Guts Review - No UK Customers

GUTS is an award winning online casino that is going places. Increasingly popular with players thanks to their ballsy unpretentious approach, everything about their website is down to earth and grown up yet fun, and they use everyday language too – even some of the boring bits (hello T’s & C’s) are mildly entertaining.

GUTS is operated by Zecure Gaming Ltd, itself a subsidiary of Betsson Group, but still runs on their old owner’s (GiG) proprietary iGamingCloud platform, bringing punters a snappy well laid out interface and no issues with loading times. They make some pretty, well, gutsy claims too, the most eye catching being that they endeavour to process all withdrawals within 6 hours. We thought that might get your attention.

Add to this a great selection of games from a variety of top developers, plus a genuinely dedicated and well-informed customer service team and you’re onto a winner. Not bad for a casino that only opened its virtual doors in 2013.

Guts also have their own independent sports book developed in house and with their own traders too.  They really are independent in every sense of the word.

This isn’t going to bowl over the bigger bookies but it is one of the most user friendly sportsbooks out there, and live betting is especially good.  A brilliant option all round for those who mainly want to play games but don’t want to have to go somewhere else when they place their sports bets.

Casino Software, Games, Platform

Once you are on the Casino site it’s all fairly straightforward, there is a search bar you can use if you want something specific or alternatively some category options are listed below. So far so simple. What we really liked, though, is that you can also arrange the results in a way that suits you. For example, you can view games alphabetically or by provider. It helps keep things user friendly and feels like a more personalised experience.

There is also the option to create a Favourites list so you can get stuck in immediately if you want to squeeze in a 5 minute session while the boss’s back is turned. You’re going to need to use it too, because with over 2000 games all told and counting, hunting for that game you liked but can’t remember the name of would be quite a task.

Variety is the name of the game at GUTS then, and there are a good number of big hitters from the gaming world showcasing their products on this iGamingCloud powered site. Microgaming, SG and Quickspin are there in force, but you can also find plenty of games from IGT, NetEnt and Red Tiger amongst others. Once a game is loaded up there is a useful info section beneath it highlighting any key features and giving an overview of how the game works.

• Slots – Favourites include Sticky Bandits, Dead or Alive and Break Da Bank Again; although with thousands of slots on offer you could avoid big name favourites altogether and still not get bored for months.
• Jackpots – This is the only area of the site we found to be average, with around 30 Jackpot games currently on offer, and not a particularly interesting range either. It’s fine, but compared to the rest of the site feels lacklustre.
• Live – GUTS really look after you here, with variations on all the classics as well as a few surprises. There are two full lobbies of live game provided by Evolution and NetEnt respectively, so you know it’s going to be good. Except loads of blackjack, roulette, and more light hearted spin the wheel type games.
• Roulette – American? VIP? Immersive? Check. Check. Check. 10 Roulette games are listed with limits to suit everyone’s pocket.
• Blackjack – Trailing slightly with 9 variations, the Blackjack games are still diverse enough to keep you at the table. Multi Hand and Atlantic City Gold are a few interesting options.
• Table Games – Three Card Poker, Hold ‘Em and Speed Baccarat and a couple of others bolster the table games on offer.
• Video Poker – GUTS is actually one of the better sites for fans of video poker, because they have around 20 different variations of the game. Mississippi Stud, Texas Hold’em Ultimate, Aces and Faces, Deuces Wild, even Ghostbusters! Are there more variations than this out there?

The website is uncluttered without ever feeling dry despite the number of titles available, and this only helps to maintain its stability and the speed at which it runs. There isn’t much in your eyeline in the way of help (it’s hidden down the bottom) but the Live Chat bubble is omni-present and available 24/7.

Sportsbook

Like we already mentioned, this probably isn’t a sportsbook for people who predominantly gamble on sports, rather a perfect accompanying product for casino players who like to bet on the side but don’t want their options limited.

It still has a 30 strong sports list with some interesting options like Pesapallo, Esports, and Handball alongside the more traditional Football, Cricket, and Tennis markets and the like. There is no horse or greyhound racing though – it’s not that kind of establishment.

Market depth from one event to another will serve the regular punter perfectly well but it doesn’t offer the sort of market variety you will find at the big high street or the dominant internet bookies. This is fine for the type of customer GUTS is targeting though. If you want to stick an acca on the weekend football or an outright on the winner of Wimbledon your golden here.

The interface looks great but there is a fair amount of scrolling involved sometimes because of how big everything is, especially browsing betting markets for a particularly busy football match for example as there is no way to filter the bet types. The impact is less on mobile.

Odds wise they are really fighting their corner too, with football, basketball, and boxing looking particularly competitive, baseball and cricket performing strongly too, and everything else on the right side of average. This is commendable stuff and GUTS likely do not get the credit they deserve here because of their reputation as a casino.

Live Betting

Oddly enough, the live betting at GUTS is good enough to rival some of the dedicated sportsbooks out there.

There are stats, odds boosts, and a great in-play match visualisation that is constantly updating and logging key areas of the field/pitch which have seen shots/offsides/free kicks and goals, notable moments like dangerous attacks, free kicks, cards and goals update in real time, and there is also a possession timeline amongst other things.

It’s the variety and availability of in-play markets that makes their live betting so impressive though. On a regular Tuesday morning at about 11am UK time we are looking at a few games from the Beach Volleyball Winners Cup, a whole host of Australian football (soccer) with 20 market categories in each on average, Russian Pro Volleyball, Tennis, Table Tennis, Basketball and more.

Just imagine how that list would look on a Saturday lunch time! Safe to say, there are no compromises at GUTS when it comes to betting in-play.

Mobile

Although there is no dedicated app available there is a perfectly functional mobile site which offers near enough everything you can find on the desktop site. You aren’t able to personalise things in the same way but that’s hardly an issue, and if you know what you want to play you can still use the search bar or access your favourites.

Live Casino is also available on the mobile site as is Live Chat, although you will have to access it from the drop-down menu rather than the speech bubble icon. Plus, most slots are available as a demo on the mobile site too, which is handy.

We noticed that after navigating to GUTS and choosing Casino (as opposed to Sports for example) it did take a beat or two longer than we would have liked to load, but once we were in it ran like a dream. The colourful game icons really pop due to the white background, and we instinctively knew how to find what we wanted.

Once you get past the first page and choose the product you want there is no way to navigate to another, which is a minor downfall. So for example if you had gone to the casino and wanted to switch to sports you would have to go back to the beginning and start again.

Speaking of the sports betting site, they have done a remarkable job of keeping things simple. A sportsbook is more difficult to adapt to a smaller screen because of all the extra options involved, but by utilising scrolling menu bars, drop downs and collapsible headings GUTS have created a smooth, intuitive mobile sportsbook that always feels one step ahead of the user.

Banking