National Casino Review for Australian Players
It has recently become noticeably harder to locate a good online casino in Australia. Additional local regulations combine with the ever-increasing blocks on offshore sites, leaving Australian players to peruse a massive selection of untrusted, unknown brands. While some of these brands can be excellent, many of them can just be low quality, untrustworthy sites with awful withdrawal limits and unfavorable terms for players. Establishing in May 2021, National Casino can be deemed a new entrant in the industry. Establishing a reputation in the online gambling can be tough, so we have been monitoring this casino as there have been reports that National Casino has been opportune in their payouts and have been diversifying their online portfolio.
With the oversaturation of competitors, we decided to create an account and make a cash deposit to review the site. This way, we would be a step closer to potentially finding a site that works for players while ignoring most of the promotional banners. Given this, we thoroughly assessed their site and backend features to see if PayID works and measured the speed of withdrawals in cryptocurrency, along with the terms of their welcome offers to determine if there are excessive wagering restrictions.
The Welcome Bonus Package Explained
The first thing players notice is the welcome bonus. It’s the hook that gets players into the casino, and National Casino has an average offer. Instead of a huge bonus, National Casino has a two-part deposit bonus. Since a lot of players lose their first deposit, it’s a nice touch to give players a second chance.
With the first deposit, National Casino gives an equal bonus up to $500 AUD. Players also receive 100 free spins for Avalon: The Lost Kingdom. However, players don’t receive all of the spins at once. The players receive 50 Instant free spins and must log-in the next day for the other 50. Although it is a tactic to get players to log back into the casino, it is likely that players would have logged in anyway to access the free spins.
The second bonus is a 50% deposit match, but there is a higher deposit limit of $1000 AUD. Players also receive 50 free spins for Johnny Cash. Be sure to access the promotions page for the bonus offer code, as the bonus offer is often a manual process.
Let’s go over the terms and conditions, as players frequently encounter issues when it comes to the bonuses here because of the conditions that apply. There is a wagering of 40x. When you deposit $100 and receive a $100 bonus, the value of the bets you will have to place to withdraw that bonus as cash will be $4,000. The 40x is in line with other online casinos and is reasonable as well. If you are lucky enough to win while working off the bonus, this will be in your favor. While the bonus is still active, the maximum bet you are allowed to place is $6.50 AUD. If you place a higher bet, the casino has the right to remove the bonus and take the winnings. This is why it is important to control your bet size.
Weekly Promotions and the VIP System
After using the welcome bonus, you will be glad to know that National Casino has regular promotions. On Mondays, the promotion is a free spins promo. Depending on the size of your deposit you could receive 100 free spins. This is something nice to start the week if you had plans to wager anyway. The much better bonus is on Fridays. The offer is a 50% bonus up to $380 AUD, and you also receive 100 free spins. This bonus is meant to cause you to wager on the weekend and is a decent bonus.
There is a 15-level VIP program. This begins with your very first real money bet. This is no application. The VIP system is pretty straightforward. Each real money bet on pokies awards you comp points. The points determine your level. The lower strata offer free spins, while the upper levels award cash prizes. There is a huge ongoing level 15 prize that exceeds $160,000 AUD, but accessing that prize requires you to wager millions. Unless you are a high roller, the VIP program exists to occasionally fund small bonuses that enhance the player experience.
How to Register and Verify Your Account
Time wasted is money wasted, and no player enjoys having to deal with a long signup just to deposit and play. Unlike many other sites, this one offers a sign up that is quick and optimized for the audience. To start, click the register button. The first step is to enter your email and password. The next step is to select your country and currency. Definitely leave these as Australia and AUD to avoid paying unnecessary bank fees for currency conversion. As a last step, enter your phone number.
The final screen requires you to input your first and last name, your birth date, and your full address. This information must be provided accurately. Nicknames and pseudonyms will not be accepted. Expect National Casino to conduct a KYC inquisition the first time you try to make a withdrawal. To confirm your identity, you will be required to upload a clear photo of your driver’s license along with a recent bank statement or utility bill. Your account will be frozen and you will be unable to access your funds if any of the information on your driver’s license does not match the information that you provided during the registration process. For the sake of your account and to optimize the user experience, fill out the registration form correctly to avoid unnecessary delays with your account verification and withdrawal request.
Massive Library of Real Money Pokies
It comes as no surprise that online casinos experience the most traffic at their digital pokies. National Casino boasts an enormous library of games, especially when compared to other casinos that are gradually expanding their library. Players will find pokies featuring the classic three reels, as well as grid slots, cascading slots, and other modern, high volatility games.
There’s a lot to choose from, but their lobby design could definitely be improved. As it stands, you can find games based on their categories such as popular games, new games, and bonus buy games. With more than four thousand games, it gets tedious to scroll through. Having filters based on game mechanics like Megaways, or themes such as Egypt or the Wild West, would help a lot. Without knowing the exact game name, you have to scroll and hope to find something of interest.
They do offer games from some of the industry leaders, including Pragmatic Play, Yggdrasil, Nolimit City, Thunderkick, and BGaming. Right now, Nolimit City is a favorite because of their high volatility games. Players can win huge payouts, but of course, your balance can be lost in an instant, which is why it is nice to see these options available in Australia.
Bonus Buy Pokies
You can find a tab specifically for Bonus Buy games in the casino lobby. This category is especially prominent in Australia. For most games, you have to spin the base game for what feels like forever, before landing on three scatter symbols to complete the free spin bonus. There is no guarantee for this, so it can end up costing you a lot of money.
Bonus Buy games let players take part in bonus rounds without the wait. Players pay a set amount, usually 100x the base bet, to have the game place scatter symbols. For example, a player at the one dollar bet level needs to pay 100 dollars to trigger the bonus. All in all, it is a risky way to play slot games, but the payoff and the excitement are great. As National Casino boasts hundreds of these games, players who want to skip base game grinding will want to spend a ton of time here.
Table Games for Traditional Players
Even though the Video Slots are the major players on the site, there are plenty of traditional table games available as well. These games have been the backbone of the casino industry, and if players know the basics, they can have the most advantageous odds.
It is a bit unconventional to look for poker games, as there are no dedicated poker buttons in the menus. Players have to type “poker” in the search bar to find the games. Once that is done, players have access to about 60 different virtual poker game tables. Players can choose to play Texas Hold’em, Caribbean Poker, Joker Poker, and Trey Poker, among others. It is great for beginners, as there are no time limits, and players can check strategies while playing.
Blackjack games have their own category, although the organization is a bit erratic. Some slot games and baccarat tables are thrown in. Nevertheless, their selection is especially impressive. Some of the games available are American Blackjack, Multihand Blackjack, and variants that have side bets, such as Super 7 or 21 plus 3. Blackjack is one of the fairest games in the casino when a basic strategy chart is utilized.
Roulette is similarly represented and for good reason, Australians love to place their bets on the Roulette tables. National Casino has the main variants. Always try to play European or French Roulette. These types only have one zero in the house, which reduces the overall house edge. American Roulette has the double zero and should be avoided as it increases the house’s mathematical advantage.
Live Dealer Casino Games
If you would rather not play against a computer, you can opt for the Live Casino section. This breakthrough technology is the Online Casino’s new standard. You connect to a streaming video feed of an actual casino, where a real human dealer sets up the game and runs it in real time. All of your bets are placed digitally, and you have the option to talk to the dealer and your fellow players at the table.
The live section at National Casino is superior compared to the standard table games. Jumping between lobbies for live blackjack, live roulette, and live baccarat is seamless. There are also live game shows. These are huge productions that resemble TV game shows, featuring giant spinning wheels and ridiculous bonus rounds. As long as the internet connection is stable, the streaming quality is excellent.
Banking Options For Australian Players
Getting money in and out of an Australian online casino is widely known to be a hassle. Many of the country’s banks will block transactions they suspect are for gambling sites. National Casino has a great variety of payment options to help tackle this.
Visa and Mastercard may work, but will likely be blocked. PayID is a great alternative as it will most likely work. PayID also offers the benefit of instant payment from the banking app. Finally, using cash to purchase a Neosurf voucher at a local servo or supermarket will also work.
The support for crypto is another reason this banking option stands out. If you’re able to use a crypto wallet, you should do it here. It accepts deposits in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Tether. Since crypto payments don’t use the Australian banking system, there’s no chance for a block. Crypto also wins for speed. Most people know bank wires take up to five business days to receive a transfer, and this proves true for a withdrawal. Crypto withdrawals generally take only a few hours.
Customer Support Experience
Until you need it, customer support might as well not exist. In theory, support is most vital when a deposit is late or a game freezes mid-bonus. In practice, support is best when the answer is fast.
To take care of your needs, National Casino has 24/7 support. The easiest way to talk to someone is via the live chat in the corner of the screen. We checked the chat at all hours and were connected to a real person within two minutes most of the time. The staff were nice and gave real answers instead of links to the terms and conditions. For better support, you can send them an email when you need to send a complicated issue. It has a 24 hour response time, but we have found they almost always respond faster.
Responsible Gambling Tools
Gambling should be a fun activity. National Casino has tools for responsible gambling and is a good option for digital gambling. However, they are still lacking and have room for improvement. The tools casinos have designed to limit gambling are good. Players shouldn’t have to temporarily deactivate their accounts and should be able to limit gambling and spending by themselves through their account settings.
National Casino has two options available. Players can contact customer support to temporarily deactivate their account as a gambling break, or for a permanent gambling break, self exclusion can be requested. We favor the casinos that have self exclusion options available, as having to contact customer support to temporarily deactivate accounts is unsatisfactory, and adds unnecessary obstacles to responsible gambling.
Security and Licensing Details
National Casino should be using a standard of security for an online banking platform. You are providing your personal and financial data to National Casino and they should be using security technology that is on the same level as banks. National Casino has good security and customer data should be safe with their platform.
The casino holds a Curacao Gaming License. Within the Australian market, this is quite common. The Curacao license mandates the casino to show that their RNGs are random and that their games are not predatory. The major software developers that they team with are also third-party validated, so you have nothing to worry about when it comes to RNG.
Final Thoughts
Having spent a considerable amount of time on the National Casino website, interacting with the live casino and the games, we can definitively say that this casino is a winner. The National Casino offers Australian players a great gaming option. The volume of games on offer is impressive. Combined with the ability to make instant PayID deposits and enjoy rapid cryptocurrency withdrawals, the banking experience is totally seamless.
Of course, National Casino is not without its flaws. The game lobby needs to have better filtering and the responsible gaming tools need to be made available without having to contact support. These issues, however, are minor and do not affect the overall experience, which is very positive. The platform is very quick, the bonuses have fair and reasonable terms, and they actually payout your winnings. National Casino is definitely a top recommended Casino for Aussie players.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long until I can expect to withdraw my earnings?
This depends on your selected method of withdrawal. Using Crypto or digital wallets usually means more instant payments. However, direct bank transfers usually take from 3 to 5 business days.
Do I have to verify my identity to withdraw?
Yes. This verification is a legal procedure, KYC. When you cash out for the first time, you will receive an email that requests some forms to verify your identity. Typically, a utility bill, a government issued form of identification, and a photo of you are the requirements. This process is put in place to protect you and ensure you receive your funds. Complete this as soon as you sign up to avoid a long delay for your first withdrawal.
Can I try slot games for free?
You can try just about all the virtual games and pokies in demo mode. All you need to do is hover over the game image, and select play for fun. This loads the real game but gives you a play money balance. It is a good way to learn how the bonus rounds work in more complicated games like Megaways before you play for real money. Table games and other live dealer games are not available in demo mode.
Is it legal for me to play here from Australia?
Yes, it is legal for you to play. The Australian Government passes very strict laws on the casino companies. This makes it illegal for casino companies to have operating servers in Australia, or to advertise on Australian local TV. However, there is no law which makes it illegal for a citizen of Australia to play on an overseas casino and use their own money.
Are there extra fees when I deposit?
National Casino does not charge you a fee when you deposit money with them. For example, when you deposit $50, you have $50 in your account. If you use cryptocurrency to deposit, you are responsible for paying the standard blockchain network fees. You should also set your account balance to AUD, otherwise you will have to pay your bank fees for a currency exchange.