authorized casinos are more than happy to show off.

Data security is another important factor to keep in mind. Luckily, you can find a great deal of information from the on-site Privacy and Cookie Notice. This page covers the information stored about you, as well as how it is stored and used. As the casino is licensed by the MGA, it must follow the minimum standards set out by EU legislation. This includes certain rights that you have as a user, such as the right to be forgotten.

We, unfortunately, have mixed feelings about this casino, as there are both good and bad things that we discovered while working on this ShadowBet review. We were initially impressed with a very fair and attractive welcome offer that invited you into a strong selection of slot games. This was combined with a strong showing of progressive jackpots that are highly capable of reaching amounts into the millions of euros. While there wasn’t a large variety of promotions on offer, we were nicely surprised by the unique Ouroboros spins, one of which can already be claimed without having to make a deposit. This was all wrapped into a nicely presented and modern design that looks very well thought out. On closer inspection though, we started noticing a number of flaws, stopping this site from achieving an excellent rating.

While the Ouroboros spins are a great promotional feature, we don’t feel that it is quite enough to justify the lack of any clear loyalty program. The same could also be said for the relatively modest section of games other than slots. A great range of slot games isn’t enough to compete with other sites that can provide this and then some. An added shortcoming of the support team’s opening times also adds to this feeling of not quite good enough. We sincerely hope that ShadowBet looks into fixing these things, as it does show a lot of potential in its current state. Unfortunately, a strong potential isn’t going to cut it with so many impressive online casinos currently on the market.