Grosvenor Casino review (UK)

Grosvenor Casino has done a pretty good job of making the leap online but it’s not without its minor irritations.

When signing up as a new player, I was asked if I had an existing Grosvenor Casino membership number from their brick and mortar casinos. There’s also the option to join the exclusive Grosvenor One programme. Membership means you can deposit, withdraw and play with your funds online or in one of their local UK casinos. These crossovers create a real feel that their on and offline worlds are merging, it’s very smart!

Appearance-wise, the site has a classy feel with its deep blue and white colour scheme. I found it really easy to navigate around on both mobile and desktop thanks to the clean menu design.

I completed their signup process in under 2 minutes with no hitches. There were just 2 steps and the usual details such as email, name, date of birth etc required. I also was asked to set a deposit limit before I made a deposit. This was optional so I skipped it but should maybe be mandatory for new players until their accounts are fully verified.

Grosvenor is offering a pretty standard welcome bonus with their 100% deposit match up to £50. A minimum £20 deposit is required to trigger it and depositing £50 would see you get the maximum bonus of £100. That’s not going to blow anyone away but it’s what I’d call a solid cash bonus.

On the plus side, the wagering requirement is a pretty reasonable thirty times 30x (B). That’s better than the wagering requirements most casinos seem to be offering right now. However, that seems to be the only real update of this welcome bonus. Some free spins would have been nice hey guys?

The real kick in the pants here is there are just 7 days from the date the bonus is added to fulfil the wagering requirements. That’s pretty harsh compared to the 30 days offered at many casinos. Also watch your payment method as deposits using Ukash, Skrill & Neteller don’t qualify for this offer.

Slots contribute 100% while live casino, table games and video poker will only give a 10% contribution to the wagering. The bonus can’t be used on poker games, side games on the Grosvenor Poker client or their sportsbook either. So, only take it on if slots are your thing.

I dived into the live casino section first as this seems to be a big focus on the site which reflects the real-world beginnings of Grosvenor. Some of the streams come live from their casino in London Victoria although that’s closed right now due to the global pandemic. Playing a few rounds of roulette didn’t throw up any technical issues. I managed to break even using the Martingale strategy starting at £1 and just sticking to red.

I found it irritating that not all the games were live despite the thumbnails showing in the lobby. Clicking an unavailable title kicked me back to a different lobby with live thumbnails which was super confusing. It would be better if they used live thumbnails for all the games in the live casino lobby.

I tried Book of Ra Deluxe with a £0.40 steak and managed to trigger the free spins round after just 15 spins. This landed me a tasty £41.80 win so I swiftly moved on to Piggy Riches Megaways. Sticking with the £0.40 stake I managed to bag £10.72 in 15 spins. I had a few £1 spins on Cleopatra and Eye of Horus for good measure but this didn’t bring me anything.

Overall the site ticks along nicely and it’s pretty well laid out. I managed to find everything I wanted to play through the search function, it’s pretty cool that it updates as you type. One major gripe is the lack of a ‘favourites’ with no option to star or save games you like.

My recently played slots show up at the bottom of the account menu but it’s just not the same. That small addition would make a big difference to players.

The same clean site design appears in the mobile version too. I particularly like the way the games menu is at the top of the screen and the deposit and account settings stuff is at the bottom. It’s a smart use of space on smaller screens.

I tried out Buffalo Wild first and got a touch icon covering the whole screen. I’m not sure what the point of that is on a mobile device as touching the screen is the only thing you can do. After dismissing that, the game worked just fine with a few £0.50 spins but didn’t bring me any winnings.

Other slot games and live casino sessions I played were fine too and I didn’t experience any lag playing over 4G in the UK.

I downloaded the Grosvenor Android app (iOS available too) which looks and works the same as the in-browser mobile version. The app was just slightly quicker to use so it’s definitely worth downloading it. Just be aware that you’ll need to turn on your GPS for the app to work. This is so it can verify that you are playing within the UK.

The support team at Grosvenor Casino had been reduced due to the Coronavirus outbreak, but they still answered me on the live chat in around 2 minutes. It gave me a number showing my place in the queue which is a neat touch.

They responded to my question about how long my withdrawal would take quickly and asked if there was anything else I needed help with. The response to my email about deposits came back in under 2 hours so live chat is the way to go for super urgent stuff.

What I found really annoying was that clicking on live chat brings up a new tab. The chatbox is obviously built for mobile so just looks odd on desktop as a thin strip in the middle of the screen. A pop-up box on the actual site would be much nicer and safe switching tabs when chatting to the support guys.

Despite creating an account, depositing, winning and then withdrawing my funds, I was never asked for any further documentation or ID. As a UK player, I was expecting to get checked, but my withdrawal was approved regardless. All I needed to provide were the regular details which are given during any casino signup such as DOB, address and email.

There isn’t a dedicated section for verification in the account menu either. If they did require anything, this would appear in your account “message” section but having an easy to check page would be more reassuring here.

When I signed up at Grosvenor Casino my deposit options were shown as Card, PayPal or Visa checkout and Paysafecard. This came up as an option right after creating an account and before getting to the main casino lobby screen.

I initially tried to deposit using my Revolut account and it looked as though it was going to work on screen. However, I got a failed message in the app when trying to approve it. I later saw that since 14th April Revolut can no longer be used at UK online casinos. It’s classified as a “money service business” but not a registered UK bank.

It was pretty annoying that after making a deposit using my Visa Debit card, the main section of the screen went blank with no further instructions displayed. All I could do was click the “x” at the top to close that screen, but it wasn’t the best welcome.

At the point of depositing, it is reassuring to see the declaration that my funds will be kept in a separate account. This is to protect UK players as per UKGC regulations.

When it comes to withdrawals, it took 8 hours 25 minutes for my withdrawal to go from pending to complete at Grosvenor Casino. I’d requested it using a Visa debit card and it took the full 3 days to hit my UK bank account.