Loading...Ladbrokes has recently become the subject of a major gambling scandal, and right after the casino was blacklisted. Take a look at our review to find out more.
Ladbrokes Blacklisted Casino Review
In 2000, when Ladbrokes was just established, it was a pretty good online casino with Microgaming software and a decent reputation, however, all that changed after a very peculiar gambling scandal in 2018. After that, the casino was blacklisted, and most portals claimed that it is best to avoid it by all means.
Reports about this case were even published on global media portals, and this story truly shocked not only the online gambling community but the entire world. In addition, there were some terms and conditions issues as well as general non-responsiveness to customers, which drove the final nail in the coffin concerning the reputation of the casino.
Check out this casino review where we will inspect what really happened with Ladbrokes casino and reveal why the site was blacklisted and criticized by many watchdog portals.
General Information
Ladbrokes Casino
Let’s start with some general details about Ladbrokes casino: the site is part of a large UK company named Ladbrokes Coral Group that dominates the betting industry. It was created way back in 1886, which is quite a long time ago. For players in Europe and the UK, Ladbrokes is quite a popular bookmaker, and it owns more than 4,000 betting shops.
The company should have a good reputation, however, the recent reports for 2018 were very controversial and even quite shocking, but we will inspect that later.
Casino Details
In terms of the Ladbrokes online casino, it actually seems like a good online gambling venue to play for real money and have fun since all the features look legitimate and reliable. Previously, the casino offered games developed by Microgaming, but it has recently switched to Playtech and added a whole lot of additional providers like Evolution Gaming, NetEnt, and IGT. The site offers more than 1,400 titles including a variety of 3 and 5 reel slots, blackjack, roulette, table, and card games, as well as live casino games and sports betting. The sports betting section is massive, and players can place wagers on football, horse racing, greyhound racing, darts, tennis, golf, and many other sports.
The games are offered as instant play or free desktop apps. There is also a Ladbrokes mobile casino, which is available via a free app. The casino is licensed by the UKGC. It is available for players from the UK and over 20 other countries, which are listed in the terms and conditions. Players from all other countries, including the USA, are not accepted. For players from the allowed countries, the casino states that it offers 24/7 live support in the form of live chat, email, or phone. Regarding payment methods, Ladbrokes allows a variety of deposit and withdrawal options such as Visa, Bank Wire, Mastercard, Neteller, Skrill, Paysafecard, Paypal, and more.
Concerning promotions for new players, Ladbrokes offers a welcome package of £50 for the first deposit of £10. The bonus comes with a wagering requirement of 40x, and it can be used for slots, blackjack, and roulette. Even though it’s a good match offer of 500%, £50 is quite low, and we have to admit that the casino bonus could be improved since it doesn’t really benefit the player.
Overall, it seems that the casino sticks to high standards due to the wide range of sports betting offers and casino games. Its license is one of the strongest in the business, and the other features of Ladbrokes are quite good as far as online casinos are concerned.
However, if you are looking for a puzzling and outright bizarre story about blacklisted casinos, check out the reaction of Ladbrokes when a high roller with a gambling addiction started to steal money from his partners in order to fuel his addiction in their establishment.
First Impression
Is Ladbrokes Online Casino a Scam?
Even though Ladbrokes online casino has a wide array of great traits and features, it does not have the support of many online watchdog portals because, for the most part, the casino does not respond to complaints from players. This red flag is enough to get Ladbrokes blacklisted. However, it’s merely the beginning of a much shadier tale that involves the mistreatment of problem gamblers and pure blackmail.
Namely, Ladbrokes proved to be utterly unethical in the previously mentioned situation with a high-rolling problem gambler. According to many news reports, the player was fueling his gambling addiction by stealing approximately £60,000 per day from his business partners. He used the stolen funds at Ladbrokes betting shops for two years, and the company kept showering him with bonus offers, bonus funds worth a couple of thousand pounds, VIP tickets for some popular sporting events, as well as business class plane tickets for those events.
When the gambler’s partners discovered that he stole millions from them, they complained to Ladbrokes, claiming that the casino was accepting stolen funds. Then, the bookmaker’s management did something extremely immoral.
According to the story, Ladbrokes paid the gambler’s partners off with £1 million. The agreement required the partners to stay quiet about the whole story and not file complaints with the official regulators such as the UK Gambling Commission.
Allegedly, there is evidence that the casino didn’t follow procedure during the processing of the man’s funds and personal documents, which is why their management didn’t know that he was using stolen funds. The player went to a treatment clinic, and even though he committed criminal acts, Ladbrokes willingly stimulated his addiction and lured him with gifts. When the man stopped betting for a few weeks, the management even sent him some provocative messages and a bonus sum of £5,000. In the end, the problem gambler reported Ladbrokes in hopes of clearing his name, curing his addiction, and setting the record straight.
One good thing came out of this catastrophic story: the UKGC and other regulators fined large bookmakers with some huge sums for penalties related to the poor treatment of problem gamblers and even for money laundering.
Ultimately, the company that was once widely respected was proven to be managed by a vicious bunch of mobsters who prey on problem gamblers and bribe victims.
This horrible situation, plus the issues related to customer service unresponsiveness are enough to prove players should think twice about playing at Ladbrokes casino or their betting shops. Unless you are a problem gambler, the chances of Ladbrokes harming you are small, but you have to know that you might be utterly unimportant to them as a player. In case of facing any problem, customer support will probably not solve it for you, as proven by many watchdog portals and review sites.
Games and Software
The casino game offer by various top tier providers is excellent, and the games are neatly organized into categories (spots, in-play, casino, slots, live casino, bingo, poker, lottos, virtual sports), that run on their own gambling platform.
In such a massive suite, there is a wide selection of table games like Jacks or Better, Lucky Star, Backgammon, Blackjack, and more. You can play high-quality slots such as Ways of the Phoenix, Aquaman, Berry Berry Bonanza, King Kong, and more. There are some great specialty games including keno and scratch cards. The addition of virtual sports and live games also offers a lot of interesting gaming options.
With over 1,400 games, this casino certainly provides a lot of fun and endless choices for a wide audience. However, it takes some time to load the separate categories on the website, and sometimes, the site doesn’t display parts of its game selection (e.g., video poker titles) to non-members.
Overall, there is no doubt that Ladbrokes casino has an excellent game library and that it definitely caters to every type of player out there. The software providers are some of the best in the industry, and there have been no issues online with gaming software. If it weren’t for the issues regarding the reputation of the management of the site, customer service and the previously mentioned scandal with the problem gambler, the casino would be a quite good place to play.
User Experience
As mentioned before, one of the biggest issues with this casino that most users are disappointed with is the unresponsive customer service.
Players have posted a number of complaints on notable review sites and forums, and most of them claim that customer support did not help them out with some important payout, account, or jackpot issues. Some complaints state that the support was extremely slow or did not respond at all. On some forums, posts were even made by players who started to take legal action against the casino. In those cases, customer support did not want to solve their issues regarding jackpot withdrawals.
In terms of cash outs, some user accounts were suspended and banned when users complained to customer support about extremely long payout delays (over 1 month), which is utterly ridiculous. All in all, there is a significant number of unsolved complaints on many watchdog sites, which can lead us to conclude that user experience regarding customer support has been very unsatisfactory.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Massive game library by various top tier providers.
- Extremely good game quality.
Cons
- Management exploits problem gamblers.
- Brutally unethical business practices of casino management.
- Customer service has a terrible relationship with players.
Our Verdict
Like we’ve said before, there is nothing wrong with the game selection and their quality at Ladbrokes casino. The site looks great, and it genuinely seems like it offers a great gaming experience with plenty of options. However, we believe the non-existent customer service and the extremely unethical behavior of this casino should not be ignored. That’s why we recommend you to avoid this venue like the plague. Even if the casino improves its customer support, the scandal involving the problem gambler and the way Ladbrokes casino tried to silence the gambler’s partners is unbelievably immoral and should never be forgotten.
- Customer support: 1/10 — Terrible attitude to players.
- Cashout time: 3/10 — Users have complained about extremely slow payouts.
- Software: 9/10 — Great games by various providers, but the site is a little slow.
- Jurisdiction: 9/10 — UKGC did a great job of giving the casino some huge fines for their mistakes.
- Total: 5.5.
