Play Now Casino Review

PlayNow.com launched in early 2004 by its parent company, the BCLC website, to provide a good range of online casino games for its players. The BCLC, which stands for the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, uses the profit that it generates from its online casino to help communities in British Columbia. Unsurprisingly, the website uses this fact as a real selling point for why online casino enthusiasts should register and play on the Play Now platform.

It certainly will sit well with players, and everybody, that any money that is generated from the platform is re-invested into healthcare, education and other important issues in Canada’s most western province. So players will be able to take some comfort from the fact they’d be funding good causes should they be on a bad run of losses, helping to improve lives in British Columbia.

Clear Navigation Helps

The website is generally easy to navigate around with a number of clear links and banners on the home page to get visitors started. Those who would be willing to play straight away will also have a seamless journey towards finding their favourite games. Whether that is sports betting, lottery or casino games. However, there is real bad news when players will discover that they won’t be able to access the casino or slot titles on their mobile devices.

This is a real frustration for members as they would be restricted to only betting on sports markets and buying lottery tickets for upcoming prize draws. So many enjoy slots or classic table games and with more and more online casino players choosing to play on the go via their mobile devices, it is really poor that the Play Now website can’t provide their members this very important service. No doubt, they’ll lose a lot of players’ interests because of this.

Unfair Advantage?

In terms of licenses that the Play Now operates under, it is a bit of a unique situation considering they’re effectively owned by the Canadian government, who also regulates online casino websites. Therefore, in simple terms, critics could argue that they’re regulating themselves and will have an unfair advantage on their market competition. However, this is the case and players will simply have to trust that the Play Now website is fair in that they’re treated the same as everyone else. Also, with the Canadian government being strong and respected regulators who players can trust to be fair and honest, there shouldn’t be any issues. The Canadian online gaming regulators are respected to be tough across the industry, including those in British Columbia, so members need not worry too much about the legitimacy of the site.

Another problem with this platform is the fact they don’t offer a Play Now section of the website that is French. It is true that British Columbia’s official language is English, but still players from other parts of Canada speak French and they’d have to use an internet browser translator to understand the site. Overall, it’s not that huge of a disappointment or shock, but it is still a disappointment for some and will once again likely limit the amount of players who register on Play Now.

Play Games Now

Play Now tries to make it easy for their players to find their preferred category of game by using the toolbar at the top of the screen to create a number of links to different sections of the site. These are titled lottery, keno, casino, sports, pools, poker and bingo. This goes to show the good variety that members have on the PlayNow.com server when it comes to choosing their preferred type of game to play. Checking out the slot games that players can enjoy on site, there’s one section of their portfolio that immediately jumps out of the page – its exclusive games.

Play Now has a small selection of games that slot enthusiasts can only find on this platform. Some of the names in the list include Alice – Mad Tea Party, Candy Bears and the progressive jackpot game Mega Pots Bar-X-Slot. It’s fantastic that they’re able to offer something that can’t be replicated elsewhere, that is a real plus for the Play Now package.

Elsewhere in the casino tab are popular casino titles such as roulette, blackjack and poker. However, despite this good news for classic casino game fans, there is a real negative that players won’t have a selection of live casino games to choose from as there aren’t any available on the Play Now platform. It’s a real shame that this is the case as more and more players prefer to play live casino as it allows them to get the glamourous casino experience from the comfort of their own homes – something that isn’t possible in the virtual casino games. It’s all good news for potential players when reporting the sites’ slots – especially the exclusives. Yet the lack of live casino lynchpins is a concern, it really will be missed by many.

Divided Promotions

In terms of promotions, the site has decided to divide their offers to only be available for specific sections. This is a real frustration as it means players won’t be able to combine their bonus upgrades across all games. As such, the site limits itself and means players will only be able to claim deals on one section of the site at a time. Looking at the offers in detail, especially in this example in the casino section of the site, players will be able to claim a casino specific welcome bonus of €100. However, to claim this bonus, newly registered players will have to deposit a minimum of €100. This means it works out as a 100% bonus or less, which in comparison to other online casinos is a pretty flimsy casino bonus.

Making the situation even worse for players is that there is only one other promotion advertised in this section, which is a tournament where those who spin a specific slot could end up winning a total of €10,000! It might look good on the surface but it’s a really poor selection of offers that the site offers its players, it’s all very disappointing.

Banking is Unclear

Another real frustration for the Play Now website, which isn’t as serious as the lack of good promotions admittedly, is the fact they don’t clearly explain the site’s deposit and withdrawal options. Thankfully for players, there is a good range of deposit methods, but it is really poor for the website not to clearly share it on site.

Really Helpful Support

Customer support, on the other hand, is really helpful as players will be able to speak to the support team via live chat on anytime between 7am and midnight. This is available 365 days a year, so whether playing on Christmas or New Years, there will always be customer support for players. Meanwhile, those playing Poker will have 24/7 customer support – all accessible via live chat, email or telephone!

Play Now Conclusion

In conclusion, Play Now is a unique online casino website to review. They’re effectively governing themselves and also have a number of games to play, some of which are exclusive to the site. However, their strange way of offering players promotions is an odd one whilst their lack of information on banking is another frustration. Overall, players might be better to avoid registering with the site and go elsewhere. They’ll get a better deal in doing so.