Gala Casino Review

Gala Casino screenshot

Gala is a well known brand because of their fleet of high street bingo halls that used to decorate the high streets up and down the UK. Those days may be gone (although they still run an online bingo operation) but the brand itself is still going strong.

In something of an image change, their online casino takes a more mature approach, and proves to be an excellent destination for anyone who enjoys playing for jackpots and likes trying new slots. They are never late when it comes to listing exciting new titles.

The site is quietly confident rather than being flashy and in your face, and they can rest easy in the knowledge that their product is streamlined and will appeal to players who want the best games and chances to be rewarded, but carried out with simplicity and without having their time wasted.

casino bonus
50 Free Spins and £40 Bonus
18+. New customers only. Spend £20, get £40 bonus (40x Wagering, selected games) + 50 Free Spins (value £0.10 each, selected games). Bonus & Free Spins valid for 7 days. Restrictions and T&Cs apply.
T&C's Apply. New Customers (18+) Only. Begambleaware.org, Gamstop.co.uk. #ad

Software, Platform and Games

Gala Casino Playtech games

The Gala brand is arguably better known for bingo than it is for online casino, and although they are technically the name company the casino site couldn’t be more different than the bingo site.

It’s classy, it’s sophisticated, and it is professional; no bouncy blue and sunshine yellow theming here.

The design, layout and games all follow in the same theme, with a site that moves smoothly, responds quickly, and takes nano seconds to perform tasks. There are a fair few options on both the primary and secondary menu bars, but this is great for navigation even if it doe appear a little heavy.

When it comes to the games themselves, Playtech are a major force at this site; indeed, the casino section was exclusive to Playtech for a long time. No more though, and there are plenty of other top providers like Blueprint, Play’nGO and Novomatic swelling the ranks, with their games all available in the same place. There are plenty of exclusives in here too.

The range is excellent and the numbers aren’t as daunting as elsewhere, but still enough to make browsing tricky, but you can at least search them individually using the search function. Yes a few filtering options would be helpful, but favouriting is possible which allows you to create your own game list.

  • Slots – There are more than 750 slots at this site. Not a huge number by comparison but Gala aren’t wasting time with anything that isn’t top notch or current. Favourites like the Age of Gods series aren’t going anywhere, and new games like Rise of Merlin are added all the time.
  • Jackpots – A good site for jackpot players, not only are the Playtech pots available here, but they also host games featuring the Jackpot King and Super Jackpot mechanics. They have their own mini jackpots too so around 75 jackpot games all told.
  • Table Games – You wouldn’t come to Gala if table games were your main interest, but this 25 strong mix of blackjack, roulette, and video poker will keep occasional players happy.
  • Live Casino – Playtech and Evolution powered and brilliantly varied, the live casino offers loads of blackjack and roulette, plus game show and themed live games that are less intensive.
  • Slingo and Scratch – Less intensive still are the 15 slingo, scratch card and keno games available. With the likes of Rainbow Riches Slingo and Fishin Frenzy Scratch card, you can still play top titles but in a different format.

There aren’t usually hundreds of promotions at Gala on any given day, but they do provide other ways to boost their customer’s play sessions. These extras really help to define the brand.

Casino Extras

Gala Casino Jackpot ZoneThe jackpot fun zone consists of three jackpots that work in different ways, but to qualify you just need to have made a 10p bet on qualifying slots.

  1. Fun for All – Drops once a week and every single qualifying player gets a share of the prize.
  2. All for One – Hits at any time but must drop by £100. The winner takes all. Can drop several times a day.
  3. Nifty 50 – Drops at £1,000, with the winner netting £500 and all other qualifying players sharing the rest.

These short term pots are great for retaining interest, and work perfectly alongside the other feature, Casino Face Off.

This is a slot tournament in basic terms, but they run high roller and low roller face offs so everyone can enjoy them.

A specific slot is selected for the face off and competing player spin a pre-determined number of spins. How well you do during those spins determines your place on the leader board and the prize, if any, that you win.

Mobile Casino

Gala Casino Mobile AppTech heads will be pleased to know that both a mobile app and a mobile website are available for Gala Casino customers, although they are identical to look at.

The same navigation options are presented here as on the website, albeit in a slightly different way using a scrolling top menu bar and a (somewhat crowded) footer. Anyone with butter fingers will need to tap carefully on the footer menu but other than that it’s a snazzy looking app.

Yes, now and again you might feel the processing get a tiny bit sticky, but it’s a minor and momentary inconvenience, and browsing for new games is a pleasure thanks to the ‘back to top’ button that saves you having to scroll all the way back to the top of the games list.

More problematic is loading times from page to page. It’s not bad enough to put you off using the app but it could do with a little extra juice. This problem doesn’t carry over to the games though, which run cleanly and with no fuss whatsoever.

It’s not an app that will change the world, but it looks good and performs well enough for existing customers to use on the go. It’s not a reason to join Gala specifically, but it shouldn’t put anyone off either.

Player Support

Gala Casino Customer SupportThis is a strong point for the brand, because not only is live support available via the chat function, but email and social media support is also available.

On top of this, the self help section is very user friendly in terms of functionality as well as the content itself. All too often a ‘help’ section only has the bare minimum information – not so at Gala.

They do prefer customers to access self help before contacting them, which we can understand as much of their team’s time is probably taken up with questions that could easily be answered by the player with the bare minimum research; but still, being forced through the help section in order to get to live chat irks us a bit. You will need to bypass the dreaded chat bot before you get a real person too.

Nevertheless, it’s available and it is a good service once you get to it, very modern and fast.

Support is available 24/7 by all methods other than phone, which is normally open during office hours only from 8am until 11pm.

About Gala Casino

Gala Casino LogoThe Gala brand is owned by Entain, a holdings company that used to be known as GVC. The brand have been around for decades but they are barely recognisable from when they first began as a chain of bingo clubs for a company named Bass plc.

This was back in 1983, and the name ‘Gala’ didn’t come actually into use until 1991 when Bass bought out another bingo chain known as Granada. They already owned Coral, the well known high street betting brand, and the name Gala came integrating letters from these brands to create a simple word that was fun to say.

Gala Bingo clubs sprouted up all over the UK, and by 1997 there were 130 of them. This was also the year that a management buyout purchased all Gala bingo clubs from Bass, separating the chain from the rest of the company.

Things came full circle in 2005 when Gala bought Coral Eurobet (Bass Leisure was no more by this time) and the group became Gala Coral instead. The group continued to expand by acquiring smaller bingo chains and reached 174 at its peak before the smoking ban triggered a decline in high street bingo.

By this time the brand also had an online presence and the industry was quickly realising the potential of online gambling, and this is when Ladbrokes came along. They bought the Gala Coral Group to become the Ladbrokes Coral Group, and although the online Gala brand was part of the deal the high street bingo halls were not, so the brand was split in two.

GVC (now Entain) later swooped in on Ladbrokes Coral and this is how they came to own the Gala brand which still operates online under their license today.

The high street bingo halls where Gala’s life first began are now known as Buzz Bingo, with Gala no longer existing in the physical world at all.

Read more about the company behind the brand on our Entain company page.

Money

Banking Method Max/Min Deposit Max/Min Withdrawal Notes
Debit Card £5 £5 1-3 Days
PayPal £5 £5 Up to 8 Hours
Skrill £5 £5 Up to 8 Hours
Paysafecard £5 £5 Within 8 Hours
Bank Transfer £5 £5 2-4 Banking Days

There are no issues when it comes to payments and withdrawals, and no fees to consider in either direction either.

The selection of payment methods is good too, more diverse than we show here, and players should be aware that the company’s deposit protection level is high, which means it is one of the safest online casinos you can choose.

This means that in the event that the company goes insolvent your funds are protected.

License & Contact

UK Gambling License: 54743

  • Live Chat: It’s annoying that you have to go through the FAQ before accessing the live chat, but it only takes a few seconds and it’s well manned.
  • Email: There is an online contact form via the Help section onsite; they don’t bandy their actual address around willy nilly.
  • Phone: They are a chatty bunch at Gala, so you can call them on 0800 328 4272.
  • @GalaCasinoCom: It’s not a particularly active account on the face of it but the DMs are open for support queries, and Gala even recommend this or Facebook as a first option.
  • Address: LC International Ltd, Suite 6, Atlantic Suites, Gibraltar, GX11 1AA – Get your best writing paper out and use your neatest handwriting.
18+, T&Cs apply. begambleaware.org, gamstop.co.uk #ad