Red Star Poker Review

We had an interesting experience as we did this Red Star Poker review. We thought we could write a really good first impression with this online casino because we initially thought that it was an excellent site. We had a mistake writing the casino’s name on our browser’s address bar so it ended up searching for the keywords and pointing us to what we thought was the Red Star Poker website. When we clicked on the link of the top search result, we could not believe how fast the site loaded. Right after we clicked the link on the Google search result, it was like the full site appeared magically without any split-second delay.

We only realized later on that we got the wrong URL. The one we loaded had a .eu domain suffix. The subject of our review has a .com. However, when we compared the two sites, their content were actually completely the same. That threw us into a bit of confusion. The .eu site loaded almost instantaneously. The .com, on the other hand, struggled. Thankfully, our goal is not to resolve the mystery but simply to do a Red Star Poker review. We eventually learned that these two are one and the same. There are links in these two versions of the site that link to each other.

Red Star is one of the popular online casinos at present. It is often included as one of online casinos that are reviewed by bitcoin gambling review sites like ours. Well, it’s not really surprising since it’s an offshoot of a successful brick and mortar establishment, the Red Star gaming network.

This casino offers a good range of games. There are games with live dealers. There are various tournaments regularly held. Progressive casino jackpots are offered. The promos available are exciting, especially the 10 free spins and freerolls. The customer support provided is responsive. From the get go, there are many things that make this online casino worth considering. It’s just unfortunate that it does not accept players from the United States, the UK, and a number of other countries.

Red Star Website: Unimpressive but Decent

The website of this online casino is not that attractive. Well, red is the prominent color here but it doesn’t make for something that stands out or creates an attention-grabbing first impression. The upper part looks a little sparse but almost everything you need to know and find are already presented. You get quick links to the games, schedules of freerolls and tournaments, and big switching “posters” (the large images that advertise the features of the site) of the highlights of the site.

Page loading speed is around average. The images at the bottom part of the site, in particular, don’t load quickly although they are not that big to reasonably take some time to load. The site is generally easy to use, though. All the important links work fine. We initially thought the site could use more colors but the whole aesthetics of Red Star Poker quickly grew on us.

Viewing the games may may make you a little frustrated especially if you are trying to view long lists of games. The game thumbnails take time to load.  You can’t see any information about the available games if the thumbnails don’t load yet. To avoid the hassle here, we recommend using the Search function to show only the games you want to see based on keywords. This will minimize the list of games being shown thereby speeding up the loading time.

Lengthy Account Registration, Does Not Bode Well with Anonymous Gambling

This Red Star Poker review has one special word for the account registration process: intimidating. The long online form looks tiring to fill out. The fields for the contact and address details particularly made us frown a little. We understand, though, that they need these information to verify player identity to protect their system and the players themselves but we can’t help wondering why other leading online casinos don’t go to such lengths.

It took us several minutes to finish the signing up process. Filling out the online form was a hassle. Perhaps it took us a little more time because we were debating with our brains whether or not we should be entering the details being sought. We find it difficult to justify why it is necessary for the casino to ask for all of these questions. There are even fields for Region and Twitter handle. We’re trying to veer away from being skeptic in this Red Star Poker review but we are not sure why all of these details are being required.

When we proceeded to verifying our email address, we were directed to a page that said that our player profile is still being confirmed and that the verification process is going to take up to 3 minutes. Bummer! This online casino is being strict with its processes and policies. We felt irritated by this when we take the perspective of simply writing a Red Star Poker review but we understand that this is something good. If this online casino wants to ensure that its rules are followed, it has to be strict with the implementation. Besides, it would be good to know that your application is immediately rejected after it has been evaluated instead of wasting time undergoing all the processes but eventually getting denied the privilege to gamble online because you are not qualified to play based on the details you submitted.

Extensive Collection of Games

As usual, we did a manual count of the available game for this Red Star Poker review. We found more than 550 games. These are grouped  into four categories: Slots, Jackpots, Table Games, and Card Games.

• The Slots category has the most number of games at 438.
• The Jackpots category has 8 games including titles like The Dark Knight, Mega Moolah, and King Cashalot.
• The Table Games category has 10 games, which are mostly variations of roulette. There is one craps game listed here.
• Lastly, the Card Games category feature 34 games, which include variations of blackjack, poker, Texas Hold’em, baccarat, and pontoon.
• When it comes to live dealer games, there are seven to choose from. These are LiveCasino Roulette, LiveCasino Auto Roulette, Blackjack Multiplayer Common Draw, LiveCasino Blackjack, Live Blackjack, Live Roulette, and Live Baccarat.
• The Poker link of the Red Star Poker site will bring you to a different site (.eu). However, the same Red Star Poker rules apply and your login is maintained.
• All of these games come with  Practice Play versions so you can try them out first before doing the actual game. The games open as pop-ups so if they fail to load, you may have to check if you set your browser to allow pop-ups from Red Star Poker. This online casino periodically adds more games to the collection. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the specific link to list the new games.

Red Star Poker Gaming Software and Provability

Red Star Poker’s gaming platform was developed by Microgaming. However, its collection of games also includes  titles from a multitude of online gaming software providers including Net Entertainment, BetSoft, Microgaming, NYX, Play’n Go, Gamesos, Tain, Live Dealer, Ainsworth, Lightning Box Games, Elk Studios,  Genesis Games, Big Time Gaming, and Rabcat.

We can’t find explicit information on Red Star Poker’s official website regarding the provably fair status of the games. However, considering the list of game software providers involved, it’s safe to assume in this Red Star Poker review that many if not most of the games can be manually tested for fairness.

Mobile-Friendly Gaming with Red Star Poker

As usual, we ran our mobile friendliness test for this Red Star Poker review. We found that it is mobile-friendly. The site automatically loads a mobile-friendly version on mobile browsers.

There is a mobile app available but we can’t vouch for its security. The app can be found on this page: http://www.casino-apps.net/apps/redstar-mobile/. There are specific versions of this app for Android, iOS, and Windows devices. The app has not listed in the Google Play Store or iTunes, though, so we are more inclined to recommend playing through the mobile browser instead of installing the app.

Currency, Payment Methods, Deposit, Withdrawal, and Betting Rules

Red Star Poker’s currency are bitcoins (BTC) and fiat currency (EUR and USD).

We could not find an authoritative source for information regarding the minimum deposit but there is information on the official casino site about the minimum withdrawal amount, which is at $50. There’s also a set maximum amount for withdrawals at $3,000 per transaction and $9,000 per 7 days. These dollar values are to be converted to BTC based on the prevailing exchange rate.

Also, we failed to get reliable information regarding manual flushing and other related features since the live chat customer support was on a break when we did this Red Star Poker review.

Red Star Poker Bonus Offers

Red Star Poker offers great bonuses, which can be summarized as follows:

• 200% first deposit bonus of up to $1,000 (BTC equivalent is based on prevailing exchange rate)
• 100% deposit match bonus of up to $100 to be availed only once per player (bonus code: 100RSC)
• 50% deposit bonus of up to $100 to be availed only once per player (bonus code: 50RSC)

There are no bonus codes required in availing of these bonuses. There is no wagering requirement for the first deposit bonus but you have to accumulate loyalty points to earn these bonuses. You need 50 loyalty points to earn $1 of the bonus. Hence, if you obtained a $200 bonus, you need 10,000 loyalty points.

The deposit bonuses, however, have a wagering requirement of 40x that is only applicable in the slots games.

High limit players can enjoy VIP privileges which include special reload bonuses, free tickets to Red Star Poker tournaments, free bets for sporting competitions, special birthday gifts, and loss insurance.

Player Restrictions and Site Languages

Unfortunately, Red Star Poker is not available for players who are in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Cyprus. Its main focus is the Russian gambling community. However, players from restricted countries may still enjoy the games on the site through the demo versions (for Casino only, excluding poker and the live Casino games).

The Red Star Poker site is viewable in English, Russian, and Chinese language versions.

Red Star Poker Customer Support

Red Star Poker offers different ways of customer support. These are through live chat, email, and telephone. The live chat support, unfortunately is not a 24/7 operation. It takes a break from 23:00-06:00 GMT. For email support, you can send emails directly to [email protected] for general concerns and [email protected] for questions regarding the affiliate program. Telephone support, on the other hand, is on a “we’ll call you basis.”

We’re intrigued by the setup so we have to highlight it in this Red Star Poker review. What the casino does is to ask you to send your telephone number via email so they can call you. We’re not a fan of this kind of approach. There’s no certainty that they will be making the call and the process tends to only make the help-seeking player anxious while waiting.

The live chat support, by the way, comes with the option to send the transcript to a nominated email address to create something for future reference.

Red Star Poker Licensing, Regulation, Privacy, and Security

Red Star Poker is a licensed online gambling operation. Started in 2005 with operations only catering to the use of fiat currency, it has since adopted the use of bitcoins. It is operated by RSP Entertainment N.V., a company incorporated and licensed in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. Its operations pass the standards of Cyberluck, a gaming licensing and hosting provider. It is also accredited by Casinomeister and comes with The POGG Deposit Guarantee.

Get Acquainted with Red Star Poker

Get a comprehensive guide on the operations of Red Star Poker by visiting the Frequently Asked Questions page. Also, be sure to read the site’s Terms and Conditions to avoid issues involving game policies, prizes, rules, and other important matters. Red Star Poker also has a page for Responsible Gambling

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Generous bonuses and rewards
• Extensive collection of games
• Bitcoin and fiat currency accepted
• Mobile friendly gaming

Cons

• Not a good option for those who value anonymous online gambling
• LIve chat support is not available 24/7
• Some games are slow to load
• US players not allowed (along with players from a number of other countries)