Gala Casino Review

Now Gala is a name that most UK customers more readily associate with Bingo halls rather than casinos. That fact may change when you learn that five years ago Gala purchased Ladbrokes from the Hilton Group. This gave them control over Ladbrokes holdings and practically over night made them a big player in the casino world as well. With a grand total of 30 real world casinos they are certainly getting a trial by fire in this area. While it is now obvious that they can run any variety of gaming venues, can they hold there own in the world of the virtual casino?

Now in their own words, “Gala Casino is designed to cater for all types of players, be they high-staking hot shots or the average gamer.” When you combine this statement with Gala’s high volume low stakes approach it feels as through they are going for more of a mass appeal. Whoever they are gunning for is guaranteed a secure environment for their fun. Gala has worked very hard to build their reputation, and they are not about to lose it now.

When you make your way through the virtual doors to the main lobby of the site you will find it divided into three distinct areas. First you can choose to explore either their real world or online casino options. The third choice here is a very prominently displayed number for customer service. The whole page is clean to the point of Spartan and could do with a new coat of paint. When you start to surf through some of what you will naturally assume to be links, don’t be surprised if they are merely graphics instead. We found an odd combination of real links, broken links, and plain graphics that made navigation a real challenge. You’re really just going to have to go for the trial and error approach as there was no rhyme or reason for it. This crazy set-up left us feeling as though the site were more of a construction zone than a finished product. While we think that seasoned players may be able to find their way through the mess to the end, we also think that new players may find themselves frustrated enough to just go elsewhere. This is supposed to be fun after all.

We do realize that the actual site is only half of the battle, so we soldiered on to find out what else Gala casino had in store for us. We found that Gala has built their games on a non-downloading platform which will give players a more instant access feel. This can also be a perk if you don’t find yourself in front of the same exact computer each time you sit down to play as the games can be played from anywhere. The selection is okay but not as varied as what you might find else where, but the tables do have both public and private options. You have to be ready for a very bare bones presentation when it comes to game play. The actual play is fine, but it is done without any of the rich details and graphics found on other sites. The really surprising thing here is that with the lack of graphics you would expect the games to load in lighting time. Instead we found ourselves waiting again and again. It just again feels more like a construction zone than the finished product.

By choosing to use Flash to power their games, Gala does open up playing options to a very wide variety of users and systems. We were able to get the games up and running on a Mac, but it proved to be a rather complicated thing. In fact it wasn’t until we gave up trying and resorted to reaching out to customer support that we found success. In fact we found that just joining the site on this computer system proved to be a very aggravating experience. Gala needs to put their money where their mouth is on this point and really work to make the site easily accessible to non-Windows users.

It is a nice gesture that Gala does offer a welcome bonus to all new players when they join Gala casino. We didn’t think it was as tempting as what is currently being offered by their competition. We are chalking this one down to being growing pains and really think that this area will become richer with time. Customer support is open for business at all hours of the day or night, and you can reach them via e-mail or phone. You do need to note that the phone option is not free so take that into account before you call. Our experience with the agents did prove to be very helpful.

If simple secure play is what you are ultimately after, then Gala casino may be just the place for you. However if your fun in enhanced by all the little extras we have come to know and love then you may have to keep looking. Gala is a work in progress. They are still very new to online casinos and things are bound to improve. If you stop by and find that it is just not your cup of tea don’t give up. Swing back through in a few months and see if there are some marked improvements. A company like Gala will not be happy at the bottom for long. It might just be fun to watch them climb.